Day 1
This passage is the last 1460nm across the Indian
Ocean. We will be aiming to make landfall at Durban but depending on
the weather conditions as we approach the coast we may have to divert to
Richards bay. This leg is potentially one of the most challenging we will
ever have to do. It requires us to cross the notorious Agulhas current which
runs south down the east coast of S Africa at up to 6k. The issue is when a
southerly gale comes up the coast and this causes potentially huge and
dangerous wind against sea conditions, which have to be avoided by a small
boat. As this can happen at least once a week, we will have to keep a close eye
on the weather. Richards
Bay is about 65 miles
closer, so offers a sort of bolt hole. The other issue on this leg is the
decision on how close to go to the south tip of Madagascar,
which inconveniently sits on the rhum line from Reunion.
Pilot books suggest staying 140nm south to avoid the rough seas caused by strong
and variable currents and intensified winds from the high land mass of the
island. Unfortunately the current predictions we have, suggest we need to get
in to around 50nm off the east coast then run south parallel to about 80nm off
the southern end to have a strong favourable current as opposed to a strong
adverse one. Right now we are planning to work the favourable currents
and run a bit closer, but need to keep an eye on the weather. We are getting
some feedback from boats ahead of us via SSB and think the plan is OK at the
moment.
A last minute stop at the boulangerie to stock up the freezer with
baguettes and we were ready for the off. I have pre-cooked 9 dinners
which are also residing in the freezer. Customs clearance took a few
minutes so by 09.30 we sailed out of the marina. Once we cleared the
island, we had very pleasant sailing conditions – 2 sail reach with
around 14 knots of wind aft of the beam and a fairly flat sea. The sun
was out and the cherry on the top was a 1 knot positive current!
Perfect. A fairly lazy but very pleasant first day. Fortunately the
same conditions continued through the night. We had set the pole before dark
last night in anticipation of the wind going further aft but we didn’t
have to goose the genoa until around 5am as dawn started to break. We
currently have around a 1m swell (wow!) and about 12 - 14 knots of wind with
about 0.5 knots of positive current so making around 7.5 knots.
Late in the evening we had dolphins swimming along side – as it
was getting dark, we couldn’t see them properly but they looked very
small – we’ll have to get the book out later to try to identify
them.
Date and time: 22nd October 09.30 local (GMT + 4 hrs)
Position: S22:26:175 E052:14:168
24 hours distance: 188nm