NEPENTHE NOMAD notes……..the Mozambique Channel
Well, here we are again, telling you another saga. Crossing this body of water is a science we are
learning, many approaches. Main advice and counsel is to make the passage as short as possible,
that is why we are working our SLOW SLOW way down the west coast of Madagascar.. Day three
of 3-5 kt winds, average boat speed of less than 4kts. Tedious. Anyway, on the African side of the
channel is the south going Agulhas current, that can run at 4+kts. At least once a week a 30-40 kt
gale comes roaring around the SW corner of Africa and heads up the channel. One can only imagine
the size of the terrifying seas that would result when the current going south and ale force winds
going north meet.. Unbelievable record height waves occur at these time, big freighters have gone
done because of them. SO………we will make our way slowly down and cross as low as we can. Listed
anchorages are about 12 days apart of the Madagascar coast, some great little islands to explore.
We go until the wind dies, then go to land and anchor in reasonable depths, sometimes 4 miles out
from land ! The other day we got up at 0430 and left because a huge fishing boat was bearing down
on us and made no response to our flashing of lights and frantic calling to them. They may have
been getting a good sleep, or just wanted to see us.
This is Jimmy by his favorite BAOBOB tree. Can you
see him in a white shirt at the base of the tree on
the right? He is grinning madly !
There is a marvelous volunteer HAM maritime radio
net that we have contact with for good weather, so
as to time our crossing as well as possible. Right
after these gales, the wind is strong from the north
and we will have a sleigh ride ! Here we go.
The first 4 days were SO SLOW, light winds, and about 3 hours a day with 1-2kts made good. Ugly.
Now, Day 5 and we have wind ALL DAY and it is just right for where we need to go. Found a little
wee Cape that we hid behind for the night. Off at 0430 the next am, this is hard work. 12hr days.
Beautiful vistas, sunsets, moonrises……….
LAND HO !
Our first of the Barren Islands, Madagascar ! April 18. We
traded t shirts and a goggle mask for two lobsters here with
some young shy boys.
One more little island we stopped at: Andriaglory, such long names on all of these little places. The
wind died so we stopped here and got Nepenthe ready for the crossing. Several little native canoe
ashore so we did not go. We again got lobster here! Prep work: Dinghy inverted on the foredeck,
fuel tank filled from jerry jugs, deck line that we can attach to if we need to go forward at night
tied on, food prepared for first couple of days and other stores out of hard to get places what we
would need for a couple weeks ( ie: T.P., paper towels, popcorn, the essentials of life. Charts out and
course laid out. Our main sail is dying, we patch it every few days, so we checked that all over and
reinforced a couple places again. Once underway in a bouncy sea it is hard to get in these small
places and rassel things out. EVERYTHING you want is under at least one or two items.
So far we have done 425 nautical miles in Madagascar ! Great cruising ground and we are still the
only cruising yacht here. We shall perhaps never see sand beaches and isolated surroundings like
this again and we had a sad memory filled time on deck at sunset last night. We are OFF and away
to cross the Mozambique channel today. April 27. The winds are just right ! 780 miles to go. At
230degrees. Latitude 21S/43E here, destination: 28S/32E. Richards Bay is the name of the port.
LOVE THOSE LEMURS ! ! !
Day one and two were slow days, barely a whisper of wind, so much for forecast of NE winds of 1015. We averaged less that 3 kts/hour both days, Prayed all day for wind and as usual I was not
specific enough and day three we had gale force winds for 25 hours ! It started about 4am with
black clouds forming and starting to commune with each other like angry adolescents on a street
corner…………and we put the second reef in and shortened the jib Here it came. We went through
four in a series of black monster cloud banks and then the 30 kt boys came and visited us for
about 3 hours……..during which we put in the third reef. Now, that sentence does not at all tell you
what it was like. Reefing in 30 kts of wind in 12-15 ft seas, some of who were breaking ! ! is a
challenge for all but the whirling dervish Karczewski on the deck doing his thing. This all would be
terrifying without him. Shortly thereafter the main sail shrieked and torn a huge gaping wound in
itself, but nothing we could do now. When the winds finally reduced themselves back into the mid
20s we took it down and then were left with a sliver of jib and no main sail to steady us so we did
the rock and roll bit for the next 20 hours. NO hot meals were served that day, or the next. Day 4
we had just 15-20 kt winds and were able to tape and patch and sew the wound on the main sail and
it is holding. Cosmetically we did a terrible job, but bouncing around and hanging on with a threaded
needle in your mouth and tape sticking together in your other hand………….while the third hand grabs
wildly at anything that looks stable……..well, you get the picture.
We had a family of 4 remora fish living under
Nepenthe. They have these suction cups on the top of their
head and they attach themselves to larger fish, often to sharks.
They then eat the pieces that they can when the shark catches
something. They were getting very hungry trying to live off
Nepenthe. They were darting off at every weed or flotsam that
went by on our slow days. They did not survive sponging off us
during the storm. We did however give sanctuary to a little turn
for several hours during the night.
It is getting cooler now, and we wear long sleeve
shirts and long pants most of the time. Latitude
24S,,,,,,,,,,, heading for 29South. It is fall now
here in the southern hemisphere! All along we see
these incredible sunsets and moonrises. The moon
rise the last few days has been rosy RED,………
never have we seen that color before. ALSO:
green flashes most nights. Magic times these are.
The next three days are almost windlass……………..what an interesting passage this is. Two kinds of
wind : notenuf and tomuch. Oh well. As I write this we have 2 days to go. There may be SW gale
coming around the corner, coming north…………..that is just what we can not get into that mess with
a 3-4 knot SW flowing current. When they meet the seas are incredible. So, we are making fast
tracks.
Oh my goodness, a small sparrow kind of bird just flew in the hatch, he/ she, has been riding on the
mast for an hour. It is now in the head ( bathroom).
May 6: We have arrived! Richards Bay, S Africa. We did everything to slow Nepenthe down so we
could arrive during daylight hours, so much easier to come into a strange port when you can see.
BUT…….. the winds are now up to 20-28kts from the NE, the current is giving us 3 kts also, and even
with NO sails up we were making 5+kts. SO , here we are at 0400 on a dark moonless night in 25kts
of wind, coming in. We had to call for permission to enter and in we come. Thank goodness for
computer charts, and that we just happened to have a small scale chart of this port. A pilot boat
then came and met us and brought us into the small craft harbor to the international dock. What
an adrenalin rush that is to come in the dark and just head for a little flashing green or red light,
and there were several flashing all around. We are tided up now waiting for officials to clear us
into the country and arrange our visa.
We will be coming back to the USA this summer ! ! See you all then, Have a few things to sort out,
like a new sail and what not before we can come back. There are 3 boats we know in Richards Bay !.
What a small world this is. Richards Bay :28.47S latitude/ 32.04 E Longitude.
SEE YOU SOON, we are starting to counting the days. Just a bit excited we are to see and hug
you all
Carole and Jim
S Y Nepenthe