We’re in no mad hurry to leave so Mike doesn’t bother setting the alarm. Just after 8 am he calls the Port Authority for permission (permission?) to leave and they ask if we have registered our ‘flight plan’. A flight plan is a document which tells the authorities exactly where you intend your next port of call to be which, with the weather conditions here, is frankly anybody’s guess and therefore, as far as I am concerned, literally not worth the paper it is written on. However, we obediently filed one in Richards Bay and since nothing had changed, we thought it was OK to stick with that one and leave. Apparently not. Every time you stop you have to file a new one.
We are given the name of the guy to contact but when we call he says he won’t be down to his office until 10 am so we have to wait. Lady Ev are ready to go so we untie ourselves from them and the dock and wave them goodbye then wait until another two small yachts have pulled out before going back to the harbour wall and tying up again.
A nice lady comes down to chat and it turns out that it is the wife of the man we are waiting for. They had felt sorry for us as they know that when the weather says go, you GO! She takes Mike to file the flight plan then we are off.
As we leave the port, I call my sister and tell them we are on our way to Knysna. They have just come back from a whale watching trip and haven’t seen any whales. Even as we speak, Mike shouts that there is a whale in the distance!
Photo: A whale in the distance greets us as we leave East London
There is only about 10 knots of wind and it is behind us. We motor on a flat sea. Unfortunately, it all starts to change after lunch. Despite what the grib files say, the wind moves around and starts to blow from the west then south west and we go straight into it. Our progress becomes agonizingly slow and the notorious Agulhus Current disappears altogether. At times we are making just 2 knots. It starts to drizzle, then rain and is truly, truly miserable. So is our joint mood. It just shows how it can all change so unpredictably. Although the conditions are not unsafe for sailing, they are uncomfortable in the extreme and I would do anything to get off the boat! Unfortunately, there is no way off, and we crash our way through the afternoon and evening.
The only pleasant thing for the remainder of the day is that the nice looking piece of pork fillet that I defrosted for dinner earlier, turns out to be a wonderful piece of beef fillet which just melts in the mouth. Along with garlic mashed potato, the meal cheers us up for a while before the weather and sea conditions eat away at us again. The sheets feel cold and damp so I just make up a bed in our stern cabin with one of the fluffy blankets to wrap around us. The artificial material at least feels warm against the skin.
Amazingly, I sleep.
Our position is: 33 deg 52 min S, 26 deg 44 min E
Distance so far: 18231 nautical miles
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