Forecast: light winds SE to E, changing to very light SW later the following day, waves of no significance, swell of no significance.
Great, we're on our way, we can make it all the way to Simon's Town! Hmmmm, yeah right. I don't think so.
Reality: 30 - 35 knots from the east (right up the backside), humongous waves and swells, shocking conditions and we seriously wanted to wring the weatherman's neck! If six metre breaking waves are of no significance, I have to ask, what is?
To make matters worse, we were advised by the weather gurus, yes them again, that we should get down to 35° south to avoid a bit of a low so like good trusting souls, we did so. It turned out to be really nasty, a big mistake, so that when we gave up and decided to bail out to head back up to Mossel Bay, we were literally miles and miles out of our way. How can they get it so wrong?! But, do you ever hear them say, "Oops, got that a bit wrong didn't we? Sorry." Nope, never.
We were with two other boats, one Dane and one Scots: the Dane just wants to get as far away from the South African coast as he can (preferably back in Denmark) and the Scotsman can't believe there should be any sailboats in SA at all - why would anyone want a boat here to sail in these conditions? At times like these, I have to admit, I question our sanity.
Oh well, we wanted to check out Mossel Bay anyway.
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