I get up at 2 am for my watch. The sea is heaving and the noise is as deafening as ever. The thought of this all the way to Knysna is not appealing. More worryingly, the grib files have got it completely wrong for literally the first time. I wonder whether there is worse in store for us further on. When Mike gets up we listen to the weather reports on the radio, which sound like they are using a man with a speech impediment to announce, not a good idea when you are hanging on his every word trying to understand them.
After my watch I go back to bed for a while and even manage to fall into a fitful sleep, but one where the noise and unbelievable crashing of the boat permeates my dream. I get up to go to the loo then go back to bed. The noise and motion seems even worse and suddenly for no reason I start to sob – I just can’t stand it any more. I get up and stagger upstairs to Mike, collapsing into him for a cuddle. With headwinds of 30 knots and the short, sharp waves, thank God he has already decided that to continue in these conditions is untenable and has already set a new course for Port Elizabeth, just a few hours away. I curl up on the sofa in a foetal position, still crying, and just wait for it to be over.
Just after midday he calls me to put some more clothes on and go out to put the lines and fenders on as we are entering the port. Even in what should be the shelter of the port, we have winds gusting to 35 knots. It shouldn’t be like this!
We have been told that we are to raft up against a fishing boat but when we get to the end of the harbour we can see Grand Filou and A Lady rafted together and there’s room for us against them. With lines and fenders in place I shout to A Lady and suddenly Neil and Stephen appear then Charlie and Richie from Grand Filou. They take our lines and secure us to A Lady then take one of the hurricane lines and attach it to the dock.
Photo: Mike watches as Stephen, Neil, Charlie and Richie secure Jeannius
Aileen appears and offers tea, toast and biscuits. How lovely. I must have looked like we’d had a rough time! We go aboard - it turns out that both they and Grand Filou tried to get out of Port Elizabeth yesterday but 30 or 40 miles out turned around and came back because the conditions were so horrible. These were the conditions that we had been in and it’s comforting for me to know that the crews of these faster, bigger and heavier boats didn’t like the look or feel of the sea.
The port at Port Elizabeth is a real fishing one and we are surrounded by large vessels. Their crews all seem very friendly and wave and say hello. As we intend to leave tomorrow, there’s another flight plan to be filed, and Neil tells us where to go. We follow him, Charlie and Richie to the yacht club, file the plan and stop for a drink before deciding to have lunch there as the menu looks so tempting.
One drink turns into three and lunch is delicious – melt in the mouth fillet steak (again) with potato wedges and pumpkin with chilli. By the end of the meal I am totally relaxed and cannot believe that I am the same person who was lying sobbing on the sofa just a few hours ago.
Photo: Jeannius rafted against A Lady and Grand Filou in Port Elizabeth
Photo: Port Elizabeth harbour from the Yacht Club
I watch from the veranda of the yacht club as first Ariane then Lady Ev VI arrive into the harbour and raft against one of the fishing boats. I hope these guys don’t want to leave at 3 am! The Lady Ev crew all come up to the yacht club restaurant and I wax so lyrical about the fillet steak, they all have it.
By the time we get back to Jeannius there are not many hours of sunlight left. After a lovely hot shower (very, very hot as the engines have been on for hours) we watch some TV and have a early night. Mike especially didn’t get much sleep last night. The bed feels cold when we get in but at least not damp.
Our position is: 33 deg 57 min S, 25 deg 38 min E
Distance so far: 18291 nautical miles
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