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American Spirit II - Day 309; We Make It To Richards Bay After an All Night Ordeal; Monday, November 10, 2014



Joel goes down to sleep at midnight.

At 12:33 AM the moon rises, but its mostly obscured by black storm clouds.

At 12:56 the Aghulas Current is running at 2.3 knots, and we're 40 miles from Richards Bay.

Joel joins me on watch at 1:00 AM, and as I'm down below putting on more layers of clothing he sees a lighthouse on the starboard bow. Land ho! He sees land first...again.

At 1:25 AM the current is still 2.3 knots heading to the southwest. At 1:45 AM we increase the engine RPM to our cruising maximum of 2200 and are moving at 7.8 knots.

At 1:50 AM Joel smells the land of Africa 18 miles away.

At 1:58 AM the Aghulas Current reaches its maximum for us on this trip, 2.4 knots. Its capable of 6 knots, but not tonight. We're 32 miles from Richards Bay.

At 2:10 AM the wind changes direction and drops to 15 knots. The wind is now west of north. Joel and I both think that we're screwed. The dangerous southwest wind is coming.

At 3:00 AM the wind changes to west south west and increases to 25 knots. Tons of water are hitting the dodger. We're 24 miles from Richards Bay and as the steep seas build we know that we're not going to make it to Richards Bay, 3 1/2 hours away, tonight. At 3:10 AM we still have a 2.4 knot southwesterly current now starting to flow against a building wind. When the wind starts blowing from the southwest, the wind and current will be in total (perfect) conflict. We have to turn the boat 90 degrees to the right and perpendicular to the current because we can no longer keep heading to our destination, pounding against the building seas. Its too much stress on the boat. We make for a landfall 18 miles away. Jeremy joins us in the cockpit. He says that during my 9:00 PM watch he heard so much water crashing onto the boat that he knew things were not going well.

At 5:30 AM boat time (3:30 AM local time) we talk to Saphir. Their engine won't work. We tell them that we won't enter port until they can make it in; and that we'll tow them if they require it. About this time Lluiton pops up on our AIS. We find out later than they have had a shroud fail.

One of our cruising guides says that if you get caught in the Aghulas Current, that you should head to shore, a lee shore, and get past the 200 meter line. There the current and waves will be less and tolerable. We pass the 200 meter line and no change in wave height. We continue heading to shore until we're in 100 feet of water, and the waves are now manageable. We turn left and start down the coast towards Richards Bay to the south. But we can't head straight there because the waves won't let us, so we tack right and left with the motor. If we're lucky we're doing 4 knots. Most times we're doing around 3 knots.

Before the harbor entrance is a giant bulk carrier, sunk. A salvage operation is under way scrapping the new ship. We find out later that it hit a sand bar and the ship fell apart. It apparently caused quite a controversy because no one thought the ships were made so poorly.

We cross the finish line into Richards Bay at 8:30 AM boat time; 6:30 AM local time. The finish line is the first set of two markers. We can see Saphir sailing into the marina, followed by Lluiton acting as their escort as they're closer to Saphir than we are.

As we approach the final channel to the marina, the dingy from NDS Darwin, actually, its a motor boat, driven by Nuno the Captain and with Lucia in attendance, guide us to our slip, D5. As we approach Rally control advises me that they want me to back in. I've only entered a slip once before in my life backing into it. As I make my final turn into the slip, I'm a little off. The NDS Darwin motor boat then pushes the boat so we don't hit the one next to us. That's a common practice when backing in to a slip, that a tender pushes you so you have the right alignment. Thank you Nuno. Its now 9:00 AM and our 8 day passage is over.

Shortly after we get here, Lynn, an officer of the Zululand Yacht Club, comes to the boat and welcomes us to South Africa. He gives us their Zulu Yacht Club bergie and a bottle of champagne; and says that we can't get off our boat until we open the bottle. Tough rule to enforce. The marina consists of a number of pontoon floating docks.

As we do whenever we enter a new country, we're flying the flag of the RPA, Republic of South Africa; and a yellow quarantine flag. The quarantine flag will remain flying until we clean in with Customs and Immigration.

Russ, Laurie, Jeanine and Finn from Nexus come to visit us after we arrive. After they depart we have breakfast: eggs; potato; 2 fruit cocktail; and bread.

Jeanine comes by later and takes our phones and will get us SIM cards for our 3 phones. In order to get a SIM card in the RPA you need to submit your passport and get a letter stating that you live in South Africa. The marina gives us the letter. Thank you Zulu Yacht Club. Once we get the SIM cards, Jeanine also buys minutes for each of our phones.

Joel naps from 12:00 to 1:30 PM.

All the captains go to the marina office to clear in with Customs and Immigration at 2:00 PM. They don't show. Joel from Rally control calls them and they say that they got stuck with a ship in port. The meeting was rescheduled for 4:00 PM.

I napped from 3:30 PM to 6:30 PM. Joel filled in for me to clear the boat in.

At 6:30 PM we headed off to a 'briar' dinner; where you bring your own food and cook on one of the yacht club charcoal grills. We brought chicken; corn of the cob wrapped in foil; and baked potatoes wrapped in foil. Joel put the corn and potatoes directly on the charcoal. We e brought our own plates and sliver ware, and had to watch them like a hawk as one person after another tried to grab our silver ware and plates. After I eat my dinner I join the crew of Ghost and Saphir at their table. Erling from Saphir and I commiserate about the 'lovely' passage we just had.


All the boat crews were there except one, Polaris. Not sure why they didn't come. Joel met a lady named Lynn who is in charge of the yacht club Sea Scout organization and had heard via Russ from Nexus that Joel was also a Sea Scout person. By coincidence Joel was wearing one of his Sea Scout shirts. The Sea Scout meeting is Wednesday evening at 6:00 PM and Joel invited her to bring the scouts to our boat for a tour. I guess we're cleaning the boat before then. Thanks Joel.

We were back at the boat at 10:00 PM. Joel was asleep by 10:01 PM, followed by Jeremy. I typed half a log, then went to bed too tired to finish. The boat's not moving. Its going to be different experience sleeping tonight without any g-forces pressing by body into the lower end of my berth.

Brian Fox


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