18 Family’s New Year Reunion and Leaving Without Boat Insurance

After a miraculous survival from the "mouth" of a freighter, Ithaca continued to sail towards Saldanha Bay on the west coast of South Africa. At dawn the next day, we approached the bay slowly. The wind had ceased, but the mist rose from the surface of the sea.

I had heard many times about the dense fog on the coast of the Cape. We experienced dense fog once in this area when we travelled on land. Before the voyage, I had been worried all the time whether we would encounter the fog at sea in this region. Fortunately, the fog in front of us was not that thick; the visibility was about 100 meters, and we were already inside the bay. The port call went smoothly and permitted us to enter the port.

Ithaca was a visiting boat here. We'd better anchor outside but not docking before talking to the club manager. The sandy bottom in the anchoring area was about five meters deep. It was perfect to set the anchor and we succeeded on the first try. Compared with the anchor turmoil in East London, our second time anchoring gave us lots more confidence.

The Saldanha Bay is famous for its abundance of mussels. There are many mussel farms in the bay. The sailing club is on the other side and many sailing boats love to use this town as the last port of call before leaving South Africa. The port does not request yachts to go through the port entry and exit procedures, which saves a lot of trouble for yachties.

It was still early when we arrived at the shore. There were only a few people in the club who were taking their holidays and staying on their beloved boats. Compared with other yacht clubs in South Africa, this club was more like a sailor's home. Most of the boats docked in the bay were sailboats. There was only one small floating dock for temporarily loading people or supplies. All local boats were tied to buoys in the bay and using their dinghies to go ashore as needed. Therefore, those luxury yachts or power boats for rich people do not come here. The facilities in the club were set up more like a family home, such like shower rooms, a public kitchen, fridges, freezers, a TV and even a washing machine for sailors to use freely.

In the yard, under the big tree, children were playing on swings while adults were having a braai (South African barbecue). If the weather gets hot, people will go swim in the bay in front of the club. Like other yacht clubs, of course, it also had bar facilities inside the club, even though the barroom was as tiny as only a few square meters.

When sailors arrive at a port, the first thing they all love to do is to go ashore and drink some beer, to celebrate a smooth voyage, a safe landing, or good luck that they just have survived at sea -- like us.

Pierre has one strict rule of drinking. If he is sailing, he will not take a drop. Only after the boat is securely anchored or moored, then he will allow himself to enjoy a drink afterwards.

During Christmas in Gansbaai, the children's grandparents decided to come to Saldanha Bay and spend New Year with us. They live on a farm in the North West Province, thousands of miles away. The two elders were willing to drive across half of South Africa to say a final farewell. The grandparents have playful hearts though and asked us to keep their visit a secret because they wanted to give the children a big surprise. The morning the Ithaca left Gansbaai, they also set off on the road to the coast from their farm home, with loads of their carefully packed Christmas' and New Year's gifts.

The following afternoon after arriving at Saldanha Bay, Pierre received a message from his parents. Then he told the children to go to the club's parking lot to open the gate. As the gate opened, the children were over-joyed in disbelief when they saw the car they were familiar with and their grandparents they missed so much. The whole rest of the afternoon, the two of them surrounded their grandparents telling them the stories of the joy and horror we had at sea since we set off from Durban; then the children greeted the animals on the farm one by one, no matter if they were big or small ones. Pierre and I could hardly get a word in edgeways. Although we were separated just over a month, there was too much to talk about compared to our previous nine-to-five lives.

In the gap between Christmas and New Year, we contacted the Garmin's agent again for the autopilot; they replaced the motor for us without any charge as promised.

As the clock entered 2018, we started to prepare for our next voyage -- Filling up the diesel, topping up the freshwater tanks, and as part of our routine check before a long trip, we also climbed up the mast to check rigging, cable joints and the wear of the pullies and sheets.

From here, we will leave South African waters and head north to Namibia. Ithaca is about to face several new challenges. First, school starts in January. For the children, the sailing "mode" of homeschooling on Ithaca will officially begin. From now on, their study will only rely on textbooks. If we encounter problems and need the Internet, we will have to wait until Ithaca is on shore for the network connection. Second, the next port of call will be our first foreign port. Third, compared with the previous South African waters, Namibia's coast is vast and scarcely populated. The nearest port, Luderitz, is about five hundred nautical miles away. This will be the longest trip since we started the sailing.

Before leaving South Africa, we had one unticked item in our to-do list, which was the boat insurance. The insurance we had at the time, Club Marine, which was a local marine insurance company from South Africa, was bought together with the boat. It had been covering us in the waters around South Africa and its adjacent waters. However, we needed global coverage.

After numerous negotiations with the Club Marine's agent, they agreed to extend our insurance coverage, but with many new conditions. For example, we were not allowed to go to waters higher than 50 degrees latitude. Furthermore, Pierre must obtain a master-level sailing qualification, that means, a Yacht Master Certificate, otherwise, when crossing the ocean, we had to invite a yacht master to be our captain.

We couldn't meet these two conditions alone. The sailing route we chose was to go south to Argentina after crossing the Atlantic and passing Cape Horn, and then to the Pacific Ocean. The latitude in this part of the journey is between 50-60 degrees, which is the high wind-prone area, also known as one of the toughest voyages in sailing, and it is the area that we needed boat insurance the most. As for the ocean-going Yacht Master Certificate, we had neither the energy nor the extra money to complete it in a short time.

This left us no choice but to search on the Internet for an insurance company that could accompany Ithaca's circumnavigation. After consulting with four or five companies, we were completely disappointed. When the insurance agents heard that it was a Ferro boat, they rejected the application immediately, even a quotation was waived. Then we searched for the last option -- third-party insurance. It came as a futile attempt too. In the end, Pierre and I decided to leave South Africa without boat insurance.

At the beginning of the new year 2018, besides the boat insurance, we also cancelled our medical aid and life insurance. From now on, if any accident happened to us, unfortunately, we would only rely on our own.

From the start, we have always been cautious and never tried to tempt fate, but fate had decided not to leave us in peace just yet…

(This is the end of Part 1 of our cruising story. Part 2 will be continued...)