The Journey – Where did it start?

Condor – V and A Waterfront, Cape Town

Yesterday I was back on the internet looking at some of my favourite boats. Shock and horror –
Most of them have now been sold!
I console myself with the notion that I am not quite ready to buy our dream craft yet anyway, and the right one will come along at the right time.
Then I had a bit of a reminisce about where this passion for small boats developed –
As a youngster I did quite a bit of dinghy sailing, and after leaving school went straight off to sea.
Dont really know why – it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Stayed with the same shipping company, and obtained my Master’s Certificate in 1979.
A few years later, I was working in an onshore position, about the time the V and A Waterfront came into existence.
I started skippering private and charter boats as a fun side line. I loved it and found I was pretty good at small boat handling.

Spirit of Victoria – V and A Waterfront, Cape Town

Pictured are three that I have skippered over the years –

Condor – a 20 metre, steel, twin engined boat, licenced to take up to 60 passengers on day trips. She handled really well.
We did harbour cruises, sunset trips down to Clifton Beach, as well as corporate charters.
She was the first charter boat to operate in the V and A Waterfront in Cape Town.

Spirit of Victoria was one of the first sailing boats offering cruises here.

Kiara – anchored off Clifton Beach

Kiara – a 35 metre luxury motor yacht also with twin diesel engines. She could sleep 12 passengers in 6 sumptuos double cabins, and also
carried some Boys Toys in the form of 2 jet skis and a fancy rubber duck with 2 large outboards. All this required a crew of 7.
In my previous post – Boating in Cape Town – I talked about why I don’t want to own my own craft in Cape Town –
These same reasons, the sea conditions and limited places to cruise, plus the fact there is very little market here for this price range of cruising, meant we did not have many charters.

Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun aboard her. The picture (taken from the rubber duck) shows us anchored off Clifton Beach on a glorious day.