Passage to Namibia

Lüderitz, Namibia, December 2018

We left Cape Town on Saturday December 15th 2018 with the 13:15 V&A Waterfront marina swing bridge opening. When calling Port Control over the VHF on channel 14 to ask permission to leave the harbor for one last time, I felt the importance of the moment and didn't forget to thank the people in the tower and wish them happy holidays: "Port Control, Port Control, Port Control, this is Sailing Vessel Oroboro, Oroboro, Oroboro over... [...] Port Control we are asking permission to leave the V&A Waterfront, destination Brazil via Luderitz and Walvis Bay in Namibia and then St Helena... [...] Port Control on behalf of the whole crew on Oroboro I wanted to thank you for keeping us safe, and I wish you happy holidays. We love your country and hope we'll be back one day! [...] To which they replied: Thank you Oroboro, we were happy to have you here! Fair winds!

Saying farewell to the Cape Grace marina team

Oroboro clears the V&A Waterfront swing bridge — leaving Cape Town

Waving goodbye as Oroboro passes through the swing bridge

Saturday December 15th, 2018

The first day we had strong winds over 25 knots, so we sailed with deeply reefed main and jib. Around midnight the wind increased dramatically, so we had to drop the main. We sailed nicely under jib only. The swell was fairly big with waves up to 3 meters.

Sunday December 16th, 2018

At 7 am on the second day, we hoisted the Parasailor. What a difference it made! Oroboro sailed really nicely, with winds about 15/20 knots at 150 degrees. At 1600 local time we caught the first fish: a big Yellowtail! Almost one meter long and 5 kg! Yuka prepared a great sashimi and sushi dinner.

Monday December 17th, 2018

The third day at 3 am the wind suddenly died. There was a small low pressure system south of Cape Town that messed up the south easterly winds. We had to motor from 3 am until next day. There was really nothing else that could be done, we tried to stop and wait drifting, but the swell made it really uncomfortable, so we started the engine again and kept motoring. On a positive note, the sunset was spectacular.

Tuesday December 18th, 2018

In the afternoon the wind came back and we hoisted the asymmetrical spinnaker. The sea was flat, so Oroboro was sailing very nicely along the coast from Orange river to Luderitz, where we arrived around 9:30 pm. Usually it is not a good idea entering a harbor that you don't know at night, but we didn't have any other option. Luckily the port control guy over the VHF was very friendly, and gave us useful tips on where to anchor.

German colonial architecture in Lüderitz

Luderitz, Namibia

The next morning we went on shore to check in with custom and immigrations, and the procedure was a breeze. We didn't have to pay any money, unlike in some countries in the Caribbean, and the authorities were very friendly and laid back. For the first time since I was a child I saw a carbon copy paper used for filling in the immigration forms!

Yuka at Lüderitz customs and passport control

Luderitz itself was a surprise — a small German colonial town on the edge of the Namibian desert, with colourful Art Nouveau buildings that looked like they had been picked up from Hamburg and dropped on the Skeleton Coast. A day trip out to Kolmanskop, the diamond-mining ghost town a few kilometres inland, was unmissable. Abandoned in 1956, the desert is slowly reclaiming it.

Looking out through a crumbling Kolmanskop window onto the desert

The main house at Kolmanskop, half-buried in sand

Numbers:

Our passage lasted 79 hours, we covered 433 nautical miles, 35 of which under engine. We had winds ranging from 3 to 26 knots. The wind angle was from 140 to 160 degrees.

Thoughts:

We used all possible sailing combinations. Main and jib, jib only, parasailor, asymmetrical spinnaker. We are very happy when sailing with the Parasailor, that was the best dollar spent on the boat. Totally worth it.

Night watches were hard, especially the shift from midnight to 3 am. Full moons and starry skies help a lot. So does freshly baked cake.

The crew:

Last but not least, I think there can't be any crew better than this. We are even getting a South African accent with a slight Portuguese twist. And Joao and Ligia are learning some Italian as well!

Francesco and Yuka at the Kolmannskuppe entrance

Life is good.

Namibian coastline — desert dunes meeting the Atlantic

Every anchorage — Cape Town to Namibia, Dec 2018

79 hours and 433nm from Cape Town to Lüderitz, then north along the Skeleton Coast.

Anchorage maps

Zoomed charts of each Namibia stop, with GPS track overlay.

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. GPS tracks from Raymarine chartplotter, archived December 2018.