At sea "28:06.33S 35:45:04E"
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Sat 24 Oct 2015 02:24
ETA now Sunday morning.
Just the tricky part to come - crossing the deservedly notorious Aghulas Current. This flows south down the east side of Africa taking warm tropical water full of nutrients, hence shark food and hence lots of sharks, which is why SA has such a shark problem. Our problem is crossing the current. It flows south at a benign-sounding languid 2.5kts (actually quite fast for an oceanic current), and provided the wind is blowing in the same direction it is fairly tame. Unfortunately the major weather systems here are moving quickly north up the coast, against the current. And they are in themselves pretty impressive. As the front comes through the wind shifts very abruptly (in minutes) from NE to SW, and the SW winds are up to 50kts for a while as the front passes. The results of even a modest wind-against-tide situation are spectacular; big standing breaking waves and confused seas. With a fast current against a strong wind they are literally fearsome; waves of 30m have been recorded here. A 7m breaking wave at sea is dangerous; a 30m one is catastrophic.
So the challenge here is to time one’s run. The weather systems come through every few days and are well forecast. The current is fairly constant in location, and quite a narrow band about 25nm wide close to the shore. With good planning and a bit of luck the crossing is a doddle. If a southern buster is approaching though, it is not. The only safe course of action is to heave-to offshore and wait a day or so for the system to pass over. This is uncomfortable, but not dangerous.
At present we seem to be lucky. There is a big buster coming, but it’s not due until Monday morning. If our wind holds we will be in port by lunchtime on Sunday. If we cannot be certain of getting across the Aghulas before very early Monday morning we shall have to wait at sea until at least Tuesday.
We’re watching the wind forecast closely!