Sailing around the World and into Richards Bay, South Africa.

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Sun 7 Nov 2010 13:42
SATURDAY   6th  NOVEMBER  2010    (Day 8  at Sea )
 
We are back in buisness again, 
 
00.00hrs  Aileens watch untill 02.00 , followed by skipper untill 04.00, by Neil and then Terry.
It is a very dark nightand we have a course set for a waypoint 110 miles NE of Richards Bay, ( 28 degrees S  :  34 degrees E )
Our biggest problem at present is to slow the boat down, a thing we are not used to doing.
We need to arrive at this waypoint at 06.00hrs tomorrow morning , to take advantage of the strong " Agulhas Current " and the receeding winds.
Well, thats what we are being advised by Bruce,  This current that has the Pooh frightened out of us.
 
Well, We can suppose that a current 3  /  5  knots flowing against a 35  /  40 knot wind is definatly going to whip up a big sea.
There is lots of shipping going to and fro from Richards Bay, which is one of the biggest harbours in S.A. and we cannot identify them
as our AIS has ceased working.
 
09.00hrs  Radio Call,  It seems that " Wild Tigres"   " Grand Filou" and " Killopie "  are close to us, within 15 / 20  miles.
after them, the nearest boat is " Drammer" which is 148 miles behind, and then away back is " Tucanon " at 240 miles behind,
thats almost 2 days, and behind them are Crazy Horse and Ocean Jasper, the two Yanks. ( but , they did leave 2 days after the rest of the fleet
because Jimmy is in Love )
 
11.00hrs  Distance travelled ........................................... 1219 n miles  ( position 28 07S : 36 27 E )
Terry was in flying form again with his funny remarks flying ,  and he is known as " Fr  Terry " and Neil as " Fr Dougal " by some of the
other boats, ( The Irish guys of course )
 
Skipper has a class on board every day and includes :-
1   position of ourselves and distance and location of all other boats in the fleet. relative to our position.
2   Sailing and navigation details,  ( today, its all about trough's and weather, at home these trough's are called fronts )
3   How to eat your food without it going over the side in bad weather .  laugh.........
 
We sent out for an updated grib file , giving the forecast every 6 hours over the next 48 hours...... very important .as things
around here change so fast. its frightning.
14 .00hrs  The conditions pertaining right now are beautifull, blue skies with lots of birds,a deep blue sea, with lots of bumpy waves,
and plenty of heat and humidity. we enjoyed the bliss ,as we knew that it would not last long.
Plenty of shit coming down the tracks ......and we expect that we will have the full effects by midnight.
 
We had a response from our friends on " Destiny " who left 2 days before us and are already in Richards Bay, we sent them an email yesterday
and asked if they could get advice from the locals about the expected conditions and what we should do ...
The response was interesting, in so far as they reccomended that we forget the waypoint and go straight for Richards Bay,
take the rough stuff at the start and things will calm down by midday sunday,
we passed on the info to the other boats and , having spent so much time trying to slow down, now, suddenly we were flat out again
with the engine as well as the sails flying  and heading for our final destination.
 
Dinner consisted of " Pizza's " an alternative to the usual grub, and was very tasty.  mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
 
21.00 hrs   We were still motering with a light NNW wind,
 
23.00hrs,  The wind has gone West and building.  Trip so far.......................1,249 miles
 
23.45hrs, The wind was now 60degrees on our port side from the SSW and honking at 30  /  32 knots  , seas just bumpy.
We had " Wild Tigres " about 3 miles on our Starboard side ( The green side ) and " Grand Filou " on our port side ( the red side )
( Terrys simple language )
We have a 2 knot current running north south, straight into the wind .. feck. Ohhhhhhhhhhh  trouble comming !
 
 
Thats all for tonight :- 
 
Signed :-  Stephen Hyde  ( Skipper )