Meet the Boks’ floating fan club
● Work comes first for Capt Reagan Paul, master of South Africa’s 83m emergency coastal response vessel Umkhuseli. But shipping emergencies aside, there’s nothing that will stop Paul and his crew from watching the Bokke play, even in the deep sea.
The rugby-mad skipper sometimes steers his ship away from signal blind spots along the coast to ensure uninterrupted TV viewing, and faithfully observes “Bok Fridays”. His crew sport Springbok caps and South African flags, and cram into Umkhuseli’s TV room to watch the Rugby World Cup — if they can.
“We got a call-out just before the opening ceremony,” he explained this week on the ship’s bridge. The vessel is on standby duty at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. “We were halfway along the coast to PE [Gqeberha] when it was cancelled.
“Obviously our primary goal is to be on coastal emergency standby,” said Paul, who nevertheless does what he can to ensure live sporting action.
For instance, if there is a blind spot (of satellite coverage), “where possible and if it does not influence the safety of navigation, I will amend the ship’s course. We’ll still be going in the right direction but the guys can watch sport.”
He’s quick to clarify that such navigational discretion is used strictly during standby periods when not engaged in an emergency and does not affect operations.
Though frequently at sea, the crew were fortunate to be on standby at the Cape Town port for the quarterfinals, with some able to take shore leave provided they were only 30 minutes or less away. Most of the crew plan to watch the semifinals on board.
Equally fervent about the Bokke is second-in-command and chief engineer Claudius Clutties, who paid tribute to the ship’s resident electrician for maintaining connectivity. “There can be no excuses,” he quipped. “It’s a case of ‘make a plan, now!’”
Also feeling the heat is the lone All Blacks supporter, bosun Gregory Claassen: “If the All Blacks lose then I am sure they will tease me for a couple of months. But it’s a healthy rivalry.”
The crew is not the only fan club going the extra mile to support the Boks. A Kruger National Park shop assistant at Crocodile Bridge rest camp made a plan for visitors to watch the action last weekend.
“A big shoutout to the lady named Delight who works in the shop at Crocodile Bridge — she offered to fetch her TV from Komatipoort so we could connect my laptop for the rugby game,” read a post shared on Facebook.
One commentator joked: “I hope your cheers haven’t frightened all the animals away.”