SAIL Magazine VOL 11

At Alexforbes, we’ve always believed in potential. We believe that given the right support, potential can become something great. It’s the philosophy we bring to our financial solutions, and the philosophy behind the Alexforbes ArchAngel. The team is the first marginalised team from the Royal Cape Yacht Club Academy to take on this challenge.

We believe that with the right guidance, today’s aspirations become tomorrow’s reality... and today’s challenges become tomorrow’s achievements.

We wish the Alexforbes ArchAngel team much success as we make history.

The Alexforbes ArchAngel team pictured L-R: Thando Mntambo, Renaldo Tshepo Mohale, first mate Daniel Agulhas, skipper Sibusiso Sizatu, Justin Peters and Azile Arosi.

Don’t just make waves, make an impact. Connecting potential to possibility.

As I reflect on the last two years, I would never have thought we’d have to close the Club due to an airborne disease called Covid-19. It is incredible to look back at the changes and restrictions Covid-19 brought to our Club and to sailing. Once the lockdown rules were announced, we had three days to secure the Club and the marina. Our restaurant fridges needed to be emptied and members had to check their boats were properly secured as lockdown loomed.

When an easing of the restrictions was announced, limited access to the Club became possible and the sale of takeaways was allowed. Members were permitted to go sailing under specific conditions, which had everybody scrambling to obtain SAS sailing permits. But almost all sailing events remained cancelled or postponed.

Eventually, we were allowed to go sailing and racing, but with a limit on crew numbers. We were allowed to open the Club with limited numbers, strict social distancing and masks were mandatory. Then, finally, in June this year, we were able to resume all activities with no restrictions.

Despite the lockdown and sanctions on activities, we have seen a quick recovery to preCovid-19 levels with growth in membership and the purchasing

Letter from the Commodore

of boats. Also of interest was the number of students enrolled in sailing schools and the number of catamarans being built in the Western Cape, mostly for overseas buyers.

The Club has a strong emphasis on improving transformation and diversity among our membership, which has grown steadily in the last 12 months.

Female members increased by 31.5% and members of colour by 48.8%. We have also seen an increase in entries and participation in all our sailing events. A good example was the recent Portugal Day Race with 57 boats entered. This has been good not only for our Club and facilities, but also for the service providers that operate from within our Club.

As one of the top sailing Clubs in the country, we are proud to offer a full year’s sailing calendar comprising a variety of top-end cruising and racing events. Racing is perhaps our most important offering as we draw the largest fleets and the greatest number of participants, but we have recently seen the cruising events growing as well. It’s also worth noting that the strong camaraderie and friendships often forged at these events make our Club such an amazing place to be.

The Mykonos Offshore Regatta has been going for 36 years now and still draws big fleets. The Round Robben Island Race, Portugal Day Race, Seniors

Pursuit Race, Ladies Regatta, the Italian Ambassador’s Perennial Trophy and our Twilight Series are all very well-supported and well-managed events. The GIMCO Regatta, a new addition to the calendar, was also well supported.

Our sailing department took the initiative to run a winter Twilight Series this year, which has proved very popular. As a Club we will continue to run these events at the highest level possible, using race officers who set fair and correct courses and with results that are usually available before the boats return to the dock. In January 2023, we will be celebrating 50 years of the Cape to Rio Race. The 2023 edition already has 20 confirmed entries and there are a few still pending. An announcement will be made shortly regarding the Cape to St Helena Race, with a possible start date of 29 December.

A major breakthrough in 2020, was the establishment of the Ocean Sailing Association of Southern Africa (OSASA), which is a registered discipline of South African Sailing. OSASA has been instrumental in working with government bodies and writing policy documents that will secure and give tenure to all coastal yacht clubs that occupy space in harbours at sustainable rentals. OSASA has made the government aware of the sector and the crucial role it plays in the South African Oceans Economy.

The RCYC Sailing Academy goes from strength to strength. It is currently funded by the Club and the Transport Education Training Authority (TETA). The TETA funding, delivered over a two-year period, will allow 30 students to attend the academy programmes. The Club is funding a further 12 students. For the first time, we have also received private funding for three students, with one student funded by a Club member, and two others by Hollard Insurance.

This brings the number of academy students to 45.

A permanent fully-fledged academy in our Club will continue to provide opportunities to marginalized communities and bring us closer and closer to the reality of a membership that is fully representative of our country. Hence I am delighted by the recent news of a partnership between Alexforbes and the RCYC Sailing Academy.

The Club’s financial report reflects a strong recovery after Covid-19, specifically in the second half of the financial year. By year end, operational revenues had recovered to just over 81% of pre-pandemic levels.

In conclusion, we are all looking forward to a very busy sailing season in our newly renovated Club facilities.

Neil Gregory Commodore Royal Cape Yacht Club

Mayor’s message

goes without saying that the Royal Cape Yacht Club is one of the most illustrious institutions in our country. As Mayor, I am proud not only of your 117 years of sailing excellence in our great maritime city, but also of my office’s long and close relationship with the Club.

I have been a great admirer of all kinds of watercraft since boyhood. As a child, I watched my father meticulously construct intricate models of some of history’s most notable ships and sailboats. I loved going down to the port to watch ships, yachts and other vessels enter and leave.

One of the things that has most impressed me since childhood though – and which continues to inspire me today – is one of your Club’s premier events, the Cape to Rio Race, an epic journey between our Mother City and another of the world’s most iconic and diverse cities. As the longest continent-to-continent yachting event in our half of the world, the race represents the staggering bravery of the best among us, and reminds us of the potentially unlimited determination and resolve of the human spirit.

The race – and, indeed, your Club – is a reminder to celebrate and aspire to excellence. While this is a view that some may have tried to make unfashionable of late, I believe that it is good and desirable not only to do one’s best but also to be the best. When we lose the drive towards excellence, we fall into mediocrity. Sadly, this explains so much of the political, economic and societal malaise present in South Africa at the moment.

In Cape Town, however, we are unashamedly determined to cement our city’s status as one of the world’s greatest, most distinguished, and most excellent. Bolstered by the culture of exceptionalism kept alive by institutions such as yours, and helped along by hardworking residents with a deep desire for more (this includes those in our vibrant shipbuilding industry), we are well on our way to permanently becoming Africa’s greatest city.

I very much hope to join you all on 2 January as you see off 2023’s Cape to Rio competitors in Cape Town, and look forward to many more years of friendship between the Royal Cape Yacht Club and the Mayor’s Office.

Geordin Hill-Lewis Mayor, City of Cape Town

RCYC NEWS & VIEWS

A vibrant and healthy yacht club like Royal Cape can attribute its success to many things. Foremost are the staff, then it’s the sense of community that the Club provides, followed by the well-run sailing events, and the opportunities offered

all.

A DEDICATED TEAM

A business or a club doesn’t run itself; it takes the input

staff who have both the experience and the passion to deliver the best for

and visitors. All RCYC staff add to the success of the

but these key

By Christa Badenhorst

members are the faces behind its everyday running.

Commodore Neil Gregory General Manager Toni Mainprize gm@rcyc.co.za

Sailing Manager

Senior Duty Manager

Debtors Manager

Duty Manager Damian Abrahams

Finance Manager

Marina Manager

Marketing & Events Manager

Sailing Academy Jennifer Burger sailingacademy@rcyc.co.za

Marina Operations Manager Elliot Magadlela marinaoperations@rcyc.co.za

Duty

Marina

Membership Secretary

Creditors Clerk

Senior Sous Chef Justin Zeitsman

WELCOME ABOARD

By Christa Badenhorst

It’s also very affordable for a spouse or partner to join. Once you’ve been an ordinary member of the club for six months, you will receive a 10% discount when introducing and securing any new member. For more info, contact Micky van de Pitte | membership@rcyc.co.za

What are the benefits of being a member?

E

very three months the Royal Cape Yacht Club and the commodore invite the new members, along with their proposers, to a fun and interesting evening to meet the committee and staff of the Club. Called the ‘New Members Meet and Greet’, it’s essential for new members to get a thorough overview of the Club, its facilities, and to find out about the many additional perks of being a member.

The new members meet key personnel, and network with other new members while enjoying complimentary snacks and drinks. General manager Toni Mainprize gives an overview of the Club’s facilities and the membership benefits, followed by Commodore Neil Gregory who introduces each member. New members then have an opportunity to tell the guests a bit about themselves, their sailing background and interests. The event is hosted in the upstairs Chart Room and Visitors Lounge which has scenic views over the marina.

Membership of RCYC

Many membership categories are available to suit the youth, students, individuals and families, as well as both small and large businesses.

Events

RCYC is known for hosting outstanding events ranging from food and wine pairing evenings in front of the fire place during the winter months; 1st Sunday Rhythms featuring a variety of live music on the first Sunday of every month, to our Annual Wine tasting and Gin Festival. These are amongst some of the more popular social events.

As the most active sailing club along the southern coast of Africa we not only host well know events such as the Cape2Rio Race, the Cape to St Helena Race and Lipton Challenge Cup, but club racing and annual regattas take place nearly every weekend. Throw in some fun cruising events and RCYC are hosting 92 days sailing events a year.

» Free Wi-Fi: As it’s located in an operational port, there is no load shedding at the RCYC. It offers spaces to work from, as well as different areas/private rooms that are ideal for holding meetings.

» Club access: Members enjoy full use of all the Club facilities, seven days a week. Every member receives their own personal member ship card, and they can sign their guests in six times a year.

» Social events and racing days: Members enjoy free access to regular social events and weekly lucky draws, as well as cruising and racing events. You don’t need to own your own boat to sail; there are always spaces available on other boats. Social events are promoted via our weekly newsletter, and on our website and social media platforms. Members receive preferential bookings and rates.

» Parking: Free parking is available exclusively for members and the premises and car park feature 24-hour security.

» Food and beverage discounts: A 20% discount applies to all food and beverage items from the restaurant’s menu and wine list.

» Functions: RCYC offers world-class venues set in a stunning corner of Cape Town Harbour. From intimate birthday parties and private functions, to large weddings and corporate events, the venues are fully equipped to cater to every need, with top-notch food and beverage services. Members qualify for discounted rates.

» Marina facilities: RCYC offers some of the best marina facilities in Southern Africa. An 18-ton crane and a 40-ton slipway allow easy access to the hard area, which is serviced by a number of worldclass workshops, a chandlery and a laundry. Fully serviced walk-on moorings offer 24-hour security and access control.

» Sailing Academy: The Sailing Academy is a registered NPC operating from the Club and works with youth between the ages of 16 and 23 with a special focus on opening up the Club, the facilities, the sport of yachting and the ocean to those who would normally not have the opportunity. The Club welcomes the involvement of Academy members and their families.

INTERESTING CRUISERS VISIT ROYAL CAPE

Visiting cruisers are part and parcel of life at the Royal Cape Yacht Club marina. Some stay for a day or two, some for a couple of weeks, while others fall head over heels in love with the beauty that is Cape Town and stay for months. Pre-Covid-19 there were on average around 40 boats visiting per year, from every corner of the world. Then Covid-19 reared its ugly head, and the entire country went into lockdown Level 5.

At the deserted marina, all that remained were a couple of live-aboards, together with a temporary caretaker. Cape Town Harbour shut down completely and no vessels were allowed in or out of the port. Except one did. It all started with a 4am phone call to the temporary marina caretaker. Apparently, there was a commotion at A Jetty involving a strange boat and the harbour police. It appeared that a French boat, Desirade VIII, and her crew of five had somehow managed to enter the officially closed port, unannounced, and made it all the way to A Jetty, with the harbour police in hot pursuit.

Port Control ordered the skipper, Christian Alby, to immediately vacate the mooring and leave the port. Desirade VIII had departed Angra, Brazil, on 17 March and after a 35-day Atlantic crossing, neither the captain nor his crew were intent on budging! They were dog tired, running low on provisions, water and diesel, and their boat had sustained some damage. Leaving the harbour was not on their agenda at all. Eventually sanity prevailed and officialdom decided that Desirade VIII and her crew could remain on the quarantine jetty for the foreseeable future. Desirade VIII will go down in the history of RCYC as one of the most unusual visiting cruisers.

It is, however, two other visiting cruisers that deserve the title of most memorable. The first is Dustin Reynolds, better known as the ‘Singlehanded Sailor’. Fourteen years ago, Reynolds lost his arm and his

The crew of Desirade III

leg in a motorcycle accident in Hawaii. Once recovered, he decided that it was time for a life change, and that change would include a circumnavigation. There were just two small problems: not only was he a double amputee, he also had never sailed before.

Reynolds was undeterred. He purchased his first yacht and, on 18 June 2014, he departed from Kona, Hawaii. During his journey he was forced to changed boats after the first one broke in Asia. And in early 2019, Reynolds and his new boat Tiama, a 1983 Bristol 35.5 C, arrived for a stay at the Royal Cape Yacht Club marina. Reynolds loved his time in Cape Town and has promised to swing by again on his next adventure.

On 5 December, more than seven years after he started his journey, Reynolds sailed into Kona Harbour to an extraordinary welcome, his name forever inscribed in the record books as the first double amputee to circumnavigate the globe.

The other memorable visitor was another solo circumnavigator, Frenchman Yann Quenet on his 4m boat Baluchon. Like Reynolds, Quenet is an extraordinary individual. Not only did he build Baluchon in his garage at home, he also started sailing late in life. May 2019 marked the start of a lifelong dream to sail around the world, as Quenet set sail in Baluchon from Saint-Brieuc, Brittany.

Baluchon is tiny and has no engine. Out in open waters she is, according to Quenet, ‘like a coconut on the ocean’. When a storm approaches, he takes down the sails, closes the hatch and simply waits it out. He likens storms to being in a washing machine – not very dangerous, but very uncomfortable.

Electronics onboard are non-existent. Quenet only has a handheld VHF radio for communication with the authorities as he nears port. Contacting them while en route is impossible. ‘Sometimes they are happy to see me, other times they tell me to go away!’ Any extra space on Baluchon is used for water and tins of tuna, sardines and noodles.

Wherever Quenet and Baluchon go, they attract attention and the RCYC marina was no different. It’s not just Baluchon’s size, but also that a solo sailor would even dream of crossing an ocean, nevermind circumnavigating the globe, in such a vessel. Quenet entertained plenty of visitors during his stay until he departed for his next stop, Brazil. After a journey that took three years, Quenet arrived in Saint-Brieuc to a hero’s welcome on Saturday 6 August.

As long as there are oceans to cross and adventures to be had, visiting boats will grace the RCYC marina. Some will stay a short while, others will linger longer, yet all will be welcomed and remembered.

By Liesl King

Dustin Reynolds

Yann Quenet

Good support on the water

R

CYC was well served by the mark-laying boat Buttcat and the committee boat RCYC Lass for many years. However, the time came for them to be retired. When a significant purchase is going to be made by a committee, there is an enormous amount of debate. However, eventually it was agreed we needed a RIB, and one that was capable of handling all weather conditions in Table Bay. We were very fortunate to have the opportunity to buy Whalesong. She was reluc tantly for sale and had been meticulously maintained from new.

The next debate was around where and how to store Whalesong

We knew she must be dry-sailed if she was to be properly looked after. Space on the hard is always at a premium and the realities of lifting her out of the water late after racing on a Wednesday or Saturday meant we needed a solution that did not include using the crane. The simplest solution was the one we have now. A floating docking station that is raised and lowered using air bladders. After use, Whalesong is lifted completely clear of the water, the engines are flushed and the boat thoroughly cleaned. The final step to ensure she has a long life is the use of covers to protect against the elements.

Whalesong is capable of operating up to 40 miles offshore, day and night. She is a race officer’s dream as marks can be moved quickly and over some distance. Her soft sides mean she can be brought alongside other boats to transfer people and equipment.

Although she has mainly been used for laying marks, she is an excellent platform for photographers and is also used for support during cruising events. Senior RCYC Academy instructor Sibu Sizatu has qualified as a skipper on Whalesong, which adds to the development of our staff. Whalesong will provide many years of service to the Club.

By Andrew Collins

SUPPLIED BY RCYC, RICHARD CROCKETT

Royal Cape Yacht Club history

The early years

History, especially over a 100 years’ worth, is often hard to corroborate. Memories fade and stories have a subtle way of changing with each retelling. Hence it was invaluable to be able to access A History of the Royal Cape Yacht Club, a book commissioned by past Commodore and Vice Commodore Teddy Kuttel and Dave Abromowitz, written by JS Rabinowitz and published by the Royal Cape Yacht Club. Compiled from the Club’s Minutes as well as the scrapbooks of various members, it gave a clear and factual view of the first 80 years of the Club’s history.

In 1904 the first known sailing race held in Cape Town was the Table Bay Yacht Race. The equilateral triangle race had nine entries, with the boats being 30-foot clinker-built gaff sloops and some ships’ lifeboats. In order to ‘take the sport of yachting seriously’, all the Cape Town boat owners – there were eight at the time – met on 5 April 1905 and formed the Table Bay Yacht Club (TBYC). The burgee chosen was red on which an anchor in white was superimposed. The TBYC commenced operations in a waterside boat shed, located some 50-60m north of the foot of Loop Street. Maurice Goodall, joint owner of the Queens Hotel in Dock Road, was elected as the first commodore.

The Club’s first race, the Licensed Victuallers Cup, took place on 23 July 1905 with a fleet of nine boats. The TBYC’s minutes recorded that the Union Castle Company had placed its tugboat at the disposal of the Club for the race and that a special programme had been printed.

The inaugural race was won by Florence, sailed by Vice-Commodore AJM Ross, in a time of 2 hours, 21 minutes and 20 seconds.

A year later, the Ohlsson Cup was gifted to the TBYC by Mr OA Ohlsson, for a race to be held around Robben Island. On 12 April 1906 the Ohlsson Cup was presented to Mr JA Jones, owner of Patricia, the first winner of the race. Another memorable race also had its beginnings in these early days. In July 1907 Sir Thomas Lipton agreed to present the club with a gold-plated cup, valued at £200, to be held in custody for a competition among South African yacht clubs.

The inaugural Lipton Cup was held on 25, 26 and 28 August 1911. Representing Point Yacht Club in Natal, Tess arrived in Cape Town on the Rennie’s steamer Inanda, while Patricia represented the TBYC. The race created huge public and media interest, with the Cape Times devoting an entire page to the Lipton Cup, titled ‘Tess vs Pat, Today’s big race’. Ultimately, Tess, skippered by Mr W Chiazzari, won all three races and the Mayor, Sir Frederick Smith, presented the Lipton trophy to her Natal crew.

New name, new era

1914 was a momentous year for the Club. Not only did the Great War break out in August, but the Club went through two name changes. In January the TBYC’s name was changed to the Cape Yacht Club and in June a letter was received from Mr HJ Stanley, Secretary to the

The clubhouse on Random Mole

The marina and clubhouse in the 1950s

Cape Town Pier 1913-1938

A painting of the clubhouse from 1950

Governor General, informing the club of the following: ‘His Majesty the King has been graciously pleased to approve of the title “Royal” being prefixed to the style of the Cape Yacht Club.’

This also led to the design of a new burgee incorporating a crown in yellow and a ‘fly of blue’, since all clubs with a blue ensign warrant had blue as an important part of the design.

In 1919 the Club moved from its first site to one of the three Rowing Club sheds, while an area in the docks (Victoria Basin) was secured for its use. The Harbour Board stipulated that ‘no promiscuous cruising’ would be allowed within the docks. With the boats now moored in the Victoria Basin, a room in the Clock Tower was acquired for the use of members in 1922, at a rental of £4 per annum. Electric lighting was added to the rowing shed in 1927. Members were also advised that they no longer needed to be ashamed to invite their lady friends for a sail, as ‘a proper changing room for the fairer sex’ had been built.

The Electrical Company had been after the Rowing Club sheds for a number of years and by 1928, the SA Railways proposed that the Club move to a piece of reclaimed land along the Random Mole, offering the assurance that the club would be left undisturbed for 10 to 20 years. With the uncertainty surrounding the rowing sheds, a ‘Clubhouse Campaign’ had already been launched in 1919. By 1930 it had raised £2 186, with a shortfall of only £414.

Finding a permanent home

Plans for the new clubhouse were submitted in 1931, the keys were handed over in August and on 12 September the new clubhouse was opened. House rules stipulated that alcoholic drinks in reasonable quantities were allowed in the lounge only and that visiting ladies only had access to the balcony, boatshed, library and changing room. In 1938 the subject of ladies came up again, when a request to admit lady members was turned down by the committee. They did, however, approve the provision of paper towels in the ladies’ changing room.

The new clubhouse barely made 10 years of being ‘undisturbed’, as April 1940 saw the General Manager of the South African Railways and Harbours (SAR&H) offering to purchase the clubhouse, while submitting plans for the construction of a yacht basin and clubhouse at the Woodstock end of the harbour. The site would include a landing stage and a slipway. In March 1941, the last meeting was held in the Random

Mole Clubhouse and the SAR offered to supply a shed consisting of three rooms and a veranda as a temporary clubhouse at the new site.

On 27 May 1941, a Special General Meeting was held in the temporary clubhouse, known as The Tin Shanty, where Commodore Captain SV Halls was duly authorised to sign any documents in connection with the lease of the clubhouse site from the Railways and Harbours Administration. According to the Harbour Engineer, three types of moorings, light, medium and heavy, were being prepared for the yacht basin.

