Bateleur anchored off ELYC after weekend racing.

It is difficult to pinpoint the moment when an idea evolves from just being an idea; even more difficult is to make a timeline of the events. At some stage, in the early days of bringing up a young family, we realized that the conventional lifestyle of both parents working, leaving when the kids were asleep and popping in for a good night kiss, wasn’t going to cut it for us. Life demanded that a change be made. An idea solidified, that the only logical and feasible way to see the world and participate meaningfully in our children’s lives (with limited funds), would be on a yacht.

Sometime before this epiphany I had my first yachting experience. We had the good fortune of having ‘influential’ friends at the Border undersea club (scuba diving), who spewed forth connections which, armed with enthusiasm and ignorance, gained us a spot on the shittiest bird poo boat in the harbour. Not to be daunted we did go out for a sail. Enjoying a sundowner back in harbor, an ill-advised seagull chose to land on our vessel’s spreader. Without skipping a beat, our skipper let out a stream of expletives, disappeared down the companion way and reappeared armed with a pellet gun. My shock and horror, he blew the poor bird off the spreader and it landed with a thud in the cockpit – dead, dilapidated animal and feathers everywhere.

Kate’s artistic interpretation…

Young and resilient, the cruising idea didn’t evaporate completely…

Dad being young and resilient.

Skip ahead a few years and we have Bateleur and Dylan.

Enter the East London Yacht Club.

Skip ahead a few months… and Kate.

East London Yacht Club back in the day.

Bateleur, owned and raced in partnership, introduced us into the energetic community at the Yacht Club, including very capable and fabulous long term friends, Jeremy and Anita Bagshaw, and  Ian and Jenny Cunningham to name a few. Wednesday afternoon and weekend racing encompassed our lives with long sunny braais, children, hobies, banter, camaraderie and the inevitable pub debauchery with endless jokes; at times nearly moving in completely when cars were reversed up to accommodate sleepy children.

My mother was and still is stunning.

Bateleur days culminated with competing in the Lipton Cup in 1992 in Hout Bay. Many untold stories surround this adventure, to which us left behind weren’t privy, but enough positive ground was gained towards our idea to go cruising.

Remarkable Postcard of Buffalo River.

On a visit to East London in 2009, my mom and I came across this postcard. It is of the Buffalo River, where all three of our yachts are, by total coincidence, moored one behind the other. Bateleur in front, Gambit directly behind and Finesse (then still Mystique) just cut off in the top right corner. An utterly remarkable picture for our family, guess we will have to photoshop Katlyn in.

– Val

Friends, we are very keen to add to the Bateleur photos that we know are out there, email us, will pay top $$$$.