Day 3 to Cape Town

Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Mon 30 Dec 2019 06:00
34:52.185 S  19:35.389 E
Day Three to Cape Town
 
 
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My happy pictures for today and a sneaky win at backgammon in pretty smooth conditions. Growling.
 
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We are happily placed mid-way between the west and east chum lanes and as they go by so frequently, we just enjoy them. Sunset seemed to go on for ages and millions of stars shone after dark. 
 
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I was in bed when Bear took us past Cape Agulhas, one hundred and five nautical miles from Cape Town. The lighthouse is just visible to the left of the skippers picture. Cape Agulhas (Portuguese for Cape of Needles) is the southernmost headland in Western Cape, South Africa, also the geographical southernmost tip of the continent and the divide between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Yay, back in home waters.......
Wiki says: The sea off Cape Agulhas is notorious for winter storms and mammoth rogue waves, which can range up to 30 metres (100 feet) high and can sink even large ships. Over the past few hundred years it has been believed that around 150 ships have been sunk around Agulhas. These conditions are caused by a number of factors. The naturally strong winds of the roaring forties, which blow from west to east) and the cold Antarctic Circumpolar Current come up against the warmer Agulhas Current in the region of the cape. These conflicting currents of water of different densities, and the west winds blowing against the Agulhas Current, can create extremely hazardous wave conditions; these are further exacerbated by the shallow waters of the Agulhas Bank, a broad, shallow part of the continental shelf which juts out 250 kilometres (155 mi) south from the cape, after which it falls steeply away to the abyssal plain.
Hence, weather windows are pretty critical along this coast. I have really been enjoying listening to old Desert Island Discs and really thrilled to say I have something in common with Bill Gates. He chose to take all the recordings of the professors I have many of, and very much enjoy listening to.
A pleasant night, winds slowly getting a little bigger and at six this morning we have completed 325.5 nmiles.
 
 
ALL IN ALL ANOTHER GREAT SAILING DAY
                     FINISHED THE INDIAN OCEAN YEHAA