In 1942, as World War II escalated, the Defence Department claimed all the swing moorings in the basin and the port captain advised that under the abnormal conditions of war, no guarantee of moorings could be given. The formation of the Seaward Defence Force Reserves was entrusted to the RCYC and members were asked to place their boats at the disposal of the unit. Commodore Captain Halls was the commanding officer of the unit and offered his 70-foot ketch, Alexandra, for training purposes.

1947 brought about another Special General Meeting, where the commodore was granted the authority to sign Form T778 for the erection of a building and to sign a 30-year lease commencing on

1 July and ending on 30 June 1977 with the Railway Administration.

A gear shed was the first building erected and served as a temporary clubhouse until the new clubhouse was officially opened on 9 September 1950.

The mooring issue

Throughout the ’50s and the ’60s, moorings appeared to be a continu ous thorn in the Club’s side, with the subject cropping up at every committee meeting. The main issues being the need for more moorings, which boats had to be moved and which had occupied whose mooring illegally. In 1963 the Moorings Committee reported that the mooring situation was becoming acute and that work would be started on laying an outer trot. Thus, gradually during the ’60s, all the swing moorings were converted to trots. The local yachting boom – started by the first Trans-Atlantic Race from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro in 1971 – caused a substantial increase in members and boats. So much so that by 1974 there were no moorings available and an ever-growing waiting list.

Ladies also featured in the annals of 1974 when it was agreed in principle that the wives of members, the unmarried daughters of members or ladies interested in sailing could become members. Ladies were also advised not to do their personal washing in the powder room! Yet it was only in 1978 at a Special General Meeting that ladies’ membership was finally approved.

During 1978/79, the yacht basin contained 221 moorings and 30 boats were without moorings. Under the auspices of Commodore Bill O’Reilly, the first ‘Mediterranean style’ marina walk-on mooring, a 12m floating walkway with fingers, was erected. As this jetty was the furthest away from the clubhouse, one still had to take the dinghy from the Club jetty to get to your boat, but just having a walk-on mooring was considered the height of luxury. During the 1980s Commodore Harold Sender started with the major expansion of the entire basin, a process that continued right up to the early 1990s.

RCYC Regatta Centre

In 1985/86, during the tenure of Teddy Kuttel as commodore, the Regatta Centre or ‘Teddy’s Tent’ as it was commonly referred to, was added to the clubhouse complex. During the early 1990s, committee member Brent Sender suggested that a deck should be built in front of the clubhouse. However, it was only in 1993 that Commodore John Levin set the plan in motion and the deck came into being. Today the clubhouse is a modest, low-slung building that houses offices, a first-class restaurant and a bar with the Regatta Centre alongside as well as a section catering for the RCYC Sailing Academy.

RCYC Sailing Academy

The Sailing Academy was established in 2012 to address the lack of access to the sport for marginalized communities. The aim of the academy is to give students life skills through the medium of sailing, create connections for them and hopefully find them employment in the Blue Economy. Training starts with basic swimming lessons and progresses towards students obtaining their Competent Crew qualifica tions. Ultimately, potential students are identified to do their skippers’ tickets. The academy’s SAS-accredited instructors are sourced from within the academy. In 2018 the academy was registered as an NPO and in 2019 as a PBO. The academy has a standing committee that reports to the executives of the Club.

The RCYC has a glorious history spanning more than a hundred years. Committees and commodores have come and gone, yet the cornerstone on which the Table Bay Yacht Club was built in 1905, ‘to take the sport of yachting seriously and to provide races for its members’ is still present to this very day.

By Liesl King

RCYC marina and clubhouse

Swing moorings

THE RCYC ACADEMY

By Lindani Mchunu

This is the story of the RCYC Academy, a story of an institution that was meant to change the lives of the less fortunate, and yet ended up changing the lives of the fortunate too. It is impossible to speak about the academy without speaking about myself and the many individuals with whom I would collaborate to create something that would later find itself the subject matter of a Disney documentary.

It is always the assumption with philanthropy that aid, development and the upliftment of beneficiaries flow only in one direction. Nothing could be further from the truth. The benefactor is also transformed. Those humans who have, from time to time, been fortunate enough to be able to help humankind or the less fortunate, have often thought that the help is flowing in one direction.

As we all know, our ocean field is blue, vast and expansive and, at times, unforgiving yet inviting.

Beginnings

I started working for the Academy in 2017. Joe Heywood first took me there. I was introduced to him by Bruce Tedder who found me through a mutual friend all the way in Les Sables-d’Olonne. I was in this small town in the South of France because I helped deliver a Lagoon catamaran to the BVI. On this trip we stopped off at the Cape Verde Islands, where I reconnected with old friends as I had spent some time there from 2014 to 2016. I met Joe and we hit it off immediately. This

bond would help us in the future when we did not see eye to eye. Joe was taking over from the outgoing chairman of the academy, Tony Strutt. The incumbent commodore of RCYC at the time, Vitor Medina, had boundless passion and energy for the academy, and was a man I would look up to as a father figure in times to come.

I arrived in Cape Town in 2017, a worn-out sailor still looking for his place in the wind. Little did I know that the academy would prove to be the gust that would take me to heights unimagined. Vitor and I took a liking to each other straight way. I liked his sincerity, and he loved my passion. I also met someone else at the academy who would leave an indelible mark on me, Howard Richman. He provided me with my first lodgings in Cape Town for almost a whole year.

When I joined the academy, the mandate was clear: increase the subscriber base, make it sustainable by raising funding and create a programme that would open up opportunities for the beneficiaries. Here is a confession. Before I was involved in the academy, I always thought that poverty was the greatest motivator of success. I thought that given the opportunity and resources, underprivileged people would always grab an opportunity and make use of it. I was mistaken; there is much more context to people than just privilege, or the lack of it.

Sailing in Table Bay is an adventure on its own. To be out there in a 40-knot wind is to feel alive and terrified all at once, and I have seen that terror in some of the academy kids’ eyes. In one instance, we were caught with a torn main sail in serious wind on Always Well. If you know

Always Well, you’ll know that she cannot point upwind at all. When the wind picks up, so does the shouting onboard. One of the reasons is that, in the howling southeaster, you can hardly hear the person next to you. Another is the terror of it all and, lastly, it’s the excitement of feeling alive.

This was the distinguishing factor of our academy. The study and training were not in a classroom, and the teacher was not human. The teacher was the wind and the ocean. There is something to be said about being taught something new on a medium that refuses to remain the same. I cannot imagine what it must do to a mind to encounter the ocean for the first time on a sailing boat in a howling southeaster. It must jolt it in such a way that fear is overridden by sheer awe.

Year one

The first year of the academy was an eventful one. Not very long into our programme, we found ourselves on CNN’s Inside Africa. Our story seemed unlikely to outsiders. How could a ‘Royal Cape Yacht Club’ integrate itself with youth from the Cape Flats? Not only was this place seen as a bastion of colonialism, it was also not known for being youth orientated. The average age was way over 50, the demographic was 1% people of colour and another not-too-impressive percentage reflected the female membership. This was a place that had a male-only bar well

into the 2000s. If you walked into the Club, you would not believe that such a programme would have any chance of prospering by any stretch of the imagination. It was, and possibly remains, an intimidating experience, for example, for a young girl from Khayelitsha to walk into the Club, let alone feel comfortable. Sometimes, unfavourable conditions produce favourable odds.

I met Momelezi Funani with a group of students that were my first intake from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). As part of their experiential learning programme, CPUT had enrolled 19 students across all their campuses to do an eight-week sailing programme. Momelezi stood out for me because he was one of the few students who came back from the water smiling that evening after a rather tough day of sailing. The Portugal Day Race of 2017 had big swells and nasty winds, it was cold, and it was raining. Yet Momelezi was smiling. On his last day on the programme, he approached me and asked whether he could intern at the academy as part of his final-year practical for his Sport Management Science Diploma. I was pulling alone at the time and needed the admin assistance.

We interviewed him and hired him as an intern. Mo and I would spend the next three years of our lives together. Both of us lived in Observatory and walked home together almost every day. We discussed what the academy would become on those walks home. Every day we

were obsessed about uplifting our people and introducing sailing to every township in South Africa. With Joe Heywood as the academy chairman and our unofficial big brother, things were moving in the right direction. It was also during this time that I would meet Ian Slatem, a man who taught me how to lead from behind. Little did I know that through his passing, I would meet his girlfriend, a lady I still talk about, and one with whom I would go on to do some amazing things.

New heights

Ian took me and the academy kids up Table Mountain for the very first time. I had always had this uncomfortable feeling about Table Mountain, believing it was such a far-away dream for kids from the Cape Flats, something they saw from a distance but knew they would never summit. Ian, thank you. You were instrumental in changing that.

After the CNN interview, the academy began gaining some traction. Bruce Tedder, a silent mentor of sorts, was keeping a close eye on my journey and before I knew it, he introduced me to Vanessa Davidson who, at the time, was working for an organisation based in Port Elizabeth called the South African International Maritime Institute (SAIMI). I believe this was when things reached a turning point. Vanessa introduced me to Sam Venter, who was the media liaison for SAIMI. Sam came to interview me about the academy and the next thing I knew, I was speaking to Yvette de Klerk, who ran the National Cadet Programme. Yvette and I sat outside the deck at the Club and she told me about the programme she was running at various maritime institutions across the country. There was fascination from both sides. Then the idea that would marry us for the next two years was born. Yvette was facing issues with her programme: the cadets were dropping out, and it seemed they were doing so mostly during their sea-time practicals. It immediately dawned on me, they lacked the grassroots introduction to being out on small vessels at sea, and nothing could give them that experience better than sailing.

The idea was proposed to the committee, and everyone loved it. This would lead me to meeting Sibu Sizatu. Joe Heywood, our chairman had already identified that I was better suited on land, and we needed to find someone who would take over the on-water training. It was all very much aligned, because the previous year Sibu and Asenathi Jim had approached me and asked me whether I would need assistance with the programme, to which I said definitely!

Support for growth

SAIMI agreed to fund four skippers’ tickets and instructor courses. Sibu would bring with him Athenkosi Vena, Ace, Renaldo and Sebata Gayeka. One of the challenges of the academy was instructing youth from the townships, especially black African youth, in English. Most of the skippers I found in the previous academy run by Harry were white youth. Upon my arrival, I asked them what some of the challenges were that they faced when teaching the kids. They told me the language barrier was very difficult. I knew then in that first conversation that we had to find instructors who were Xhosa speaking. Sibu and the Masiphumelele guys would be the perfect fit. Alex Mamacos from the Good Hope Sailing Academy was instrumental in training and tutoring our future instructors. Her contribution was invaluable to creating a pool of qualified skippers.

By mid-2018 the academy was preparing for a Lipton campaign in Durban. A year before, I had taken a road trip to Durban with my first batch of academy students, which would define my time at the Club. It set the tone in a way – the academy was not going to be smooth sailing, but we were always going to reach our destination. It was during this time that I took a hiatus of sorts from the academy. I found myself having to reassess and regroup. In my absence, Jennifer Burger arrived on the scene to help a burgeoning institution. A former commodore, John Levin, also joined the academy as a committee member and would stay with us until he became president of the Club a few years later. Neil Gregory joined as vice-commodore, followed by Dave Garrard as Club treasurer.

Along came TETA

On my return to the academy, I had a very strong committee, and we were well represented on the general committee of the Club. Yvette was leaving SAIMI and invited me to her farewell function. Yvette, it would seem, would have one last gift for me: she introduced me to Malcolm Alexander from the Transport Education Training Authority (TETA). With Jennifer at my side and a strong committee guiding the ship, it was clear that anything was possible. It was during the latter part of 2018 that Jennifer, Momelezi and I would work on a proposal and sailing programme for submission to TETA. It was a long and arduous process (very admin heavy), but we already had experience with submitting reports to SAIMI. After months of back and forth with Malcolm, we finally submitted our proposal late in 2018. It would only be in 2019, a few days before my birthday, that we would find out that the academy had been awarded R2.2 million by TETA to train 30 students!

By this time, we had tailor-made a programme that not only includ ed sailing, but also encompassed a swimming programme, firefighting, medical first aid, safety at sea and many other ancillary courses that gave our students a foot in the door in terms of employment in the maritime sector at large. We recognised the fact that we were more

than just a sailing school, we were a stepping stone into the maritime sector. The TETA programme allowed us to have a structured programme with measurable outcomes over a defined period.

2019 would be the year we found our wings and the year we finally got to use our donated vessel Arch Angel. It would be the year we made our first attempt at a Rio campaign and it would be the year we expanded our pool of skippers. In the words of one of our committee members, ‘this was the year we grew arms and legs’.

The collaboration with TETA would prove to be the partnership we always needed.

Challenges beyond our control

2020 arrived with a bang in the form of Covid-19. The academy came to a standstill, but it was during this time that we learnt what it means to improvise. Once again, we huddled together and thought of interesting ways to continue the programme remotely. We partnered with a member at the Club and offered some of the sailing materials online. I reached out to an old friend in Palma, Phil Wade, and through his philanthropic work, he was able to raise funding for tablets so our sailors could stay connected and login into the online programme remotely.

It was also during this time that I had to sit in a room full of young kids from orphanages and townships and tell them that we had lost some of our funding and we were unable to keep them in the programme. It was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I had tears in my eyes. I understood the unequal scales of life very well that day.

2020 was a year of many contrasts: on the one hand we saw despair everywhere and, on the other, we saw human resilience and empathy. What was incredible on the part of TETA is that they continued to pay our skippers even though they were at home. They were still committed to seeing the programme through beyond Covid-19 and remained loyal to our cause.

Moving on Momelezi left the academy to start his own business in the boatmaintenance sector. It was a sad parting of ways, yet it was a natural progression. The academy was never meant to keep anyone. When I arrived, Daniel Agulhas was part and parcel of the academy, but during my tenure he left and went into boat-building and deliveries. There were so many youths that came and went. Siyanda Vato was with us for a short spell, helping us with the refurbishment of Arch Angel. Even our chairman, Joe Heywood, left us before we started the TETA project, and Howard Richman took over.

Each person brings with them a new approach. It was through Howard that we established ties with the Emaqgabini Education Foundation operating out of Khayelitsha. The organisation was run by Cindy Mkaza and her husband, Linda. They found a group of young girls, Yonela Mkaza, Azile Arosi and Yonele Temela, who were keen to try sailing. These ladies went on to have great experiences abroad too: Yonela and Azile went to Spain through our collaboration with Marine Inspirations, run by Phil Wade. And Yonela went to Massachusetts, Maine, with Danial Agulhas on a summer sailing camp.

I have always viewed the academy as a transit point. I have always thought of it as a place where people find purpose, see opportunity, regroup themselves and then go after their dreams.

It was also during 2020 that an idea hatched that we should build an Academy Centre, a big one that could house all the facilities we needed under one roof. Jennifer and I found three companies to design the structure and submit renderings to our committee. Everyone loved the idea and it was only a matter of finding the funding. I remember it like yesterday. We applied to the National Lotteries Commission three times, and we were declined three times on technicalities. It was crushing each time. It was something we needed since we were also simultaneously trying to conclude a deal with CPUT to train their students over a five-year period, for close to R10 million. The centre was going to cost us about R2.3 million. It was a dream that just never materialised at the time, but I believe it is one that will one day become a reality. It is inevitable; it is the next level.

Getting back to business

As 2021 drew to a close, we found ourselves once again chasing a new TETA contract. Coming out of Covid-19, the whole process was drawn out. What took three months before, took almost a whole year this time. Yet in November of 2021, the academy was once more awarded a contract by TETA for R3.2 million for another two years!

I remember the moment so well. Sibu and I were in our office. I had been anxious for months. The academy was not in great shape. We had gone back to being sponsored mainly by the Club, the numbers had been trimmed down considerably, and we were operating on what we called Academy 101. We were no longer offering all the ancillary courses and we had moth-balled three of our vessels. I was experienc ing a mini-depression; it was unreal to see an academy that, at one point, had close to 100 students a week, decline in numbers to a mere 12 on just one day of the week.

Making an impact

The academy’s success had not left the Club untouched. During 2020 and 2021, I was brought into the Transformation and Futures Commit tee of the Club, the steering committee that was solely responsible for the transformation of the Club’s demographic makeup. I worked closely with Toni Mainprize and Lynette Finlay to put together a transformation plan and strategy for the Club. It was an exciting and challenging time for me.

A lot has been written about transformation and diversity inclusion programmes. I am no authority on the subject, and nor do I care to be. All I know is the following. I find it hard to understand why people, who do not understand what others, who are different from them, want and need in a space where they are not represented. Why do we have to wrack our brains trying to figure out what will make women happy in male-dominated spaces, or why do we have to figure out what will attract people of colour and keep them? This is the trouble right here. Why do men sit in a room and discuss what women need and want, in the absence of women, and if they are present, they are not leading the conversation? Why do white people sit in a room and discuss what people of colour need and want, in the absence of black people? And, when they are in the room, they are not leading the conversation, nor do they have the authority to self-determine. This is what I found to be strange about transformation work. There are not enough people in the room, and when there are one or two, they do not have the authority to lead the conversation. It becomes a debate, and this is very confusing.

My brother-in-law came to an awards evening once and witnessed Vitor hand me a Royal Cape jacket as a way of recognising my contribu tion to the academy as the then manager. He asked me about the academy and what we were trying to do, and I told him, basically, we are bringing kids from impoverished backgrounds to a privileged space to try and share that privilege in the hope that it will open doors for them. Of course, it was more than that for me. For me, it was and will always be the following.

If you have ever been to townships, the one thing you will notice and never miss is how densely populated they are. People are living on top of one another.

The next thing you will notice is the lack of play areas for kids –kids are normally playing in the road, which invariably means more kids getting knocked down by cars. Then you notice the poverty and, if you are unlucky, you encounter the violence and crime. Such a place cannot

be conducive to mental health and early childhood development. Such a space cannot be fertile ground for a free-thinking and intelligent mind. Such a place cannot produce or motivate success or stimulate dreams and imagination.

When I discovered sailing, I discovered unclaimed land, or water if you will. A place where one can go and be free, for free. A place where the horizon is endless and the room to imagine is as expansive as the universe. A place where you will not hear a single bullet, a place where you can move in any direction without being told to know your place. A place where even the colour of your skin had no meaning. This is the place where I imagined youth from the township could re-imagine themselves. This is where I imagined they could go and have enough room to play, without any fear of reproach. This is what the academy was all about for me, an opportunity to dream…

In early January 2022 the academy was documented over five days by a film crew commissioned by Disney. The short film of the acad emy will be premiered later this year. It was so surreal being part of that experience, yet it also felt just. Something so many people poured their hearts into deserves to be documented.

As I write this article, the academy has just received a sponsorship from Alexforbes to send a team to Rio in 2023.

I am no longer a part of the academy. Yet what is certain, is that it has only just begun doing what it does best: touching everyone who encounters it.

As my father said: ‘What you touch, touches you back, Lindani.’

Dreams do come true

The dream a young girl called Azile Arosi spoke about in the Disney documentary has come true. Hailing from Masiphumelele, Khayelitsha, Grassy Park and Athlone in Cape Town are six sailors who will sail to Rio in the 2023 Cape to Rio Race.

The Alexforbes Arch Angel crew comprises skipper Sibusiso Sizatu (30), first mate Daniel Agulhas (29), Renaldo Tshepo Mohale (29), Thando Mntambo (23), Azile Arosi (22) and Justin Peters (21).

Skipper Sibusiso Sizatu says: ‘Going to Rio with the academy sailors has been my dream. I have no words to describe how I feel about participating in the race … It’s just an amazing feeling. It broke my heart that we were unable to participate in the last race as we had promised our students. But I always hoped that one day our dream will be fulfilled … Yes, there were times when I thought that this was never going to happen, but our team did not give up hope. We trained, persevered and continued preparing even though our path to Rio was not clear. I am amazed by the things that we have achieved just by being present and keeping our heads up despite the challenges faced. Together, with the generous support of Alexforbes, we are about to make history as the RCYC Sailing Academy.’

Alexforbes ArchAngel crew: Seated, from left to right: Azile Arosi, Sibusiso Sizatu (Skipper), Daniel Agulhas. Standing, from left to right: Thando Mntambo, Justin Peters, Tshepo Renaldo Mohale

RACING OVERVIEW

By Andrew Collins

At the Royal Cape Yacht Club, we are very fortunate to have the best keelboat racing programme in the country. Although the formula is tweaked a little from year to year, our perennial favourites always draw large fleets.

The Sailing Committee puts a huge amount of thought into the calendar each year, trying to set a programme that will satisfy a diverse range of needs. On the one hand, we receive feedback saying we offer too much racing and that it’s impossible to fit it all in as well as spend time with family, let alone take part in other sports and interests. On the other hand, we have members who would like to race every Wednesday and Saturday. We also want to allow time for our members to support the major regattas at other nearby clubs such as the Admiral’s Cup and False Bay Yacht Club’s Spring Regatta. Not to mention dinghy sailing at Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club, Hermanus Yacht Club, Imperial Yacht Club, Theewater Sports Club and others.

Sailing survey

A couple of years ago we ran a survey among our members that gave some clear data about sailing preferences. Things change and this survey should be repeated from time to time in order to gauge changing needs.

One of the very clear findings of the survey was the need to move our major regatta from December to February. December was the least

favourite month of the year to take part in racing for the vast majority of respondents. Anecdotally, we had been seeing this through the number of emails from boat owners complaining they could never get a crew together at that time of the year.

