False Bay Crossing to Hangklip

Our earliest wake-up yet, 03h45, to pick up our safety duck and crew at Big Bay lifesaving club before a long drive past Simonstown to Millers Point to launch. We were eventually on the water at 06h30. It was fantastic to have my good mate “Beetle” Bailey along, his Cape Point Challenge training paddle. A pod of seals came porpoising past and I turned to him: “I don’t like seeing this, it’s often a sign something may be chasing them.”

Shortly after, the safety boat drew alongside and told us a pod of killer whales was coming our way. What magnificent creatures, about fifteen of them with a juvenile among the pod, sped past only a few boat lengths away without giving us a second glance. Definitely the highlight of the trip so far. The deal with the safety boat was that if they spotted anything of concern they’d come alongside fast, so when the rubber duck came motoring toward us later, Beetle and I paddled close together bracing for the next thing in the water, only to be told we were now half way.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful in comparison. The last hour the wind and swells lined up nicely for some great downwind conditions until we passed the Hangklip lighthouse and turned into Masbaai for a short upwind to the slipway.