Oziyesa on the rocks
⚓ Oziyesa on the rocks ⚓
It’s a message you never want to get.😱
Plan “C”!
Unfortunately, the truck ride for Osiyeza to Cape Town fails to take shape as hoped. The backup Plan “D” is initiated on Wednesday. My brother-in-law, Kevin, and mate Ralph are going to drive up to Walvis Bay with a trailer and so we will tow Oziyesa home.
Sounds simple enough!
Get an affidavit from the owner to take the trailer across the border. Get the new license disk printed from the traffic department. Have your nostrils scraped for the PCR test at least 72 hours before crossing into Namibia and quickly check and grease the wheel bearings.
All items get sorted with great effort except the traffic department. They are offline!
For two full days nothing can happen.
The 72 hours’ time limit is starting to run out. Final option is to get the disk on Saturday morning on the third day and rush up to the border with a few hours to spare.
Stellenbosch traffic department, who apparently are the only department that can issue the license, decide not to open. No reason given. They must have decided that if they were offline on Friday why open on Saturday?
Plan “D” is still in the making.
Kevin and Ralph have gone for another nasal probe and are waiting for the results. Monday morning, fingers crossed, they can get the license disk and start the two-day trek to Walvis Bay.
In the meantime, I have been getting prepared on this end for their arrival. With the help of John Woolf, a local surfski paddler from Swakopmund, and Michael, a local yachtsman we moved Osiyeza under one of the jetties. We do this so I can suspend the keel using the jetty. Once lifted a few inches I can remove the bolts and drop the keel out through the bottom of the keel box. It was a smooth operation and with the help of a small chain block we retrieved the keel from the seabed and hauled it ashore.
With the keel removed Osiyeza can lie flat on the trailer. We also managed to collect ten old car tyres from a local fitment centre on which Osiyeza will rest before being strapped tightly down onto the trailer. We then moved Osiyeza back to her mooring buoy.
I spent the weekend with John and took in the sights of Swakopmund. I had a grand old time. Meeting so many wonderful people. A chance stop at the Namib Dunes Craft Brewery that filled most of Saturday afternoon if you know what I mean. 🍻
We did the local coffee houses, Slow Town and Two Beards. Both excellent.
In the evening it’s a family affair at the Woolf’s to play cards. I have not played a card game in more than a decade, but you can’t not join in. It must have been beginners’ luck as I ended up coming out tops. The reward was a Sunday treat to Ice & Spice, the local ice cream parlour.
It was on the way here that I received the message.
“Urgently get hold of the Yacht Club. You kayak has come off its mooring”
Oh crap!
How?
Faaak!
John and I rush off to Walvis Bay and to the yacht club. We manage to get hold of the Commodore, Theo, and he says Osiyeza has been towed to the club jetty. You can imagine what thoughts were racing through my mind.
When we got to the club, I found Osiyeza almost high and dry on the beach in front of the clubhouse. The line that was tied to the buoy had chaffed through.
The kind people who rescued Osiyeza explained that they saw her drifting from the mooring and then onto the rocks. They went with their boat to see what they could do. The one lady said she jumped in the water and swam between Osiyeza and the rocks to push her off. She successfully managed to do this but got quite a bruising for her efforts.
Inspecting Osiyeza I could not see any structural damage, so we eventually pushed Osiyeza off the beach and towed her to another mooring. This time I tied her up with much thicker lines courtesy of Michael’s yacht.
I shudder when I think what would have happened if she broke loose during the night when there was no one there to see or rescue her!
A close call but “all well that ends well.”
I have been here for seven days and am no closer to solving the issues with Osiyeza.
Feeling so frustrated but give thanks to the amazing folk looking after me which makes it all a little more tolerable.