The survey also showed bay races are the most popular format. Again the larger numbers of boats taking part in round-the-island races and the Portugal Day Race are evidence of that.

But decisions need to be made based on data and not personal opinions. Hence the survey. Please take part in future surveys so we can have accurate data to use when making decisions.

Double-handed racing

Worldwide the double-handed format of racing is extremely popular and RCYC is no exception. One of the major advantages for boat owners is only having to get one other person to commit. Running a large crew is an administrative headache especially in 2022 when there are so many other wonderful sports such as mountain-biking, trail-running and kite-surfing taking up people’s time.

We run two Excelsior Double Handed series each year with a race once a month. After racing, every single person who has competed sits around one large table to enjoy some Excelsior wine and convivial banter. Short-handed sailing is a great way to improve your skill level, to get to know other members and develop new friendships.

ALEC SMITH

ORC

In 2016 we introduced ORC as a new handicapping system to the Club. People hate change, some more than others. While there was some resistance initially, over time this dwindled and ORC has proven itself to be a fair and accurate rating system with broad support. Most importantly, it is completely transparent and objective and is constantly improved upon.

All ORC certificates are compatible making it possible to race non-spinnaker boats against spinnaker boats and double-handed against fully crewed. Recently, a multihull option was introduced that will allow multihulls to compete against the monohull fleet if they so wish.

No handicap system is perfect, but ORC is internationally recognised and is growing. Both the West and East Coasts of America are now using ORC for their major regattas.

While the vast majority of the racing fleet at RCYC has ORC ratings, the biggest reason for those who do not have one is the hassle of getting measurements done. And the biggest hassle is removing everything from the boat, particularly for the cruisers. However, this really just requires a mind shift. It may take you a day to do it all, but once it’s done, you never have to repeat it. It is only if you get new sails or make a modification that you may have to update a few measure ments. The effort-reward ratio makes it a very worthwhile exercise. A day’s work for a lifetime of racing.

We are looking at creating a ‘classic’ fleet using the Dynamic Allowance factor listed on every boat’s certificate. This has been done successfully elsewhere in the world and allows one to differentiate between more modern, performance boats and older, displacement boats. Scoring would continue to be done in the same way it has been done, but there would be additional results for more ‘classic’ boats.

Diversity in racing

Increasing diversity is one of the most important objectives for RCYC –82% of South Africa’s population is black and 51% are women. If we want to grow our Club and our sport, it is obvious where we need to focus our efforts.

We have a thriving Sailing Academy that has already achieved so much in exposing our sport to black youngsters. The joy and laughter emanating from the academy boats on the weekends as they head out to sail in the bay are wonderful. Not to mention the enthusiasm and support they have for each other, something we witnessed at the Portugal Day Race prize-giving in June this year.

Women’s sailing at RCYC is growing steadily. The most recent Ladies Regatta showed just how popular sailing is as a sport for women. Out of 150-odd competitors that day, more than 100 were female. The vibe at the prize-giving afterwards was fabulous. The Club is a much happier space when we have a large number of women there.

Sponsors

Racing by its nature requires resources. Committee boats, mark-laying boats, race officers, timekeepers and other volunteers. We are very fortunate to have loyal sponsors that allow us to hold quality events. Club Mykonos has been sponsoring the Mykonos Offshore event for 37 years, while GIMCO and Sable International have come onboard more recently and both have agreed to continue their support.

The future

Racing is expensive and requires a significant investment in both time and money by boat owners and their crew. Globally this is a challenge

and yacht clubs around the world constantly wrestle with how to grow their fleets and offer racing formats that will be popular. While fleet numbers will wax and wane, racing at RCYC is doing well. We offer our members a full programme of events and, no matter what their preferences, there are enough types of racing to keep most members happy.

Stay in touch

The best way to support the Club’s racing programme is to take part in as many racing events as possible. We value your input and you are always welcome to email the sailing office with ideas and suggestions.

Our heartfelt thanks to our supporters

» Club Mykonos Langebaan

» Viking Life Saving Equipment for sponsoring Mykonos Offshore and being the title sponsor of the Knysna Rally

» Seajet Antifouling (sold by Viking): West Coast Offshore Race

» Glen Carlou wines: Hout Bay Raid

» Excelsior wines: DoubleHanded Series

» Bon Courage wines: Ladies Regatta

» Starbrite cleaning products/ Peak Season: Mykonos Offshore

» Atlantic Yachting: Mykonos Offshore

» Seaport Supplies International: Mykonos Offshore

» Addis (prizes for seniors):

Winter Twilight Series

» Ullman Sails: Mykonos Offshore

» Ullman Sails Gear (bags): Ladies Regatta, Youth Regatta, Lipton Challenge Cup, Knysna Rally

Pathcare: Seniors Pursuit Race

North Sails: general sponsorship including kit bags

Harken: Mykonos Offshore and Harken Round Robben Island Race

Sable International: Summer Twilight Series

Warwick Wealth: Friday Night Lucky Draw

Krone: Ladies Regatta

Abromowitz Sharp & Associates: Support boat and VIP boat for many regattas

Novamarine: Knysna Rally 2021 and West Coast Offshore 2020

2 Oceans Maritime Academy (prize): Youth Regatta 2019

Ocean Star Sailing School (prize): Ladies Regatta 2021

Stir Crazy Cooking School: Ladies Regatta 2021

Central Boating: West Coast Offshore 2020, Seniors Pursuit Race with Lewmar sponsoring the permanent racing mark

Manex Marine (product and permanent racing marks): Seniors Pursuit Race

Thanks for the ongoing support from

Coca-Cola Peninsula Beverages: Youth Regatta

Nando’s: Youth Regatta and Portugal Day Race

RR Cork: Portugal Day Race

Jocastro: Portugal Day Race

Seaport Supply and Garmin: Mykonos Offshore and Seniors Pursuit Race

Intasure: Mykonos Offshore

Balistic Eyeware: Mykonos Offshore and Ladies Regatta

Sealand (product): Youth Regatta

ZF Group: Professionals Race

Quiver Outdoor Gear (product): Mykonos Offshore

Batela Jackets: Ladies Regatta

Kia Paarl: Club course cards

South African Sailing

The City of Cape Town for the Cape to Rio Race and the Lipton Challenge Cup

Wesgro for the Cape to Rio Race and the Cape to St Helena Race

THE LIPTON CHALLENGE: A POTTED HISTORY

by Richard Crockett

Top: The 1982 Lipton Challenge fleet. Bottom: Hout Bay was the venue for the 1992 Lipton Challenge. Competitors were met with tough conditions as seen in this magnificent image

For most people who follow the sport of sailing in our country, the Lipton Challenge is the one competition that stands head and shoulders above all others, and which commands much interest, comment and a large and diverse following.

The word ‘challenge’ is a very important one as the contest is a challenge between yacht clubs. In fact, it is the only national interclub sailing event in the country and is not a contest individuals can enter. It is their club that enters.

For clarity, it is important to note that the physical cup is known as the ‘Lipton Challenge Cup’, while the contest is known as the ‘Lipton Challenge’.

In this feature, cobbled together from a ton of material I have in my sailing archives, I attempt to highlight the reasons why the Lipton Challenge Cup has this aura about it and what it means to the South African sailing community. I’ve interspersed this with some additional information, of which Lipton Challenge followers may not be aware.

The best way to begin is to reveal more about the man who started it all.

Who was Sir Thomas Lipton?

Thomas Lipton was born to an immigrant Irish blue-collar family. He left school at the age of 10 and on his 21st birthday (10 May 1871) opened a modest general dealer shop in Glasgow. The store was an immediate success due to Lipton’s industry and imaginative promotional ability.

How the Lipton Challenge Cup came to South Africa

Thanks to an approach in London by Captain Sir Peter Bam, a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Cape, Sir Thomas Lipton bestowed on the Table Bay Yacht Club, in only the third year of its existence, a costly trophy valued at £200 to be held in their custody for a competition between South African yacht clubs.

In 1909, Sir Thomas Lipton presented the magnificent silver gilt Lipton Challenge Cup to the Table Bay Yacht Club (which later became the Royal Cape Yacht Club).

No challenge was received by the Table Bay Yacht Club in the year the Cup was donated. 1910 passed and there were still no challengers. This was because no South African club owned a yacht that complied with the conditions and measurements of the Deed of Gift.

The conditions were: ‘Any recognised yacht club that had headquarters between Walvis Bay and Beira could compete for the Cup with one representative yacht which was to be not more than eight metres and not less than six according to international measurement.’

Sportsmanship

The Lipton Challenge Cup holds 11.5 bottles of champagne!

The Deed of Gift for the Cup could not have been more clear in that the races were to be sailed each year in ‘friendly contests in sailing and seamanship’. The

After announcing that he was going on vacation to Australia, Lipton stopped off in Ceylon and became intrigued by the possibilities of the tea market. His ship sailed on without him, as he threw himself, with customary vigour, into the intricacies of tea growing, shipping and marketing. When Lipton arrived in Ceylon – already a millionaire at the age of 40 – huge estates and plantations were being sold for a song. Needless to say, he very rapidly put together a giant tea-producing operation and hot-footed it back to England.

On his return, Lipton Tea was launched. As usual, Lipton employed highly original if not provocative advertising techniques, but because his tea was sold in sealed, weighted and price-marked packets, he soon outstripped his competitors who sold from open tea chests that caused a deterioration in the tea and led to dishonest dealing by underweighing and adulteration.

Although Thomas Lipton had a passion for the sea and genuinely loved the tall ships that plied the world’s trade routes, his quest for the America’s Cup was rooted in part in his thirst for publicity.

However, he was a true sportsman and, even though all his five America’s Cup challenges in a series of yachts called Shamrock ended in failure, his gracious behaviour so endeared him to the Americans that, after his fifth defeat, a public fund was set up that resulted in a gold loving cup (worth 8 000 guineas) being presented to Sir Thomas as a consolation gift from the American people.

From the prestigious Lipton Tea business, to the helm of his yacht Shamrock, Sir Thomas J Lipton epitomised the spirit and sportsmanship that has made the Lipton Challenge South Africa’s most prestigious sailing contest.

Deed opened as follows: ‘I, Sir Thomas Lipton, of London, England, for the purpose of encouraging yachting in South Africa, and especially in the way of friendly contests in sailing and seamanship in deep sea yacht racing, do hereby give to the Table Bay Yacht Club of Cape Town, Cape Colony, the silver Cup delivered herewith.’

‘Unwritten Rule 1’

Over the years these contests have produced a highly competitive brand of sailing, but at the same time have developed a trademark that may be described as ‘Unwritten Rule 1’ of the rules governing yacht racing. The essence of this rule is to ‘keep in view the ordinary customs of the sea, and discourage all attempts to win a race by other means than fair sailing and superior speed and skill’.

The sailing courses

Sir Thomas endorsed the courses to be sailed in the Deed of Gift, as well as how many races were required to be sailed in the initial contests. The ‘compulsory’ courses are always the same: an equilateral triangle, a quadrangular course and a windward-leeward. The legs of each individual course totalling 12 nautical miles. Until these three courses have been completed, there cannot be a result. In terms of an amendment Sir Thomas signed in 1925, additional ‘optional’ courses may be included.

The Cup

The Lipton Challenge Cup was manufactured by British Silversmiths Elkington and Company in Birmingham in 1908 and was made of solid sterling silver, and hand gilded with gold plate, which is confirmed by the four hallmarks embossed on the main body of the Cup.

1961 Lipton Cup. Left to right: Lieutenant Commander D Tomlinson and Noel Horsfield

The cost then was in the region of £300 sterling.

An intriguing piece of history is captured in the enamelled plates around the Cup: the coats of arms of the five colonies being South West Africa (now Namibia), the Cape, Natal, Mozambique and, strangely, given that the cup was deeded to promote deep-sea sailing, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

The racing

Dating back to 1909, and being a contest with 113 years of history (in 2022), it’s important to understand that the Lipton Challenge has survived two world wars, seven class changes and many different political changes in South Africa, yet it has never really lost its allure.

1911-1923 The founding era

It was not until 7 June 1911 that the Honourable Secretary GW Pilkington advised that the first races were fixed for 25, 26 and 28 August.

At the beginning, while the Table Bay Yacht Club was deciding on a craft suitable to defend the Cup, a challenge came from the Point Yacht Club (PYC) in Durban. The challenger was the Natal-built 8m Tess. The Cape men rapidly altered an existing yacht, Patricia, to conform with the Deed of Gift and accepted the challenge. An interesting contest followed with Tess winning, and the Cup moved to the shores of Natal for a long, long stay.

Table Bay was represented by the best of its heavy boats, built especially for local conditions. Tess was a racer by comparison and Patricia did well to perform as she did, the second race being lost by a second.

The Capetonians were attached to this Cup and formed a syndicate, raised money and commissioned the Scottish designer,

William Fife to design and build their challenger Erica. Work was well in hand when Fife received an enquiry from the Point Yacht Club for a defender! Fife could hardly design both, but the Table Bay Yacht Club consented to having the Natal yacht Skabenga built on the same moulds. A unique position: the defender and challenger were sister ships, aside from small rigging details.

Moreover, Sir Thomas responded to a request by the Woodstock Boys’ Club for a design and sent plans from Fife as well. In 1908 the Boys’ Club had inaugurated the Woodstock Yacht Club in order to enter the contest. There were three boats in the 1912 races.

Consummate sportsmanship by the RCYC skipper in reporting an unobserved touch of the flag on the buoy, when the sea threw him in that direction, gave PYC the series of three races.

The 1913 contest was also won by PYC and by the time the 1914 contest was due, war had broken out and the PYC held onto the cup for the next eight years, before winning it again in 1923.

1952-1973 The magnificent and graceful 30 square metre era

At the end of the 1923 series, competition for the Cup wallowed in the doldrums of the Great Depression, unsuitable craft and the war years. In 1952 interest again soared, with the competing boats now the Swedish-bred 30 square metre class. These boats are characterised by their easily driven hulls, long overhangs, rakish tall masts and short booms.

Durban was again the venue, and once more the ‘Banana Boys’ retained the Cup with Avocet flying the burgee of the Point Yacht Club, skippered by F Meadows.

The following year, after a determined entry by the Royal Cape men, and with the Reimer-designed Tarpon, they won all the races.

1970 Lipton Challenge. Of the Durban yachts, Sunrose had the best of the series. Here she crosses the line to take fourth place in her final race

Above: 1983 Lipton Cup winners, the Royal Cape Yacht Club. Below: 2002 Lipton Cup Winners, Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club

1992 Lipton Challenge1995 Lipton Challenge

Imagine the joy of the Cape Club when after 42 years, the Cup returned to home waters. The man to achieve this was the remarkable helmsman Sonny Thomas.

The Royal Cape Yacht Club and the Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club alternated in the victories for the next three years, with Yvette and Tarpon taking turns to keep the Cup in the shadow of Table Mountain.

The 1958 series in Algoa Bay will be remembered for two things: Sunmaid’s grand slam of five wins in five starts, and the third race. Light conditions prevailed for the first two races with Sunmaid, under the hand of Wilfred Hancock, getting the gun. The start of the third race was slow with light shifting airs, and then it came ... a howling westerly gale, peaking at 50 knots. It slammed down on the fleet; two boats retired, others reefed or slogged on under headsails only.

Sunmaid fought on under full sail to win. Hancock crossed the line first in the last two races, and the Cup returned to Durban, but this time to the Royal Natal Yacht Club.

Hancock had the business-like Mariquita built as his 1959 defender. By retaining his excellent crew and magic touch, he staved off opposition and held the Cup once more.

Back to Natal for the 1960 series which fulfilled all the expectations of interesting racing. There were favourites as always, but even the outsiders were showing form that could not be ignored. Noel Horsfield bought Rapid – the longest 30 square metre in the country – did some tinkering as he put it, and proved to be the dark horse that beat the favourite. But the duels between Rapid and Mariquita were classics of their kind. The finishing times between the leaders and the rest of the fleet in 1960 helped to demonstrate the very keen competition.

Rapid, the 1961 defender, flew the burgee of the Clube Naval (Lourenco Marques); by general agreement, however, the series was sailed in Algoa Bay.

In 1963, Noel Horsfield sailing Rapid for the Henley Sailing Club, became the first skipper to win the Cup for an inland club.

Competition flagged as the fleet deteriorated due to age and 1973 saw the 30-square sailed for the last time.

1982-1983 The quarter-tonners

The competition was revived when Harold Sender, commodore of the Royal Cape Yacht Club, raised a challenge that was taken up by the commodore of the Royal Natal Yacht Club, Guy Reynolds, in November 1981.

The challenge and its acceptance not only resulted in the revival of the Lipton Challenge, but also led to two new quarter-tonners being built for the contest.

Nine years had passed since the last challenge for this magnificent trophy, which stands more than one metre high.

Traditionally the Lipton Challenge had been held between yacht clubs based at coastal ports and for the first time, in 1982, the contest included representative yachts registered at clubs in the then Transvaal and Orange Free State.

The Point Yacht Club won in Fuel Free, jointly skippered by Harry Ellens and Tony Hurter, in 1982, while the Royal Cape Yacht Club won in 1983 with Geoff Meek on Royal Flush

1984-2018 The L26 era

Angelo Lavranos, arguably South Africa’s leading naval architect at the time, had designed a boat that, due to its success as a One Design Class, was available in sufficient enough numbers to allow all eligible clubs to enter a boat in the 1984 Lipton Challenge. The L26, as the craft is known, was a state-of-the-art strict one design. This means that the boats are identical in size, have the same sails, equipment and crew complement and are governed by stringent regulations covering all aspects of the boat and its appendages. Theoretically this results in a ‘singer-not-the-song’ situation, whereby the best sailor wins and not the most expensive or radical boat.

This era, which spanned 35 years, was dominated by the names of King, Nankin, Davis, Hudson, Sadler, Blanckenberg and Rae, all prevailing at different times.

Greg Davis won the contest 13 times as skipper or co-skipper during this era, with Chris King and Rick Nankin both earning seven wins each.

The youngest team to win was the University of Natal Yacht Club team, skippered by Bruce Savage, that took the coveted Cup in 1985.

The only team representing an inland yacht club to win in the L26 era was the Transvaal Yacht Club and they won the first contest sailed on L26s. It was Ewald Sternagel who earned this honour in Table Bay waters, making the TYC the second inland club in history to win the Cup.

2019-2021 The modern era

With interest in L26 racing declining, the Lipton Challenge charged into the modern era when, in 2018, the Cape 31 was voted in as the Class for the next two challenges after a 35-year dominance by the L26.

1964 Lipton Cup. The SA 18, Sunmaid, skippered by Wilfred Hancock and SA 9, Tintomara, with Ivor Jamison at the helm

A ladies team sailed Tiletoria in the last event on L26s

The first event the Cape 31s sailed in was in Table Bay. Nitro, representing Witbank Yacht Club, sealed the deal

Owing to the new class of boat, many a former Lipton Challenge winner returned to the contest relishing the action after growing bored with the L26 Class.

Interestingly, the first club to win in this era was an inland club, the Witbank Yacht & Aquatic Club (WYAC) led by Mike Hayton and David Rae. Hayton and his team were up against the cream of South African yachtsmen, and a closely fought series of eight races ensued. The Witbank Yacht & Aquatic Club became only the third inland club to win the Cup.

In 2021 in Saldanha Bay, racing went right down to the wire in the final race as the overall winner was only decided in the last 100m.

Going into the final (10th) race, the RCYC team had led at the end of each day’s racing with just a single point separating the top three boats – RCYC, WYAC and RNYC.

The best way to describe that final race of the series – a 12 nautical mile windward/leeward course – is to look at the sixth leg, where positions suddenly began changing.

Aeolians Club took the lead at the end of the sixth leg. They had spotted what appeared to be some breeze on the left side of the downwind leg, went chasing it and rounded at the end of the leg in the lead, a step up from their third spot until then.

That was a disastrous leg for both the RNYC and WYAC which rounded last and second last respectively and looked as if they had handed the Cup to RCYC. The RCYC lost her lead to Aeolians, but held onto second, an overall contest-winning position at that time.

With the final two legs of the race left, the wind shifted, requiring the race officer to move the weather mark. Aeolians and RCYC kept their first and second spots, but WYAC had sailed back into third, with RNYC still languishing in fifth – or last – place!

The final downwind to the finish was on and there was everything to play for, with the RNYC team doing exactly what Aeolians did at the previous weather mark – they went left while the rest went right. In last spot, it looked like a desperate gamble. Halfway down the leg, not much had changed and the RCYC supporters were all cock-a-hoop as their team looked like it would lift the Cup in victory.

And then things suddenly changed. A small shift gave the RNYC an advantage and they began looking good.

In the last 100 metres of the final leg after 12 miles of racing, it was still anyone’s game. Aeolians crossed the line first, with two boats approaching from the starboard side, and two from the port side. RCYC had lucked out and blown its chances in the shift, and RNYC took full advantage of the situation and crossed second, a few boat lengths behind Aeolians. WYAC was next in third, a boat length or little more behind, followed by ZVYC and RCYC.

It was all over bar the shouting. The RNYC had won the Lipton Challenge Cup. Having come from last spot in the final race to second, they had won by a single point.

It could not have been a closer finish, and what a glorious advert for sailing in South Africa. The Cape 31s showed not only how quick they are, but also how, when properly sailed, positions can change throughout a race with just seconds between first and last place. That final race was likened to the medal race of the Olympic Games.

