We made it!

 

Enjoying a celebratory drink (or three)

 

One o'clock this afternoon, we pulled up to the international jetty in Richard's Bay after an incredibly fast run once we actually found wind and wow, a current which one friend likened to a runaway southbound train on steroids.  

We clocked up a speed of 15.4 knots over the ground; an impossible speed on a hull which is rated for only 7 knots.  Huge waves followed us in but........we're here and that's the important thing - here in one piece too.

Exhausted as we may be, we're now sitting in a pub celebrating with a glass of beer and a wine, something of which we've been deprived for far too long.  We ran out of tinned food and any form of fresh food so today's special at the local pub, grilled hamburger and chips, went down more than extremely well indeed.

Now to catch up on some desperately needed sleep.

Nearly but not quite....

The next gap was too brief to make it the 280nm to Richard's Bay so, despite not wishing it, we could only make it to Inhaca Island just outside the port of Maputo.

We rose early to catch the high tide across the sand bar which proved to be a very unpleasant excursion especially for Chantey.  They took on three huge waves in a row which blew out the windows of their spray dodger, broke their canvas canopy and threw poor Karen across the cockpit.  It was really quite a ride.  We both just went back to the point with the lighthouse to sit it out until the weather calmed sufficiently to move on.  By late afternoon, we decided to give it a go as we needed to get to the next anchorage before the next big blow which we did manage in time.   

As predicted, all hell broke loose that night and the entire following day in which we discovered that Inhaca really wasn't a very protected anchorage at all.  However, fortunately, the holding was very good.  In the 24 hours that we rode it out, Chantey broke three snubbers and we broke one.  The snubbers are lines attached to the anchor chain which take the shock of heavy jerks which, in turn, protect the windlass from damage.  Paul came so close to losing a finger while trying to sort it out as the chain ripped through his hands.  We placed it in a splint fearing it may be broken but it was just badly bruised.  Phew.

The next morning, conditions had improved so we upped anchor to get across this sand bar on a high tide.  Chantey's anchor got stuck so we returned to stand by but Will donned his scuba equipment and managed to free themselves and this sand bar caused us no grief.

The next blow was predicted for Monday morning and we felt that was sufficient to get us into Richard's Bay.  Not so as after the first hour, the wind died completely and we had nowhere near enough fuel to motor for hours and still leave us with a safety margin for emergencies.  After trying every tactic in the book, we eventually gave up and simply drifted and, as Murphy would have it, we drifted in exactly the wrong direction!  By mid Sunday afternoon, a bit of wind arrived allowing us to get underway again but we'd lost a lot of ground.  We prepared Calypso for heavy conditions by hauling out the storm and trisails and prayed for the best.

Still stuck

We've been here almost a week now and despite high hopes of getting a three day window to move on down to Richard's Bay, it hasn't happened.  Today is positively nasty; the winds are from the SSW (the worst direction) at around 20-25 knots with horrible blustery rains intermittently.  It looks as though we may have a chance tomorrow afternoon but......well, let's just hold thumbs as provisions are beginning to be a bit of an issue.

I can still make bread but we're worried about propane now.  We had Chantey over for dinner last night and we finished off the very last of the wine and whiskey so things are certainly getting desperate.  No vegetables, no fruit and next to nothing in the pantry as far as tinned foods go.   For a few more days to come, it looks as though we're in for fish and rice, and rice and fish with side orders of fish, and for dessert, yup, fish.  I think I may just be put off fish for a while after this.

Paul's used the time fruitfully with a variety of boat projects bringing back the reminder of that old adage that cruising is just fixing one's boat in exotic ports.  We haven't even been off the boat other than to visit Chantey; they did a wonderful pizza the other night but are also running low on food.

We heard that Zorana has made it safely down to Richard's Bay but that it was a pretty rough and wet trip.  Radio communication has been fairly abysmal so we aren't aware of where most of the fleet is, whether they're hiding out in Inhaca or have managed to get into Richard's Bay.  However, we could hear that a couple of the boats are still up in Bazaruto where the weather is a bit better.

