South Africa

Rounding Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is a headland on the southwestern coast of South Africa, near the city of Cape Town. Much of South Africa’s coastline rises quickly to mountains of the Drakensberg Range. Miles of coastline entertained us on our short 3 day passage to around the Cape of Good Hope.

St. Francis Cats

Kruger National Park

SOUTH AFRICA

Kruger
National
Park

Johannesburg

Cape St Francis offered a good supply of sun, sea and legendary waves for our dedicated surfers onboard. The guys (Adam, Warren, Sky and Grant) took off most afternoons after boat chores to prepare for our Atlantic Crossing. Off they trudged in their long wetsuits to Seal Point, and Bruce's Beauties -- the famous waves of Cape St. Francis.

Back in the 1960s, film maker Bruce Brown was searching the world for the perfect wave. He found it at St Francis Bay, and named the waves “Bruce’s Beauties”. His classic surf cult movie, "Endless Summer", launched the big surf industry, as it is today. Since then, Bruce was crowned 'the Father of Surf Films'.

Situated midway between Port Elizabeth and Knysna, the picturesque holiday village of St Francis Bay lies nestled among dunes that line the beautiful Bay of St Francis. The Kromme River twists and winds its tranquil way down to a magnificent marina where the gracious white walled thatched homes are reflected in the quiet water of the canals. We took a morning boat ride through the canals to capture the full beauty of the area.

Surfing the Cape of St Francis

When we arrived in South Africa, we met my mother and niece at the Johannesburg airport, then caught a direct flight to Port Elizabeth, where a nice young fellow from the St. Francis Shipyard collected us with his large pick-up - thank goodness, because we had a PILE of luggage!

Scud was in the last finishing touches of completion. After giving our thumbs up of approval to the tradesmen and management, we returned to Johannesburg, where we rented a car to drive to Kruger National Park. Sharing a border with Zimbabwe, Kruger is a short days drive northeast from J'burg and supports some of the viewing of big animals in the world. When we returned a month later to board our finished "Scud", we found her waiting for us at the St. Francis Marina. She gleamed in bright sunlight and we nearly fell to our knees in joy in seeing her.

When Sky and Grant Olson arrived two weeks later, we took our virgin sail out into the large bay with Duncan. Three weeks later, we rounded the Cape of Good Hope with big grins on our faces. Just like Duncan Letherbridge promised, "it was nothing to worry about." Our passage, though exciting and adventurous, was remarkable in that we expereinced virtually no bad weather -- thanks to Duncan's sage advice on a timely departure.

The St Francis Shipyard is well-known for its seaworthy vessels. Other than "Scud", several have sailed around the world. Being performance cats, they are as swift as the wind. When in busy ports, we arrived in port days ahead of the cruising fleet. The cat's extended cruising capabilties has satified us well and we feel the design offers the best live aboard arrangement around. We've either raced, sailed alongside, or been entertained aboard all the cat designs in our thirty years of bluewater sailing.

CEO
Duncan Lethbridge

Virgin Sail

St Francis Marina

St Francis Bay

Bruce’s Beauties

Stretching from Cape Receife in the east to Cape St Francis further west, Jeffreys Bay lies like a jewel midway between the Gamtoos and Kromme Rivers and the two estuaries of the Kabeljous and Seekoei Rivers.

Only 20 minutes away be car from the St. Francis Bay Marina, J'bay (vernacular) is world renowned for its safe beaches and surfing waves, with many different surf breaks like 'Kitchen Window', 'Tubes', 'Super Tubes', 'Point' and 'Albatross'. After shopping in Humansdrop for boat supplies, we often changed course to whisk over to J'Bay for the guys to pull in added legendary surfing with the giants, like Mike Hynson and Robert August before them, who travelled the world to film surfing documentaries.

This surf spot is for the fearless, and is considered as the ultimate wave ride.

St Francis Marina

St Francis Bay Village

Jeffreys Bay

A surf spot for the fearless, this exposed point break along the Jeffrey's Bay coastline, is favoured alongside Jeffreys Bay (nicknamed 'J-Bay') as an ultimate wave ride.

Suitable for experienced surfers who enjoy uncrowded surfs even in pumping swells. Most of Seal Point's swell is generated from ground swells with an angle from a South South Easterly direction producing the best swell. An off shore wind blowing in a North Westerly direction is the best breeze to surf this point in.

Seal Point

Capetown

Billabong Surf Shop

THE BIG FIVE

and etc......

Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers 7,332 sq miles and extends 350 220 miles from north to south and 6037 miles from east to west. The Park shares its eastern boundaries with Mozambique and its northern boundary with Zimbabwe.

The area that the park currently encompasses was occupied by nomadic hunter-gatherers for thousands of years. People from Europe arrived in the early eighteenth century, launching the Big Game hunting that was soon idolized in Hollywood films. The park was initially created to control hunting and protect the diminished number of animals in the park.

When we pulled into the entrance of Kruger, we had no idea how adventurous our safari was going to be. Within five days, we had seen the BIG FIVE (leopard, lion, buffalo, rhino and elephant). Our van was taken hostage by a thick herd of buffalo for several hours and we were stuck, unable to move, until a ranger drove up to help us escape - he simply pushed their rumps out of the way with his jeep! An big elephant charged us and a number of lions wouldn't let us pass, as they lay lanquishing acrross the dirt road.

She did it, Mommy!

Run!

This Cape Buffalo held us captive with his entire herem for several hours.

Marina against the backdrop of Table Mountain

Passage Around the Cape of Good Hope

The St Francis Shipyard is nestled inside St. Francis Bay, which is located just south of Port Elizabeth. CEO, Duncan Lethbridge, tested his design in the rough waters around Cape Town, making sure they handled with ease in some of the roughest waters in the world.

Chacma Baboons

Landfall!

Table Mountain National Park stretches from flat-topped Table Mountain to Cape Point, and covers some three quarters of the peninsula.

A cableway took us to the top of the 1086m-high mountain in the early morning when visibility and conditions were best.

Victoria & Alfred Waterfront Marina

Ubuntu means true African hospitality and care for fellow human beings. Inst. Francis Bay, we became acquainted with a boat owner, who offered us his treasure marina slip at the Victoria complex. What a dream spot for a boat full of teens. It was safe, lively and fun, jam packed full unique international cuisine.

Green Point Surf

After boat chores, the boys walked around Mouille Point to the famous surf sites of Sea Point and Green Point. Barrels of waves against the backdrop of container ships and sailboats rolled onshore. Beneath them, a slick carpet of kelp pulled at their rudders. Warren was propelled backward, when his fin snagged a kelp blade. When I saw it from onshore, my heart thudded into my throat, thinking it might have been a shark.

A cake walk of only three days, our passage was an experience we'll never forget. Sea birds, otters, Cape penguins and large schools of dolphins surrounded our twin hulls on all compass points during the day.

As we rounded the Cape of Good Hope and pulled into Capetown, we were graced with a clear view of Table Mountain, which is normally cloaked in its white, lacy tablecloth. In Victoria Basin, Cape Seals drank from fresh water out take from the Capetown fishing fleet.

St Francis Cats

Surfs Up!

Jeffreys Bay

Safari

Landfall

Capetown

N. American Dealer:

St Francis Marine