The reason why we go to the sea

I was looking for a good used boat but not a boat that had to be rebuilt in toto as I was too far away up country and I was running out of time to start a boat from scratch.I bought Izimoyo ll a Wayward 37 build in 1994 which was in a good condition for its age and the price allowed me room to do some neccessary repairs eg replacing the total standing and running rigging and refurbishing and servicing all moving parts on engine and saildrive.She has two chartplotters ,autopilot and other instruments which make her an exellent bluewater cruiser.So if I find that she is all that,we will do just that.She must be sailed to st Francis from Capetown soon and we will tell you how it went if you are interested
.Why we go to sea? I have been sailing short day cruises so many times I have stopped completing a logbook.The problem is you watch the weather closely and end up sailing only in perfect conditions.In 2011 I did the Cape to Rio and crossed the pond so to speak.We experienced every kind of weather but the worst was watching bubbles passing the beam slower than crawling pace.I was sorry that it was over after 23 days and vowed to do it again.I watch motorcyclists do the TT race on the Island of Man and ask myself what kind of person would be so reckless or brave to do that.When you sit at night on a yacht doing 8 knots you have no control over what is in that sea in front of you.You are not really better off than that crazy guy on his bike.It is that expectation of what may happen that make you do this as we all are looking for that challenges.

When I drove past an abandoned yacht near Gariep dam some 700 kilometers away, it triggered that feeling that I must restore and sail it.It was a Viking 22 with bilge keels and badly in need of tlc.a Year later and many hundreds of hours of labour,it was launched and sailed on the Vaaldam but six months later sold and replaced with a Holiday 23 a trailer sailer which nine years later I still own and tow all over the country and sail amongst a likewise sailing mad crowd who does not file objections and settle all competition on the water and over a beer.This year again we were 25 boats in Port Owen in the Holiday23 Worlds.
The Holiday was a factory build boat ,well kept and nothing to do on her but sail her,so I bought a Cape 28 on which a very skilled craftman did some beautiful woodwork but ran out of money or energy or both.So another couple of thousand hours of hard labour and she was launched on the Vaaldam again.She was big and heavy but fun to sail and a party place for all.I tried to sell her but it took two years before a new sailing fanatic bought her and is sailing her almost every day on the dam.With the cash from the sale and some other cash reserved for the boat kitty, I was scrutinising the internet for a new project.

When you grow up in a little town in the Karoo in South Africa the sea is a distant unreachable magic thing and only experienced in brief visits with the family on short holidays.At the first oportunity I elected to go to university at the sea and were introduced to surfing by co- students.What followed was a total addiction to the sport at the risk of not passing.Luckily I scraped through.After finishing university I was working at a local office and experinced the frustations of not being able to get out there when "surf's up".So I bought a sailing dingy called a Sprog.Port Elizabeth did not get the name as the "windy city" for nothing and what followed was a crash course literally in sailing under extreme conditions.I got interested in sailing yachts and start reading magazines and visit when I could visiting yachts in the harbour.I had to relocate to an inland city a thousand kilo's from the sea and with no windfinder around those days I sold the dingy after too many windless days on the local dams.I drove pass an abandoned yacht many years later which started it.all.That I will dwell upon next.