Year 7 Day 276 Tough To Leave Madagascar
05 October 2014 | SE of Moramba Bay
Dave/Partly Cloudy
We waited this morning until around 1030 before we weighed anchor and left this wonderful anchorage in Moramba Bay. We waited so that the sea breeze would have kicked in by the time we left the bay and we could sail instead of using the engines. This strategy worked great because by the time we left the bay we had the sails up and were making 7 knots (SOG) in 15 knots of wind. I believe we were going around 8 to 8.5 knots (SOW) but that is just a guess since our "speedo" is not working right. I call the little gizmo that measures you speed over water (SOW) our "speedo" since I have never figured out what this probe with its impellor is called. The speedo is reporting speeds but they are very retarded and I have tried cleaning it and it is still not reporting correct speeds. Mary Margaret tells me that I should not fault Raymarine for this problem since the speedo is 8 years old and we have logged over 32,000 nm with it. She is, of course, correct. I think the poor thing is just worn out and it is time to replace it.
We had a great sail as we headed from the bay to the pass through the banks that run down the east coast of Madagascar. Our plan was to escape the banks and then head a bit more south before we lost the sea breeze and had to deal with the winds coming up the channel which would force us to take a more westerly direction.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. We got to within 3 miles of the pass around 1500 when the wind started to turn to the west. This forced us to turn to the south a bit more than we wanted to prevent going into irons. We tried and tried to muscle our way in hopes of squeezing by the leeward edge of the pass but just could not do it. We ended up have to turn more to the south and head down the inside of the banks that run between the mainland and the banks. The water is deeper here with an average of about 80 feet of depth. The banks are like a fringing reef that parallels the coast but only deeper. They range from 5 feet to 16 feet in depth but are not well charted according to the East Africa Pilot. I just did not want to try to cross over one of the shallows of the banks knowing this.
Thus, our plan is to continue our course along the inside of the banks until the winds die down. Unfortunately, it is now 1800, the sun has just set and the winds are still blowing 18 knots from the west. As we near Mahajamba Bay the banks move in toward shore and the coastline turns to the SW. Thus, we will be pinched between the shallows and the coastline in about 40 nm. Our only option is the winds don't die will be to tack and head to the NNW and cut through a pass on that heading. We will have to stay on that heading until the winds turn to the SW so we can start heading on a more westerly course. A westerly course works for us since the Mozambique coast is just 358 nm to the west of this area of Madagascar. However, we desire to make as much southing as we can since Richards Bay, South Africa is about 1300 nm to the SW of us.
As of 1800, our position is 15 16.332'S:46 34.858'E. Our course is 238 degrees True, our speed is 6.5 knots. The wind is 18 knots 35 degrees off our starboard bow. The seas are 3 feet from the west but are very choppy.