Richards Bay to Cape Town Day 1 - A weather window opens ear ly

Caduceus
Martin and Elizabeth Bevan
Fri 25 Nov 2016 22:00

Position                    29:28.01 S 031:45.80 E

Date                          2359 (UTC+2) Friday 25 November 2016

Distance run             in 7hrs 48nm over the ground, 40nm through the water

Passage total            48nm over the ground, 40nm through the water

Route distance         To Cape Town 898nm, via East London (338 +560)n

 

Definitely Saturday became possibly Friday afternoon and then when boats started to leave and the reports of nothing untoward outside the breakwater came back a decision was made and after two hours of frantic rushing around we got away at 1700 which gave us enough time to clear the harbour and sort ourselves out before darkness fell. Negotiating the fleet of 20 or so large bulk carriers anchored outside the harbour provided some navigational interest and the fact that some of the bulk carriers were rolling more than we were cheered us up immensely.

 

Altering our course to go slightly further offshore than originally planned gave us 2 kn of favourable current as we rode the Agulhas current southwards.