25 August Cap D'Ambre

Cap D'Ambre at the very northern tip of Madagascar has gained a reputation for being difficult; strong winds and big seas as the full force of the Indian Ocean comes in to contact with land, shallow water and strong currents.

tuna caught on the first day

The distance from Ile St Marie is about 350nm or two and something days. Our sail up the coast was in light winds from behind. Sometimes we sailed, sometimes we motored. When we were sailing on the first afternoon with the headsail poled out to port and the main cranked across to starboard, called wing-on-wing, there was a sudden wind shift putting the wind on the wrong side of the main and poof! A lateral seam at the bottom of the sail came apart and we now had a two piece main. Fortunately the only fabric damage was a 50cms tear close to the mast and the leech line snapped. We were able to furl it in to the mast and continued the rest of our trip on head sail and mizzen which is still a nice combination.

When we reached Cap D'Ambre on the third morning we had 20 to 25kts from SSE, 2 knots of current and 2m seas. Our rounding of this cape was much easier than we had been led to believe. Yes, the seas did get bigger as we passed from deep ocean to continental shelf, but this was only for 5 miles, then we were in to the shadow of the land and the seas became flat.

rounding Cap D'Ambre

The scariest part was a humpback whale surfacing head and shoulders out of the water next to our bow! Quick thinking by David to steer hard to port while not broaching the boat kept us from hitting it. The whale passed down our starboard less than 10m from us – close enough for me to wish I had a camera to hand.

Around the cape and while the seas were flat the wind had picked up to 30 and 35knots giving a fast sail down to our first anchorage behind the sand island of Nosy Hao, but while we had protection from waves the wind blew hard across the deck.