Mike Harker
rounds the
southern tip of
Africa
Mike has company
as he sails the horn
of Africa.
But does it prove
to be the Cape of
Storms or the Cape
of Good Hope?
T
he apprehension I was experiencing just one day before Apparently it takes its name from the point of the cape, called
departing Durban, South Africa to sail west along the Cabo das Agulhas, named by Portuguese seafarers as Cape of
continent’s most treacherous coast line towards the needles. There are two dominant views on why this name was
“Cape of Storms” (or Cape of Good Hope depending on chosen: the first claims that the sharp rocks and reefs offshore
whose sailing stories you listen to) was certainly diminished were often described as needles which, combined with the
with the last minute addition of two new crew members, even treacherous currents, claimed many ships. Among Portuguese
though they were youngsters. sailors, this cape also became known as the Graveyard of Ships.
It was summer school vacation time in the southern The alternative explanation contends that the name is derived
hemisphere and two fifteen-year-old schoolboys had from the discovery that at the tip of the Cape, the compass
volunteered to sail up the 750 miles of rocky coast as crew needle points due north with no deviation between true and
members on my Hunter 49. of course they knew about the magnetic.
Agulhas Current and the possibility of numerous countering My two young crew had never been out in this current
Southern ocean storms that always beat from the SW into the flowing SW along the coast and, naturally, were feeling
SW flowing current. These storms can have up to, and over, 50 apprehensive, but also excited at the prospect of a few days at
knots of wind, as they had been during this last week. But they sea. They were experienced day sailors; Marx was a champion
have a consistent pattern of lasting only a few days with a few sailor winning the Laser class in the South African contest
days calm in between, sometimes up to a week of each. whilst Pieter had been out sailing frequently with his parents.
Although I was running with this potentially treacherous His mother Patricia had even booked a sailing leg with her son
current I had read up on the Agulhas prior to venturing out, not in the famous “Clipper Round the World” event. They would
necessarily to give me any more confidence, but just to know sail together from Hawaii to Panama aboard one of these race
what I was taking on. The narrow, swift, strong, warm Agulhas boats in only a few short months from now. Prior to this trip
Current runs south and west from the Indian ocean pushing Patricia thought it would be a terrific experience for her only
against the near-freezing waters of Antarctica, before meeting son to come along with me for the next leg, and talked Marx’s
the cold Benguela current off the Cape of Good Hope. To sail mother into letting the boys spend the next six weeks with me
against the Agulhas Current can be trickier than sailing with it! aboard WanderLust. u
DeCeMbeR 2008 YACHTWORLD.COM 43
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