SAILING to BREATHTAKING CAPE TOWN Ep. 149

Awesome sail and scenery as we sail from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town! Once we arrive, BioTrek is spruced up like new.
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[Music] welcome back to Biotrek sailing we are Pierre Lisa   and our furry friend tiller sailing  around the world in our Outremer 5x catamaran in our last video we arrived  in South Africa at Port Elizabeth and we   were anxious to get to Cape Town before  December 15th when many of their marine  

Stores and marine services would be closing  for summer vacation and for Christmas we   left in the early morning and we proceeded  eastward toward the Agulhas current so that   we could have a faster stail down to Cape  One advantage of having a fast boat is  

That it’s easier to avoid bad weather and  when we left Port Elizabeth we knew that   we could make it all the way to Cape Town  before the next cycle of bad weather would arrive so we’ve just left East London and   yeah there’s lots of water on the lens  

Uh we’re just out of the shallow area and  that’s where the waves are the worst and we   have had some that look to be about 20t high  but the period is still nice and long and if   um the weather doesn’t go as predicted we’ll  nip into Knysna it’s pretty smooth now we’re  

Motor sailing and normally we’d be at 6  knots and with the current we’re at about 10 okay good morning we’re on the way to  Cape Town and it’s Saturday it’s 5:00   

In the morning, the sun just came up, full sunrise,  the sun comes up early here and we were in the   current last night to get a boost we were going  10, 11 sometimes 12 knots with the current and the  

Wind was up and down we have the one reef in the  main and we have the stay sail out but when I came on   watch it just kept getting rougher and rougher and  rougher so I woke up here and I told him I thought  

We should get out of the current and he took over  and we are out of the current and it’s nice and   smooth you can see I’m holding the camera nice and  smoothly. We’re just out of the current and I’ve  

Just had to gybe the boat because there’s a lot  of traffic here and uh just avoiding a ship we   just passed a ship called Quebec which is where  we’re from and and now we’re passing a ship  

Called Boston which is where we currently live so  I don’t know don’t really believe in superstitions   and omens but it all looks like a good sign for  getting to Cape Town uh quickly the wind has    died completely it’s supposed to stay that way but  that means good conditions in the Agulhas current  

Were out of the current as I mentioned but the  weather patterns are still quite generated by   these lows that come up around the cape and  affecting the current and um it looks like   we’re going to have good weather all the way to  Cape Town if we keep going. But for the boats  

The rally that’s still further north there’s a  week of lows going to be rolling in I’m not sure   they’ll be able to leave on the departure date  unless the weather changes but they’re definitely  

Going to have to do hops all the way down the  coast and somewhere around here see we have no wind. So this is as the day progresses you can see  we still have no wind but we don’t have any  

Lows affecting us. This is Sunday no wind, we will be  coming around towards the Cape but this low will   be south of us. And by Monday we will be inside  um in the marina. You see Tuesday now  

This low is going to come, but actually hug the land and come up the coast so   that’s going to affect some of the boats coming  down the coast still. And and then the rally is   supposed to leave I believe on Thursday so they  have this low that has to pass before they can  

Leave Richard’s Bay. And then there’s a very  short window before this next low is going to   start coming up the coast so we’re glad we made  this decision to go straight to Cape Town when we  

Had the good weather window. And that’s it for the  Saturday Morning Report on the way to Cape Town[Music] As we motor sail along we start to see  seals playing in the ocean a sign that the   water is getting colder and colder of course  you can also see that with the jackets that  

We’re wearing. So Happy Thanksgiving we’re  almost in Cape Town and we’re a couple days   late for Thanksgiving. We’ve got a very small  chicken instead of a turkey, kale salad with   quinoa. I could get kale in South Africa!  totally amazing! gravy of course and peas  

And unfortunately no cranberry sauce we  have to make do with uh a South African chutney. Sunset there is no wind and as BioTrek glides along the coast ,we’re motoring as the   sun sinks below the horizon the sky explodes  into purple hues turning more brilliant just  

Where we lost the site of the sun. Just a  gorgeous night for our last night at sea basically this is all the traffic, big large ships  traffic that cannot make it to the Suez Canal are  

Going to the southern route and we’re just passing  at the moment south of Cape Agulhus or Cape des Aguilles in French. The next burst of land about.  what is it about 80 Miles away, will be the Cape  

Of Good Hope which is just short of Cape Town  and Cape of Good Hope is not the southernmost point   it’s located at 34.24 South instead  of uh Cape Agulhas which is at 34.54 south and   it’s at Cape Agulhas that we’re crossing from the  Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean . 

Cape Agulhas, that’s where we physically change  ocean name from Indian ocean to the Atlantic Ocean now I’ll pause here to jump forward in time  to show you what this area of South Africa   looks like because we took a trip with a bunch  of friends from the rally down to Cape Point and  

It was a fabulous trip with beautiful views all  along the way as we drove along Chapman’s Peak   all the way to Cape Point which is a national  park and we could see stunning views of the   ocean from there there. The cliffs, the waves  crashing. Really just a fabulous trip.  

