Catlyn' Nappy Drill

No one told me how tough it is to handle your new born baby. I thought she will just be ready and polished and you sail away, but what a surprise ! She is crying every two hours for milk, she is crying after milk, she is crying in a wet nappy...she is crying way more than the pink and blue babies I saw in other mom's arms in the shopping mall.


Since the 12 th of February, Catlyn is still lying in an "industrial working marina" Elliot Basin, and it feels like no one is realising the amount of work that goes into a catamaran and because of that is making idle promises of early dates they can not keep. Every day I have to get up out of her gentle rocking bed, fold up all the bedding into plastic covers, get my children up to do the same, pack our little belongings and leave her at about 7o'clock in the hands of the "doctors" to fix and fiddle for a whole day 'till 7o'clock the evening when we come back fully motivated that the end is one day closer!


We "camped" in the Royal Cape Yacht Club close to the Elliot basin, used their clean facilities and tried every dish on their well priced menu. The chicken burger is highly recommended by the boys. My kid's motivation and determination skills were greatly tested when they unpacked all their school books for a long day during the heat wave in Cape Town with only a fan moving some hot air around.

It is the 12 of March and the situation has only changed to a highly irritable and "slightly" demotivated family. We packed our bedding into plastic bags again, but this time we moved into a little two bedroom flat, storing all Catlyn's baby clothes and toys in a corner in a heap for the next time we are going to try to move into her.

I felt so lonely in this yachting world, but walking passed all the other catamarans lying there I realised the frustration in this industry. We met a family from Madagascar on their also partly finished catamaran. The owner remarked that he is used to everything in Madagascar to being slow, but he learnt that in South Africa it is always tomorrow! Their boy of 12 was skate boarding and playing in the dinghy to pass the time. Maybe they will be on their way by the end of March? We met the French couple with their yellow Catamaran also waiting impatiently to sail to the Indian Ocean. We saw the Canadian fuming on a Monday morning when no one pitched to work on his boat.... The newest member to the "Waiting Club" a South African family is still very enthusiastic and opportunistic about his waiting period and is sitting under his umbrella all day next to his dream.

We had enough, and got to the point of making a final snag list ( list of all the faults and outstanding items, big and small) and we have arranged a time limit on that, and hopefully we are going to get our baby in perfect condition soon. I will keep you posted.