The beginning....

Due Course Now

 

5 March

Due Course Now

You've just got to do what you really want to do. And you've got to start now. And if you persist then things will fall into place in due course.

And what I most want to do is simply to hang out in clear calm warm water teaming with colourful life while Marcelle's dream is to visit endless idyllic tropical islands with sunny beaches with coconut palms. So we're off. We're going to Australia to buy an old yacht and slowly sail up the Great Barrier Reef and onwards into the coral seas of South East Asia.

Flying to Sydney on 1st April.

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16 March

Jo-jo my 10-year-old Labrador-cross has just arrived at his new home. He's going to stay with the Baxters on a farm near Stanford for the next six months. He'll be sad tomorrow when I leave without him. So will I.

Dog delivered. Check. Another item to scratch off the to do list.

It's a peaceful relaxing place this farm, as good a place as any to sit on the stoep while I indulge in my pleasant hobby of online window-shopping for yachts and reading up on sailing routes, anchorages and destinations in the Coral Sea. As one does.

 

Next I'll drive to George, collect Marcelle, and meet more of the Casalvolone family. That'll be another blog. Or maybe not. Maybe What happens in George, stays in George.

What kind of boat should I get?

Firstly, it has to be a sail-boat. Power boats , even slow trawlers, require insane amounts of fuel to travel long distances. It has to be big enough to live on for months on end. And we're not going to rough it. We want a fridge, a stove with at least two burners and an oven, a separate bathroom with toilet and shower, a decent sized bed, or two, and lots of space to put things, and comfortable seating around a table. I'm less likely to get seasick on a big boat than on a small one. But it mustn't be so big that it becomes too difficult to manage. And of course it must be affordable. And so from what I've been reading it appears that 36 to 38 feet is ideal.

Like most boats in this size range it will probably be ordinary fibreglass. I won't reject a boat made from epoxy based composite, or Aluminum. But planked wood and ferro-cement are off the menu - too much risk of failure and potential maintenance nightmares. Epoxy coated plywood is fine. Polyester resin costed plywood is not. Steel is a maybe, not ideal for the tropics because it gets hot, apparently, and older steel boats might have hidden rust spots.

On many many other aspects of boat design I don't have enough experience or knowledge to hold strong opinions. Mono-hull's or multi-hulls, diesel or petrol, sloop, cutter or ketch, I'm willing to consider them all. Lots of boats will be suitable. None will be perfect.

How much will it cost? The budget is six or seven hundred thousand Rand. (60 000 to 70 000 AUD). Exchange controls limit me to one million Rand, and my unfortunate lack of excessive wealth limits me more. And I should be able to get something good enough for that amount of money.

Brand new boat? As if! Probably about 30 years old. Boats age quite well .... mostly.

And I should mention here that we looking for a coastal cruiser not a blue-water boat. We going to hug the coastlines, seldom if ever out of sight of land. We plan to anchor at night and sail during daylight hours. We'll always be able to get a weather forecast and so we should never have to endure storms. This means the boat doesn't have to be very robust or perfectly seaworthy.

So with these criteria I have a short-list of a dozen or so boats around Brisbane that I'd like to look at. Here's a few favorites  ...

Boat short-list drawn up. Check.

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31 March

Today is D-Day, Departure day. We leave home in a few hours .... all terribly exciting.

Also D-Day for our poor currency. Destruction day. Zuma has just fired Gordhan and sent the Rand into free-fall. Looks like we'll be getting a smaller cheaper older boat. Grrrr

Our cruising destination has also had a few destruction days. Cyclone Debbie has just ripped up much of Queensland.

These before and after pics are from  the Brisbane Times ....

Anyway, today we fly to Joburg and spend the night with Davide, Marcelle's brother. One day at a time. All will be good.