Cape Point is about 60 miles from Cape Agulhas so it’s  very southerly also. Cape Point is typically   a very windy region of South Africa. It is not  windy like this as we sail past here. From this  

High vantage point you can see the reefs that  must be avoided when you sail past this coast we had started out very early on our journey to  Cape Point and afterwards we went to the Cape of  

Good Hope and at this time it was besieged with  tourists so we didn’t take the picture in front   of the sign. The national park here  is a real treasure with lots of wildlife to   see but let’s get back to our voyage towards  Cape Town. We were just passing this area by boat.

We’ll be in Cape Town tomorrow since we left Indonesia by straight line and after that one year we spent in French Polynesia. Now  crossing from Panama Canal. We’ve sailed BioTrek  over 40,000 Miles since we purchased her in La Grande Motte France, across the Atlantic Pacific  

And Indian oceans and now back in the Atlantic  Ocean. So we’re just going slowly because we want   to arrive in the morning and the wind is light  or I guess no wind. As BioTrek approaches Cape  

Town we motor slowly to arrive just before  5:00 a.m. when the sun would be up. The sky is   filled with soft colors as the sun readies its  appearance from behind the hills near Cape Town as we approach Cape Town the city begins to unveil  

Itself twinkling lights shimmering  against the backdrop of the Table Mountain. As we get closer the city  emerges like a silent guardian of the land Robben Island. Pierre calls Port control as  required, and then the lift Bridges to request  

Opening for 5:15. We see the stadium where we  would later go to watch a rugby match between   South Africa and France. The French rally  boats were cheering their compatriots on we entered the  harbor we were greeted by   a playful ballet of seals frolicking in the waters

Ahead the two bridges first the swing  bridge and then the lift bridge. We have   rushed to make the 515 a.m. opening and  they lift gracefully as welcoming arms   to the city. The bridges stand as gatekeepers  to the inner sanctuary of the marina  

And we are here and just delighted.  So beautiful coming in with sun   sunrise, before Sunrise, seeing Table Mountain,  seeing the city with all the lights on, changing to   daylight all the pastel colors in the sky.  So beautiful. And we got Tiller here all excited. here you go Tiller

Okay better get going to tie up the  boat properly so we can go and catch   some sleep [Music] Summer vacation  in Cape Town starts December 15th   and is merged with Christmas vacation to  a long annual holiday. We had many workers   lined up so we could get started  right away with maintenance on the

Boat one of the first orders of business  was to remove the main sail so they we could   send it for some routine maintenance but the  workers were afraid of Tiller. I’ve tied up the   dog so you can come on board if you want. We also  removed the boom because we weren’t happy with  

The small repair done in Mauritius so this time  it will be done properly. On your shoulders guys must be easier many of the lines on BioTrek have been spliced  and repaired many times. With perhaps the best  

Rope shop in the whole world in Cape Town we  purchased a lot of rope and replaced most of   the lines on the boat. Of course that means  a lot of work in replacing the lines. This is  

The one for the roller, this this is the one  for the first reefing line with the hooks[Music] you can see what I’m doing . This is what I’m doing splicing   this. Yeah it’s going to be a nice thick  bridal, right. That’s what we’re going to

Use. You’ve got the new one in already?  of course everything that comes off   must be put back so that was a lot of  work with the boom and the main sail  and all the ropes and reefing lines  that had to be redone and attached properly Much he exterior cocking  is looking dry and brittle after being   in tropical sun for almost 4 years and so  we had it all replaced and it was sparkling new   professional job! During the first week  after our arrival in Cape Town BioTrek was  

An absolute beehive of activity and looking  sparkling shining and brand new after all was finished. With BioTrek at the V & A Marina  we could also enjoy the sites, shopping and   restaurants. The V&A Waterfront is named after  Queen Victoria and her son Alfred Alfred initiated  

The construction of the Cape Town Harbor in 1860  that was when Queen Victoria was the reigning   monarch of the United Kingdom. The V&A Waterfront,  which includes the marina, is now a popular mixed   use area featuring ,shopping,dining and  leisure activities, along with its historical  

Maritime heritage. It’s a working shipyard as  well which adds additional interest to the   marina as you can be watching the operation  of the tugboats or look at the working dry docks Cape Town is a favorite stop of our whole  around the world and here are some reasons why [Music] [Music] the other rally boards started  to arrive at the marina   POM3 was one of the last to arrive and  it was a gusty windy day [Music]

Soon the empty dock was full of rally boats  and with all the work finished on or most of   the work finished on BioTrek we could now enjoy  a visit to some regions of South Africa and   you’ll see that in our next video. We  support an not for-profit Foundation,  

The Alliance to Cure and all funds go to  help curing as devastating brain disease   called cerebral cavernous malformation  more information is on our website [Music]