We'll wait for the morning report on the synoptic charts to decide if it's a go or not.  We can't get out of here except on higher tides as there's a sand bar across the entrance; so we sit.  We're prepared to put up with some SE winds but SW? no, they can prove a tad frightening and extremely uncomfortable.

We've reached the Mozambique coast

We've had either no winds or perfect winds to date so no complaints other than a few days of negative currents.  I must say, this route has got to be one of the most complicated we've experienced and all because of the currents.  

It all looks simple enough; leave the western Madagascar coast and head southwest across to South Africa, yes?  Umm, no!  One has to plan the crossing to avoid the reverse currents so the first thing to do is get an up-to-date reading of what's happening which sounds promising but don't expect them to do what the weather gurus say they should be doing; they just don't play ball that often.

Of all the boats leaving at a similar time, a few chose to try the Madagascar coastal route south and we and quite a few others have chosen to head west, find some currents, then start moving southwards.  Only time will tell once we all get together in a pub to discuss who made the right or wrong decision.  One of the yachts has no engine and the lack a of wind and adverse currents took him miles northwards out of his way but we hear now that things have radically improved and he's making his way to Bazaruto further up the Mozambique coast.

During the first night when we finally got over the continental shelf, there was an entire night of bad lightening and thunder storms which is always a bit of a concern when you're out there with a big stick poking skywards.  Even on the second night as we followed the coastline southwest at a distance, we were aware of a lot to of lightening over the land however, leaving the western-most cape behind, we were well clear by then.

We had several days of little to no wind so were forced to use a fair amount of our precious diesel.  To make matters worse, we should have been doing a reasonable speed but 2 knots of negative current, occasional reaching as much as 3 knots, meant we were not achieving very much overall.  This didn't last for more than a couple of days when we finally found some good positive currents to take us across the channel and the decent winds added to a very pleasant and speedy sail.

One hiccough we experienced was being hailed by a couple of ships performing a seismology survey.  We were asked to stay 8nm clear of their stern and 3nm at the front and sides which, unfortunately, meant a major diversion that took the entire night to complete before they gave us permission to get back on course due to their sweeping patterns.  The diversion took us into negative currents again so, all in all, we lost a good proportion of a day's progress.  Life is never boring on the open sea.

The weather each day has been fabulous but as we near the South African coast which is famous for its frightening southwest storms, we are watching the weather carefully.  For this reason, we are now holded up at Linga Linga near Inhambane as there was a nasty blow predicted before we could safely get to Maputo.  We, along with Karen and Will on Chantey, have decided to sit it out here and then try to make it all the way to Richard's Bay in one hop.  A three day window should be sufficient if we can get it.  Meanwhile, this is a lovely, well protected spot so we can just chill out for a few days while trying to glean the news via BBC on the HF radio of what madness is going on in the USA today.

381 miles to go and on our very last bottle of wine!  Heaven help us.

Day One leaving Madagascar

The first morning out and we've already caught three fish!  The first was a 5kg Spanish mackerel which we'll try to smoke.  This was followed by a wahoo about 10kg.  We decided that this was enough, our freezer can't handle much more so, just as Paul was pulling in the lines, we caught another!  Again, a wahoo and this was twice the weight of the other.  Enough already!  And here I was worrying that we wouldn't have enough food for the passage.

We set out fairly early to no wind, zero, nada, ziltch.  A bit came up by mid morning but, as is always the case, it was right on the nose.  By lunchtime it had veered slightly so we could actually sail at a nice pace but just a tad low for our preferred route.  Never mind, we made the most of it.

Chantey and Flour Girl also caught three fish each but poor Zorana is out there with nothing.

We ended the day having covered 130nm with some rain and nasty thunder storms in the night for a short spell.  Apart from that, we're happy with the wind and wave conditions as well as with our progress to date.

1160 nm to go.

On route to Inhacca

Calypso and Chantey are on route to Inhacca, Mozambique. We're going to wait out the strong wind forecast in Richards Bay. All well on board.

Waiting for weather in Mozambique

Calypso and Chantey are still anchored at Linga Linga, Inhambane, Mozambique. We're waiting for weather to sail directly to Richards Bay. All well on board.

position

Calypso's position today is 19 36S 037 44E all is well onboard