2022 A revert to handicap racing

Since the demise of the L26 Class as the Lipton Challenge-recognised yacht, there has been increased unhappiness that the contest may have become too exclusive with the C31s, thereby reducing numbers and stifling entries.

As a result, the Lipton Trustees agreed to some far-reaching changes when David Hudson, Chair of the Lipton Trustees, announced the following: ‘It is the intention of the Lipton Trustees that this year’s Challenge be open to all boats with a valid ORC (Offshore Racing Congress) International Certificate and a CDL (Class Division Length) within the range 8.000 to 9.780, the latter being the upper limit for Class C in the 2022 ORC World and Continental Championships. This proposal is subject to the approval of a majority of the yacht clubs recognized by the Lipton Trustees.’

Twenty-three clubs from around the country voted in favour of this change, with just one voting against it.

Racing took place from 17 to 21 August 2022 in False Bay with the Royal Natal Yacht club defending the four clubs that challenged them.

Sailing for the Royal Natal Yacht Club aboard the internationally acclaimed Cape 31, Davey James and his crew, which included Mark Sadler, appeared to be the fastest on the water in almost every race. They converted that speed into four consecutive wins after a shaky start on the first day.

In the Lipton Challenge, consistency is what wins the Cup, and RNYC showed that unequivocally.

The first of a two-year trial using the international ORC handicapping system had a mixed response. The jury is still out as to whether this worked as well as expected.

The handicapping did bring with it challenges as Rick Nankin, the tactician aboard the RCYC entry, said that by almost sailing against themselves, he personally believes that those were the most perfect races he had ever sailed in his long Lipton Challenge career.

This year’s event may not go down in the annuls of history as the best contest ever, but what made history was the closeness of the racing especially among the top three.

Conclusion

A strongly worded Deed of Gift and Trustees who have the best interest of the contest as the ‘pinnacle of top-class competition in South Africa’ at heart, stand the Lipton Challenge in good stead for the future.

The 2022 regatta reverted back to handicap racing

Cape 31s compete in Langebaan.

RNYC went on to narrowly win the event – it was down to the last leg

Lipton Challenge - historical roll of honour

No. Year Venue Class Club

1 1911 Table Bay 8m Class Point Yacht Club

2 1912 Durban 8m Class Point Yacht Club

3 1913 Durban 8m Class Point Yacht Club

4 1914 Durban 8m Class Point Yacht Club

5 1922 Durban 8m Class Point Yacht Club

6 1923 Durban 8m Class Point Yacht Club

7 1952 Durban 30m2 Point Yacht Club

8 1953 Durban 30m2 Royal Cape Yacht Club

9 1954 Table Bay 30m2 Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club

10 1955 Table Bay 30m2 Royal Cape Yacht Club

Skipper/s

Nick Chiazzari

Yacht Name Sail No.

Tess

Nick Chiazzari Skabenga

Herb Spradbrow Skabenga

Herb Spradbrow Skabenga

Herb Spradbrow Skabenga

Herb Spradbrow Skabenga

Fredmeadows

Avocet SA 4

Sonny Thomas / A Austin Tarpon SA 9

GI Bartholemew

Yvette SA 6

Sonny Thomas Tarpon SA 9

11 1956 Table Bay 30m2 Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club Martin Gronn Yvette SA 6

12 1957 Table Bay 30m2 Redhouse Yacht Club

13 1958 Algoa Bay 30m2 Royal Natal Yacht Club

Harold Kohler Trickson II SA 182

Wilfred Hancock Sunmaid SA 18

14 1959 Durban 30m2 Royal Natal Yacht Club Wilfred Hancock Mariquita SA 1

15 1960 Durban 30m2 Clube Naval Lourencomarques Noel Horsfield Rapid SA 179

16 1961 Algoa Bay 30m2 Clube Naval Lourencomarques Noel Horsfield Rapid SA 179

17 1962 Durban 30m2 Royal Natal Yacht Club Wilfred Hancock Mariquita SA 1

18 1963 Durban 30m2 Henley Sailing Club Noel Horsfield Rapid SA 179

19 1964 Table Bay 30m2 Royal Natal Yacht Club

Wilfred Hancock Mariquita SA 1

20 1965 Durban 30m2 Royal Natal Yacht Club Wilfred Hancock Mariquita SA 1

21 1966 Durban 30m2 Royal Natal Yacht Club Wilfred Hancock Mariquita SA 1

22 1967 Table Bay 30m2 Royal Cape Yacht Club Ronnie Chedburn Yvette SA 6

23 1968 Table Bay 30m2 Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club Hoogie van Hoogstraten Trickson II SA 182

24 1969 Table Bay 30m2 Hermanus Yacht Club Colin Bowley Sunmaid SA 18

25 1970 Table Bay 30m2 Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club Bobby Bongers / Hoogie Van Hoogstraten Trickson II SA 182

26 1971 Durban 30m2 Royal Natal Yacht Club Jimmy Whittle Sunrose SA 191

27 1972 Durban 30m2 Point Yacht Club Dave Cox Tintomara SA 192

28 1973 Table Bay 30m2 Royal Natal Yacht Club Jimmy Whittle Sunrose SA 191

29 1982 Durban IOR 1/4 Ton Point Yacht Club Harry Ellens / Tony Hurter Fuel Free SA 457

30 1983 Durban IOR 1/4 Ton Royal Cape Yacht Club Geoffmeek Royal Flush SA 668

31 1984 Table Bay L26 Transvaal Yacht Club Ewald Sternagel Galactica 027

32 1985 Durban L26 University of Natal Yacht Club Bruce Savage Element 016

33 1986 Durban L26 Royal Cape Yacht Club Ettienne Van Cuyck / Chris Keeping Omega Heatwave 078

34 1987 Table Bay L26 Royal Cape Yacht Club Etienne Van Cuyck / Chris Keeping Joko II 078

35 1988 Table Bay L26 Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club Chris King / Rick Nankin SX Stainless 019

36 1989 Table Bay L26 Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club Chris King / Rick Nankin SX Stainless 019

1990 Table Bay L26 Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club Chris King / Rick Nankin SX Stainless 019

38 1991 Table Bay L26 Hout Bay Yacht Club Greg Davis Judron 058

39 1992 Hout Bay L26 Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club Chris King FGminnitt 074

40 1993 Saldanha Bay L26 Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club Chris King FGminnitt 074

41 1994 Saldanha Bay L26 Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club Chris King Dalys Insurance 074

42 1995 Saldanha Bay L26 Royal Cape Yacht Club Greg Davis / Dave Hudson MBS 058

1996 Table Bay L26 Hermanus Yacht Club Martin Schultz / Geoffmeek Africa Glass 079

1997 Gordons Bay L26 Royal Cape Yacht Club Greg Davis / Dave Hudson MBS Challenger 058

1998 Algoa Bay L26 Gordons Bay Yacht Club Pete Shaw / Steve Du Toit Fedsuremedway 019

1999 Gordons Bay L26 Theewater Sports Club Chris King / Rick Nankin Dalys Insurance 074

2000 False Bay L26 Royal Cape Yacht Club Greg Davis / Mark Sadler RCYC Orion Challenger 058

Table Bay L26 Theewater Sports Club Rick Nankin Dalys Insurance 074

Table Bay L26 Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club Ian Ainslie MSC Donnamia 019

Durban L26 Theewater Sports Club Rick Nankin / Mark Sadler Dalys Insurance 074

Table Bay L26

Sports Club Rick Nankin Dalys Insurance 074

Table Bay L26 Royal Cape Yacht Club

Table Bay L26

Hudson

Roger Hudson RCYC Greenlight 024

TRAVELLING IS BETTER BY SAILBOAT

Report on the Ocean Sailing Association of South Africa. By Pete Sherlock

Ihave been lucky enough to have spent the last few weeks travelling for business and I am due to continue this for the remainder of the year. Normally one would be excited by travel: the idea of visiting foreign places and experiencing the world through the eyes of different cultures promises to be a stimulating experience.

Not so much anymore. The allure of foreign places still remains, of course. The difficulty is in the physical journey to and from the destination.

Gone are the days of Stuyvesant-style travel. It is now an endless ticker-tape parade of health forms to be filled in, questionnaires requiring recent destinations, documents and more documents duly stamped and declared official, long shuffling queues, (mostly) irritated officials, mask-on, mask-off, herding, waiting, and undecipherable South African QR-coded vaccination forms.

You arrive at your destination exhausted and quite frankly done with the thought of ever leaving home again.

Unless you’re a sailor.

Sailing, it seems, is the answer. Especially if you are a sailor entering South African waters. It really is much simpler because the process was lobbied, negotiated and facilitated by the Ocean Sailing Association of South Africa (OSASA). The details are contained in Marine Notice 50 of 2020, a victory achieved after several months of lobbying. Post-Covid-19, OSASA is still relevant, further evidenced by the Pre-arrival Notification (PAN), updated via Marine Notice 4 of 2022.

This, for me, is the absolute pure heart of our function as an association. To lobby, negotiate and, where necessary, facilitate processes for cruising and the cruising sailor in Southern Africa. OSASA is averse to legislation for the sake of legislation; our mandate is to keep legislation and control from becoming onerous for the cruiser.

It gives me great pleasure to expand upon the endeavours of the association over the past year. However, before I do so, I would like to state that OSASA is only able to create space within the informal marine sector because the association is supported and partnered by our affiliate clubs, South African Sailing, the South African Boatbuilders Export Council (SABBEX), the Department of Transport and the many individuals who roll up their sleeves and jump straight into the trenches. You all make it possible, and OSASA’s achievements can only be celebrated because of our strong partnerships and allies.

Our main focus over the past year has been to secure tenure for yacht clubs within ports, to negotiate with the Department of Transport regarding passage within national waters for non-SOLAS vessels, and to develop our website into an informative and helpful portal beyond just registering for PAN.

In addition, we have been meeting with governmental organisations to acquire the necessary finances to explore, research and publish a Cruising Guide to South African Waters. OSASA has been widely invited to participate in government initiatives within the Oceans Economy and Marine Transport sectors and we have also run our own seminars for government. OSASA has been approached by other sailing entities for advice and input and we have also acted in partnership with South African Sailing on a few of their initiatives, specifically with regards to tenure.

In terms of OSASA’s challenges for the year ahead, I think our biggest restriction is the lack of available manpower. As a fledgling organisation, we cannot afford to employ anyone, let alone a person who is adequately trained with the institutional knowledge required to fulfill the myriad roles we have to adopt when dealing with the challenges that present themselves. This is, unfortunately, not sustainable. There is only so much our small and dedicated team

can attend to, especially given the fact that all OSASA work is done on a voluntary basis.

In September last year the Department of Transport initiated a process off the back of our lobbying efforts that would allow yacht clubs within port precincts to enjoy security of tenure at sustainable rates via a Directive. We are now all waiting on the Minister to respond to our application for this Directive. It has been a long journey since the Deneysville Access to Water Launch, which breathed new hope into this initiative. We formed a task team to deal with the matter, lobbied aggressively, had two really significant negotiation meetings with key role players from the Department of Transport, partnered with Senior Council Advocates to write up proposed legislation, arranged and submitted all the required financial data to back up our claims, re-submitted our proposal with suggested amendments from the Department of Transport and finally sat back and waited for the honourable Minister to sign the Directive.

It’s a little bit like travelling currently, oodles of paperwork and slow forward shuffling from somewhere at the back of a long queue.

Having said that, OSASA believes that there will be no impediment to the Directive being signed. Just recently I was in contact with one of our colleagues in government and I believe the Directive is imminent. But I have no idea, of course, if this information is valid, a little like the foreign health official trying to decipher the QR code on my vaccination form when his scanning machine keeps on showing ‘code unreadable’!

Contrary to the QR-code scanner, you can rest assured that OSASA is giving its all for cruising in South Africa. We have robust relationships with government, are dialled in to the Ocean’s Economy and have brilliant support from South African Sailing, SABBEX, almost all the coastal yacht clubs and marinas and, most importantly, the cruising sailor in South Africa.

RCYC CRUISING

By Paul Morris

The morning is overcast and there’s a slight breeze from the south. The sea is flat and House Bay is peaceful. Terns screech and gulls call and, on the beach, a handful of penguins waddle in and out of the water. We sit in the cockpit with our steaming mugs enjoying the moment. This is a beautiful pause on our way to Kraal Bay on Langebaan Lagoon.

Then I hear it: the mighty breath. Between us and the open sea is a humpback whale. It moves closer, crosses our stern, breathes again. It submerges without a ripple. I watch, trying to anticipate where it will surface. For 20 minutes the whale does figures-of-eight around the boat. At times I could have stepped off onto its back. A perfect morning is now sublime. This is my definition of cruising.

Cruising as a category is a bit of a catch-all term at Royal Cape Yacht Club (RCYC). A kind of ‘anything-but-racing’ activity. It’s the crew that goes for a short Friday sail and a sundowner in Granger Bay, or the birthday boat full of teens off to Clifton for a day of paddle-boarding, swimming and celebrating. It’s the old salt crew that goes out twice a week every week, rain or shine, because that’s what they’ve always done. And it’s the December fleet that heads up the West Coast, where some will live on the hook for a week or two in Kraal Bay, and others will keep going to Paternoster, where they can go ashore and eat at great restaurants while watching their yacht riding its anchor chain in the bay.

While many are content pottering around the Cape coast, dreaming of crossing oceans, others actually do it. Yachts Calypso, Reve de Lune, Vixen and others all took the post-pandemic gap and are now in the Caribbean.

Maybe the common thread is that cruisers like journeying. Whether it’s the Caribbean or Clifton, Stompneus Bay or Nosy Be, we all like to take our boats somewhere.

No doubt, Royal Cape sailors have always enjoyed sailing in company. Friends organising a small flotilla for a crayfishing trip to Dassen Island or Kraal Bay in December. For some years now, the Raids to Hout Bay and Saldanha have been well-attended, favourite events.

A few years ago, our current vice-commodore, Alan Haefele, started the cruising sub-committee after seeing a need for events and activities that supported more varied boat use. RCYC has long celebrated a strong racing history. Many regular racing boats also enjoy participating in other sailing activities too. And the majority of boat owners don’t race their boats at all. By strengthening the cruising offering, the Club will encourage boat owners to try out different things with their boats, as well as provide the opportunity for socialising and building the Club spirit. We started putting more energy into cruising events and raising its profile with a seat on the general committee.

Pete Sherlock took over the portfolio in 2019 and, building on what had come before, injected some fresh ideas and a new energy into the

RCYC cruising section. A literal ‘Big Splash’ event was held at the V&A Marina. The splashing came from a hilarious ‘anything-that-floats’ race. There was food, music, a marquee, plenty to drink. Probably best of all was the gathering of about 20 boats and their crews around the common joy and camaraderie we all get from sailing.

The event proved that while many of our cruisers enjoy the freedom that comes with not having to be anywhere at a particular time, to go when the weather is right and then only if you feel like it. There is also nothing like tying up next to a few other boats, sharing a few drinks, a lot of stories and a few good laughs.

The good thing about events is that it brings sailors together who might normally sit at their own table on the terrace and not get to mingle with other crews. As we’ve increased our efforts to promote cruising, we’ve seen growing friendships and connections that have not only expanded our social lives, but also resulted in the sharing of experience and expertise.

This coming together after a shared experience is probably most satisfying and, indeed, intense when the experience has been tough. For this reason The Knysna Rally is RCYC cruising’s flagship event. Two nights at sea, around the two notorious capes of Cape Point and Agulhas and then through the tricky and challenging Heads into the lagoon. For most sailors in the world, this passage isn’t just a cruise, it’s a real adventure. It’s one for the trophy cabinet, if cruisers ever had such a thing.

Actually, one of the Knysna Yacht Club members carved a beautiful wooden yacht on which all the names of the RCYC yachts that have participated in the rally have been engraved. Epitomising the spirit of cruising is the fact that this trophy isn’t won by anyone; it reflects the

achievement of all participants in the event. And the party in Knysna is really epic!

The cruisers have visited the two islands in our local cruising grounds in the past year. We’ve been to Dassen Island a couple of times, were given a tour and then the opportunity to braai ashore.

Earlier this year, 10 boats visited Murray’s Bay Harbour at Robben Island in a trial to see how many boats we could get in there. The Robben Island management team was very hospitable and excited about hosting us again in the future.

With transformation a high priority at RCYC, the Robben Island fleet that crossed the bay was probably one of the most diverse we’ve seen for some time. The flotilla hosted 10 students from the Department of Maritime Studies at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology as well as a contingent from the Robben Island Museum. It was wonderful to see so many young people on the water with their fresh energy and enthusiasm adding to a fantastic day out.

Looking ahead, the RCYC cruisers can look forward to more of the same favourite events that we’ve seen over the past few years. We’re looking at impromptu ‘pop-up’ cruises that can be organised at short notice when the weather is just right for, say, an afternoon cruise and a sunset braai in Granger Bay or a cruise around Robben Island. Suggestions are welcome.

Once the good weather makes landfall at the Cape, regular cruisers’ braais will, once again, become a feature of our social calendar. These have proved very popular and give us all the opportunity to meet many of the international cruisers whom we host over the summer.

When I walk down the dock in mid-winter and the rain streaks across the pontoons, when the northwester has turned Duncan Dock into a choppy mess and the boats snatch at their mooring lines, I think of an early morning walk on Kraal Bay beach. The bay is a mirror and rays fly in formation in the shallows. I remember the dozens of humpback whales off House Bay as we made our turn into the anchorage. I look forward to summer socials, sundowners on the beach with friends and the swapping of tales and advice around the cruisers’ braai fires.

Join us sometime. Everyone is welcome.

LADIES DAY REGATTA 2022

After the type of racing held on Saturday, 13 August, the women of the Royal Cape Yacht Club should not be called soft! By Heidi Burger

The biannual Ladies Day Regatta went ahead in tough conditions and the women of the Royal Cape Yacht Club (RCYC) did not fail to dominate the event.

The day started out in the RCYC Regatta Centre with a talk by Vasti Manser, which was as much inspiring and terrifying as it was hilarious. Vasti paints a picture of being a regular nine-to-five girl who likes her comfortable duvet and daily showers. However, apart from enjoying these domestic pleasures, she has also sought out her fair share of adventure, such as traversing the Atlantic Ocean in a little 7m rowing boat with her then fiancé (now husband), Riaan. Their 9 000km ‘take-me-to-New-York journey’ took them four-and-a-half months to complete and was filled with unforgettable memories, experiences and challenges. While not quite inspiring enough to convince everyone to

follow suit, her talk roused everyone in the room to take on the day, despite the anticipated tough conditions.

Eighteen boats left the docks to tackle a day of racing while enduring an expected heavy northwester. Race director Jennifer Burger and race officer Craig Leslie opted for a course commencing from the bridge hut on the wall towards Landfall, following a path to the illusive Milnerton mark. After finding the leeward buoy, the boats would race towards Lewmar and then finish off with a beat back to the bridge hut. All the boats promptly started the race together and sailed the same course in order to finish before the much alluded to 3pm storm.

The beat was long and hard with a short and confusing choppy sea state. However, luckily, the swell period was less severe than expected for those of us prone to seasickness. The run down had a satisfying

angle and was very fast for those with asymmetrical spinnakers. MB’s top boat speed was 21.6 knots surfing down the waves. This was until their spinnaker had to be put away and Navionics had to be brought out in order to find the small Milnerton mark in among the waves.

The leg from Milnerton to Lewmar was a two-sail reach that allowed heart rates to calm after the exhilarating downwind, before a final beat back to the finish. MB crossed the line first, followed by Ballyhoo Too and then Cape Dancer

After the race, there was much hanging around in anticipation of another race. Hiding behind the breakwater wall, the sailors sought to avoid seasickness and the cold while all the boats finished the race. However, by the time everyone had finished, the average wind speed was above 21 knots, gusting 28 knots and the decision was made not

to have a second race. After such a great first race, there weren’t many people who complained.

Prize-giving was held in the Regatta Centre. Overall, there were 86 women out of 123 sailors who sailed on the 18 boats.

The L26 Hors D’Oeuvre won the spinnaker division, skippered by Linda Raubenheimer, followed by the Cape 31 MB , skippered by Heidi Burger and Megan Robertson, and the Mumm 36 Ballyhoo Too, skippered by Dominique Provoyeur, placed third. The Pacer 38 Cape Dancer won the non-spinnaker division with Becca Hall at the helm, followed by the L26s Escape, skippered by Nesia Khonza, and B&G, skippered by Sesona. The non-ORC division was won by new RCYC member Jodi Geldenhys on Julia. There were several lucky draws with many coveted prizes.

We were also introduced to the RCYC Power of Africa Ladies Sailing Team that has been invited to sail in the Lady Liberty Regatta in New York in September. They are representing not only RCYC, but South Africa. It’s a great indication to see where women’s sailing at RCYC is going. (They are tracking their journey on social media.)

The goal of these ladies’ day events has been to get more women sailing in key positions on boats. This inherently broadens the space for and grows the number of women in sailing at the RCYC. With days like these, we are progressing towards and fulfilling this goal at every event.

Thanks to South Africa Sailing Western Cape and World Sailing’s Steering the Course Initiative for sponsoring the event, along with product sponsors Clos Malverne Wine Estate, Krone, Ocean Star Sailing Academy, Stir Crazy, De Vleispaleis Steakhouse, The Rudy Project, Saint Anna Guest House, Devonvale Golf & Wine Estate and Harley-Davidson Cape Town. Thank you to all the boat owners who made their boats available. The next Ladies Day Regatta will take place on 27 May 2023.

