This morning I woke up in Knysna. It may not seem that shocking to you, but to me, I still can't believe it. On Tuesday we decided to leave PE, now the shock comes in when we thought we were headed to Mossel Bay.
We left on high hopes and good weather, so we thought. The waves were short and close together, but we said it wasn't too bad.
We said that we are going to rotate sleeping. Each of us is going to sleep for an hour and be awake for two. We started this pattern at about midday.
It was hard to work these shifts because every time something happened, everyone would jump up and no one got to sleep enough.
All through the day and night we were making good speed. Mossel Bay didn't seem to far, but in the early morning our speed dropped. We didn't act much on it thinking will still get to Mossel Bay on time. But then, the wind turned South on us, actually, South West.
It was little wind and we thought we could beat into the wind, so we raised the main sail and the head sail and started tacking, we had good speed but either we were head out to see or towards the land, gaining very little distance.
The wind started to pick up, and the waves got worse. We were debating out options, we could turn around and go and anchor at Plettenburg Bay, or we could go through the heads at Knysna, or beat through all the way to Mossel Bay.
Turning around wasn't a good option because we hate turning around, going to Mossel Bay wasn't an option because everyone hated the waves hitting the boat side on. So it had to be Knysna, that to was a trick problem. To get into Knysna we have to go through what everyone calls the heads, the heads are two big mountains next to the sea with rocks in the sea and between the mountains.
Because of the small gap in-between the mountains, there is a big surge that goes though there. The only time to get though was at slack tide where there will be little push or pull from the current.
Luckily we had a friend that sailed to Knysna the day before. We called him up and asked if he could help us get through the heads. He was more than happy to say yes.
He check out the heads with a dingy and then came aboard. He told us it is calm and we don't have to wait for the tides. He took control of our boat and started to head for the heads.
We all put on life jackets and looked out for rocks. He told my dad to look for curling waves. As we motored through the heads the waves started to lift us, we surfed them. After about five minutes we got though, he guided us to the anchorage.
We anchored in the bay, and enjoyed the scenery and spoke about all the fun activities we can do here in Knysna. My parents have successfully convicted me to stay here for ever.
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