Mossel Bay Arrival

Hi everyone,
We arrived at Mossel Bay at 0600 this morning and are now anchored at 34 10.6S 22 08.5E in 6m over sand.  There are three other international boats here and one more arriving.  It's a nice sunny morning but we expect a strong westerly wind to come up later today.

View of Mossel Bay Boat & Yacht Club from Zen Again at anchor

Here are the usual graphics for the passage...

Zen Again Track

Zen Again Speed

And here are the vital statistics for the passage...

• Distances/Speeds
• Route distance = 195nm
• Logged distance = 150nm
• GPS distance = 200nm (so we appear to have gained about 50nm from the current)
• Duration = 40 hours
• Average boatspeed = 3.8 knots (very slow)
• Average speed over ground = 5.0 knots

• Weather
• Wind speed = 0-20 knots
• Apparent wind angle range = all!
• Seas/Swell up to 1.5m
• Engine
• Total = 27 hours
• Driving = 27 hours
• Charging = 0 hours
• Failures

• None
• Waiting for the engine to cool before checking the freshwater coolant

We believe our log was under-reading during this passage.  The hull is quite dirty and there may be weed interfering with the transducer.  Alternately the log is accurate but the dirty hull is slowing us down a lot.  Probably a bit of both.

Approaching Mossel Bay harbour

Yesterday afternoon a light E wind came up which allowed us to motor-sail initially and then sail from 1800.  It was marvellous to turn the engine off.  The breeze lasted until midnight by which time our speed had dropped to 2 knots and the motor went on again.

It was nice having Anke Sophie and Pipistrelle in sight throughout the passage.  It was also nice sailing along a scenic coastline.  There are impressive hills inland.

Last night the stars were very bright and we saw a number of shooting stars.  We saw a group of seals which followed us along for a minute or two.  The bioluminescence in the water was spectacular.  Every bit of white water - breaking waves, our bow wave etc - created a glow.

We'll be here overnight so may dig out the dinghy to go ashore this afternoon.  The dinghy hasn't been out since Mauritius!