9 November 2010
We have now formed ourselves into several groups and each day there is a small window of opportunity for each group to scoot across the Agulhas current and down into Richards Bay. One group arrived yesterday morning and Tzigane and Drammer of group two arrive today. Our group is the largest with six boats, Voyageur, Thor VI, Jeannius, Tucanon, Lady Ev VI and Ariane, all due in sometime during the night or early morning of the following day. Just before midnight we reached our waypoint of 28 degrees south and 34 degrees east, the eastern limit of the Agulhas Current. The plan now was to head straight towards the coast as quickly as possible so that when the wind backed and strengthened as it was forecast to do, we would have the waves coming more on the quarter. The barometer took a dive, the pressure dropping from 1012 to 1002 throughout the day. Uh oh, what are we in for? The day had begun well enough, we were making good progress and for the first time since day two of the passage, we saw another set of sails off to our port. It was Jeannius and they echoed our sentiments when they said they had had long enough on their own so we agreed we would stay together for the remainder. The sun shone hotly down upon us but as the day wore on the wind increased and started to back, east, east north east, finally north north east. Throughout the day we gradually reduced sail until we were left with a tiny scrap of genoa but still averaging 8 to 9knots. Voyageur was flying and at one point she surfed down a wave at 10.7knots. With less than thirty miles from the African coast I wondered if I would see land before the sun went down, but as night closed in around us there was nothing but a flat horizon. The winds increased to gale force 7 gusting 8, the seas now rough. We were being buffeted around and life was becoming uncomfortable. I berated myself for not preparing our evening meal earlier. David and Mike agreed to adjust the next waypoint further south to put the wind more on the quarter. At 10pm a breaking wave filled the cockpit and in spite of the full cockpit curtain being in place, water came cascading down the companion steps like a waterfall. Now feeling distinctly sorry for ourselves we mopped up and closed up the hatch and resigned ourselves to a night without sleep. We had previously agreed to a regular three hourly SSB radio net to give our positions, wind conditions and to check everything was ok. I always thought that women were worse than men when it comes to chatting over the phone! As we closed the land and tucked in behind the lee of Cape St. Lucia, the seas flattened and the wind eased. It was absolute bliss. But the Indian Ocean had not finished with us yet. Within one minute the wind swung around to the south west, a shift of 180 degrees and we were now straight into it, Voyageur's bow smashing up and down in the short chop. This was the final sting in the tail. Now we had to short tack. With the engine revs at 2500 we could only manage a measly two to three knots and that was with the advantage of a one and a half knots of current! When our speed at one point dropped to 1.8knots I felt despair. We were still 10 miles away from the breakwater and our fuel was getting low. We clawed our way towards it and finally two hours later we had entered the safety of the breakwater. At buoy number three we waited to be escorted in through the dredged channel by the police launch. There was a very shallow patch to be avoided. Plenty of willing helping hands, crew of Destiny and John from Tzigane and Paul, guided us safely into our berth in spite of the fact it was 2.30am. The relief to reach dry land was overwhelming. The commodore of Zululand Yacht club arrived with a bottle of champagne for ourselves and Jeannius. It was an amazing gesture at that time of night. Although we had both been up all night, the adrenaline was strongly coursing through our tired and emotional bodies so we held a pontoon party right there and then to celebrate our safe landfall. We collapsed into bed at 4.30 am but were up before 9am. With Donald arriving that afternoon there was much to do. John and Jenny gave us a lift in their hire car and we surprised him by meeting him off the plane.
Rod Heikell says in his pilot book that the passage we have just completed is a fast way out of the Indian Ocean! What an uphill struggle it has been for us, the lack of wind, the opposing current being our greatest enemy. Apart from the Gulf of Corryvreckan we have never sailed through such a tricky tidal gate but what makes this area so difficult is the fact that it is 100nm across. It was our sixth ocean crossing and by far the toughest and I can categorically say that I will NEVER sail upon this ocean again. Mind you, I have said that before of the Atlantic!
Susan Mackay