Cleone - Durban to Port Elizabeth Day 1 - Midnight Express

The Agulhas Current is truly awsome.

 

Initially, we were a bit disappointed.  We left Durban as soon as we had a forecast from Roy at Piri Piri Radio, and headed out to the 200 metre depth contour and beyond, just as the book advised, and turned South West.  The South Westerly that had kept us penned inside Durban Marina was still in evidence, the head sea was lumpy, progress was slow and of the promised current there was no sign.  Two other yachts left just after us, the American Phoenix and a little Swedish yacht, Christina.  They both seemed to be catching us up, and the light-weight Phoenix overhauled us.  By this time the wind had shifted South, but still our hourly total of mileage run in the hour was a miserly four or five.  But at lunch time, it changed, and Cleone was starting to shift.  Seven and eight-mile hourly totals became the norm, and then in consecutive three-hour watches we have made 28 miles, and, despite the slow start, our twenty four hour total has been an incredible 186 miles.

 

Our happiness is not totally complete; the wind has died, and we have been motoring all night and all day so far, with the promise of light North Easterlies meaning that the engine will probably have to stay on all day.  Well, it will suit the Yanmar, and we hope that the current maintains its strengh and the South Westerlies stay away long enough for us to by-pass East London and make straight for Port Elizabeth.

 

We overtook Phoenix last night (why?) and Christina is behind her.  It is nice to have company, though, and we were able to identify oncoming ships and warn our two companions of them.  For some reason several large vessels were making their way northwards in the current, which must have been losing them over a hundred miles a day, and costing them goodness knows what in extra fuel.  The only other event of note was a radio call for Cleone out of the blue.  It was an alert operator in Cape Town who was checking EPIRB registrations; ours, which had been passed on to them by World Cruising, had gained an extra two digits somewhere along the line.   Well, we learned a lot of things from this: all the South African coastal stations are interlinked and worked from Cape Town; they know who and where we are; and there are good emergency and weather services available should we ever need them.  Particularly after some of the places we have been to, it's a comforting thought.

 

All well on board, and best wishes to all

 

James & Marcel.

Yacht Cleone