A brief history of the Ladies Day Regatta

By Claire Heginbotham

While we recently enjoyed the Ladies Day Regatta with good cheer, it might surprise you to know that the Royal Cape Yacht Club has been a ‘male-only’ club for about 63% of its existence…

‘Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.’ This quote fits right in at a yacht club. Trying to resist ringing the bell after a win and having one too many beers, forgetting that you’re wearing a peak cap in the back bar, cheering as you bob past the commodore during the opening cruise — all these traditions shape our culture.

But, like the Club, some traditions need renovation. And a mere 44 years ago, one of its most restrictive traditions was about to see the chopping block. Molly Warr and a group of female sailors were fighting for the right to become the first female members of the Royal Cape Yacht Club. Because, up until 1978, no woman was allowed to become a member. We have a lot to thank Molly Warr for.

Molly Warr, wife of Ken Warr, was an excellent skipper and a keen racer. She and her husband were renowned in the racing fleet for their very audible disagreements on their racing tactics, which led to their last boat being named Warrfare. After the rules were rewritten, Molly become a member and went on to start two races that are now very popular: the Ladies Day Regatta and Wednesday Night Races.

Both events were focused on getting more people on the water more often, having fun, and learning how to sail competitively. These two events alone have contributed to thousands of people from all backgrounds, ethnicities, countries and genders being introduced to sailing. And, of course, they’ve also allowed our sailors the time on the water they needed to become internationally competitive racers.

The current Ladies Day Regatta trophies were donated by Molly Warr. And, today, they cause some rumblings among sailors about their appropriateness (one only has to look at them to realise why). However, this generation of sailors must be humbled in the presence of such historically significant trophies, trophies that represent one group of women’s strength, intelligence and fire.

What is the Cape to Rio Race?

The 1971 Cape to Rio Race, at the time the longest ocean race in the world, created huge interest worldwide among yachties, and massive interest locally from non-sailors and the media alike.

With every word written came another dreamer, another schemer, and another landlubber caught up in the romance and adventure of crossing the South Atlantic Ocean by yacht and landing in Rio de Janeiro! And why ever not?

The announcement of this race aroused the passion of yachties, and very quickly new boats were being built, or plans made to acquire a boat and compete. This was something akin to a runaway freight train as the momentum simply gathered and all talk in every yacht club and around every dinner table, whether yachtie or landlubber, at some point mentioned the race, the boats and the people.

Sadly for some, the dreams never became reality, but seeds had been sown and ‘Rio Fever’ ensued right up until the very end of the 1976 race, and later again in the 1990s when the Race to Rio was revived.

Saturation coverage in all forms of media exposed the race, the people, the boats, the heartache, the glory and the inner workings of sailing and ocean crossings. The book Rio ’71, written by Wilhelm Grutter and Gerhard Last, gave a good account of the boats and their skippers, although it was the editorial in Yachting in Southern Africa written by Anthony Hocking, and published in 1972, that really gave a nitty-gritty account of the yacht race.

SA Yachting magazine, which featured numerous editorials over many months prior to and after the first race, also spread the word.

The media too, once the race began, provided some delightful insights into life at sea aboard a racing yacht, and some blunders too!

In his book Cape to Rio Roundup, Frank Robb wrote these profound words:

‘Two years ago, the Cape Town-to-Rio de Janeiro Ocean Race was little more than a brave idea in the minds of the “Patriots”, a small group of citizens who hoped that, at best, it might attract a dozen or so yachts and, maybe, give South Africa a modest entree into an arena in which she was virtually unknown – the field of International Yacht Racing.

‘General opinion was that the project would be an embarrassing and expensive flop. In the following pages you will read how a small spark became a flame, how critics were converted to Patriots and how the concept developed into a sporting event of the first magnitude. It is a short history, but it is studded with so many incidents of drama and tension, of adventures, near-tragedies, disappointments and triumphs that it demands re-telling as a coherent story – a book.’

The race was initially for monohulls exclusively, but as multihulls grew in numbers, they too were included.

How the Cape to Rio Race was conceived

At a rousing welcome-home reception for Bruce Dalling, who had won the Observer Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race on corrected time on Voortrekker, at Granger Bay, Cape Town, on 31 July 1968, Vice Admiral HH Biermann, Chief of the South African Navy, said South Africa should take a lead in arranging a South Atlantic yacht race.

‘We should start thinking of such a race,’ he said, ‘which could be from Cape Town to South America – or to Australia.

‘We could attract the best yachtsmen in the world, and we hope the public of South Africa will again come to the fore in enabling us to launch schemes such as this, in the same way as they have done in the Voortrekker venture.’

This was the seed that launched the great Cape to Rio Race, or as it was known in those days, the South Atlantic Race. Sadly politics played a role, and the 1979, 1982 and 1985 races went to Punte del

Este, Uruguay, a distance of 4 500nm. In 2006 and 2009 the race finished in Salvador, Brazil.

The organisers

It was the Cruising Association of South Africa (CASA), together with the South African Ocean Racing Trust (SAORT), that quickly galvanised into action after Admiral Bierman’s speech to formulate a race and germinate the seeds he had sown. None of the people involved had ever organised, and had possibly never even competed in a race of this magnitude, yet they ultimately arranged a world-class event that received the respect of yachties the world over.

Key to the success of the race was the involvement of the Royal Cape Yacht Club (RCYC) and its members.

The course

The course is a magnificent downwind run of 3 300 miles, free of navigational hazards, with a good chance of halcyon weather most of the time and semi-tropical (but hurricane-free) conditions. And for the start and finish lines, two of the most beautiful cities in the world: Cape Town and Rio de Janeiro.

From 1973 onwards the course was changed to include Ilha da Trindade as a course mark that had to be left to port. This was done as the organisers found that the fleet was very scattered in the 1971 race. So, by adding Ilha da Trindade as a mark, the fleet had a point at which

it would converge before the final leg to Rio. In the new millennium, Ilha da Trindade was removed as a mark of the course.

The weather

To the layman, choosing a course might appear to be a matter of drawing a straight line between Cape Town and Rio and sticking to it, but there is more to this than meets the eye.

A sailing yacht wants wind, preferably a spanking full-sail breeze on the beam or quarter. Headwinds are bad. Gales are worse. And calms and adverse currents are a catastrophe.

To take the rhumb line ‘shortest-distance’ course to Rio would give a yacht more than her fair share of headwinds, gales, calms and adverse currents.

South of the rhumb line the weather is worse, but north of it one begins to find the southern limits of the southeast trade winds that also generate some favouring current. The fundamental problem is to decide how far north to go to strike the optimum balance between favourable winds and current versus increased distance. The matter is further complicated by the fact that bigger yachts like plenty of wind, while smaller yachts reach their maximum speed with less wind, after which more wind is a disadvantage.

Inevitably some will be lucky, others unlucky. But no yachtsman would have it otherwise. That’s the way it goes in ocean racing: skill plays a major part, and the element of chance adds to the fascination.

line honours yachts: South Atlantic Races

16

Races to date.

THE NUMBERS

2023 Race celebrates the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Race

1st Race in 1971

Fastest elapsed time by a monohull to Rio: Maserati in 2014 – 10d 11hrs 29min 57s

Fastest elapsed time by a multihull to Rio: Love Water in 2020 – 7d 20hrs 24min 2s

Fastest elapsed time by a monohull to Uruguay: Rampant II in 1982 – 21d 8hrs 15min 7s

Fastest elapsed time by a monohull to Salvador: ICAP Leopard in 2009 – 10d 5hrs 45min 35s

Fastest elapsed time by a multihull to Salvador: Adrenaline Pura in 2006 – 10d 8hrs 2min 38s

1971 CAPE TO RIO RACE

Start 16 January 69 entries 16 nations 58 starters 3 500nm course length 421 total crew 21 total female crew

Race record: Ocean Spirit (Robin Knox-Johnston)

Organisers

Overall handicap winner: Albatros II (John Goodwin)

of this first race would have been happy to see a fleet of 40 yachts, but there were 69 entries and 58 yachts on the start line!

That in itself was a record of sorts, as was the fact that this was the longest ocean race in the world at the time. It attracted people from all walks of life with 16 different nations represented.

The biggest yacht was Cariad (Krasni Sutic) at 30m in length. She was also the oldest, celebrating her 75th birthday a day prior to the start. The smallest were Qumbu (LD Orpen) and Barbette (A Clackson) at a mere 9.1m each.

The youngest crew member was six years old, while the skippers of Stormy (Kees Bruynzeel) and Wayfarer (Peter Strong) were over 70 years of age. There were grandfathers and grandmothers. Some wore spectacles, some toted hearing aids. Some were physically handi capped. There were professors, students, directors, office workers, matrons, typists, mechanics, schoolgirls, rich and poor. But they had

Pioneer (Gordon Webb) sinks after hitting whale

one thing in common: they were not run-of-the-mill stay-at-home types; they had all turned their dream to cross the South Atlantic into reality.

Sprinter (Molly Warr), one of the smallest boats in the fleet at 9.7m, had an entirely all-female crew and naturally attracted much media attention, especially when it was thought that they were ‘lost’ during the race. That speculation ended when the Brazilian Air Force flew sorties and located them safe and sound (and topless at the moment of sighting). She decorously finished to a rousing welcome from the predominantly male fleet and received a special three-gun salute to mark the historic moment: it was the first time an all-female crew had finished in an international ocean race between two continents.

Ninety minutes after the start, Albatros II (John Goodwin) broached heavily when her main mast and sail were laid flat on the water, the cockpit swamped and the spinnaker blown out. Slowly she righted herself, but the main mast was dangerously bent. Albatros II headed for Murray’s Bay at Robben Island and effected a repair which eventually took her to overall victory in the race.

Above: Sprinter, skippered by Molly Warr, had an all-female crew

Below: City of Germiston was crewed by inland sailors

Just 275nm from the start, Jakaranda (Bruce Dalling), one of the race favourites, broached after her rudder broke. She initially retired and headed back to Cape Town, but a strong belief in his boat saw Dalling effect repairs and continue.

Pioneer (Gordon Webb), hit a whale around midnight and sunk in a matter of minutes. The crew safely transferred to the life raft and then watched the yacht disappear, with navigation and cabin lights burning.

In the words of Gordon Webb, a ‘million-to-one chance encounter with a whale followed by a million-to-one chance of early rescue’ saved them when the following day a lone ship spotted and rescued them.

Wayfarer had started almost a day late after a very difficult 16-day passage from Durban. Despite this she finished in 29 days, which gave her 24th place across the line. She overhauled more than half the fleet, and her skipper, Peter Strong, well deserved the special merit award he received at the prize-giving ceremony.

The crew of Albatros II, the overall winning yacht on handicap, received nine prizes. Those present at prize-giving raucously sang the chorus of ‘Zulu Warrior’ for this remarkable crew, and also serenaded Ocean Spirit, the line honours winner, with ‘Rule Britannia’!

The guardship SAS Tafelberg did not make it to Rio, despite her popularity among the crew she had ‘mothered’. On prize-giving night she had been at sea for 35 uninterrupted days, a record for a South African Navy vessel, and she covered 18 700nm before docking at Table Bay Harbour. Her operation broke new ground in international ocean races as not only did her presence increase the safety of yachts at sea, but she provided an unparalleled nerve centre of communica tions that enabled every South African to participate, day-by-day, in the great race to Rio.

1971 Cape to Rio Race

Position

Yacht Name Skipper Country LOA Line Handicap

Active EH Porzig ZAF 15.2m 36 45

Adamastor JBP da Silva MOZ 14m 22 32

Albatros II J Goodwin ZAF 12.8m 8 1

Angantyr JW Crawford USA 19.2m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Applemist BH Robertson ZAF 12.2m 21 22

Ariel III A Perrin FRA 10m 50 46

Arion P Morkel ZAF 13.1m 30 34

Armel II N Maurel MAU 11.9m 38 40

Baleia E Kraus-Rump DEU 13.4m 16 11

Barbette A Clackson GBR 9.1m 49 26

Breezand S Kramer ZAF 10.9m 19 7=

Cariad I K Sutic ZAF 30m 41 54

City of Germiston ER Jordan ZAF 14m 20 29

City of Springs L Lochner ZAF 10.4m 35 17

CoZAFir SH Jeffrey ZAF 16m 34 48

Diana K DL Cox ZAF 10m 33 25

Eclipse L le Guay AUS Tasmania 12.8m 46 42

Elegance AF Gregory ZAF 12.8m 52 52

Eshowe N Maytham ZAF 14.4m 47 47

Flame GB Weale ZAF 10.4m 48 31

Flica EW Kuttel ZAF 10.9m 31 16

Fortuna Lt Cdr E Rivero-Kelly ARG 18.9m 3 6

Gaivota RF Lusher HKG 11.9m 40 33

Golden City D Butler ZAF 12.2m 10 5

Graybeard L Killam CAN 22m 2 41

Guia G Falck ITA 13.7m 14 23

Hamburg VII GK Reher DEU 16.4m 13 21

Howard Davis Captain P Nankin ZAF 20m 15 38

Jakaranda B Dailing ZAF 17m DSQ DSQ

Jan Pott N Lorck-Schierning DEU 14.4m 9 12

Jangadeiro BA Lombardi Italy 16.7m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

La Mer D Bond-Smith GBR 10.6m 51 35

llanda PC Boshoff ZAF 14.6m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

lngwe V Kusel ZAF 11.6m 45 44

Ma’m’selle CE Hartman USA 12.2m 26 18

Matchless Lt Cdr TPG Poland GBR 10.9m 39 28

Mercury R Nuttall ZAF 12.8m 18 13

Molly Brown RC Zantzinger USA 10.6m 37 19

Namar IV E Guzzetti Italy 9.95m 42 20

Nango CEF Christie MOZ 11.6m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF New Zealand Nomad BL Williams NZL 15.2m 27 30

Ocean Spirit R Knox-Johnston GBR 21.6m 1 14

Omuramba K Warr SWA 13.1m 12 10

Outburst W Bongers ZAF 11.9m 11 7=

Pen Duick Ill E Tabarly FRA 17m 4 4

PetraIis JF Aston GBR 19.8m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Pioneer W Schutten ZAF 10m Sunk Sunk

Port Rex BPH Curran ZAF 11.9m 25 24

Quest MA Margo ZAF 11.3m DNF DNF

Qumbu LD Orpen ZAF 9.1m 53 49

Quo Vadis AR Birkinshaw ZAF 11.9m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Raph A Gliksman FRA 18.2m 7 9

Sandefjord P Cullen ZAF 14.3m DNF DNF

Serendib IV J P Christiansen DEN 14.9m 29

Shayele

Sprinter

Stormkaap

Stormy

Striana

Three

Tub

Voortrekker

Walk

14.9m

A scene from the Royal Cape Yacht Club and SAS Unitie before the start of the 1971 Cape to Rio Race

1973 CAPE TO RIO RACE

This race was all about Cornelius ‘Kees’ Bruynzeel and his yacht

Stormy. Together they scored a rare ‘double’ by taking both line and overall handicap honours, and breaking the race record in a time of 21 days, 12 hours, 15 minutes and 31 seconds.

A miniature starting cannon, one of a pair mounted outside the entrance of the race HQ at SAS Unitie, was stolen just days before the start. Officials said they would take no action against the culprits if it was returned. History does not relate whether it was ever returned.

The Durban sloop Mainstay (David Cox) led the fleet out of Cape Town, with a large pic in the newspaper showing her leading, and the report saying she was ‘well out in front’. Those who knew Cox would not have expected anything less from him as he was always a tough and relentless competitor.

Another newspaper report described the start: ‘Their multico loured spinnakers billowing in the southeaster and their lean hulls cleaving a choppy Table Bay, the 39 yachts presented an unforgettable spectacle as they headed out into the Atlantic – shepherded by a

flotilla of ships and small craft the like of which Cape Town has never seen.’

Within the first hour of the race, the small German sloop HIC III (C Martens) broke her mast and limped back to port. The crew, naturally dejected, had their spirits lifted when a large crowd of well-wishers gathered to welcome them back. The crew from all accounts was visibly brightened and joked that ‘it was a very nice carnival’!

Kees Bruynzeel’s race ended in victory when Stormy appeared unexpectedly out of the night and crossed the finishing line. ‘We won the race because we took the most northerly course of any of the boats and sailed more miles than any of them. We had good winds and were only becalmed twice,’ he said.

Few knew that Bruynzeel thought he may die during the race. Aboard Stormy, he had a trained nurse, a cardiac machine, a defibrilla tor, oxygen and a load of medicine as he had suffered three heart attacks in the past year. He was a brave man who took his victories humbly and with grace. In a post-race interview he said: ‘In 50 years

Race record by Stormy A rare double honour for Stormy

Line honours favourite Ondine retired from the race

Ondine blasting out of Cape Town in impressive style

KUUS

of ocean racing, I have never accomplished such a feat ... I regard it as the crowning achievement of my yachting career.’

Just 10 hours out of Cape Town, Albatros II’s skipper Richard Edwards found himself with a green-eyed problem: his 18-year-old girlfriend Pat Bumford had stowed away underneath a pile of blankets.

When Edwards examined the race rules, he could find no guidance on stowaways, so he decided to press on. On finishing, he immediately notified the British Consulate and the police and waited until her presence had been officially recognised before reporting the stowaway to the Rio Race Committee.

Line honours favourite Ondine (Huey Long) retired from the race after grossly misjudging the correct course to take, becoming becalmed. He retired with grace and promised to return again.

Long’s right-hand man Alexander Salm, seeing the light and humorous side of their retirement, radioed: ‘We had mechanical failure – the wind valve shut off!!!’

Cape to Rio Race

Impala N Puccinelli ITA 10.52m

Jakaranda W Bongers ZAF 17m

Juanita B C Ewald ZAF 11.5m

Kalisana R Dreschfield GBR 11.3m

Kameha-Meha Ernest Breda BRA 13.1m

Koala Class D Malingri Di Bagnolo ITA 11.68m 14

L’Orgueil

Lynn’s

Mainstay

Malulu

Matchless

Namar

Nautical

Old Glory

Omuramba

Ondine

Paradise Flycatcher

Patricia

Racker

Rangoon

Sevens

Stowaway

1976 CAPE TO RIO RACE

This race will always be remembered for the following reasons:

• the massive 120+ yacht fleet

• the on-off decision when Brazil banned the race

• the burial at sea of John Roberts, skipper of Nibama II

• the Rio Race was the first ever live outside broadcast by the SABC.

About 10 days before the start, and completely out of the blue, Brazil announced a ban on the Race to Rio. The Brazilian Government gave no reasons, although it was believed to be because of South Africa’s apartheid policy and in response to the United Nations call to cut sports ties with South Africa.

Carlos de Britto, Commodore of the Yacht Club of Rio de Janeiro, emerged as the hero of the reprieve and persuaded Brazil’s President Ernesto Geisel to allow the race to go ahead.

Many thousands of viewers around the country probably sacrificed their usual Saturday afternoon activities to watch that great fleet of yachts set off on TV. (It’s hard not to chuckle now but TV was new to this country, having only gone live a few days prior to the race start.)

First across the start line, and first to set her spinnaker, was the Swiss yacht Rubin IV (R Magg/MB Gerwer). Most of the 26 Class 1 yachts took immediate advantage of the stiffening southerly breeze and hoisted spinnakers, although Pen Duick VI (Eric Tabarly) and Ondine (Huey Long) were a bit slow in getting theirs aloft.

After just five days Ondine crossed the Greenwich Meridian at 10.20pm South African time. Pen Duick VI crossed the meridian at 2.30am, and was still hot on Ondine’s powder-blue transom.

Two days later Ondine’s sailing master, Tom Richardson, said the massive ketch was ‘handling like a dinghy’ with her keel fully retracted, and flying a full set of downwind sails, set on both poles. Pen Duick was about 60nm behind.

Ondine crossed the finish line in Rio after 17 days, five hours, 35 minutes and 20 seconds, and slashed 4 days, 6 hours and 40 minutes off the record set in the previous race by Stormy

Eric Tabarly finished the following day after having taken a northerly course in expectation of the usually better winds in that area.

‘But we never found them, they were not there this time,’ Tabarly said.

another incident, after a Mayday was received from the Brazilian yacht AWA (G Manso) and communications with the vessel became non-existent, she was considered missing. Several days later, after a massive sea and air search, she was eventually found not far from the finishing line, and under sail, but with shrouds on both sides of the mast broken.

Costa Rica’s Chica Tica (Ambassador C di Mottola Balestra) took the overall handicap lead, with this race proving to be a small boat race as Cloud Nine (Dave Cox) was second and Verwoerdburg (Noel Mallinson) third.

SAS Protea performed the guardship duties. In a remote part of the South Atlantic, John Roberts, the skipper of Nibama, was given a sailor’s burial at a dignified service on the flight deck of SAS Protea Roberts (61) died of a stroke soon after being transferred from the yacht to the guardship’s sick bay.

At the appointed hour for the service, the Brazilian guardship

Gastoa Moutinho arrived and hove-to. Her national ensign, like Protea’s, was at half-mast and her crew, dressed in tropical whites, lined the upper deck.

