Tag: Table Mountain
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South Africa, Leaving Cape Town in 1982
We departed the Royal Yacht Club in Cape Town in February 1982. None of us are entirely sure of the exact date; I have as yet to locate Scally’s logbook amongst my father’s stuff at the farm. We had stocked up on provisions, Scally was all ready and prepared, and were headed off on what was for me, my first long sailing trip on Scally. (My father, mother and oldest of my three younger brothers, who was fourteen at the time, had sailed Scally alone from Durban to Cape Town in January).
None of us knew what was in store of us on the south Atlantic, on what was expected to be a fourteen-day journey to St Helena. Well, maybe my father did, but he didn’t share much with us. Not long out at sea, we all got to experience the unpredictability of the ocean, its unwelcome and highly changeable weather patterns, dark grey and threatening skies above, gales and high winds, heavy rain, stormy and violent seas, and for me, severe sea-sickness.
After about ten days of this, the weather finally calmed and cleared, the sun came out, literally and figuratively, and we set about getting ready to sight the island, taking turns sitting on the stanchions on the bow to see who would spot the island first.
After fourteen days, she was in sight, and we anchored, safely, in the bay at Jamestown. Scally, and my father, had brought us safely to our first port of call.
Dates: I left Cape Town in early January 2026.
Departing Cape Town 
Yachties waving us off 
Leaving Cape Town 
My mother and two younger brothers in the cockpit 
The oldest of my brothers 
Docked in Jamestown, my youngest brother at the helm 
Tabel Mountain Retreating -
South Africa, Returning to Cape Town
I arrived in Cape Town for the beginning of my three-month sabbatical, on the last day of 2025. The Mother City, as it’s also fondly called. Every time I come, I am reminded of the warmth, kindness and genuineness that South Africans share with everyone around them. There is positivity and colour everywhere you turn.
On this, the last day of the year, I drove to False Bay and Simon’s Town for a cup of tea and looked out across the bay, imagining Scally and my Mom, Dad and Manuel sailing by all those years ago. A few days later, I set about to find where Scally was moored just before departure from South Africa. The Royal Yacht Club.
The port of Cape Town is enormous, with lots of nooks and cranny’s for all sorts of vessels from small boats, fishing boats, passenger liners, cargo ships and oil tankers with all manner of flags and ports of origin, yachts and other types of pleasure boats. It dominates the city and can be seen from everywhere, so finding it was not hard. Finding the entrance to the yacht club on the other hand, took more than a few tries. I had to go through at least three barriers and show my ID and driving licence, open the boot, open my bags, explain why I was there and who I was visiting. I finally made it but had to fill out a lot of personal details at the entrance to the RYC before finally being let in, with a stern warning not to go onto any of the pontoons.
I possess a very old photo from the day of our departure in 1982, and so knew more or less where Scally would have been moored. I walked along the wharf a little and saw the pontoon where she had been, although the pontoons in those days were significantly more rudimentary. You couldn’t imagine a more idyllic and dramatic setting for a yacht marina than this one; the backdrop of the magnificent and imposing Table Mountain on one side and the wide open Atlantic on the other. I ordered an iced coffee and sat in the sunshine overlooking the RYC and its yachts and boats, and imagined all of us getting ready to depart all those years ago.
Dates: I was in Cape Town in January 2026.
The port road at the Cape Town Docks 
The entrance to the RYC 
View of Table Mountain from RYC 
The jetty at RYC in Cape Town where Scally was moored 
The Royal Yacht Club Cape Town