Wednesday, 24th November 2010
The Barometry was topped out at 1020, a good time to go.
It was a beautiful day and the wind has shifted to the south.
08.00hrs Skipper met Mike from Jeannius crossing our deck, we had a long chat as he is going to leave shortly for Knysna, so as we were going there too, we agreed we would head off together. Jean from Jeannius has a sister living in Knysna and our friend Ian Mc Millan (from Belfast) has a friend Bryan Kearney who also lives there, so we should have a good welcome.
08.30hrs We cleared port. That's A Lady, Jeannius, Ariane, Lady Ev VI, a dutch boat called Joe Anne, and Grand Filou.
11.00hrs The wind was SSE blowing 20 knots. It was a beautiful, chilly day at sea, but very bumpy with lots of Dolphins. We spent some time cleaning all the salt off the cockpit and ss. as well as cleaning the speedometer under the floor. We used a vinegar concentrate to kill the barnacles on the speedo, that stuff would kill an ox, plus a few politicians from home with the leftover.
We passed "Seal Point" as the wind increased to 30 knots and we had to reef down to slow down, we were going too fast and at the present speed would arrive too early at Knysna, being early is ok, but being early would mean too strong a current going into the lagoon to negotiate the entrance. As the day passed, the wind kept getting stronger and we had to keep reducing sail, plus the fact that we had a 3 knot current with us for most of the journey. We need to arrive at the entrance about 05.00hrs tomorrow morning.
We had Lasagna for a late lunch at 19.00hrs.
We took turns in taking naps and doing the watches, but skipper did most of the late night. The stars were terrific and the moon appeared around 22.00hrs and added plenty of light to the sea. Plenty of shooting stars as well.
About the same time, we rolled up the headsails, and we were still going to bleedin fast, even with just 2 feet of mainsail showing, we were still doing 9 knots. Of course we were rolling like a fat pig on a roller coaster. The seas were breaking everywhere, as far as the eye could see and as the moon was shining, there was a great showing of phosphorous in the white water, almost glowing. It looked as if we were sailing across the top of a wild pint of guinness... slurp, slurp!
00.00hrs We could clearly see all the lights ashore as we closed in towards the shore.but was it flipping cold. It would freeze a monkey.......ohhhhhhhhhhhhh brrrr,brrrr,brrr
04.00hrs Only 8 miles to the entrance.
05.15hrs We were at the entrance, now we had already read all about this entrance over and over again in the cruising guide, it is very narrow with steep sides and surrounded with exposed rocks, plus a few submerged ones for good measure. The tide can run at up to 7 knots through this narrow entrance, soooo getting our timing right for top of the tide was very important, otherwise entry would be impossible, and we had it spot on, with Jeannius just a few miles behind.
Gawd, nerves of steel were required here, with all the big waves breaking on the rocks on our port side, less than 20m away and we had to stay that close for a long 1/2 mile to avoid some submerged rocks on the starboard side. It was now dawn and the scenery was fantastic, all the steep hills on both sides covered with trees and some beautiful swish houses down on the shore with marinas attached. Millionaires row, that's our guess, we will see later. We meandered up the channel or should we say, lagoon towards the town and Yacht Club, however we know from Mike that there is no room at the yacht Club, so we will just have to anchor. Skip is delighted with this.... the place is jammed with boats, all staying in out of the wild conditions, and avoiding the entrance.
06.00hrs (Thursday) We dropped anchor in a beautiful place.
That's all for now,
Signed :- Stephen Hyde (Skipper)