63“We’re from the United States,” I answered.
“That’s the reason,” was his final comment.
With an effort to stay calm I informed the pilot that I
claimed my Geneva Convention right as master of the
vessel Wind Shadow to seek safe anchorage. My crew was
fatigued, bad weather was imminent, and going to sea
would jeopardise their safety and that of my sloop. I
thought I was surely ‘headed for jail without passing Go.’
Instead, the pilot leeringly stated that he would report
what I said to the commanding officer and would return.
Pleasant thoughts of a Monopoly game and roast
chicken for dinner had perished. Lenore wondered if we
should just set sail. We had been lucky on a previous
occasion with bureaucratic issues and had gotten away
with taking such a chance. This time it was dark and we
were exhausted from a sleepless thirty-six-hour passage
around Cape Agulhas. I was not fighting for a principle here,
I was trying to ensure the survival of my crew and vessel.
While we waited for the pilot boat’s return I made a
single-sideband contact with a friend and explained the
situation. Before our conversation had got very far, local
interference made radio communication impossible.
Whether it was in tentional or not we will never know.
An interminable hour went by before the pilot boat
returned. The skipper was completely unemotional. The
commanding officer would allow us to stay on the mooring
until 0600 the next morning. We were prohibited from
going ashore or leaving the boat. We were to maintain a
radio watch on Ch16 VHF and to contact the port control
at the time of departure. Before the last syllable of the last
word had faded, the pilot vessel turned to port and steamed
back to the dock. During the night the front passed through
with all anticipated vehemence. Rounding the Cape of Good
Hope in it would have been far worse than facing arrest.
By 0600 the next day the sun was shining, the
barometer was up, and we were close-reaching toward the
Cape. I was quite confused over the previous night’s
encounter. South Africans had been some of the friendliest,
most cordial people we had met anywhere. Surely it was
an unlucky experience and nothing more. Months later,
we discovered it might have been much more indeed.Nuclear capability
In late September of 1979 there was a strange flash above
the Great Southern Ocean south of Africa. Satellite data
and the response of underwater sonic equipment
prompted the US Defense Department to conclude that it
was an atmospheric nuclear test. Allegations were made
that South Africa and Israel had been jointly involved in
the test. If that were in fact the case, the Simon’s Town
naval facility would have been a logical staging point.
Did we intrude upon an embarrassing military
operation? If so, I guess the South African Navy
finally decided Wind Shadow did not pose
much of a strategic threat.Ralph Naranjo
sailed around the
world with his
wife, Lenore, and
children Tara and
Eric aboard their
Ericson 41 Wind
ShadowRalph Naranjo and
his yacht Wind
Shadow (left)