HELLO FROM SOUTH AFRICA

[YPSILANTI]

Greetings. I live in Richards Bay, South Africa. I sailed as crew on a mono hull for many years. We have sailed from Cape Town around the tip of Africa and up the entire East coast of South Africa. We also sail into Southern Mozambique yearly. Ive now purchased a 50 ft catamaran. Id like to venture further North into Mozambique and Madagascar. Id also like to sail the Cape to Rio race in about 2 years time and then do the Bahamas. Thereafter, we'll see what transpires. Ive been lurking on this forum for some time and am so impressed how helpful members are and how easily solutions are found for most queries.
Regards
Mike

[sy_gilana]

Welcome...Moenie kak praat nie!

[Steadman Uhlich]

Howdy Mike! Welcome Aboard CF!

When I read your intro, the first thing that came to mind is you should learn about a CF member who has spent many years living aboard a cat with his family and has cruised the East African coast extensively. Look for a member with screen name Bulawayo. He has a LOT of experience that may prove helpful to you and your goals. As I recall he lives in Zimbabwe, but has a lot of time in Mozambique.

Below, I will post some tips I think you might find useful:

There is a free Cruiser's Wiki associated with this forum.

There is a LOT of free content in that wiki. Including "cruising guides."

My favorite tip:

Looking for Quick Answers?

This is the best and fastest method I have found to the answers I seek here.
Since you are relatively new to the forum, here is my favorite friendly forum search tip: Look at the green menu bar on the forum pages for the drop down "Search" menu. Click on that to drop down a list of search functions. From that drop down menu select the GOOGLE CUSTOM search feature (the second box down) and then enter several different descriptive terms for your topic of interest. That will do a Custom google search of ONLY this site and it is likely to find answers to your questions or results for you. Note: this is different from using the regular forum search box or field. Also note, this is NOT found if you use the CF app. It IS found if you use a web browser such as Safari, etc.

[Bulawayo]

Hi Mike......and thanks Steady.
We left RNYC in 1995 on our cat and have been cruising the Indian Ocean / Red Sea ever since with a couple of forays over to Caribbean and South America. We have recently sold our most recent cat, a V45 altho' the new owners have allowed us to continue to live aboard due to a massive downturn in their business.

Let me know if we can be of assistance - we are very familiar with the area's you mention. If you are looking at an East Coast cruise with a jump over to Madagascar you'll not regret it as there is stunning cruising to be done there. The 'however' is that it is a little late in the season to be heading up this route and if you do leave now I would urge keeping a close eye on the weather.
There are some amazing places to visit that are not in any of guides which I can also give you as well as other info like reprovisioning / fuelling etc and places to go to.
What cat have you moved to? An SF50?
Good luck.

[YPSILANTI]

Thanks Steady and Bulawayo. The search tip will be invaluable. I was wondering how to go about it and hadn't yet researched the process. Thats a huge help. My Cat is built in Cape Town. Most are sold in the Bahamas. Shes comfortable and has had a few crossings by previous owners but she needs some work. I need to redo the rigging and upgrade her somewhat over the next 18 months. Ill certainly contact you Bulawayo and appreciate the offer of assistance.

Rgds
Mike