We have been here in Cape Town for almost 2 months…I seriously think I forgot how to sail!!! I am getting that pre-passage anxiety AGAIN…yuo would think I would be use to this by now….nope…still stressed the day before leaving the dock.
Trevor and I have been working hard organizing, cleaning, and preparing for the Atlantic crossing…but the boat is pretty much ready, stuffed to the gills, and ready for crew…?
Pretty class joint here on Slow Flight…especially with the blue tape holding up the piece of wood in the back ground… (LOL)!
As Trevor mentioned in his “guest blog post” about his experience completing the RYA Yacht Master’s (YM) courses here, his classmate, Hennie needed some more miles so he could qualify for an “offshore” certificate rather than just “coastal” and is eager to learn more about sailing. Hennie’s fiance, Nicole, just finished her “mega yacht” cooking school classes and is keen to practice her skills… if she can cook on a monohull on a downwind run in 35 knots…I am positive working on a mega yacht will be a drop in the bucket! Let’s just say, with Hennie and Nicole on board for our passage to Namibia, Trevor and I won’t know what to do with ourselves with all this help : )
Clearance out of South Africa….
Technically vessels are supposed to physically go to the Royal Cape Yacht Club to clear out of the country. No idea why this is..but it is what it is…so we need a letter from the RCYC stating it is ok for us to NOT go there physically. Our marina’s manager, Joshio, use to work at the RCYC so he gave us tips on how to deal with the personnel and how best to achieve us NOT moving our boat.
So, this was our clearance procedure while leaving our boat at the V&A…
V&A Marina had a map in their office showing you the steps of where to go…brilliant!
Step 1: The V&A marina – First we needed to fill out a “flight plan”, pay our bill, and then they would construct a letter stating all fees were paid.
The “Flight Plan’ 
Don’t look at the total amount please (LOL)! 
Letter of all fees paid.
Step 2: RCYC – With fingers crossed, we rolled up to the RCYC and headed towards the boat yard. We met a guy, Elliott I think, in the marina office who seemed relatively cool and asked us a few questions about our boat: length, weight….as soon as we said we weighted 27 tons, he said that we didn’t have to move our boat…whew..thank goodness.
I was anticipating a harder struggle and some have told us that they had to “argue” for reasons NOT to move their boat from the V&A to RCYC for clearance procedures. But I guess it’s who you get and what kind of day they are having. Joshio, our marina manager, mentioned to us there is a lady who has worked there for over 20 years and is a bit “rough around the edges” after dealing with us yachties for such a long time. We understood so we were prepared with our “smiley faces” on….a smile generally gets the job done!
The marina office at the boat yard. Not sure if there is another “marina office” but we are glad we were well received here. 
RCYC letter stating reason why we could not come physically to RCYC for clearance outward.
Step 3: Transnet…aka Port Authority – a short Uber ride away…or you could walk about 1-1.5 km.
The tower 
There was a breathalyzer by the door before you can enter the space where the elevators are….Never saw anything like this before… 
Trevor said this was his first time EVER!!!! 
Up on the 8th floor, we found a nice lady who prepared our letter confirming we do not have to move to the RCYC. 
Back down to the first floor, we visited the cashier…. 
…and paid $0!!!
Step 4: Immigration and Customs – The hardest part was finding the darn place. I tried to google “immigration cape town” but I knew from the map at the V&A marina where it “should” be…. no worries…found it.
And of course there is a step 5 for us…DUTY FREE : )
“Look at me!!!”
We needed to exchange money as St. Helena do not have any ATMs so there has been previous advice to exchange South African Rand to GBP before we arrive. The trick is when you use the GBP in St. Helena/Ascension Island, they give you back St. Helena Pounds…this currency is not good anywhere else in the WORLD!!! So we didn’t want to get too much out and we asked for small denominations. We are told the bank there will let you get a cash advance using a credit card but on top of the exchange rate they charge additional fees..I think like 6 %…?
Note: At the exchange places in South Africa, they will ask you for your ATM withdrawal receipt to confirm the cash you have is legit so you can’t just roll up with cash you got out days ago and expect to get it exchanged…unless you keep your ATM receipt. We decided to just use the ATM right outside the exchange place.
So…we got a call from Chris, who was helping us get our generator exhaust elbow welded and he had it in hand and delivered it to us on the boat…..what a guy! Chris said they had to keep adding layers to the crack because the steal was so thin it would “burst” when they tried to add new material to it. So it basically got “built” back up in the places that were too thin and the pin holes were sealed…..it will hopefully get us to a place where we can get a proper one to replace it…but for now…it is what it is.
When we returned to the boat, Trevor got working right away on it. Sorry I wish I had photos of the repaired piece because it looked like a small alien…but things are happening fast now and it just slipped my mind. Now she is purring like a kitten…THANK GOD! We can’t thank Chris enough for all his time and energy helping us in this emergency situation…he has a family, his own business, and of course selling boat parts…a very busy man. His commitment to get this done for us was incredible and of course we will pay it forward…THANK YOU CHRIS!!!
So, this means we are off tomorrow am…internet will be very sparse for about 3 months until we arrive in Grenada…almost 4,000 of ocean miles later. But we will try to check in via Facebook every so often. Blog posts may be on hold….
Cape Town, we missed out on lots of things you had to offer: Table Mountain, Cape of Good Hope, Hop-on/Hop-off bus, the Castle and museums in town….I guess we will have to come back and visit our friends we made here. Thank you Cape Town for taking such good care of us!
Up Next: Passage from Cape Town to Walvis Bay, Namibia with Hennie and Nicole.
Safe travels you crazy kids… Don’t forget to send pics of snappy 2 on his adventures… 💜
Thank you for all of the detail in this post. It will be my bible when we go to clear out one day. We just arrived, and are still trying to find our land feet after rounding the capes on a wild sleigh ride. Wish we could have caught up before your departure…but we will meet again one day, in a place far far away….I’m sure! Enjoy the next 4000 miles!