Down South Africa's Wild Coast Pt. 1

Goodbye, Durban

There are more than 2,000 shipwrecks, dating back at least 500 years, off the South African coast. The Wild Coast is a section of coastline between KwaZulu-Natal (Durban) stretching south to the port of East London in East Cape and it's claimed more than its share of ships. Several ships simply vanished without a trace. The sail from port to port is about 265nm and there are no safe havens in between. Hence, the reason we sought local knowledge and we were keen on waiting for a reasonable weather window of at least 2-3 days.

east london 265 nm

The south-setting Agulhas Current narrows between Durban and East London and can run at speeds of up to 6 knots where it flows over the 200-meter (650') contour line at the edge of the continental shelf. It can obviously be an awesome push for southbound boats like us, but there are some serious caveats as well. When the wind kicks up from the southwest, which it does with regularity, it blows directly into the current, creating giant breaking waves described in Tony Herrick's cruising guide as abnormal. The local pilot describes them as appalling. Both seem to be masters of understatement. Monstrous freak waves "of up to 20 metres (65 feet!) in height, preceded by deep troughs, may be encountered in the area". The long and short of it? Don't get caught in the Agulhas Current when a southbuster hits. Unfortunately, southwesterly gales blow here frequently.

great waves

Locals advise patience. Forget about deadlines getting from one port to another. Wait for the right weather forecast. If, however, you happen to be passage-making and the wind switches suddenly from northeast to southwest, which it can do in a matter of minutes, head for shore. Once out of the opposing current/wind situation, the waters tend to be calmer and the waves dissipate. Heave-to, if necessary, and ride it out. Needless to say, we're approaching this passage with some trepidation.

durban to east london

We'd been watching the weather all week. Thursday looked good … then it didn't. Saturday night looked promising, although it appeared we might be motoring against light southerlies for the first few hours. At this point, burning a few gallons of diesel seemed reasonable. For the third time, we made the rounds of the bank and all of the pertinent authorities. They knew us on sight. The procedure seems to change every time we check out, but we were cleared and good to go at the end of two hours.

We had a farewell dinner with Wind Wanderer at the Royal Natal Yacht Club. They weren't quite ready to leave yet and cruisers never know if they'll see each other again, so we celebrate when we can. We made an early night of it, took our Stugeron and headed to bed for a restless night's sleep. We were up at 0400 to check the weather and emails one last time. The weather window was short, but still reasonable. We cast off and slid out of our berth just before 0600 into the millpond-smooth marina waters. The sky was just pinking up as we kept company with fishing boats, motoring across the calm harbor past huge, docked freighters, out the entrance canal and into the bay. We were in the Indian Ocean once again, heading southwest for East London and points beyond.

Here’s Part 2 of our passage down the Wild Coast to East London. Brace yourself for 50kt winds and wild seas.

goodbye durban

Waiting with Friends

There's Dinner with Friends and Words with Friends. We are Waiting with Friends. Waiting for a weather window is a lesson in patience, as we've reiterated so often, but it isn't quite so bad when you're doing it with friends. We met Vic and Sandy aboard Wind Wanderer way back in the Cocos Keeling Islands. We saw them again in Mauritius and both boats ended up at the Durban Marina at the end of last year. We enjoyed some pre-Christmas activities together and then, like us, they had repairs to do, headed home for a bit and did some inland traveling. Now we are waiting together for that elusive weather window to leave Durban and head to Cape Town. Though each boat makes its own decision when to leave, if the weather window is good, most boats leave around the same time and, by default, travel in loose company. That's Vic and Sandy to the right.

We've shared several evening meals at the yacht club with the Wind Wanderer crew. Mid-day coffee on one boat or the other isn't unusual nor is a quick stop to chat about this or that. Sandy and I shared a cab to nearby Davenport Square to take advantage of a larger, better-stocked Checkers supermarket and Dirk's, a good meat/poultry market. We've exchanged info on weather resources and commiserated about repair issues and bad passages. We've talked about sewing machines and pressure canners and canvas work and heat exchangers and a myriad of other topics we have in common over sundowners. It's a pleasant way to play the waiting game.

We'd been watching the weather religiously twice each day and listening to the PeriPeri Net each morning. At 72 hours, we were finally looking good for a weather window. At 48 hours, all was still good. We checked out 36 hours in advance of departure with the same reasonable weather window forecast although the window had shortened from 2-1/2 days to 2 days. The tedious check-out procedure was the same as last time, but it seemed easier since we knew the routine and where to go. We topped up the provisions and loaded more freshies aboard. An early check-out allowed us a leisurely day before departure. At 24 hours, the weather window was shrinking a little more. We needed about 36 hours to make it the 265nm to East London. 12 hours prior to departure, the forecast was iffy and our weather sources disagreed as to when the wind would shift from northeast to southwest. We left the decision till morning.

We use several weather sources, but weather forecasting is obviously not an exact science. At 0500 on the morning of departure, it was calm and showed signs of being a nice day on the Durban end. The GRIBS, Buoy Weather, one of the Predict Wind models, Passage weather and Wind Guru all agreed that the wind would change to 25 knots SW (on the nose) by early the next morning. One of the Predict Wind models called for a mid-afternoon change … still too short, even if we believed it. The local AcuWeather was calling for heavy rains and a southwesterly wind by mid-morning in East London. Prudence prevailed. The PeriPeri net agreed. Our weather window had disappeared. Passage canceled. This is how it goes sometimes.

Sigh! Back to the waiting game ... with friends.

Listening to the Locals

Local knowledge is always the way to go when you're sailing in unknown waters, especially when those waters are notorious for wretched weather and gobbling up boats and sailors. You can read all you want and study the charts and check out the weather, but getting firsthand knowledge from folks that know the waters and have done it before, perhaps many times, is priceless. They know what to look for and what to avoid. Two-time circumnavigator, Tony Herrick, has welcomed our fellow SSCA members and foreign cruisers to Durban for years. He's a little slower since he broke his ankle recently, but when we stopped in at his shop, we received a warm welcome. He's a bit older than we are and he's brimming with local knowledge and sailing tales.

Tony owns and operates "Cruising Connections" just a block from the Durban Marina and Point Yacht Club. His tiny shop is chock-a-block full of nautical charts, cruising guides and miscellaneous boat parts. His own book, Sailing the South African Coast, is a must for sailing down the Wild Coast from Richards Bay or Durban to Cape Town. We bought his guide and he was only too happy to review it with us, share his local knowledge and point out good anchorages along the way.

Tony's advice to us was substantiated as we talked to Rob Bowman, a knowledgeable local who spends lots of time at the marina. He sells boats, provides maintenance and repair services, offers sage advice when asked and is particularly helpful to visiting sailors. His advice? "Wait until the barometer plateaus at the end of a southwesterly. Head out to the 200 meter contour to catch the best of the current. You'll be in East London in 33 hours or so. If the weather's good, head for PE (Port Elizabeth). Otherwise, stay put in East London and wait for the next weather window."

Then there's Gilbert Goor aboard Zazu, an ex-pat Belgian, author of And The Wind Carried Us. His advice concurred with Rob's and Tony's. He added "The best you're going to see is 3-4 knots from the Agulhas current. You'll be fine. Once you get past the Kei River in East London, the going gets easier."

With all this local advice plus cruising guide references and weather reports, we're feeling a bit easier about the upcoming passage down the Wild Coast. Now … if only a weather window would appear.