Aboard Protea’s deck, the entire ship’s company, also in tropical white uniforms – the officers wearing swords, medals and black armbands – were paraded in a three-sided square around Mr Roberts’ canvas-encased body, which was wrapped in a South African flag, on the edge of the deck.

Allegra

Struntje V

Crew of Criloa. An all-female crew will again race on Criloa to Rio in 2023

Caprio (changed to Junior Kaap) PJ Peiser ZAF 10.97m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Carina I Allan ZAF 10.66m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Carina Mia CMT Giuliano BRA 10.75m 45 12

Carte Blanche HM Bowles ZAF 11.06m 101 98

Cedrene A de Camargo Bastos / MJ Wilson Sadler BRA 12.03m 36 23

Chica Tica Ambassador C di Mottola Balestra CRI 11.25m 25 1

Cloud Nine DL Cox ZAF 10.49m 43 2

Coccodrillo E Maceratini / N Puccinelli ITA 10.97m 32 5

Colombe P d’Andrimont BEL 12.72m 18 17

Concorde P Chassin FRA 13.50m 42 44

Criloa L Loni Coppede / Z G Pascoli ITA 10.52m 93 79

Dabulamanzi RG Rennie ZAF 16.45m 41 76

Dawn MN Hawtrey ZAF 9.35m 62 32

Detente Oxways Syndicate / D BondSmith ZAF 10.06m 87 52

Donella C Eckhoff GER 13.10m 54 63

Dorothy MJ Knight ZAF 14.16m 90 101

Dulcinea I Hiilivirta ZAF 10.97m 59 55

Eagle III Dr M Adler ZAF 9.35m 88 61

Eshowe MA McLachlan ZAF 14.02m 69 92

Fairweather R Fairweather Roos ZAF 9.35m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Faraway B Harrison ZAF 9.14m 67 15

Feo II R van der Weele / G Reinders AUS 13.71m DSQ DSQ

Flying Cloud D Jackson ZAF 10.67m 86 75

Golden City JH Strydom ZAF 11.89m 29 30

Grand Louis JM Viant ZAF 18.45m 14 70

Guia III G Falck FRA 13.05m 3 21

Gumdrop I McG Fyfe ITA 10.76m 40 14

Gwen T Addison / AS Turner SCO 13.10m 52 49

Happinest NC Baker ZAF 13.41m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Hobo H Ashton / TP Johnston ZAF 9.16m DSQ DSQ

Humba Gahle V Menzel / S Menschafer

ZAF 12.80m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Ingwe C Banks ZAF 11.05 104 103

Intakamanzi KI Troughton ZAF 11.89 DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Jaxims BM Georgeson / JJ Swart ZAF 18.5 68 105

Jenny Wren RPJ Pilcher / JR Dum mer / JAD Morris

ZAF 11.78m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Junior Kaap PJ Peiser ZAF 0 63 69

Katsou A Viant / P Facque FRA 12.55m 11 11

Kervilor R Girardin FRA 11.40m 16 9

King’s Legend N Ratcliff GBR 19.08m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Kumaree II AL Lawrence ZAF 9.70m 56 16

Kwa Heri R Glanville ZAF 21.03m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Lady Gaye F Smith ZAF 13.84m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Libido JL Lawson ZAF 10.23m 98 85

Mabalel Dr D Roux ZAF 12.80m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Main FG Minnitt ZAF 9.75m 80 48

Mainstay Dr JA Goldsmith ZAF 12.89m 35 38

Malaika EA Masters ZAF 13.47m 97 93

Mari Bell H Droomer ZAF 15.09m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Marlboro A Lojacono / D Einstalt ITA 14.67m 9 43

Marluva AP Burnes / DR Noyes USA 13.56m 70 82

Matchless Cdr TPG Poland GBR 14.73m 13 41

Melrose AN Shearer ZAF 13.50m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Moana Dr K Uphoff GER 12.45m 48 50

Mumm R Vellguth GER 11.43m 49 13

Murphy R Johnson ZAF 9.35m 103 89

Namar V E Guzzetti ITA 12.50m 27 42

Naomi M Ring USA 14.19m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Nibama DF Roberts / F Labuschagne ZAF 13.05m 75 96

Norselight E Boye-Thorsen NOR 9.70m 108 104

Old Jed BE Morgan ZAF 13.50m 57 86

Omuramba Adv. HJ Berker ZAF 13.10m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Ondine SA Long USA 25.87m 1 24

Oorain P Roger-Lund ZAF 10.36m 100 87

Passat S Eichholz ZAF 11.88m 115 114

Pen Duick VI E Tabarly FRA 22.25m 2 36

Perie Banou JW & CC Sanders AUS 10.36m 46 7

Phambili R Stephen / R Glover ZAF 13.71m 106 111

Phayet P du Toit ZAF 14.00m 34 62

Phoenix R Krause ZAF 16.40m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Plaza Des Toro’s B Howard / A Vernetti ZAF 15.00m 74 100

Port Rex JE Noteboom ZAF 11.89m 44 46

Postulat P Bougouin / GP de Gand FRA 0 19 29

Preussen R Koll ZAF 14.02m 79 91

Pristis III R Raub FRA 13.07m 23 27

Prost TI Ferreira ZAF 10.66m 77 71

Red Amber IE de Beyer ZAF 10.49m 50 8

Rio Springbok Drs C van der Merwe / H Rust ZAF 9.35m 76 54

Rubin IV R Magg / MB Gerwer SWI 14.99 7 34

Safari P Adams USA 16.76m 4 59

Salamander SJ Levin ZAF 10.26m 37 6

Salome P Small ZAF 9.75m 83 51

Sant Elmo C Coutsides / R von Johnston POR 13.66m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Sasha TWB Thorne ZAF 10.91m 99 99

Scorpio RG Nuttall ZAF 10.67m 51 20

Sea Sprite PF Frost ZAF 10.00m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Seafari DA Starkey ZAF 13.87m 113 116

Secondi J Duveen ZAF 10.08m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Seven Seas W Lightbody ZAF 11.89m 47 58

Shamwari PAH Rogers ZAF 9.14m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Shaya Moya PJ & KC Cotterell ZAF 12.00m 38 22

Sigidi JF Magee / BS Meumann ZAF 13.05m 39 57

Sirocco S Guy USA 22.99m 12 78

Solitaire CLV Craxton / AWL Craxton ZAF 14.0lm DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Soundwave NW Bailey /A Constant ZAF 10.59m 55 28

Southern Floe WO MJC Avery / SANSA ZAF 9.75m 66 35

Southern Isles Cdr AE Rudman / SANSA ZAF 9.75m 65 33

Southern Maid PO KJ Esterhuizen / SANSA ZAF 9.75m 60 25

Sprinter GE Mittag ZAF 9.75m 84 64

Stormkaap FA Smithers / S Maxwell ZAF 16.05m 15 68

Strulitje V Dr G Havemann GER 14.33m 17 31

Suidoos GT Fagan ZAF 12.02m 20 37

Summer Winds WGE Schwulst ZAF 11.89m 107 109

Susanna Maria II J van den Berg ZAF 9.45m 94 97

Synergy DWH McCowen / ES Brown ZAF 14.93m 10 40

Table Top J Richardson ZAF 10.97m 96 95

Tai Pan J Cullum ZAF 12.93m 82 83

Tara DPV Hein ZAF 13.73m 58 74

Tat Express JP Millet FRA 17.03m 6 56

Topolina G Nunes ZAF 10.67m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Tyke JG Annandale ZAF 9.70m 78 53

Undine AGL Hall ZAF 11.03m 64 77

Unity II U Keller AUS 11.03m 114 113

Vagabund S Nielsen ZAF 9.45m 109 106

Verwoerdburg NJV Mallinson ZAF 10.95m 21 3

Voortrekker CPO SJ Reed / SANSA ZAF 15.00m 5 47

Westfalen J Schmeltzer ZAF 12.90m 117 117

Windy Spirit T Knight / J Knight ZAF 13.05m 33 45

Woodrose JH Cookson ZAF 11.03m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Xylia BL Viljoen ZAF 11.40m 110 107

Yankee Clipper JLO Price ZAF 11.06m 112 108

Zenzeli GM Klopper ZAF 15.24m 105 112

Zest JR Hewer ZAF 10.97m 61 72

DNS/DNF indicates the yacht either Did Not Start or Did Not Finish as official results are unclear in this regard

1979 CAPE TOWN TO PUNTE DEL ESTE RACE

Punte del Este in Uruguay was the finish for this race after politics forced a venue change from Rio.

The notorious ‘Pampero’, which can blow up to 70 knots after the Ilha da Trindade rounding, put the fear of God into most competitors – the closer the yachts sailed towards the finish line, the stronger the possibility of having to contend with this wind.

Among the predominantly male fleet was Foschini Girl (Kate Steward), an all-female crew aboard a 12m sloop. The average age of the girls was 20, with British skipper Kate Steward and American navigator Annette Ring both 18 years of age. The media reported a pair of black knickers flying from the masthead at the start!

The scratch yacht was Kwa Heri (John Smeddle), a 20.95m Derek Kelsall-designed ketch that was the favourite to take line honours.

The newly launched and untried Spar (Tom and Pete Addison), a 15.54m Hugh Welbourne-designed sloop, constructed of wood and finished in varnish, was a most impressive ocean racer with an extremely strong chance of taking line honours as she was designed as a downwind flyer.

The fleet also consisted of three highly competitive one-tonners, all of which could take the handicap honours. Weetbix (Bobby Bongers) and Touch Wood (David Abromowitz), both Angelo Lavranos designs, were light displacement planing hulls, with Weetbix rigged as a 7/8ths rig and Touch Wood a masthead rig. Bootlicker (Jerry Whitehead) was a Doug Peterson design.

These three had a running duel throughout the race, with Weetbix being the victor and Bobby Bongers putting his win down to the fact that the other yachts were masthead rigged and not 7/8ths rigged. He said

that he never broached once and was able to hold his spinnaker longer than many of the others, especially when a sudden squall hit, as he was able to ride them out while the others had to change spinnakers.

Almost from the start, Spar led the fleet, being challenged occasionally by Voortrekker (Mike Avery) and, once around Ilha da Trindade, by Kwa Heri. For a number of days, once passed the island, Spar and Kwa Heri sailed within sight of each other, until Kwa Heri managed to outsail Spar and forge ahead to take line honours.

The first yacht to cross the finish line was Kwa Heri, followed by Spar a mere seven hours behind. Kwa Heri completed the course in 24 days, 10 hours and 19 minutes, averaging a remarkable 7.7 knots. Three days behind the leaders, Weetbix finished in seventh place to take the solid gold and silver South Atlantic trophy as overall handicap winner.

Breakages are relatively common in ocean racing with Passat (Siggie Eicholz) and Maverick (E Ebner) both breaking their steering cables. Spar broke hers six times during the race.

Weetbix, Touch Wood, Force 8 (Ant Crossley) and Cap Dor (Bill O’Reilly) broke their booms, yet all managed to repair them. Weetbix bolted her silencer from the auxiliary engine onto the boom.

Alter Ego (Nelson Girdlestone), the only schooner in the race, broke her forward mast early on, but managed to finish using the aft mast only.

First race to Uruguay Kwa Heri, Spar and Weetbix steal the limelight

Punta del Este

Voortrekker I at the start of the Cape to Uruguay Race

1982 CAPE TOWN TO PUNTE DEL ESTE RACE

Abig disappointment was that the maxi sloop Kaapenaar (John Smeddle), renamed Mainstay for the race, withdrew a day before the start. Designed by Ernst van de Laan, it was hoped that his concept of ultra-lightweight construction would be put to the sword and add to the attack on the South Atlantic record spearheaded by Rampant II (Alan Tucker).

For the first time in South African yachting history, electronic aids in the form of satellite-based navigation (satnav) systems were permitted, and used by more than 50% of the fleet. Some felt it unfortunate that satnav was permitted as there was opportunity for South African yachtsman, who are generally starved of ocean crossings, to brush up on their navigation in a downwind race that was not particularly demanding.

Spirit of CIW (John Goodwin) was the first Class 1 yacht over the start line, but was soon passed by Rampant II (Alan Tucker), which showed an incredible turn of speed to lead at the Milnerton Mark. While Voortrekker II (Bertie Reed) had spinnaker problems, Voortrekker I (John Martin) seemed unruffled by all the craft around him, and set his blooper.

Class II was led by BMW Sensation (Gerhard Aab) and ltaltile (Ludde Ingvall), but at Milnerton, Three Spears (David Abromowitz) rounded first, followed by ltaltile, Nutcracker (Dieter Mielke) and BMW Sensation

What a spectacular sight the first night must have been with a total eclipse of the moon in a cloudless sky. This must surely have made up for the lack of wind after the start.

Within hours of the start, the Navy Centurion Southern Isles (Gordon Webber) was back in the harbour with radio problems and Genie (G McDonald) back with steering trouble. In true navy style everyone rallied around and Southern Isles left an hour after dark.

Not to be outdone, Wilbur Ellis’s staff worked until after midnight sorting out Genie’s problem.

Gawie Fagan’s dramatic handicap win on Suidoos over Three Spears, after a nail-biting trans-Atlantic chase, was hailed as a triumph for the IOR handicapping system, which so effectively ironed out the vast differences between two such radically different boats. Fagan sailed his sparsely equipped, 14-year-old Suidoos, with no electronic aids and old sails, to lose by only 18 hours to the new, well-equipped Three Spears over a course of 4 500 miles.

Fagan described Suidoos as a delight to sail, a boat which, like a good horse, seems to feel the exhilaration of the chase and will belt along at full speed without being driven. ‘We kept her sails loaded all the way, with as much as she would carry. We thought ahead, strat egised our way around weather problems, but Suidoos balances so easily that once she’s underway we never had to fight her,’ he said.

On five consecutive days after rounding Trindade, Fagan averaged over 200 miles before a severe cold front moved in from the south and turned the wind onto his nose.

Rampant II took line honours in 22 days, 8 hours, 15 minutes and 7 seconds. Bertie Reed and his gallant crew on Voortrekker II gave them a tough time all the way and it was only on the home run in the last five days that Rampant II pulled away.

9 January 52 entries 47 starters 4 500nm course length 34% of fleet designed by Angelo Lavranos

Yacht

Ambre

1982 Cape Town to Puna del Este Race

Bonjez

Bonser

Trying to entice British Prime Minister Edward Heath to

From left: Gordon Webb, Stephen Flesch, Edward Heath and

1985 CAPE TOWN TO PUNTA DEL ESTE RACE

This was a race dominated in every respect by four maxi challengers, with the handicap contenders being completely overshadowed by the media frenzy that concentrated on the front of the fleet only. And why not?

The four maxis Apple Macintosh (Padda Kuttel), Momentum Life (Gerhard Aab), 3CR12 (Alan Tucker) and Voortrekker II (John Martin) fought a hard duel across the South Atlantic, with Apple Macintosh almost pulling off the rare double of line and handicap honours.

Ultimately she took line honours in a record time of 22 days and 8 hours, and came within three hours on corrected time of beating the eventual handicap winner Spirit of CIW II (Ernst van der Laan).

Padda Kuttel said that he had been very surprised at Momentum’s performance: ‘She really gave us a go right to the end.’ He was absolutely right and honest with his response – at Ilha da Trindade, the two boats were just a single mile apart! One rarely gets racing that close.

Momentum Life was a radical ultra-light displacement boat that had been taken on as an engineering project by Wits University students with the sole aim of taking line honours. They came close and, despite their youth and possible inexperience, they gave a really good account of themselves and the boat’s potential.

Of interest is that on the eve of the race, Momentum Life’s skipper Gerhard Aab married his girlfriend Carol Borghart who was part of the crew, and they celebrated their honeymoon during the race.

There was last-minute drama when a skipper was arrested on dagga and crayfishing charges, forcing his crew to look for a new skipper.

And the drama continued… Shortly after the start near the Milnerton buoy, Archangel (Keith Turner) broke her mast. The following day in rough seas off the West Coast, the maxi Wesbank (Richard Glanville) also broke her mast, while the late entry Plumtree Sea Venture (Ashley Kerr) sprung a leak and was forced to retire.

This was ultimately a very slow race during a month of contradictory and most unprecedented weather systems that baffled the boffins, confused the competitors and confounded crystal-gazers on every yacht.

It was a slow, sometimes dreary, 4 500nm haul in conditions that sapped patience, eroded the competitive drive, and depleted supplies.

‘Monster’ Maxi Challenge Honeymoon aboard Race record Skipper jailed

The crew of TalGal, back from left: Sally, Simone and Dix. Front from left: Trisch, Di and Merry

Nine yachts retired to Rio, their crews tired, fed up and short of stores, even after days of rationing. The shut-off deadline had to be extended to give the tail-enders time to finish.

Nigel Clack aboard 3CR12 described the race as ‘the most boring month of my life’, while the normally laid-back Bertie Reed called for the race to return to Rio.

Trish Reiss led the only all-girl crew aboard Talgal, an Endurance 37. A late fault with the radio nearly scuppered their chances of starting, with a seriously under-pressure radio technician finding and repairing the fault just hours before the start.

Ultimately, this was the last race to Uruguay, as politics intervened preventing the race from taking part as no South American countries wanted sporting ties with South Africa. In fact, few countries worldwide wanted sporting ties with our country.

It took eight years before the next South Atlantic Race.

Fortunately things had thawed significantly and the race was permitted to go back to Rio in 1993.

1985 Cape Town to Punta del Este Race

Yacht Name Skipper Country LOA Line Handicap

3CR12 AEK Tucker ZAR 21.34m 3 12

Apple Macintosh SA Challenge Syndicate/P.Kuttel USA 24.4m 1

Archangel K Turner ZAR 10.92m DNF DNF

Cullinan D Southby ZAR 45ft 8

Delanie W van der Westhuizen

Elangeni

Genkem

Voortrekker

Goblet

Puttergill

Poulter

Honey

Interflora

Kaiamanzi

Madame Pazzazz

Pelican

1993 ROTHMANS CAPE TO RIO RACE

After a break of eight years, yachtsmen the world over were ready for another Race to Rio, their frustrations evident as 92 yachts from seven different nations entered. The fleet was diverse, with vessels ranging in size from 31 feet to 75 feet.

For the first time multihulls were permitted to compete, and this decision was not without controversy. Afraid that a multihull may upstage the monohulls, the backbone of six previous races, the rules stated ‘only cruising cats’ could compete. Searose (Chris King), devoid of an interior and so light in weight, caused unhappiness as it was felt she did not comply with the rules. She ultimately competed and was hardly a threat.

Hasso Plattner entered his mint-condition, out-and-out racer Morning Glory and had the overall handicap victory as his goal.

Several maxi yachts were on the start line, which garnered media attention as they were big, fast and glamorous. (They ignored the fact that the handicap result determines the overall race winner.)

It was very clear that Ondine’s (Huey Long) record of 17 days, 5 hours, 35 minutes and 20 seconds set during the 1976 race was under threat as any one of about six boats was in contention.

Parker Pen (Bruce Tedder) led Broomstick (Hanno Teuteberg) across the start line. With the whole of South Africa watching on TV, Broomstick overhauled Parker Pen shortly after the Milnerton Mark. In the first 18 hours of the race, these two really pushed hard, Broomstick covering 248 nautical miles, at an average speed of 13.8 knots. But the surprise was undoubtedly Namsea Challenger (Padda Kuttel), which pushed both these new boats very hard from the outset, and with her top-class crew she was in with a shot of beating them in to Rio.

On day three, Parker Pen had the highest day’s run of 308 miles at an amazing 12.8 knots. A day later Broomstick recorded the fastest run of 262 miles, with Namsea Challenger not far behind at 255. Morning Glory had a 233 mile run and led on handicap.

The multihull Searose dominated with a 250-mile run at an average of 10.4 knots, putting her 200 miles ahead of her nearest rival Obelix (John Levin) early in the race.

After seven days of racing, Broomstick had covered 1 556 miles at an incredible average of 9.6 knots, and Parker Pen 1 457 miles at

9 knots. Morning Glory had done 1 345 miles at an average of 8.3 knots, leaving them a little over 2 000 miles to go to the finish. The first week was fast and windier than competitors had expected, and had there not been two days of very light winds, there would have been a strong possibility of a 14-day record being established.

Ultimately, Broomstick smashed the race record in a time of 15 days, 3 hours, 10 minutes and 33 seconds. Just five hours later Parker Pen finished, with Namsea Challenger following suit 13 hours later.

On handicap, Morning Glory stole the show, with Namsea Challenger next and Broomstick third.

Youngest crew was Sieraj Jacobs

Race record by Broomstick

The small boats were denied their shot at glory by the big guns.

Up-and-coming young sailor Sieraj Jacobs (13) had the surprise of his life when he was asked to crew aboard Parker Pen

‘It was the most exciting experience of my life,’ he said after the race.

Sixteen-year-old Debbie Robertson was the youngest woman in the race, crewing aboard Windswift (Derek Louwrens). Her skipper described her ability as ‘tops’.

The Mayor of Cape Town, Frank van der Velde, a crewman aboard Blue Route Mall (Paul Mare), was at the helm when the rudder was damaged. They made it to Rio after a stop for repairs in Lüderitz.

Van der Velde, dressed in a suit and sporting his mayoral chains, set Rio alight at prize-giving with a virtuosic foot shuffling display of the samba!

