19 October 2016 | Friday Harbour, Washington.
18 June 2016 | 48 17'N:124 03'W, Strait of Juan de Fuca
14 June 2016 | 47 30'N:127 35'W, Bamfield, B.C., Canada
13 June 2016 | 47 30'N:127 35'W, Approaching the Pacific North West
12 June 2016 | 45 31'N:131 13'W, Approaching the Pacific North West
11 June 2016 | 44 36'N:132 31'W, Approaching the Pacific North West
09 June 2016 | 42 25'N:135 40'W, Approaching the Pacific North West
07 June 2016 | 40 05'N:140 20'W, Day 15 : Hawaii to Canada
04 June 2016 | 36 40'N:143 30'W, Day 12 : Hawaii to Canada
03 June 2016 | 34 36.5'N:144 28.9'W, Day 11 : Hawaii to Canada
02 June 2016 | 33 00'N:145 32'W, Day 10 : Hawaii to Canada
31 May 2016 | 30 01'N:146 37'W, Day 8 Hawaii to Canada
30 May 2016 | 29 34'N:149 06'W, Day 7 Hawaii to Canada
29 May 2016 | 28 58'N:150 35'W, 6 day underway
26 May 2016 | 24 43'N:156 56'W, Third day underway
25 May 2016 | 22 56.8'N:158 02'W, Leaving Oahu
24 May 2016 | Honolulu, Hawaii
14 May 2016 | Honolulu, Hawaii
12 May 2016 | 21 11.6'N:157 42'W, Sailing to Honolulu
Wild Coast of Africa... check. Mossel Bay Yacht Club... check.
28 October 2013 | 34 10'S:22 08'E, South of Africa
Cath
Ship's Log October 28, 2013
Lat 34 deg 10 ' S Lon 22 deg 08 ' E
Now that we are safely tied up in a sweet little slip in the Mossel Bay Yacht Club Marina we can finally say Phew!! We made it!
We sailed down Africa's Wild Coast and survived it. What at first looked like a relatively fine long weather window actually turned out to be a huge challenge with gale force winds (at one point Scuppers said he saw 60 knots of wind flash up on the instruments), torrential rain, lightning, thunder and large swells.... did I mention the thunder and lightning - for 15 hours? We knew the storm was predicted to head north so all we had to do was continue working our way south and eventually we would come out of the rain at least. We did though the gale force winds still continued. Finally stripped down to bare poles with Monti keeping us on track we worked our way out of it.
We've decided that down that coast one must add 10 knots to the forecast wind and triple the amount of rain and then throw some major winds, thunder and lightning for good measure. Never assume the best. I guess the old adage "Hope for the best and plan for the worst" certainly applies here.
Today was just the opposite... overnight the winds died to almost nothing when we were still about 60 nm from Mossel Bay and we had to turn on the engine at about 4am... then the engine died at about 5:30am. We had been having this little problem with it all along and not sure why it just gives up the ghost without warning. Not a problem. We are a sailboat right? Despite the nonexistent winds we put all our sails. Lo and behold the winds picked up and off we went - able to sail right up to the entrance of the Mossel Bay Harbour. We turned on the engine for the last few metres to get into the slip and it worked (seems to be the pattern). We were assisted by a member of the Yacht Club and are now snug and secure.
Whoops... gotta go. Billy is calling me out to the cockpit for a celebratory libation.
Cath