Location: 34° 2.5 S, 23° 2.7 E
Sunday 12:00, 10.08.2006

The Schooner Maggie B is tucked safely in Knysna at 34° 02.5 S, 23° 02.7 E.

Last night the weather rather closed in with gusts to 42 knots and a major electrical storm. The barometer dropped seven millibars in three hours. We arrived at the headlands at dusk and fortunately had the Sea Rescue boat come out to guide us in. The current out was 7.5 knots, so we just barely had the power to get in. After the entrance it was a long torturous route to a safe spot on the waterfront pier, with lots of very tight turns made somewhat difficult with the high wind. Knysna has the questionable reputation of being listed by the Royal Navy as the toughest harbor entrance in the world. We don’t have their experience, but from last night, I’m sure they are right.

Happily the Yacht Club was hopping with the Commodore’s birthday party, and we did our best to support the celebration.

We may be stuck here for a bit as the SW’erly swell is coming in and the expectation is that the harbor will be closed with surf across the headlands. We could be stuck in worse places.

Today we were joined at the pier by a English Royal Signal Corps world sailing boat called Adventure. She is on her way to Australia and stopped in here on the way. We make a handsome pair in the tight harbor.

All is well.

Sailing Under Rainbows

Last time I’ve written to you was on Thursday afternoon in Simon’s Town and now it is Saturday night and we are again in a harbour, in Knysna, earlier than I am expected to be on shore. I am sure Frank will describe the technical details of our tricky entry into this harbour so I will write about other things.

Before we took off for the sea, Thursday night we saw a penguin walking down the sidewalk in Simon’s Town, it was very funny. These little creatures live close to town in a place called “the boulders” and they can just walk into town. We laughed thinking whether one would come onto the Main street… there are even “penguin crossing” signs around.

These two days at sea were very pleasant, I didn’t even get slightly seasick and I am very glad about it. Besides sailing the boat, I was able to eat and write and read as I normally would. Today it rained and the wind that accompanied the rain was quite unbelievably warm: about 20 degrees warmer than the air before the rain. I’ve never experienced anything like this. We saw a full rainbow and we sailed right underneath it. The rain was full of sand and it smelled like animals from the savannah… I am sure I smelled the lions and the zebras in the air, quite a striking experience out at sea. The moon was full and beautiful last night, we could have read in its light. Willis and I had upbeat political discussions on our night watch as we consumed lots of chocolate. The Hungarian chocolate is almost totally gone.

We will probably stay here tomorrow and then sail out towards Durban on Monday. It is fun to be able to discover another corner of South Africa and we are by a dock downtown, not on a mooring, which will make it easier for me to go for a nice long Sunday run tomorrow. I can’t say I’ve gotten used to the four hours on, four hours off watch schedule just yet, so I will have no problems sleeping tonight. Still, I am looking forward to longer legs at sea: I like the mystery of not seeing land around us… we could be just anywhere, it is the perfect place to dream.

Bori