Sailing around the World
A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Thu 25 Nov 2010 06:11
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WEDNESDAY 24th
NOVEMBER 2010
The Barometer was topped out at 1020, a good time
to go,
It was a beautifull day and the wind has shifted to
the south.
08.00hrs, Skiooer 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.
08.30 We cleared Port , Thats A
Lady, Jeannius, Arianne , Lady Eve V1, a dutch boat
called Joe Anne, and Grand Filou.
11.00hrs The wind was SSE blowing 20 knots,,
It was a beautifull , 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 vinigar concentrate to kill the barnicles
on the speedo, that stuff would kill an ox, plus a few
politicans
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 Lasagne 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 phospherous 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 flippin cold,
It would freeze the balls off a brass
monkey.......ohhhhhhhhhhhhh brrrr,brrrr,brrr
04.00hrs, Only 8 miles to the entrance,
05.15 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 20 m 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 beautifull swish
houses down on the shore with marinas
attached, Millionaires row. thats 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
beautifull place.
That all for now,
Signed :- Stephen
Hyde ( Skipper )
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