Location: 32° 32.2 S, 30° 37 E
Tuesday 12:00, 10.17.2006

The Schooner Maggie B was at 30° 32.2S 30° 37E at noon on October 17th. We are about 46 NM to Durban and should arrive in time for a late dinner, tying up at the International Wharf on the Victoria Embankment. We will check into the Point Yacht Club tomorrow, which is right nearby. We have gone 792 NM since Cape Town. We have all sails up but are getting very little help from the wind as it is 050 at five knots.

I don’t mean to complain about having to motor most of the way here. We could have had a much worse time. Right now there is a strong gale back between Table Bay and Cape Angulas. It is much nicer to be here. Coming up the coast we have stayed within the 100 foot depth contour, within 1/2 to a mile offshore. Our currents (we have a display set up on the B&G monitor comparing speed through the water to speed over ground) have varied from plus two knots to negative two knots.

Humpbacks and Giant Rays

Hannah has continued to see the most humpbacks flying through the air. There have been whales around us, sometimes very, very close, all the way since rounding the Cape. Today Willis upped the ante some by spotting a number of giant rays on the surface.

The current coastline, as we approach Durban, is called The Hibiscus Coast. It really looks like South Florida, with endless summer homes, condos and high end destination resorts. The contrast to the empty Transkai Coast with its occasional Zulu hut couldn’t be more glaring.

A Teachable Moment

As we came along the coast this morning, we ran one of our two diesel tanks dry. It should have been totally routine, but we didn’t really have any sails up (just the two stabilizing storm staysails) and we were a bit less than 1/2 mile from huge breakers on a starkly unforgiving coast, with a light breeze blowing us ashore. We ran around like the Marx Brothers for a bit, but eventually got things sorted out, sailed offshore, drained gunk out of the filters and got the engine started again. A Teachable Moment.

Which reminds me that we don’t have a proper name yet for the engine. The autopilot is Jorge, the storm sails are Kathy and Susan, the espresso machine is Maximo, but the engine is nameless. It is Japanese, a Yanmar, 98 horsepower, a “JH Turbo,” and generally very reliable. My favorite Japanese actor is Toshiro Mifune, but this is an engine, not a famous samurai warrior. Suggestions are encouraged. JH = Juliette Hotel?

In Knysna we made a bunch of friends at the Yacht Club, as we had at False Bay. Many were former residents of Zimbabwe, who had been driven out and lost property and possessions to the new government because they were white. They are still nervous here in South Africa, not trusting how things will play out. Who could blame them when one reads of Zuma and contemplates the possibility that he could become President? That makes Yacht Clubs and big Blue Water boats more attractive. One couple that we met have a very salty sailboat, that has a motoring range of 4000 NM (!) They keep it stocked and with full tanks. Others prefer to put money into their boat rather than a house and land, because you can (hopefully) take the boat with you.

We are busy reading guides to Durban and making plans. It looks as if some rain is coming, but we have happily watched the temperature of the sea water rise from 61 degrees at the Cape to 75 here. We are planning to take at least one Surf School class. If you don’t surf in Durban, you just aren’t really there!

All is well.