1993 Rothmans Cape to Rio Race Position

Yacht Name Skipper Country LOA Line Handicap

IMS Class

Aegis - Panther Rob Meek ZAR 22.75m 8 34

Antwerp Express John Kalish USA 13.8m 16 17

Argonaut Mike Puttergill ZAR 14.3m 17 18

Ballyhoo Noel Mallinson ZAR 10.69m 35 12

Baltic Sun Alan Newman ZAR 12.78m 42 36

Baltic Wind Winston Wiggins ZAR 12.78m 37 29

BCN/Carrefour Torben Grael ZAR 12.2m 22 9

Beluga G Lyttle ZAR 15.13m DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Blue Route Mall (Majimoto) Paul Mare ZAR 11.6m 44

Broomstick Hanno Teuteberg ZAR 21.34m 1 3

Buchanan Boyes Peter Oldroyd ZAR 10.36m 44 15

Canon - Picasso Ray Alexander ZAR 16.41m 15 31

Carducci Bishops Tony Abbott ZAR 10.7m 39 40

Cavalier Gavin Urquart DEU 13.6m 10 10 Clicks Ambre Solaire (Indigo) Brent Sender ZAR 16.31m 11 28

Di-Data Redline F Phillips ZAR 11.58m DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Easy Rider Brian Kemlo ZAR 10.4m 55 37

Enigma Alan Staniforth ZAR 17m 23 41

Highgate Ostrich Phil Harvey ZAR 10.7m 33 14

IGI Sea Rescue David Abromowitz ZAR 19.97m 6 6 Johnson Moonraker Barry Kleu ZAR 10.4m 45 16

Julie III Robin Green ZAR 9.35m 60 24

Kiga Dennis Joubert ZAR 12m 53 43

Knysna T&B Homes Garth Goodwin ZAR 10.66m 30 11

Lady Lorna II P Holloway/G Farrow ZAR 10.7m 26 7

M&IT Southern Isles Grant Whitford ZAR 9.07m 63 22

MACS Stortebeker

F Scheder-Bieschin DEU 15.58m 20 20

MBS Flyer II Howard Edwards ZAR 16.31m 12 23

Three Jumps Ahead

Tony Higham ZAR 25 32

Thunderchild R & G Goldswain ZAR 16m 13 30

Touche

Ernesto Breda Brazil 13.74m 29 21

Tygerbodies Robin Lapping ZAR 11.7m 40 26

Viking II Geoff Apsey ZAR 11.67m 34 19

Wave Dancer Les Beasley ZAR 10.36m DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Witchdoctor Phil Gutsche ZAR 12.78m 38 27

Wizard Jan Reuvers ZAR 17.1m 7 5

Zest Tim Jordaan Guern sey 13.71m 18 25

Class B

Acid Rain Patrick Buck ZAR 12m DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Arethusa David Owen-Jones ZAR 12m 59 6

Bison Charger Bryan Harrington ZAR 12.4m 48 3

Blue Robert Archibald ZAR 18.89m 51 19

Chantecler Joseph De Kock ZAR 13m 56 4 City of Bloemfontein (Suidersee)

John Balladon ZAR 13.7m DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Claude Neon Kudra N Yell ZAR 9.35m DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Diel Bernhard Diebold ZAR 19.5m 19 11

Dolfyn ST Roux ZAR 11.8m DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Don Juan John Townsend ZAR 26.3m DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Force Five M Buss ZAR 10.4m DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Fortis Owen Thomas ZAR 13.4m DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Harbour Island Bertie Reed ZAR 9 17

Intec Frank Maunder ZAR 13.7m 65 12

Lohengrin Michel Berthier France 12.19m 36 1

Martinique Daniel Van Vuuren ZAR 10.4m 64 15

Meander III Helmut Boehnke ZAR 16.8m 41 18

Miscky Ken Webb ZAR 13m DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Miss Rose Alan Montlake ZAR 16.9m 31 9

Mithral Spar Ken Oakes ZAR 10.96m 62 16

Paranda Blue Danson ZAR 17.37m 24 5

Pasha Roderick Langston ZAR 13.1m 58 13

Realty-1 Alan Dando Jersey 17m 32 8

Sea Fever Ivan van As ZAR 11m DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Parker Pen Ltd (Pilar the Pulveriser)

PC Kuttel NAM 18.5m 3 2

Morning Glory Hasso Plattner DEU 15.4m 5 1 Namsea Challenger (Bossanova)

Bruce Tedder ZAR 22.86 2 4

Racy One Bernd Kortum DEU 13.48m 28 8

Sadie Micky Westmoreland ZAR 12.45m 43 35

Southern Floe Robert Bowman ZAR 9.70m 57 13

Southern Maid Fred Brown ZAR 9.07m 66 33

Sunday Star Gerrie Boshoff ZAR 13.m 47 38

Susan II Gerhard Muller ZAR 11.5m 49 39 Syfrets Voortrekker II Gus Mostert ZAR 18.29m 14 42

Second Wind Isaac Kopman ZAR 14.18m 46 2

Ukelele Lady Nick Taylor ZAR 12.13m 50 10

Windswift Derek Louwrens ZAR 16.45m 52 14

Zippo (Fat Alice) Trevor Sichel ZAR 9.35m 61 7

Class C Multihulls

Alicat N Yeats ZAR 12.2m DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Jacana Alan Bushe ZAR 13.1m 54 4

Obelix John Levin ZAR 12.96m 21 2

Searose Chris King ZAR 14.2m 4 1

St Francis Duncan Lethbridge ZAR 13.1m DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Ti Bay Klaus Thaler JEY 16.5m 27 3

DNS/DNF indicates the yacht either Did Not Start or Did Not Finish as official results are unclear in this regard

1996 ROTHMANS CAPE TO RIO RACE

When the skippers and crews filtered into a hot and humid Rio de Janeiro, they all agreed on one thing: it had been a great race. (Which is unusual for yachties.) Whether on racing machines par excellence, cruising boats, monohulls small or big, or catamarans, it had been a great crossing.

Teddy Kuttel described it as some of the best sailing he had experienced in a decade. And his comments were echoed throughout the fleet.

The start in a brisk southeaster to a mark off Moulle Point gave the shore-side crowds a superb showing of the 54-strong fleet and their colourful spinnakers before they turned north and scattered. Morning Glory (Hasso Plattner), Nicorette (Ludde Ingval) and Meteorite Corum Watches (Pierre Mass) headed outside Robben Island, while Warrior (Nankin/Gutsche), complete with her ‘Rainbow Nation’ South African flag spinnaker, led the fleet inside the island.

A boisterous switching southeaster carried the fleet to the trades, some of the leading boats, including Morning Glory, taking the more conservative route, while others, among them Daly’s International Insurance (Michael Daly), took a more southern route. Initially that seemed to pay off, as on the second day she pulled off a remarkable 295 miles, revelling in the stronger winds, and was leading both on handicap and distance to go. But it was short-lived; their next day’s run was half that and Morning Glory, Nicorette, Wizard (Jan Reuvers) and Warrior swept into the first four handicap positions.

Fancourt’s Morning Glory (Hasso Plattner) finished with an elapsed record time of 14 days, 14 hours, 52 minutes and 41 seconds, beating the previous record set by Broomstick (Hanno Teuteberg). A spectacular tropical thunderstorm had set the scene for her arrival, and with a backdrop of lightning flashing over the Corcovada, the sleek ILC-70 hoisted its spinnaker before quietly slipping over the finish line, the

darkness broken only by flashes of lightning and the camera lights of the accompanying television boats.

Inevitably the race proved very different from the previous one, and it was not the downwind classic it was billed as. ‘It was a reaching race, not downwind,’ said Hasso Plattner, when he arrived in Rio. ‘We only had one-and-a-half days’ sailing downwind; we were reaching 85% of the time. Ludde lngvall was absolutely right to put his reaching spinnakers on.’

On one of the smaller boats, Renfreight, Norge Kennedy and his crew never gave up and kept up the pressure by trying to keep their daily runs to the 150-mile mark. In the final two days doing 174nm and 185nm, they finally crossed the line in 22 days, 10 hours and 16 minutes, and took the handicap win. Not bad for a humble

Charger 33!

The ‘Kelly Girls’, an all-women team aboard the old Swimline, was crewed by Marion Cole (skipper), Judy Provoyeur (watch captain), Gail McArthur (navigator), as well as Maggie Smeda, Fiona Ross, Laurel Bramley, Dominique Provoyeur and Dew Bezuidenhout.

She had a great tussle across the South Atlantic with Black Cat (Dudley Dix), a 38-foot Didi 38 that Dix had designed and built himself. Just two hours separated them at the finish.

Start 6 January 59 entries 15 nations Distance 3 600nm

Race record by Fancourt Morning Glory Marion Cole led all-female crew

New South African ‘Rainbow Nation’ flag on Warrior’s spinnaker

Irish Mist leaving Cape Town. She finished as the overall winner

1996 Rothmans Cape to Rio Race

Position

Yacht Name Skipper Country LOA Line Handicap IMS

Argonaut Mike Puttergill ZAR 14.3m 16 13

Audio Vision/ Umoya Omusha Roley Brown ZAR 12.85m 10 5

Black Cat Dudley Dix ZAR 11.5m 17 12

Captain Video Winston Wiggins ZAR 10.25m 35 18 Dalys Insurances Lavranos Michael Daly ZAR 22.86m 8 17

Fancourt’s Morning Glory Hasso Plattner DEU 24.5m 1 3

Kuss den Wind Gerd Mayer ZAR ? ?

Lady in Waiting Robby Dove ZAR 11.7m 36 10

Lady Ouaeso Mike Harry UK 16.59m 21 7

Laser Eye Surgery Andrew Blain ZAR 13.72m 39 6

Laser Quest Derek Shuttleworth  ZAR 11.7m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Leon’s Teddy Care Vitor Medina  ZAR 9.35m 37 11

lnce*piration  Gordon Webb  ZAR 12.405m 28 14

lntec Frank Maunder ZAR 13.5m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

New Crusader Petro Jonker  ZAR 16.4m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Principessa Doug MacKintosh  ZAR 13.8m with drawn with drawn

Rebecca Patrick Huber  NAM 15.54m 27 1

H20 Interna

tional  Mike Kopman ZAR 12.23m 22 6

Kellygirl Marion Cole  ZAR 12.4m 19 14

Madame Pazzazz Andrew Edwards / Rowan Matthews ZAR 11.62m 23 11

Mallinicks Maritime John Levin ZAR 10.25m 30 7

Merlin Diamond Ware Sirocco Bill Jones  ZAR 18.28m 6 19

Nicorette Ludde lngvall  Ludde lngvall SWE 21.8m 2 8

Orchidea Seal Banche Andrea Scarabelli ITA 16.74m 4 4

Renfreight Norjohn Kennedy ZAR 10.058m 24 1

Three Ships Whisky Bertie Reed  ZAR 10.53m 25 10

Trekker II Juan de Beer ZAR 18.26m 7 15

Tyche Glen Massey ZAR 10.36m 33 16

Warrior Rick Nankin ZAR 18.28m

Wizard Jan Reuvers

Cruiser Monohull

Aqua Coco Richard Holloway

10.67m

Aquarius I Perasamy Naidu ZAR 13.3m

Diel Bernhard Diebold  ZAR 19.2m

Dream Reach Collin Bryson

Encanto Serge Testa

Fanta Seas 12.2m

Southern Floe Piet Potgieter ZAR 9.71m 42 15

Southern Maid R Henderson ZAR 9.71m 41 12

Spilhaus Ted Kuttel GGY 16m 9 5

Sunday Star Gerrie Boshoff ZAR 13.1m 26 9

TBA Gary Evans GRC 14.93m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Telepassport David Saul ZAR 10.36m 40 13

Touche Ernesto Breda BRA 13.74m 11 3

Toy M Kaindl  ZAR 13mm 32 16

Vahine Michael Berner FIN 19.68m 12 8

White Lace Steve Lee JEY 12.7m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Zippo Michelle Marais ZAR 9.3m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Cruiser Multihull

Basic Instinct Kieran Draper ZAR 14.7m 34 6

Bossi Interna tional Neville Dorrington  ZAR 12m 14 2

Coelacanth Derick Foss ZAR 14.3m 15 3

Dune ??? IMN 11.6m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Jam Today Gavin Griewe ZAR 11.1m 13 4

Leviathan Johan Saunders ZAR 11.2m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

Manx Colin Kenny ZAR 10.68m 38 1

Tigress Robert Black ZAR 11.52m DNS/DNF DNS/DNF

TNT Peter Dean ZAR 12m 31 5

Whitbread 60

Meteorite Corum Watches  Pierre Mass FRA 20m 2 1

Viper  Matt Humphries NZL 20m DNS DNS

DNS/DNF indicates the yacht either Did Not Start or Did Not Finish as official results are unclear in this regard

Meteorite Corum Watches, Wizard and Fancourt’s Morning Glory

2000 MTN CAPE TO RIO RACE

Cognisant of the fact that the fleet was becoming too diverse to compete fairly against each other with a common handicap system, the organisers said, in terms of eligibility, that ‘The event will comprise a number of separate races so that, as far as possible, only similar boats will race against each other.’ There were six separate races.

This lateral thinking in part paved the way for a bigger entry than the previous race, yet despite making every effort to accommodate all tastes, the wind did not play ball and many retired due to the light winds.

Yet the light winds did not affect the front-runners adversely, with Zephyrus IV (Robert McNeil) reaching the Sugarloaf in just 12 days, 16 hours, 49 minutes and 41 seconds to smash the previous record of Hasso Plattner’s Fancourt’s Morning Glory by 1 day, 22 hours and 2 minutes. She also won the IMS division on handicap too, taking a rare double of line and handicap honours.

Zephyrus IV’s fellow-Americans on Sagamore (Jim Dolan) also broke the record in 13 days, 3 hours and 40 minutes.

Zephyrus IV and Sagamore were fast enough to get into a weather front that would put them on a record run, and leave the rest behind. The winning boat sailed closest to the rhumb line – only 30nm more than the shortest possible route – and recorded 200+nm runs day after day. Their finish in the middle of the night during a moon eclipse was a little bit eerie. One moment it was pitch dark and then the moon started lighting up again just before Zephyrus IV appeared next to the Sugarloaf.

Phil Gutsche’s Greenwich Warrior was third over the line in 16 days. Sixteen-year-old schoolgirl Saskia Kemp sailed with her father, Peter, aboard Africa Group, finishing seventh on handicap in the IMS class.

The tussle between Spilhaus (Teddy Kuttel) and Awesome (lvar Kvale) was a tremendously close duel, and it was Scandinavian Kvale’s Fast 42 that took the handicap honours in the CRRS (Cape to Rio Rating System) Monohull Class. Kvale said that it had not been an easy victory. ‘We had quite a few problems and we had to fight for every mile.’ They pipped BP Umoya Omusha (Hanno Teuteberg) over the line by four minutes.

It was Kuttel who worried Kvale as they fought for the honours. Every morning just before the position reporting, Kvale would frantically

Starts 2 & 8 January 80 entries 11 nations 37 finishers

Race record by Zephyrus

La Bamba sinks and crew rescued by Island Fling

Warrior proudly bearing the South African flag

RICHARD CROCKETT

SAILING

ask: ‘Where is Teddy?’ Only after reaching Cabo Frio and sailing in much lighter conditions was Awesome able to pass Spilhaus. Kvale’s crew gave him a teddy bear at the prize-giving so that he could ‘watch Teddy’ and always know exactly where he was! Kuttel said he had never known two yachts to contest an ocean race so closely for so long.

Galileo (Duncan Lethbridge) was the handicap winner in the CRRS Multihull Class, followed by lnceperation 2000 (Stuart Hegerstrom) and Good Golly Miss Molly II (Ben Gildenhuys).

Only two yachts in the Rally Monohull Class – Shayele (Lionel Willis) and Concorde (PJ Wallace) – made the cut-off date.

Merck Generics (David Bird) was the only boat in the Rally Multihull Class to finish in time.

Ant Steward and Sieraj Jacobs sailed the Schumaker 41 The Better Connection with a crew of youngsters from the MTN Royal Cape

2000 MTN Cape to Rio Race

Position

Yacht Name Skipper Country LOA Line Handicap

IMS

Africa Group Peter Kemp ZAR 9.6m 14 7

BP Umoya Omusha Hanno Teuteberg ZAR 12.85m 10 5

Didi Dudley Dix ZAR 11.49m 18 11

Greenwich Warrior Phil Gutsche ZAR 18.28m 4 3

Impact Encore Tony Marsh ZAR 10.8m 13 6

Lease Plan John Devine ZAR 12.46m 34 12

Maxtec Wizard Andrew Louw ZAR 17.52m 5 4

Nordeutsche Vermoegen Hamburg

Arnt Bruhns DEU 16.74m 7 8

Red Max Bas van Rijswyk BEL 19.1m 6 9

Sagamore Jim Dolan USA 25.9m 2 2

Shoprite & Organics Bertie Reed ZAR 25 10

Zephyrus IV Robert McNeil USA 22.8m 1 1

CRRS Mono

African Renaissance S Noland/Marion Cole ZAR 12.2m 29 20

African Satellite Second Wind Robb Butler ZAR 14.8m RTD/DNF RTD/DNF

Aladdin Helmut Geiger NAM 12.86m 33 21

Albatros Manfred Kerstan DEU 18.44m 20 11

Alseba Jorg Kruchen ZAR 10.85m RTD RTD

Awesome Ivar Kvale ZAR 13.79m 9 1

BJM Masimo TG Roos Family Trust ZAR 10.66m 30 12

Circus Dog Fritz Strobl DEU RTD RTD

Deja Vu Colin Craig ZAR 15.24m 12 4

Diel Bernhard Diebold ZAR 19.2m 23 18

Focus Solution K Ross / R Gleimius ZAR 12.75m RTD RTD

Hallmark Travel Golden Fleece Michael Wheeler UK 12.5m DNF 31

High Noon - Envi ron Jon Galbraith ZAR 10.82m 48 10

Hout Bay Handiman (Voodoo)

Wayne Hennings ZAR 16.5m 15 5

IGS Freight-Trac Mark Hodgen ZAR 11.75m RTD RTD

IPS Sheraton Jonathan Balladon ZAR 12.2m RTD RTD

Jerepigo Gerald Nightingale ZAR 10.96m RTD RTD

La Bamba Andrew Tozer ZAR 12.5m SUNK SUNK

Madonna Dave Arnott ZAR 11.66m 32 17

Manex Southern Isles Roy Henderson ZAR 9.7m 43 13

Manha de Sol Will Morningsun ZAR 11.3m RTD RTD

Myott Chubb Protector Keith Barnes ZAR 13m DNF 29

New Crusader Brian Newton ZAR 16.4m RTD RTD

Obsession Ron Cherry ZAR 15.24m 22 16

Orca Dave Botha ZAR 9.3m RTD RTD

Sailing Academy. Steward chose his crew on the basis of enthusiasm, dedication and sailing ability – and their sense of humour. They finished tired and thirsty as water rationing was introduced after a water-maker malfunction.

Russel Vollmer became the first quadriplegic to sail the race. He skippered Lion of Africa

When John Galbraith and Marion Frost did not make the church in Rio on time, they tied the knot on the high seas instead.

Fifty-one yachts completed the race before the official cut-off date on 4 February, of which one, Diel (Bernard Diebold), was disqualified after her prop was removed during the race.

Eighteen yachts retired, La Bamba (Andrew Tozer) sank, and 12 others did not make it in time for the prize-giving.

Paradise Isle D Telford/D Elcock ZAR 14.18m 36 23

PRT-Brasil 500 Ludde Ingvall PRT 24m 3 6

Pricewaterhouse Coopers

Chris Sutton ZAR 12.23m 27 9

Prism Majimoto J Levin / P Mare ZAR 12m 19 7

Rapscallion III George Stricker USA 15.24m 21 14

Saba II F Helm ZAR 19m DNF 32

SABC’s Adrenalin Brian Kemlo ZAR 12.85m 38 25

Scorpio Danie Nel ZAR 15m 28 15

Silverstream Michael Wilson ZAR 13.7m 8 3

Sky Insurance Moonraker Barry Kleu ZAR 10.53m DNF 30

Spilhaus Ted Kuttel ZAR 16m 11 2

Spirit of Avis John Sheen ZAR 15.25m RTD RTD

Stumblebum James Brown ZAR 12.2m DNF DNF

Susan II Gerhard Muller ZAR 11.5m RTD RTD

Tequila JJ du Plooy ZAR 16.6m RTD RTD

The Better Connection A Steward / S Jacobs ZAR 12.5m 17 8

The Lion of Africa (iti Windforce)

R Vollmer / T Read ZAR 12.5m DNF 28

VCR 90.6 FM Gerry Boshoff ZAR 37 24

Viking II Geoff Apsey ZAR 11.66m 35 22

Voortekker Piet Potgieter ZAR 15.05m 24 19

Xcel Southern Maid Bryan Donkin ZAR 9.7m 47 27

Ziton Odyssey Richard Chase ZAR 11.89m 44 26

CRRS Multihull

Birdwing Michael Ling ZAR 13.2m 39 4

Galileo Duncan Lethbridge BVI 13.45m 16 1

Good Golly Miss Molly II B Gildenhuys ZAR 13.45m 31 3

Incepiration 2000 Stuart Hegerstrom ZAR 14.3m 26 2

Kinahu E Danzfuss ZAR 13.07m 42 6

Quicksilver Laurie Gardener ZAR 12m 41 5

Rally Monohull

Anita C Toni Lopez ARG 10.67m DNF 7

Capensis Rick Roughton ZAR 13.1m DNF 5

Concorde JP Wallace ZAR 13.4m 49 3

Elite Peter Standley ZAR 14.2m DNF 4

Fifi Dennis Joubert ZAR 11.5m RTD RTD

Marsal Martin Mynhardt ZAR 12m DNF 6

Perazim Tony Turner ZWE 15.5m RTD RTD

Rita W Schwagerl ZAR 13m DNF 9

Rotary Scout Boy Scouts Assoc ZAR 45 1

Shayele Lionel Willis ZAR 13.61m 46 2

Tao Men W O Biese ZAR 16.87m DNF 8

Rally Multihull

Drifter Barry Taylor ZAR 10.5m DNF DNF

Island Fling Desmond Elliott ZAR 11.1m RTD RTD

Merck Generics D Bird GGY 12m 40 1

Oyster Thief Kevin Fouche ZAR 10m RTD RTD

2003 SAP CAPE 2 RIO RACE

An effort was again made to have similar yachts racing against each other in four classes, namely: monohull boats with valid IRC certificates; multihull boats with valid CRRS certificates; a ‘rally’ fleet of monohull and multihull boats with valid CRRS certificates that, subject to certain restrictions, were able to use their motors. And finally, subject to sufficient demand, other classes of boats would be considered at the Race Committee’s sole discretion.

