Year 3 -5 August 2026 -Cape Town-South Africa

It was a cool grey day when I woke and there was some wind. I had the usual breakfast and waited for the water tank guys to come.

They came to fit the cradle for the tank but one of the fittings was in the wrong place so they will have to adjust it again and come back. They said they will try and do it today or tomorrow am. Annoying- as this leave me without water for longer. However, they did put a new water fitting on the deck. Some idiot had not screwed it on properly and had cross threaded it and must have used some force with the winch handle to have got it flush to the deck. It was hard to get off but once off the only thing to do was to change the fitting as the thread was damaged.

I decided to go off and see how they were getting on with the mast. They had taken all the spreaders off and had taken them to have the strengthening plates fitted.  Chris dropped the bombshell that this could all take 2 weeks which would delay our planned departure by 4-5 days. I stressed the importance of timing and they are aware of this and will do their best to get it finished as soon as they can. I also asked whether the Selden parts had arrived yet and Chris said not that he is aware.

I contacted Warren, who runs the rigging company and he said they have not received any confirmation yet of shipping. I therefore made contact with the contact I had at Selden and he said they are gathering the parts and will send as soon as he can.

I therefore came back a little despondent and messaged all the crew coming to Cape Town to let them know and hoped it will not affect their plans and so they were aware. Luckily they all replied no problem at this stage.

When I was with Chris – the rigger he said he was taking out a catamaran to test a new carbon sail this pm and Nathan the engineer was at the mast as well who worked on the catamaran. He had helped with our lines when we moved Stormbird. I asked whether I could come and help and they said yes of course. I have never sailed on a proper catamaran before and I was keen to see what it was like. I agreed to meet them about 1.30pm at the boat which was called Kealoah.

When ready I walked across to Kealoah- which is a Hawaiian word and given name that means “the love” or “the beloved one”.

KC54 Kealoha is an all-carbon fibre, high-performance luxury sailing catamaran built by Kinetic Catamarans and sea-trialled in Cape Town. It features advanced composite construction, dual helm stations, and custom sailing hardware designed for fast, blue-water ocean cruising and handling.

The boat is owned by Dutchman but registered in Poland and was built by Kinetic in Knysna South Africa. It apparently cost about 3m Euros. It certainly looked expensive and with a great carbon fibre mast and in boom furling mainsail. The sails were all black. I met Nathan and Chris who were already on board and 2 guys from North sails came to join us to test the sail and the owner’s representative.

Kinetic Catamarans was founded in 2018 and has established itself as a creator of innovative, quality performance catamarans. A US company with its yard based in Knysna, South Africa, Kinetic is a joint venture between Bob Hayward; a successful US real estate developer and entrepreneur and Leon Scheepers; a highly respected South African boatbuilder with vast experience and knowledge in multihull production. Both are keen sailors and passionate about the boating industry, as well as committed to improving it. They currently make 2 models the KC54 and the K6 -which is either 64 or 68 feet.  

I had talked to Chris before getting on board and everything is electric and so if the electrics fail then you cannot get the sails down. There are so many systems and the boat is extremely complicated.  

We got on board and whilst everything looked nice and new the galley was quite full with a large island. There was a helm position at the back on each float and one in the centre of the boat at the front although the pillar holding the mast up was in front of the helm and there was also a narrow window to look through. The throttle levers were a step away and so it did not seem to have been worked out very well.  

We threw off the lines and headed out of the harbour through both swing bridges and inside the breakwater and the mainsail went up. Chris wanted 2 reefs in it as the wind was gusting 20-25 knots. For some reason Nathan had to raise the mainsail fully before he could put in two reefs.

We then excited the final basin and were into the swell and were off. As the wind was very strong they decided that in order to put up the new carbon genoa (£30,000) we would have to be sailing downwind. This is was we did and the sail looked fine, not huge and it was a self- tacking genoa on a rail on the coach roof. We sailed around for an hour or so and it was interesting. The boat is quite fast and light but the motion which I can only describe as being a bit like a seesaw. The two different hulls move a little differently which creates that motion. I helmed a bit and the steering was a little stiff I thought in comparison to Stormbird.

I saw how tricky it was to manage the systems and you have to go outside at the front to get the sails up and manage the winches etc and so I was not convinced about catamaran sailing and felt that a monohull like Stormbird was much simpler and more authentic.

I did helm when we brought the boat back into the swing bridges and because you have very little in the way of a keel, the wind blows the boat around so when motoring slowly you have to use the engines a lot more. However, as you have 2 engines you can almost turn the boat on a sixpence as you can use reverse one engine and go forward on the other. It took a short while to get used to it and which engine to use to keep it one way or the other but I soon got the hang of it.

We came in to moor and tidied up. I was very happy to have had a go and one short sail may not be enough to come to an final opinion. However, I prefer the monohull from a sailing perspective and I think these new catamarans are extremely complicated and there is a lot to go wrong. Apart from not having the Euro 3m I think I will stick to what I have got thanks.

Once we cleared up we went for a debrief in the bar. I was the only one wearing a life jacket the whole time and there had been no safety briefing. If things had gone wrong or if we had hit anything then who knows what would have happened.

I got back to Stormbird and they had fitted the hot water tank so I could now turn the emersion on. He needs to come back tomorrow to fit some strengthening straps and to test the tank with the engine and generator on as they feed the hot water tank when on but that is fine.

It had been a good day on the whole other than the delay in the rig being completed. However, safety is very important and I do not want to leave with any question over the rig.   

 The picture of the day has to be of the KC54 Catamaran Kealoah.

 Need/Opportunity Year Three

I am now on the way to Durban and will then head for Cape Town and then on to St Helena, Azores and back to the UK. 

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com