Mauritius to Richards Bay

Millie and David

We left Mauritius with 5 other boats of similar size too Penny, all with the aim to get to South Africa. Of the 5 boats, we were the only boat to make it to South Africa, the others had to divert to Madagascar due to weather. This was our most tactical passage and require us to be continuously watching the forecast to ensure we had a safe arrival to Richards Bay, ensuring to avoid any incoming cyclones. The current was essential to use on this passage. We had planned our route based on the current, ensuring it was favourable throughout and that we were in the strongest flow. This ensured that we made good speed and progress towards South Africa. The wind averaged from 10-15knots, perfect cruising speed for Penny. We hoisted the kite most days and kept moving. In the back of our minds we always had a back up plan of diverting to Madagascar if the weather near South Africa wasn’t favourable. 5days before arriving, we had to make a decision. Using predict wind as our route planner we could see the wind was due to become a South westerly on the 26th November, 3days prior to our expected arrival. This wouldn’t be favourable as it would create a wind over tide situation with the infamous Agulhus current, generating waves over 5ms. It was essential that we arrived before the 26th, this meant averaging 6.5knots SOG, this is fast for Penny but if we had the current it was doable. Every hour we monitor our distance covered and average speed covered, informing us whether we would make before our deadline. With 3days left we committed to the decision to head to south africa. On the 25th November we safely arrived in Richards Bay. The last 10hours were tough as we crossed the Agulhus current. We had over 30knots of wind and 4m waves on the beam. We had reefed the sails but knew that we still needed a relatively large sail area to keep moving and get in on time. It was a catch 22 but we made!!! With our adrenline still pumping, we tided up on to the customs dock in Richard’s bay at 2100. Finally, once we had packed the boat away, we had a celebratory beer and fell straight to sleep!