When I moved “Ocean Blue”, my 31ft Miura sailboat, down to Cape Town way back in 2013, I was totally new to the coastal ocean sailing scene. I had a dream of cruising the coast, stopping at little-visited anchorages and out of the way bays. Armed with the usual formal charts, literature and “pilot guides” to the coastline ‘Blue and her Skipper ventured forth learning both by doing as well as asking questions of those that had “been there, done that”.
The core mission of Sail Ocean Blue is to draw together sailors who love and sail their good old boats in South African waters and build a knowledgebase that is freely accessible to all to inspire more Skippers to take their boats out local coastal cruising. Hopefully the database of knowledge presented here will grow into a resource serving to inspire and to improve coatla cruising safety through the sharing of hands-on local knowledge.
Can you stop for lunch in Sandy Bay? Over-night on anchor at Clifton? What about anchoring off the beach in Hout Bay? You spent the night at anchor off Robben Island?
None of the formal guides and almanacs seem to answer these questions. Many formal resources seem geared toward transiting the coast on a passage from somewhere to somewhere else. But what about the locals and the unexplored spots in between?
In the right conditions you can safely anchor in many spots that are not on the official publications. There are local sailors who regularly and safely have used these anchorages and routes. Creating a shared knowledgebase of these accounts and hands-on information from skippers who have “been there, done that” is the objective.
The owners, users and contributors to this knowledgebase of this website do not claim to be experts. Any and all information gleaned from these pages should be used with due caution. The prudent Skipper should always do their own research and planning using formal and approved charts, weather forecasting services and navigational aids. Having done so, make your own decisions with due regard to safety of vessel and crew.