Year 7 Day 281 Passage to Richards Bay, Day Four: Sweet Dreams
09 October 2014 | 690 nm NE Of Richards Bay
Dave/Partly Cloudy
I went to bed last night dreaming about downhill sailing all the way to Richards Bay. The wind had come up, the current had kicked in, and we were making between 9 and 10 knots with 12 knots of apparent wind. The sails were configured in a Wing and Wing fashion and the seas were orderly, mostly behind us and just a meter of height. Man o' man, it was great downhill sailing that we had not seen since the South Pacific crossing we made back in 2010.
Alas, reality kicks in when you wake up from a nice dream. Actually, we are still sailing downwind and making great time but we are now trying to work our way out of this current and slow the boat down a little bit. You see, this morning we received the latest GRIB file and it shows that before we can make Richards Bay a nasty little low will be blowing big winds up the channel possibly as early as the 14th. While it is possible that we could squeak into Richards Bay before the wind hits us while still in the channel, it just is not worth the risk of trying to make it. If one rolls the dice on this and gets craps, one would really be hurting since the Mozambique Current is notorious for eating up boats during such gales.
Therefore, I have put my dreams aside and spent the day planning our alternatives. The most likely alternative for us is to goes as far south as Inhambane, Mozambique (23° 41.1'S:035° 29.8'E), duck into the river there, anchor and just chill for four or so days waiting for the big, nasty low to pass by and the good winds to return.
Actually, after talking with Mary Margaret regarding what to do, we both are looking forward to this rest. We have talked with Dave of SV Rhythm and he said that they are seriously looking into this anchorage also. It would be nice to get together since we have not seen them in over 4 months.
To get into this anchorage one needs to enter on a rising tide and at near high tide. This is to make sure one clears the unchartered sand bars that sweep back and forth over the mouth of the river. If we slow Leu Cat down so that we average 6.5 knots, we should make landfall around 0600 on October 12th. High tide is at 0700. We still have 4xx nm to go so we have plenty of time to play with our speed. One of the first things we are doing is getting out of the Mozambique Current by heading out to sea again. Once out of the currently we should lose our 1 -2 knot assist that we have had.
Is it so typical, just as we get into our favorite mode of sailing, the first time since making our South Pacific crossing, we have to stop it and try to slow the boat down. Oh well, what can one do?
As of 1800, our position is 18 53.68"S:038 53.81'E, our course is 198 degrees true, and our speed is 8.3 knots (it is just so hard to slow down!). The winds are from the NE at 25 knots (apparent), the seas of a bit jumbled but mostly from the NE at up to 3 meters. I believe we are now out of the current and with these new strong winds, we have a reef in the mail and two reefs in the head sail. Our passage distance is 620 nm and we have about 765 nm to go, with the change of course for our anchorage. Pur average speed for this passage is now 6.0 knots.