THE LAST CONTINENT

My good friends from Reunion

10 days, 10 hours and 58 minutes is what it took to sail from St. Pierre to Richards Bay, South Africa... 1392 nm. This was the most challenging leg of the voyage so far. Usually when sailing in trade winds one is not concerned about the weather (provided you don't sail during cyclone season). This leg is different because the Agulhas Current must be crossed. It runs just off the coast of South Africa and averages a speed of 3-4 knots. About every three days a weather system called a "southerly buster" moves up the East coast of SA bringing southwesterly winds. These are many times gale force (30-40kts). This wind against current produces more abnormally high and "freak wave" conditions than any place else in the world. The trick is to cross the current with NE winds. This becomes problematic on a ten day passage because the weather forecasts are only accurate for 3 days. As luck would have it I had a small window (4 hours) to reach Richards Bay before a southerly wind arrived. The night before crossing I had winds of 35 knots with gusts of 40+. Its interesting that the highest winds of the journey so far have been on September 26th 2011 and 2012.