Richard's Bay to Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Day 2
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Sun 4 Nov 2012 12:09
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33:18.202S 27:51.713E
Rollercoaster ride.
The Agulhas Current has been mentioned many times in this
blog, but only as a foe - something to be respected, and feared. Crossing
the current is one thing; going with the flow, however, is quite
another. The Agulhas Current is now our best friend - fast
making up for all that pain and suffering it caused us in the past.
Yesterday afternoon and throughout most of last night, we sailed fast with only
part of the head sail out, 30 knots of northeasterly wind behind us and our new
current friend giving us as much as 4 knots of extra speed. We probably
averaged something over 9 knots, but were cruising up over 10 regularly.
All good, but it wasn't what you would call smooth sailing - more a
rollercoaster ride than a lovely drift down a placid stream. With the wind
roaring, we rushed forward rolling quite a bit as the waves buffeted us one
way, then another in rapid succession. It wasn't a lot rougher than many
boisterous downwind sails we've had, but after six months on cushy land, it was
an adjustment for us.
There was one particularly exciting moment during
my first night watch, before the watery moon tried to break it's way
through the incessant cloud cover (which it finally did, later on),
when the wind kicked up to 33 knots and we both heard (Don was only
pretending to sleep) the very unique freight train roar associated with an
oncoming breaking wave. It broke near the stern of the boat, and Harmonie
surfed down its face, reaching a speed of 11.4 knots. Not a
record, but very respectable. Five seconds later, a second wave
broke, this time sending us down its face at 12.5 knots. Ok, that got my
attention. Still not a record, but darn fast. Another five seconds
later, and a third (why do bad things always come in three's?), larger, wave
broke behind us and sent us careening down its face at 15.4 knots. All was
fine, but in the rush of the moment, I inadvertently yelled out for Don to help
(something I have only done on one or two other occasions). Since he
wasn't sleeping anyway (too much commotion), he leapt out of bed. "What's
wrong?", he asked. Hmmmmm....really, there was nothing wrong. At
that point, five seconds after the last big wave, all was fine and Harmonie was
carrying on as if nothing had happened. It's then that you wonder if
maybe you imagined the whole episode. Maybe, but that 15.4 knot GPS
SOG (Speed Over Ground) reading seems to be seared into my brain.
The rest of the night was less eventful as the northeasterly
wind moderated and finally died as predicted this morning around 4am.
We've been motoring ever since with no sign of southwesterly wind (or any wind
of consequence). We passed East London at around noon and should arrive in
Port Elizabeth just after daybreak tomorrow (Monday). We'll update the
blog after our arrival.
Anne
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