Mossel Bay...

W2N 'Where to Next?'
Rob 'Bee' Clark
Mon 15 Jun 2009 09:05
Ah well, not quite in Knysna yet. It's not far but I had such a wild ride getting around Cape Point (Cape of Good Hope) and Cape Agulhas that I dropped the anchor at Mossel Bay to sleep, tidy up, SMS "Happy Birthday" to my niece Maddy and rest a bit before carrying on.

Sorry the position hasn't been updated. Another reason for stopping was that my keyboard got a soaking (more about that in a minute...) and stopped working so I can't access my electronic charts. Knysna is very tricky to get into so I wasn't ready to risk it without that added security and reassurance. Anyway, I'm at an internet cafe now and forgot to make a note of my Lat/Long position so it still shows me in Cape Town.

So, a bit about the sailing then...

I need therapy... or counseling... or something! That really was an exhilarating experience. Of course, for 'exhilarating', you can read 'bloody horrible!'

Funnily enough, I set out at midnight in very light winds but it wasn't long before the wind picked up, quite suddenly, while I still had the full mainsail up. It was downwind so seemed ok until I started getting hugely overpressed. The problem of course, if can get technical for a moment, is that because I was sailing downwind, the apparent wind strength was show gusting at about 28 - 30knots. Now, to put a reef in (or to drop it entirely as I then decided to do), I had to turn int the wind. So, add my boat speed to the apparent wind strength and I was now trying to handle a full mainsail in 40knots of wind. That was just the start of the nonsense!

Needless to say, I got going again under a heavily reefed genoa. Brilliant! I was making great speed and loving every minute of it. I'd longed for some downwind sailing for months so now I had it, in bucket-loads.

I was hand-steering to keep her from rounding into the wind as she surfed down the waves. The autopilot was working but in those conditions, you need to try to predict the wave patterns and make adjustments early. Well that was fine - I was anxious about what was to come but for now, I was coping. I was driving her hard. Then the wind started to veer a little so the waves were coming from the quarter... and then the side. I was having to watch every wave as it approached so I was ready to bear away and run with it. I missed one. A big one too. I was already keeling over as the wind was still howling but when the wave hit, I was sitting on the windward coaming behind the wheel and instinctively wrapped my arm around the pushpit rail. Luck I did as the wave came right over, filling the cockpit and (yes I know I should have had the washboards in) splashing down into the companionway. Well, we learn from our mistakes, right!? I found out later that everything stowed on the port side, including almost every book on my bookshelf, had been launched across the cabin. The saloon was a mess. Not as much water as I had feared but a complete mess.

By comparison, rounding the Cape wasn't at all bad. Nor was Cape Agulhas but by now I was absolutely exhausted. I had been hand-steering for nearly 36hrs when the wind finally settled down. I tried sleeping - amongst the pile of books, but it was impossible. I had been sick too and I was wet-through from the rogue wave. That worries me. There were some fantastic moments though. I momentarily saw 12.7knots on the log. 12.7! Sorry Hugo, your record has been smashed! Okay, so that was surfing speed and lasted for about half a second but, and this will give you an idea of the conditions, I was flying just a reefed (and poled out) genoa - nothing else! What a rush!

Well, it's done. I am now on the Eastern Cape and, although I'm not sure exactly where the Indian Ocean officially starts, I'm heading north again. Well, northeast anyway into much warmer waters.

Mossel Bay seems nice enough. I only came ashore this morning and I'm not feeling 100% but I need to sort the computer out (just bought a waterproof keyboard). I might stick around for a couple of days but Knysna sounds absolutely idyllic.

I set off from Cape Town in company with another boat; a catamaran 'Tico Tico'. They were too fast for me, downwind, and I lost sight of them just before rounding Cape Agulhas but when I came onto the anchorage at Mossel Bay last night, they were already here! Canasta is a very capable boat. She's as good as anything in those conditions but I simply can't imagine how unpleasant that must have been in a catamaran. That they were here in Mossel Bay, kind of confirms what I thought. I had tried radioing them on VHF but didn't get a reply. I was worried about them so it was a relief to see Tico Tico anchored in the bay.

That's it for now then. Figuratively, I can tick that iconic box. It was without doubt the worst conditions I've encountered on the entire trip so far but there is no serious damage, I'm fine, tired - but fine.

Fair winds,

Bee