The low which was forecast to change the winds to strong southerlies is upon us, we are in it and it is nasty.

The change happened at 11:00 this morning. First the barometer dropped and soon after the sails went floppy as the NE wind gradually disappeared. Lightening – hand held GPS and VHF into our Faraday cage, the oven, with the little laptop and satellite phone. Rumbles of thunder then a heavy downpour. Winds starting but from the west not south as forecast – not good, up to 29 knots. Thank goodness we bent our course south yesterday else we would have these as headwinds, as it is they are driving across us throwing waves over the top whilst pushing the big seas to bash into our port side, lift us up and drop us down with a great crash. This has been going on for 9 hours now, very tiring, just about managing to cook hot food but even with the cooker gimballed there is the possibility of a pan being hurled so standing in front of the cooker whilst cooking is right out.

Midnight and we now have 30+ knots of wind from the south west. We have a triple reefed main and just a tiny bit of jib. With a bit more jib we can sail at 6 knots close to the right way, but with the big crashes and spray flying, so instead we are over reefed but it is much more comfortable and kind to boat and crew. The downside is that we are now sailing at just 3 knots and must wait for the wind to drop.

A rude awakening as a wave hit the hull of the stern cabin which is where we sleep on passage, sleep comes in snatches in these conditions. At the moment it seems relentless, the wind has just gone up to 33 knots. The noise is a bit scary, the surge of the slammers can be heard in advance warning of the next crash, the general rough sea and boat noise is topped by a constant low howling that sounds eerie and shrills upwards with each big gust then when the slam comes all the contents of lockers can be heard moving around and adjusting. It's at this point that one wonders if the lid of the honey was screwed on tight!

If we can't stay on course, and we can't just now, then things are the right way round. If we end up north of Richards Bay, which we probably will, then we can sail or motor back south to get in but if we fell south of it then it would be nigh on impossible to get north again. To add insult to injury progress is very slow, we hope to get in on Wednesday but we must get in by Thursday for on Friday an even more fierce low is forecast with winds in excess of 40 knots – these are the infamous lows that roll in to South African waters and keep things frisky.

We've just taken an almighty smack, the wind is currently peaking at 37 knots. Very oddly there is a lovely calm moon up there casting its glow over the heaving water, seems rather out of place and keeping with what's going on.

Morning

No change yet and the third massive crash has just caused another rude awakening. These monsters make the other slams seem like pussycats but they're not. Our poor boat! Despite all this we are grateful that we are here now and not on Friday when the next low is due because that forecast has got more severe showing 45-50 knot winds. Grib files always seem to underestimate, the low we are in was forecast at 25 knots but we have had 30 and upwards to 37 knots for hours and hours now. We hope no one is out in the next one.

This blow is moving slowly off east toward Madagascar, we shall be glad to see the back of it later today.