Two cores, GeoB18303-2 and 18304-1 were collected using a marine vibrocorer during cruise M102 offshore Durban, South Africa in December 2013. These were collected under the auspices of the joint German-South African project Regional Archives for Integrated Investigations (RAIn), in order to examine climate changes on the east coast of South Africa. Core GeoB18303-2 was acquired at 29° 49,84' S 31° 9,73' E in a water depth of 67.9 m. Core GeoB18304-1 was acquired at 29° 49,14' S 31° 7,62' E in a water depth of 39.2 m. The cores were analysed for downcore elemental chemistry and grain size trends using a Panalytical Epsilon 3 XL XRF machine at the University of Bremen, Germany. Both terrigenous and bulk grain sizes were analyzed using a Coulter laser particle sizer LS 13 320 at the MARUM, University of Bremen, Germany. The quantitative XRF data for Cores GeoB18303-2 and GeoB18304-1 are displayed as weight percentage (wt%) at 5 cm intervals with depth down core. The grain size (bulk and clastic) data for Cores GeoB18303-2 and GeoB18304-1 are displayed as phi values at 5 cm downcore sample resolution.