17 November 2010
We slept like logs. During breakfast the local police launch came by and politely asked us to re-anchor. A ship was coming into the dry dock and we were in the way. He also asked to check our papers and gave us some very useful information on the local weather conditions. Local knowledge is worth its weight in gold! He thought the weather looked all right for leaving today. The wind was still in the south, southeast but was forecast to back east, to north east overnight. It would be bumpy start for sure so I prepared our evening meal. We noticed the bottom two steps of the passarelle missing. They had obviously been washed away by a wave at some point. This ocean has not been kind to us. We spent a relaxed morning watching the goings on of this major port. The previous evening squads of drivers had brought spanking new class 'C' Mercedes from a multi storey car park onto the dockside ready for export. They looked like a line of little beetles. This is the only place in the world where these cars are made. But before they could be loaded onto the ship, we watched as all morning cars rolled off the loading ramp. They were an assortment of Japanese models. These transporters can take up to 5,000 cars. We felt miniscule in relation to this towering monster berthed no more than 50metres away. All six of us left in the early afternoon. It was grey and damp again. In complete contrast to our exit from Durban, we picked up this fierce some current as soon as we cleared the breakwater but from now on it will start to weaken. Our whales appeared again to wish us well on our way, their great flukes thrashing the surface. Keeping 3nm offshore, we ran parallel to the coast, huge sand dunes stretching for miles and miles. The wind started to increase and the seas with it but the wind remained doggedly in the south, south east. Now we were pounding in to a three metre swell. Poor Voyageur, poor me. It was just the boys who did not seem to mind. One wave slammed down on top of the boat, water finding its way through the hatch into the main cabin. It was just as well I only had to light the oven for dinner for otherwise we would have been munching on fruit and dry biscuits. By late evening the pounding stopped as the wind backed to south east but the easterly did not materialise. At least with Donald aboard I have the luxury of a few extra hours sleep. Overnight the current started dropping off as expected. Allegedly the hardest part of the trip is over! The plan was to make for Mossel Bay and beyond if the window stayed open for us. The wind direction changes on a daily basis, one day from the south, the next north. It makes it exceedingly difficult to get from A to B in one weather window. And the rapidity of the about turn too. For a few brief minutes it seems to hesitate, the needle hovering between east and west. Then in the next instant it s mind is made up. A sudden 180 degree wind shift and it is in your face At least from this point on there are more opportunities to seek shelter should the need arise. Yesterday the sun came out again. There are so many sea birds around but we have had no further sightings of whales but we caught our first glimpse of a basking shark. We are now heading due west along the bottom of the coast of South Africa. We are due to arrive at Mossel Bay in the middle of the night but having made such good progress throughout the day we have decided to keep going. All day we have sailed in perfect sailing conditions, wind from astern, under sunny skies, no more than a two metre swell. I was happy. If only we could keep going like this until our final destination of Hout Bay, 20nm east of Cape Town. We have kept in constant touch with Cat on Basia. She keeps us up to date with the latest forecast from Bruce, the WARC forecaster while we give her our latest grib files. Sandro on Lady Lisa also shares his information from his personal German weather forecaster. We can see them off to out starboard while Crazy Horse are just ahead of us. It is good to have some company out here......
Susan Mackay