Year 7 Day 287 Moving Again
15 October 2014 | At Linga Linga, Near Inhambane, Mozambique
Dave/Overcast
This morning we lowered the dinghy off its davits and then remounted the engine onto the dinghy. Anytime we do a blue water passage, we remove the engine from the dinghy and mount it on its engine mount that is affixed to the stern railing.
After the dinghy was all set, I then took it upstream to where S/V Steel Band was anchored. This is a 42 foot Fountaine Pajot catamaran. I had wanted to introduce myself and to see if they were better protected from the swells where they were anchored. While we weathered the first low just fine where we are now, it was a bit rolly for 4 hours after the tide changed and the peak current pulled us abeam to the swells. This next system that will be arriving soon, and is supposed to be much stronger with winds predicted to be up to 43 knots. Thus, the swells will be larger and the rolling worse.
I was greeted by Pascal and his wife, Marten. They hail from La Rochelle in France. Over coffee they said that they were out of the main current here and did not roll quite so much as we did. I shared with them my intent to move to be near them and they welcomed our presence where they were anchored.
We shared sailing stories and we all agreed that the best place that we have sailed in was, by far, French Polynesia. In fact, Pascal and Marten are thinking about returning there, selling their boat and retiring on Tahiti. I shared with them that we are playing around with the idea of sail there once more time and spending a year sailing around its various islands, since we loved it so much. We shall see�...
When I returned to Leu Cat, Mary Margaret had completed another load of laundry. I suggested that we move to the new anchorage this afternoon when it would be low tide. She readily agreed and at 1430 we weighed anchor and made the move. Our new position is 23 43.82'E:035 23.35'S and we are anchored in 27 feet of water.
Tomorrow, we hope to remount our head sail since I finished repairing the last section of the sunbella this afternoon. By tomorrow morning the 5200 will be fully cured so the sail will be ready to be refurled. The storm should not arrive until the 17th and the winds will not peak until the 18th. They will last through the 19th. With luck, we will be able to head out for Richards Bay on the 20th or the 21st, at the latest. We have our fingers crossed.