The passage from Reunion Island to Richards Bay in South Africa around the southern tip of Madagascar (Mada for short) is renown for being difficult, mainly because there are strong gales spinning out of the South Atlantic Ocean and Antarctica that periodically cross the route.  The best time to make this passage is in October when the gales become less frequent during the Austral Spring and before tropical storm season begins later in November.

Which led to a dilemma for me. I was comfotable in the marina at Reunion Island.  When I arrived I told them I’d like to stay until October which they seemed OK with then.  Meanwhile, I’d been watching the weather forecasts daily, as I always do when flying or sailing. I spotted a weather window I thought could work leaving Reunion on August 8.  Considering that option against staying until October, I went to the marina office to confirm I could stay until October. To my surprise they told me I had to be out by September 30 because the marina was fully booked with sailing rallys that would start arriving October 1. 

Rallys are potentially large organized groups of boats sailing to the same destinations, like across the Atlantic or even around the world.  Boats pay to be part of the rally.  Depending on the rally, the organizers may arrange all logistical support for participating boats – fuel, marina berth space, clearing in and out formalities, weather forecasting,  tours of the places they stop, etc. Because of all that support, I call them nanny cruises.  Like other independent cruisers, I have to do all those things myself.

I have to be Seattle to participate in the First World Flight Centennial from September 26-29. There’s no way I could be back in Reunion to leave on September 30.  Moreover, I hate to be forced to leave into weather circustances that were not my choice and could be terrible. I planned to return to the US early in September. If I waited in Reunion longer, there’s no way to know if I’d find a better weather setup than the August 8 setup I had already identified.

So, as I write this August 9 I’m 24 hours and 130 nm into my passge to Richards Bay. You can never trust long range forecasts out 10 days to hold, especially in this part of the world. What’s important is that it holds at least until I can get passed (“weather” in sailor lingo) the southern tip of Mada. Once I’m passed that I can retreat north up the Mozambique (Moz) channel if necessary for bad weather, either by heaving-to or heading for two well-known weather anchorages at St. Augustine Bay on the west coast of Mada or the north side of Ilha Inhaca just outside Maputo in Mozambique. Generally, if a yacht is taking shelter from bad weather and nobody on board goes ashore, you can anchor in a country’s waters without going through the often arduous process of formally clearing-in to the country. 

That’s where things stand. I’ll see how it all works out.