THE CROSSING

THE CROSSING

MADAGASCAR TO RICHARDS BAY

OCTOBER 15 -26, 2016

This is the passage that causes the most concern to cruisers.  So much so that many choose to take the Red Sea route or put their yachts on ships that will deliver them to Turkey on the eastern side of the Mediterranean.  Other considerations would be that the Mediterranean is a spectacularly beautiful place to sail for those that have never been there.  What makes this passage so difficult is the fact that the Mozambique current is a series of eddies that is moving around over time: sometimes one has current with them; at other times it is against.  The winds tend to be light or non-existent on part of the voyage but can reach gale force at other times.  All of this is dependent on the Low Pressure Systems that are developing on the West Coast of the central or southern part of Madagascar and the weather systems that are moving up the East African Coast.  The interaction between these two systems produces the weather for the crossing.

On the Malagasy side, Cape St Andre juts out of the West coast at about the central part and is a turbulent weather maker.  The Equatorial Current splits in two parts on the Eastern side of Madagascar and flows North around Cape d’ Ambre in the north and South around Cape St Marie at the southern tip in the South.  They meet at Cape St Andre causing turbulence and unsettled conditions.  Added to that are shallow waters that go out almost thirty miles and breaking seas under windy conditions.  What this means to cruisers is that they will have to make a detour around the shoals.  Another problem encountered is that there are many unlit coastal dhows plying these waters.  The are big and only have sail power.

There are several strategies for overcoming some of the difficulties.  One has been developed by a South African named Des Cason and is posted on Noonsite.  This one takes the shortest route from Madagascar to Mozambique on the East Coast of Africa.  The object is to get across at the narrowest point and find the Mozambique current which is located about seventy nautical miles offshore.  Once the current is found, the vessel alters course to the southwest and uses it to continue on to Richards Bay.  This route has a few “hide-aways” in case strong S’ly winds are coming up the East African Coast:  Bartholomew Diaz (21-08.8580’ S; 35-06.6215’ E,  Bazaruto (21-39.13’ S; 35-26.04’ E), Inhambane (23-44.149’ S; 35-23.692’ E), Inhaca (25-56.471’ S; 032-57.200’ E) provide safe shelters from strong SW-S’ly  winds.  The only other option is to get well offshore, out of the current, and hove to.  This seems to be the most favored route for cruisers making this passage in 2016.

The Mozambique current becomes the Agulhas current after Maputo, Mozambique.  This is the fearsome current that produces humongous waves during a “SW’ly Buster”.  It can run from 2-6 kts or more.  It’s the Gulf Stream on steroids.  Unless one is very lucky, it’s difficult to avoid at least one Cold Front moving up the East African Coast.  As long as there isn’t a lot of current involved or the system isn’t too intense, the vessel can weather it out.  One of the best Ham Radio weather reporters is the SamNet on 14316.0 mhz at 0630 & 1130 UTC.  He has the computer software to pinpoint the yacht’s position and read the synoptic charts and GRIB files.  He’s dedicated to giving all the Wx info a yacht needs to make safe decisions during the passage.  Des Cason: sygambit @gmail.com provides Wx updates and is knowledgeable in the passage as he hasdone it many times.  What makes this passage even more difficult is that the Wx systems along the East African Coat change quickly.  I believe that Des Cason has the best strategy for making a safe crossing.  It gives the cruiser the ability to seek a safe shelter and wait on a favorable Wx window.  It’s longer and more time consuming doing it this way but the end result is a safe passage.  I calculated that the voyage from Moramba Bay, Madagascar (14-53.288’ S; 047-20.436’ E) was about 1240nm.  It took us eleven days and three hours to make Richards Bay.  We had a good Wx window and did not stop at Bazaruto, Inhambane or Inhaca but continued on to Richards Bay.  We encountered one passing Cold Front off Cape St. Lucia (28-31.0’ S; 032-25.0’ E).  Since we knew it was coming, we worked our way out to 40nm offshore to be out of the current and hove to in 35-40 kt winds and 10-12’ seas.  The passing Cold Front lasted about 12 hrs.  After that, it was a pleasant sail into Richards Bay.

The voyage was a mixed bag of wind, no wind, favorable current, unfavorable current, big swells, flat seas, moderate seas.  We had to motor quite a bit after getting out of the daily sea/land breezes of Madagascar.  We encountered a windless hole where the “Iron Jenny” was needed.

The biggest downside to using Des Cason’s strategy is that Bartholomew Diaz, Bazaruto, and Inhambane can only be entered on a Rising Tide.  The sand/mud banks are numerous and if one runs aground the rising tide will lift the boat off in a short period of time.  This might require waiting around for several hours to enter.  If a SW’ly starts to blow, it becomes problematical.  Fortunately, we didn’t have to do this as we had a direct Wx window to Richards Bay.

The longest part of the crossing has been completed.  The most demanding is yet to come.  The Agulhas current starts to pick up strength from Richards Bay to Durban (90nm) and then runs full bore from Durban to East London(250nm) and on to Port Elizabeth (120nm).  This can only be negotiated with Wx windows.  There are no safe shelters along the way.