Californian-born Matt Ray, who has been circumnavigating the world since 2016, is one of the many crew members of 13 international yachts that docked at the East London harbour this week.
Ray has worked on five yachts and has visited hundreds of harbours in more than 20 countries, and has now added SA’s only river port to his list.
“I’m currently a crew member on the Princess Diamond.
“East London was our next stop and we’ve been here for a couple of days.
“We’re off to Mossel Bay next and finally Cape Town.
“We’ll spend about a month there before making our way to Brazil,” said Ray, who was a computing consultant for 25 years before deciding he needed a change of scenery.
The Princess Diamond is one of the independent circumnavigating yachts docked at the harbour, while 11 of the other yachts form part of a group from the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (Arc), an annual transatlantic sailing event.
Buffalo River Yacht Club committee member Graham Wentworth said: “The rally starts and ends in the Canary Islands.
“Our port is a good stop over because it’s very sheltered and it’s the first real stop sailors have after Durban.
“We host the Arc sailors each year before they make their way to Cape Town.”
Among the 13 yachts docked at the EL harbour is a magnificent 43m super yacht, the Sea Eagle.
According to a crew member who wished to remain anonymous, Sea Eagle is making its way from Mauritius to Cape Town and stopped over in East London to steer clear of bad weather.
Southern Cross Cruises owner and skipper John Barry said that from October to December each year, the yachts made their way to the city’s port due to the rough seas and weather along the Wild Coast.
He said this was the biggest group of yachts that had docked in the last few years. “It’s the best time to sail around SA because of the predominantly easterly winds.
“The yachts come every year, but it’s been a long time since a group this big has stayed over.
“There was a time when you’d find 30 to 40 yachts docked at our harbour,” said Barry, who has been operating cruises at the East London harbour since 2003.
“The numbers of visiting yachts dwindled for a long time, but it seems to be picking up.”
Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) corporate affairs manager Terry Taylor said the port had made some improvements in 2018 including making additional mooring buoys available to secure smaller vessels such as yachts.
“It’s wonderful to have them in our port and we have a very accommodating yacht fraternity at the Buffalo Yacht Club.
“We’re hoping to revitalise Latimers Landing and the jetty and that both will become a nice attraction for future visitors,” said Taylor...