West Coast Cruise-Second Leg

All the yachts gathered together close to one of the big ships in the sea to make that our new starting point..on the look out for wind! A couple of yachts withdrew but Catlyn was there till the fat lady sings. ( We haven't seen her on any of the yachts yet).

We had a good start and our main competitor, Time Out was also hanging too close for comfort. We all had our sails out for the light breeze and the spinnakers and two screechers were bulging to speed up the yachts. Each yacht went their own way to find a little bit of wind, some went inshore and we went quite deep hoping to find the wind there. But it was only a slight breeze teasing us all the way to Lambert Bay. We bumped into a couple of dolphins and a school of seven huge wales.

To pass the time while the wind stayed away the boys enjoyed cooling down on the tube behind Catlyn.

Hours later we could see Lamberts Bay, but we could also see Time Out's blue spinnaker on her way! The kids were doing all sorts of things with all the sails to help to get them filled up with the little bit of wind to get to Time Out. But we battled. Catlyn's voluptuous behind was holding us back. We could see Time Out slipping into the bay and only ten minutes later we crossed the finishing line! Major disappointment for Marco, who has never won a trophy in his life, Mom! But we were happy with Catlyn, she did us proud!

The boys immediately checked out the surf and Janlie checked out the shops. Marco taxied them ashore with the dinghy, but an unexpected wave crushed over him and overturned the dinghy! What a fright! Johan saved him from under the dinghy in seconds and Jaco overturned the little boat in seconds. He was fine, just a bruise on his back where the engine touched him. A steaming cup of coffee and a hot shower later and he was fine.

But, the little Yamaha engine was totally submerged and no sign of life! Thanks to manuals and friends with easy advise, we washed the engine with fresh water, dried the plugs, flushed the petrol and luckily I had an injection aboard, and we gave the engine a shot of petrol! That was all she needed and a little while later the sound of the engine was filling the air! Only the triangular lid in front was missing. A small price to pay for a big lesson learnt.

We invited Patrick and JC for a braai and a hot shower and living on their Holiday 23, they gladly accepted. He was the handy guy with the handy info to safe our Yamaha engine.

Again we had a choppy night, but our crew were on watch the whole night making turns to make sure that Catlyn is lying still and no other yacht are dragging closer.