An investigation into the ocean response to a protracted (>48 h) strong south-westerly wind event averaging 9.6 m/s on the eastern Agulhas Bank, South Africa, using in situ instrument data from Algoa Bay and a high resolution (dx ∼1 km) ROMS ocean model, is presented. A coastal trapped wave (CTW) was shown to be associated with the event, the peak amplitude of which increased as it travelled eastward through the domain. Alongshore current reversals to the full depth were seen in both the model and two acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP) moorings (30 m bottom depth) as the CTW traversed the study domain, with strong currents exceeding 1 m/s developing directly to the south of Cape St Francis and Cape Recife at the peak of the wind event within the model. In a model run with wind forcing removed, the effects of remote wind forcing were shown to be a significant contributor to local circulation during strong wind events, suggesting that an estimated 61% of the total eastward transport of shelf water over the entire period of the event was due to remote forcing. In the no-wind model, a short lived anticyclonic rotating feature forms in the lee of Cape Recife in Algoa Bay shortly after the peak of the CTW, in contrast to the reference model, where instead a broad anticyclonic flow throughout the bay establishes.