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Luna Quest - Tuesday, 10th November, 2015



Noon Position: 38.48S 32.05E Richards Bay - South Africa

Distance run since noon yesterday: 103 logged miles

Thinking that the Agulhas current would be similar to our afternoon experience yesterday, we emailed Rally Control to advise them that we would be arriving between midnight and 2am, but the wind fell away towards the evening so that the engine had to be employed to maintain reasonable speed. Later in the evening we experienced lightning and thunder with some thunderbolts splashing straight into the water, some zigzagging into it and all that splendour just some miles away. But it remained windless and the Agulhas current provided around an extra 2.5 knots to our engine speed.

Little did we know then that we would be faced with a contrary current nearer the coast and an unforecast southwesterly wind that at times reached 20 knots on the nose. We were slowed down by swell, waves, wind and countercurrent, at times to just 2 knots of speed through the water while running the engine at nearly top revs. We did not make Richards Bay until 0815 this morning having run the engine for 13 hours when the wind first fell away at 7pm last night.

On arrival we were welcomed by the Zululand Yacht Club and a bottle of champagne and many congratulations on having crossed the Indian Ocean, but new challenges are facing us, mainly weather as no attempt to go south from Richards Bay can be made unless there are favourable winds. It may take some timeā€¦

Eric




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