Sailing Magazine
By Richard Crockett
One of the toughest coastal passages in the world can be the run down from Durban, described here by “Monie” Salamon and which were written up from ‘Prof.’ Allen’s log – as published in the 1958 March/April issue of SA Yachting.
Those who have done this passage will identify with this report. Sadly there are those who have heard horror stories about the passage south and simply won’t tackle it. I know a yachties who will simply not sail south of Durban – not for anything!
“A check produced the following prospect for our first night at sea – rotten! The barometer was dropping, heavy cloud gathering and the wind and sea increasing. The crew were then set to rigging lifelines and the ship was put on to the starboard jibe to close the land.
“After dark the wind fell light, contrary to our expectations.
“Full sail was set again, but conditions continued so light that at times the ship almost lost steerage way. The radio worked well and produced clearly a met. report at 11.15 which predicted moderate westerly winds and thunder conditions.
“We slowly drifted on through the night.
“Dawn found us off Port St. Johns with a gentle S.W. wind. Shortly afterwards the sky suddenly clouded over and in less than half an hour the wind had freshened to gale force from the S.W. The main sail, which was reefed, tore along a seam and was again lowered and stowed . The engine was started, but stopped when a water leak was found.
It was found that the ship would heave-to very comfortably under staysail only and, with the helm lashed to lee, she was able to make about one knot of headway with the wind just forward of the beam. This was gratifying as we were reluctant to run before the seas and lose some of the ground which we had gained .
“Our next worry was what would be the ultimate velocity of the gale. With the wind about 50 knots against a fast flowing current, the seas were growing fast and showing a tendency to topple as they were very steep.”
This all sounds pretty darn familiar doesn’t it?
Here’s another good read to devour.
READ IT HERE: 1958 03-04 – SA Yachting – ACTIVE – OCR
