"I was driven thence by foul winds for a space of 9 days upon the sea, but on the tenth day we reached the land of the Lotus-eaters, who live on a food that comes from a kind of flower. Here we landed to take in fresh water, and our crews got their mid-day meal on the shore near the ships. When they had eaten and drunk I sent two of my company to see what manner of men the people of the place might be, and they had a third man under them. They started at once, and went about among the Lotus-eaters, who did them no hurt, but gave them to eat of the lotus, which was so delicious that those who ate of it left off caring about home, and did not even want to go back and say what had happened to them, but were for staying and munching lotus with the Lotus-eaters without thinking further of their return; nevertheless, though they wept bitterly I forced them back to the ships and made them fast under the benches. Then I told the rest to go on board at once, lest any of them should taste of the lotus and leave off wanting to get home, so they took their places and smote the grey sea with their oars."
We’ve been here a month already. Not bad when we expected to be here for about 10 days. It’s been all too easy to let the time slip away because we like the place. Its Bohemian, old hippy feel has been well integrated with the inevitable progress and development. The result is a laid back, slightly upmarket atmosphere. The people are friendly, the food along the waterfront restaurants is outstanding, Lotus indeed, and reasonably priced when converting Aussie dollars. The lagoon is pretty with tons of wildlife. Egyptian geese, wild duck, cranes, and the occasional seal swims around the boat and apart from a few wind storms, it’s quite placid.
Today is Mother’s Day and the afternoon is still, although getting chilly. This morning I motored across a glass surface to the club pontoon to pick Mark up and run him out to his boat to collect something. It saved him having to lug his dinghy and motor down. After dropping him off again I was on my way back out to Wind Wanderer when the propeller on the outboard failed. I managed to ease the dinghy along with a favourable current, but still had a frantic paddle for the last few meters as the current tried to sweep me right past.
I knew exactly what had happened because we only fixed it last weekend. After years of work our trusty old Tohatsu’s prop started slipping on the shaft. The shock absorbing rubber bush between the splines and housing was old and worn out. I’d spent days hunting through old props in all the stores here while the Tohatsu importers tried to find me one. Overseas, Tohatsus are everywhere because they are relatively cheap and very reliable. Not here.
Eventually we gave up and as we were going to Mark and Paulines for a braai (bbq) anyway, I took the prop and we drilled and tapped and put in 6 grub screws to try to hold it. I’ve been using it very carefully all week and it’s been fine, until today. The braai was a lovely day away from the boat. Mark and Pauline live up in the wooded hinterland on a property with houses for quite a few bits of extended family. Pauline makes the most exquisite soaps and it’s grown into a full time business. Sandy is itching to do the same when we settle down.
So Mother’s Day has been stripping the prop again and setting the grub screws deeper than before. There went lunch at the waterfront, but Sandy has become a Lotus-eater too so we just chilled on board and fixed it, and when it was working again I suggested we still go in, but it was just as nice out here…
When we first got to Knysna after our own wild ride, we had quite a lot of work on our list. John Fairweather from Plett. who came out while we were anchored there to get our engine going again often comes through to Knysna. We like his style and were happy to have him do some of the work and that list was completed in about 2 weeks, with him fitting in jobs here while he also did other work. It was even a greater pleasure when we found his invoice to be more than reasonable.
A small but important job was to make a supporting collar for the roller furler driver on the main sail. It had slipped down about an inch between East London and here. The job required a strip of 4mm stainless steel, bent to match the profile of the mast and drilled for rivets. ‘Connie’ was recommended and the collar fitted perfectly. He’d even polished it, and the whole job cost around $20! I believe we have done the last of the modifications to the Facnor system, but then I always think that.
A job that I’ve not known how to tackle was some of the teak decking up front. It had been loose from when we bought the boat but being cosmetic rather than structural it never made its way up the list. Mark came out one afternoon and for the cost of lunch at the club, stuck down the loose teak. It’s a temporary solution because the timber can’t be forced back to its original position, but it’s no longer a hazard.
On our back deck we have a big fiberglass storage box and a well built teak bench. The box has been full of stuff we never use and because the bench is neither right in nor right out of the cockpit, it seldom gets used either. We’ve been playing with the idea of turning the back deck into a useful area to sit for sundowners or when we’re using the bbq. We managed to track down Clive who built the original bench here in Knysna and figured we’d use him again because the workmanship will be the same.
When I picked Clive up to bring him out to the boat he turned out to be quite a delightful old fossil of unknown antiquity. I wondered if he’d last as long as the job would take. I’m starting to wonder that again, but this time because the job has taken twice as long as promised and isn’t finished yet!
We’ve been hampered by wind, rain and public holidays. In one week we had Freedom Day on the Monday, and Workers Day on the Friday. When we eventually got the 3 sections of the now U-shaped bench out here and installed, they’d made it 100mm higher than we’d specified. It meant that from behind the wheel we could not see behind us if the dinghy is on the davits. This is critical when maneuvering in close quarters in a tight anchorage or around a marina.
So the whole lot has been taken off again and back to the workshop to be cut down, including hatches for the storage areas etc. Hopefully the job will be completed in the next few days, and we will be able to head for Cape Town.
But in between the hassles we’ve been munching our Lotus and enjoying life here. We’ve been to museums and art galleries and second hand book shops, and Sandy found some fabric stores so stocked up with goodness only knows what. Her old sewing machine had rusted and got donated to Davey Jones, and we managed to get a good second hand one from a lady who brought it right to the yacht club. We’re very aware that Bek and Ant will be adding a new member to the family in September, so grandma is furiously crocheting booties and bonnets and blankets.
George and Heather and Craig visited us here a few weeks back and it was great to have family on board again. The lagoon was even kind enough for Heather with her unreliable sea legs. The time slipped away in a lazy haze of fun and laughter. Our friends on Nine of Cups, David and Marci drove up from Cape Town to have a look around, and we had a terrific evening at 34’ South, probably our favourite restaurant.
Well, in 8 days our visas run out, so I guess we’d better face reality and arrange an extension. We thought we’d be well on our way to St Helena by now.
Until next time…