We can’t leave Cape Town yet, as you’ll see from the header (not many rhinos in Australia unless they’re in a zoo). I’ll try not to give you any more pictures of Table Mountain but it may appear in the background, you can’t really get away from it.

The first subject I have to address is The Beard. I see that Commo Keith has also got into the act, see his blog Pretty Much All At Sea. His wife Ruth is in full agreement with me. https://keithsclipperadventure.com/2019/11/21/here-they-go-again/

I did not accompany John on his trip to (probably the same) barber but I think I should have. This is what he brought back, all for my comfort he says. As I have been tasked with carrying it around the world, I guess I’m trusted not to “accidentally” lose it anywhere. I did not notice a scrap of difference, but as The Beard had been trimmed it became like a field of close-cropped stubble once more. To make matters worse, George is now in on the act, along with his Godfather Keith.

The second subject is Kit. The crew have to remove all their kit from the boat so that it can be deep cleaned. The hotel room we stayed at in Punta del Este was quite small so I felt like I was on the boat with having to climb over stuff and the aroma surrounding it all (albeit a level surface). In Cape Town we were able to lay it outside as there was little rain and we had a good sized balcony. A dry suit is a scary object when laid out, like some Thing out of Dr Who. The only issue was it was not an easy walk, especially with all of John’s kit. On the first day going back to the boat, John managed to get lost and was 30 minutes late for his meeting. I’m trying to make sure we have large rooms closer to the marina from now on.

Enough complaining. This time I had an uneventful journey and spent quite a bit of time with other supporters including Anne, Fiona and Keith, featured in Post 57. Plenty of places to eat and drink on the V&A waterfront, which does not stand for Victoria and Albert but Victoria and Alfred, their second son. He was obviously influential around here.

The night that Unicef arrived there were seven of us eating in the Baia fish restaurant, overlooking the jetty. When we saw Unicef arriving we all ran out, to return about half an hour later once the crew had been bussed off to immigration. John found us after the kitchen had closed. Our waiter kindly brought him three bread rolls (plus some wine).

The rest of the time was effectively divided into two, tasks for the boat and sight-seeing. Regarding the first, George’s Godparents Keith and Fiona went along and helped with sail repairs and are now signed up for Seattle was well. I did a bit of flaking (see Post 57) but my main contribution this time was lending a hand with the victualling, as you can see throughout this Post. Having sorted the cans into fruit, vegetables, pulses, meat and fish, we discovered that pineapple is not for pudding but for sweet and sour dishes, so had to go back and re-allocate them in the day bags. Each bag has a bread mix and a cake mix.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned Angie, the Round-The-Worlder on Unicef who is the official Victualler, on the left of the photo above. Unfortunately she fell over in the shower on day 1 in Punta and broke her wrist. Despite this she insisted on supervising the victualling at Punta before flying home to New Zealand. She then flew into Cape Town to oversee it all again. The hope is that she will be able to rejoin the fleet in Fremantle. She has the whole exercise down to a fine art, as long as we listen to her!

I had a trip to Robben Island while waiting for Qingdao to clear immigration, worth going to as it brings back how recently it all happened. The island was reached by a 30 minute ferry ride and with potentially shark-infested waters you can understand why it was impossible to escape. Back on the mainland in the afternoon, we spent the time with Qingdao crew before greeting Punta and Unicef. The breeze had built up by the time they arrived such that they took more than an hour to get to the jetty.

In addition to John being late “to work” the first morning, his phone had reset itself to UTC so his alarm on the second day was two hours late. Luckily I woke up so he made it to the boat on time; another crew member was not so lucky and didn’t arrive until lunchtime.

George, John and I went on a wine trip with a Clipper alumnus and six other crew around Constantia. We visited five very different vineyards (Steenberg, Klein Constantia, Buitenverwachting, High Constantia and Constantia Glen) and voted the “Vin de Constance” from Klein Constantia the best, although the next vineyard we tried, Buitenverwachting, told us their’s had recently been voted the best. Having whetted our appetites and shown us the certificate as proof, they then told us that there was none available!

George also went shark diving one day which he says he enjoyed. The pictures did not make it look appealing to me. OBB were also interviewed by BBC Radio Somerset, the second interview they’ve made (the first being in London before they left).

There were some stunning chandeliers in Cape Town, as well as the one above, which looks like slices of red and green grapes, the one below was in an artisanal shopping area called The Watershed, where John bought me two dresses (Geoff, a fellow Unicef circumnavigator, has been buying one at each port for Cheryl). You can see one in the photo above of me with Cheryl and Fiona and a glass of fizz.

Next time, I really do promise, the full results of the Race so far.