This was the first race in which two ‘racing-type’ cats competed. They were the Irens 65ft catamaran Adrenalina Pura (G Ehrensperger) and the 60ft Swedish trimaran Nicator (Klas Nylof). As was expected, the media coupled them on the tote with Morning Glory (Hasso Plattner), the Reichel Pugh 80ft monohull, despite them being in different classes.

This was a very difficult race as the South Atlantic high pressure zone had a major influence, and the majority of boats that tried to emulate the course of record-breaking Zephyrus from the 2000 event found that this was not necessarily a good idea.

Nicator finished first in Rio, but the light conditions put paid to her aspirations of breaking the line honours record. Nylof said that they had covered 481 miles in the first 24 hours, but that the record chances were probably blown on the sixth day when they decided to exploit the

Vaal Dam yacht wins overall

Baleka Nicator

Morning Glory and Nicator

PHOTOGRAPHY: ARCHIVES OF RICHARD CROCKETT & SAILING PUBLICATIONS, PETER GOLDMAN

possibility of the high breaking into two. They intended sailing between the two points, but this break didn’t materialise and they had to claw their way back towards the north. They rounded Trindade on the 11th day and headed for Rio de Janeiro. On the 13th day they clocked 412 miles, but took seven hours to cover the last 30 miles to the finish! Their time was 12 days, 23 hours, 47 minutes and 54 seconds.

Nicator was followed 56 hours later by Adrenalina Pura, which used a more classic route. However, going as high as 18°34’S reduced her chances of line honours.

Morning Glory (Hasso Plattner) also succumbed to the fickle breezes from Cabo Frio as she headed to the finish line, completing the race in 16 days, 8 hours and 45 minutes. Plattner also followed a classic route, but it proved too long for them to stand a chance of breaking the monohull record. ‘The winds certainly wreaked havoc with Morning Glory’s record attempt,’ he said. ‘We stopped dead after Trindade; we stopped dead in the oil fields for five hours; we stopped dead at Cabo Frio again at night and finishing was, as usual, more gambling than sailing.’

But the light winds, which caused havoc with most of the participants, suited Alex Schon and his Gauteng sailors, whose style and tactics brought them the main prize: the handicap win on Baleka Schon, and his race-winning Fast 42 took a course that was just 170 miles further than the rhumb-line distance, finely balancing the classic and the direct routes. This displayed the ability of modern boats to sail through high pressure areas when they get good weather reports. It also showed that sailing on the Vaal Dam can be put to good use at sea, when the ability to concentrate in light winds is put to the test. Schon and his navigator, Wolf Seitz, sailed what Investec’s Mark Sadler described as ‘the perfect course for the conditions’. Baleka finished in 21 days, 21 minutes and 52 seconds.

Ten yachts missed the final cut-off time. The deadline expired 32 days after the first fleet left Cape Town on 4 January.

2003 SAP Cape 2 Rio Race

Yacht Name Skipper Country LOA

IRC Monohull

34 South @ Knysna

Theo Beens ZAR 46ft DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Auto Atlantic Thunderchild R & G Goldswain ZAR 52ft

Baleka Alex Schon/Wolf Seitz ZAR 42ft

Barracuda Nicola Amundsen NOR 44ft

Big Reef Brian Sutherland ZAR Lavranos Cruiser DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Dalys Insurance Mike Daly ZAR 80ft

Diel Bernhard Diebold DEU

Fascination of Power John Martin ZAR 42ft

Fti Flyer Keith Mattison ZAR 33ft

Helsal II Bill Rawson ZAR 65ft

Inspia Derek Shuttleworth England 67ft

Investec J McGraw / S Cumming ZAR 42ft

Julie Iii Robin Green ZAR 31ft 18

Konica/Mallinicks Indaba John Levin ZAR 34ft 17

Love Life Marion Cole ZAR 78ft DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Madame Pazzazz M Skeen / G Hewitt ZAR 40ft DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Madiba Racing Team Kees de Nijs NLD 42ft 8

Maiden Terry Nielsen GBR 12

Morning Glory Hasso Plattner DEU 80ft 3

Safari - CTW David Tideswell GBR 41ft 19 15

Scorpio J Dixon ZAR 51ft DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Suidoos 2 Gawie Fagan ZAR 30ft Mod. 16

VCR 90.6 FM G Boshoff / H Karolius ZAR 43ft 13

CRRS Multihull Class

Adrenalina Pura G Ehrensperger BRA Multi Cat 2 2 Nicator Klas Nylof SWE 60ft 1 1

Rally Class Monohulls

Acalantis M Tattavitto BRA 45ft 20 1

Albacore Grant Saunders ZAR 36ft 23 3

Aquila Jon Thurlow ZAR 42ft 21 2

Cumin Thru Alexander Smith ZAR Barens S/ Trader DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Inyoni HI Ferreira ZAR 31ft DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Nauty 40s Falk Graser ZAR 45ft DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Rally Class Multihulls

Fordsicks BMW M Avelino / H Dopke ZAR 37ft DNF/DNC DNF/DNC

Hasso Plattner at the finish

Morning Glory

2006 HEINEKEN CAPE TO SALVADOR RACE

The city of Salvador in the Bahia province of Brazil was chosen as the finish line so there was a new destination awaiting the fleet. Due to the ongoing battle with light winds off Caba Frio at the entrance to Rio, sailors had become fed up with having to drift aimlessly while waiting for wind to push them across the finish.

It had become such an issue that it was affecting race numbers, so the organisers looked at a new venue. The sailors in the race gave it their clear approval.

Failing mishaps, the big Brazilian catamaran Adrenalina Pura, a Nigel Irons-design of 20m with a beam of 11m, was always going to be first across the finish line. But crossing in 10 days, 8 hours and 2 minutes, to slice five days off the time of their 2003 crossing to Rio, was the cherry on the top for co-skippers George Ehrensperger and Kiwi ‘Jawsie’ Wright, and their crack Brazilian crew who took their trusty steed into its home port.

Adrenalina had surfed at 27 knots, but there had also been a few hairy moments. ‘We got hit by a squall one very dark night, when the wind increased to nearly 40 knots. We released the sheets, but for a moment the boat was out of control,’ Ehrensperger said.

Windsong (Rob Meek), the radical 37-foot Reichel Pugh-designed racer, had earlier taken a more northerly course. On the 11th day,

Starts 4 January 3 300nm course length Course record established by Adrenalina Pura

Adrenalina Pura

Frederico

ARCHIVES OF RICHARD CROCKETT & SAILING PUBLICATIONS, TREVOR WILKINS

skipper Rob Meek emailed: ‘Great news to hear that we have slipped passed Suidoos II (Gawie Fagan) in the night. Our more northerly course paid off as the boats to the south of us have been trapped in the South Atlantic high.’ But the hint of Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner almost proved to be hubris. Meek added, ‘Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. Water, water everywhere, our desalinator is on the blink.’ Fortunately the problem was soon remedied.

Windsong achieved a best 24-hour run of 297 miles, which was amazing for a 37-footer, and she finished with an elapsed time of 16 days, 2 hours and 46 minutes for the 3 380nm course. Gumption (Nicholas Mace) finished the next day, her elapsed time just 23 hours longer. Suidoos II was next, followed by Fascination of Power (John Martin).

2006 Heineken Cape to Salvador Race

Yacht Name Skipper Country

IRC

African Renaissance W Badenhorst / D Blankenberg 40ft

Argonaut Ian McDonald 47ft

Auto Atlantic Thunderchild Rhett & Glen Goldswain 52ft

Devonvale Broadreach JJ Provoyeur 35ft

Gilly B Mike Bartholomew 47ft

Gumption Nicholas Mace 40ft

Hocuspocus Dale Kushner 38ft

Maestro A Roux / P van As 42ft

Mamelie Jakob Leverkus

Mtu Fascination of Power John Martin 42ft

Promoto Impex Piet Scheepers 38ft

Suidoos II Gawie Fagan 30ft

Unleashed Dale Promnitz 42ft

Unzipped Adrian Kuttel 42

Windsong Rob Meek 37ft

Mini Transat Clas

Crean Richard Smurthwaite Mini Transat

Federico Rodrigo Cella Mini Transat

Multihulls (up to 31m)

Adrenalina Pura G Ehrensperger / D Wright Multi Cat 1

Blithe Spirit Neville Stanford 12m

Omnimed Segue Russell Vollmer 55ft 12

SARR Rally Fleet

Admiral Explorer David Bird 50ft 13 2

Alleycat Allan Whitley 39ft 19 5

Amjada Euguene Maritz 40ft DNF

Dream John Morley 35ft DNF DNF Island Fling Des Elliott 39ft 20 6

True Star Barry Kleu 40ft 17 1

Two Oceans FS Moolman 38ft 21 3 Ukelele Lady Nick Marvin 39ft 24 4

The most northerly boat in the fleet, Mace’s Gumption, started moving back up the ranks when she turned the corner, and was eyeing a top finishing spot. His radio message read: ‘We would ride the squalls for up to an hour and, if we got lucky, were able to gybe back along the squall face for additional punishment. Scary, you betcha. Also exhilarat ing and the big grins say it all.’ Her roller-coaster ride gained her some miles and advantage over Windsong

Devonvale Broadreach (JJ Provoyeur and Ant Spillebeen) raced just two-up and finished sixth on both line and handicap, despite Provoyeur breaking a rib.

Two Mini Transat boats competed singlehanded, with Crean (Richard Smurthwaite) and Federico (Rodrigo Cella) both finishing in 27 days.

In the Multihull Class, the Australian boat Blithe Spirit (Neville Stanford) took second place to Adrenalina Pura, with Omnemed Segue, skippered by RCYC Commodore Russell Vollmer, third. Said Vollmer: ‘I am just so grateful to all the people who made it possible for me to participate in this race. It has been a fantastic opportunity.’

Hi-Fidelity (Eddie de Villiers) hit a whale, putting the vessel out of the race with rudder damage, while Auto Atlantic Thunderchild (Rhett and Glen Goldswain) cracked her space frame, which threatened to pull her keel off on a port tack. They finished in Rio despite this scare.

Devonvale Broadreach

2009 HEINEKEN CAPE TO SALVADOR RACE

During this race all eyes were on two of the world’s top maxis, the 100-footer ICAP Leopard (Mike Slade) and the 90-footer Rambler (George David).

Any notion that it might be a close contest between the two was dispelled by American Ken Read, skipper of Puma in the Volvo Ocean Race. ‘No way,’ said Read in Cape Town. ‘Next to Leopard, Rambler looks like a dinghy. Leopard carries so much more sail; she will just power ahead and, within days, will be in a different weather pattern.’

And yes, he was absolutely correct as ICAP Leopard took line honours in a time of 10 days, 5 hours, 45 minutes and 35 seconds.

Rambler, three hours short of a day later, crossed the line to take the overall handicap honours, so not only did these guys steal the limelight, they also took the top placings.

Winds were generally lighter for the bulk of the fleet compared to the 2006 race, as the maxis sailed off into their own better breeze. By day four, two of the favourite racing-class yachts, Vineta (Felix SchederBieshin and Patrick Holloway) and Ponty Leisure (Nicholas Mace) both retired with damage – Vineta broke her mast and crew aboard Ponty Leisure discovered a crack at the top of their vessel’s mast.

Branec IV

ICAP Leopard

PHOTOGRAPHY: ARCHIVES OF RICHARD CROCKETT & SAILING PUBLICATIONS, BRENTON GEACH, TREVOR WILKINS

This paved the way for the others, including Hi-Fidelity (Eddie de Villiers and Gary Sindler), which ultimately ended third over the line and third on handicap, despite the light winds that required plenty of crew work to keep the sail changes ringing in order to maximise speed all the time.

Voortrekker (Marcello Burricks) was fourth over the line and fourth on handicap. Burricks and his young disadvantaged crew sailed their

2009 Heineken Cape to Salvador Race

Yacht Name Skipper Country LOA Line

IRC

Hi-Fidelity Eddie de Villiers / Gary Sindler

ZAR 14.37m

ICAP Leopard Mike Slade GBR 30.47m

Impiana Andrew Findlay AUS 14.2m

Jacana David Munro GBR 13.11m

MTU Power of Fascination David Herman ZAR 12.75m

Over Proof Gerrie Hegie / Rob van Rooyen ZAR 9.14m

Ponty Leisure Nicholas Mace ZAR 13m

Rambler George David USA 27.5m

Smooth Torquer Brian Tuckwood GBR 12.87m

Vineta Felix Scheder-Bie schin / Patrick Holloway

DEU 15m RTD RTD

Voortrekker Marcello Burricks ZAR 15m

Cruiser Monohull

Andante of Mersey Bob Willetts GBR 15.85m 34 12

Angela II Renato Plass BRA 15.48m 13 10

Annemare Friedrich Cornils DEU 16.44m 27 13

Avanti Grant Saunders ZAR 12.62m 14 1

Baccalieu III Mike Hill CAN 17.47m 25 16

Chantelle John Hayman GBR 12.7m 21 7

Cleone James Anderson GBR 12.1m 37 RTD

Ebenezer Alan Reynolds ZAR 11.7m DNF DNF

Faraway Luis Abreu Freire POR 14.96m 17 6

Gray Lady Boris Fedorov RUS 21.93m DNF DNF

Into the Blue Robert Moore GBR 17.47m DNF DNF

Kasuje Stephen Rodwell GBR 16.44m 26 RTD Kealoha 8 David Holliday GBR 22.77m 10 8

La Boheme Gregory and Anna Haremza AUS 16m 29 15

Martha Hillar KGBRk EST 14.6m DNF DNF

Northern Sky Gerry and Isolde McCauley CAN 11.98m 36 RTD

Quasar V of Lleyn Robert Locke GBR 16.72m 31 9

Strega Andreas Steffen DEU 14.8m 11 11

Summerlove Rob Butler ZAR 13.1m 23 3

Talulah Ruby II Paul and Andy Atkinson GBR 14.96m 22 14

Viva Petra Lehmköster DEU 13.22m 35 4 Windflower III Wolfgang Grunheid DEU 14.4m 32 5 Zephyr Robin Lapping ZAR 13.41m 24 2

Cruiser Multihull

Alleycat Alan Whitley ZAR 11.89m 18 1

Branec IV Roger Langevin FRA 15.24m 12 4

Extasea Mike Blamey ZAR 14m 16 2

Goody Johan Adam ZAR 10m RTD RTD

Island Fling Desmond Henry Elliott NZL 11.83m 19 3

Myrtle of

Bonnievale

Pierre Albertyn ZAR 11.97m 20 6

Privateer David Stevens / Dean Korver ZAR 11.27m 28 RTD

Stingo II John Perry ZAR 11.99m 30 5

Zab-a-cat Chad Morze ZMB 12.25m 33 7

Zeal O Cat Ernie Aylward ZAR 14.13m 15 RTD

hearts out, and felt the presence of Bertie Reed aboard at times looking after them.

Avanti (Grant Saunders), a Vickers 41 monohull, won the cruisingfleet race with Zephyr (Robin Lapping) second and the Montevideo 43 Summerlove (Rob Butler) third.

In the cruiser multi-division, Alley Cat (Allan Whitley) took the honours followed by Extasea (Mike Blamey).

Voortrekker

Kealoha

Table

2011 HEINEKEN CAPE TO RIO RACE

Forty years, almost to the day, after the first race in 1971, the Heineken Cape to Rio Race got off to a very slow start, in winds so light that when the gun boomed from an SA Navy minehunter, it took some time for the blue smoke to disappear.

There was a modest fleet of just 17 yachts, yet within the IRC Class there was a good strong nucleus in the 40-foot range. Even so, competition for the South Atlantic Trophy, the overall handicap trophy, was fierce and tactical across the entire fleet.

The foreign entries all had a story, especially Mahdei, a 56-foot cruiser entered by the Indian Navy and skippered by Commander Donde.

SY Nora Simrad (Jan Evang) from Norway was a comfortable, strongly-built aluminium 55-footer, on a circumnavigation. ‘We like to be part of a race when we can,’ said skipper Jan Evang.

Also circumnavigating was the carbon-fibre 63-footer Grand Filou 2 (Juergen Enning and Richard Fearon), the biggest boat in the fleet, and in spite of her 20 tons, was a high-performance yacht with a sail wardrobe to match. Skipper Juergen Enning felt she had linehonours potential, finally finishing third over the line.

However, the local 54-footer Prodigy (Chris Frost) had its sights set firmly on line honours.

Ultimately Frost took line honours in a time of 15 days, 23 hours, 57 minutes and 1 second, about a day ahead of City of Cape Town (Jerry Hegie). Prodigy had the double of line and handicap honours in their sights at times early in the race, until the smaller boats began sailing

Line honours winner Prodigy finishing the race

The Spirit of Izivunguvungu crew in Rio Ciao Bella finishing

ARCHIVES OF RICHARD CROCKETT & SAILING PUBLICATIONS, BRENTON GEACH

2011 Heineken Cape to Rio Race

Position

Boat Name Owner/skipper Country LOA Line Handicap

Class A

Cape Storm (Sugar Stick Sisiters)

City of Cape Town

to their handicaps. When Prodigy was 25 miles from Rio, the wind dropped, and it was 14 hours later that she crossed the finish line. For seven hours, the 54-footer lay anchored against the adverse tide in thick mist, just 500 metres from the line.

A day later, City of Cape Town faced a similar slow arrival, but with at least some light winds to take her across the line and entrench her handicap placing at the top of the fleet. Ultimately the northerly route taken by Hegie from the very beginning paid handsome dividends and took him to the overall handicap win. The win was hard fought as water rationing about 1 000 miles from Rio resulted in each crew being restricted to just four glasses of water a day.

Always pushing hard and achieving good daily runs was the Robinson Family aboard Robtek’s Ciao Bella, which finished just 12 hours after Hegie to confirm second place, with Xtra-Link (Dale Kushner) third overall.

The Spirit of Izivunguvungu (Kader Williams) had a crew of youngsters from the townships, and all were competent sailors having graduated from sailing development schools. They may have wanted a better result, but ninth over the line and initially 11th on handicap was a result not to be sneezed at. Sadly, they were later disqualified for taking on water from a rival yacht, which is against the rules as ‘outside assistance’ is prohibited.

This was a hard, fast race.

Sean Cummings

ZAR 37.6ft

Gerry Hegie ZAR 12.46m

Envirodiesel Me 2 Me Derek Shuttleworth ZAR 11.8m

Grand Filou 2 Jurgen Eming/Richard Fearon DEU 19.2m

Perie Banou II Jon and Andrew Saunders AUS 12.4m

Prodigy Chris Frost ZAR 16.4m

Robtek`s Ciao Bella Michael Robinson ZAR 10.76m

Spirit of Izivunguvungu (Enigma)

Spirit of Izivunguvungu

ZAR 12.75m

Xtra-Link Dale Kushner ZAR 12.9m

Yachtport SA Dave Herman ZAR 12.75m

Class B

Hot Ice Robbie Dove ZAR 14.8m

INS Mhadei Cdr Donde India 17.1m

Leyna Solly Heyns ZAR 13m

Nemesis Dave Ellis/Tim Keegan/Tyrone Bluck ZAR 12.54m

Nora Simrad Jan Evang NOR 14.76m

Class C

Myrtle of Bonnievale Pierre Albertyn ZAR 11.97m

Ratcatcher Andre and Alison Stroebel ZAR 11.8m

unceded

unceded

City

2014 CAPE TO RIO RACE

There were mutterings that the Race Organisers should have postponed the start for 48 hours as bad weather and winds of 45 knots gusting 55 knots were forecast. Competitors knew they would have a rough ride in the first few days.

But no-one knew just how rough and tough it would be – several boats took a pounding resulting in severe damage, one life was lost, and 10 yachts had to withdraw very early in the race.

Dudley Dix, sailing the yacht he designed and built himself, was a casualty of the storm after the vessel’s rudder broke and it capsized. He went on to write a book entitled South Atlantic Capsize: Lessons Taught by a Big Ocean Wave John Levin, then 72, competed in his seventh race, having participated in the very first one in 1971. Sadly the storm brought his race to an early finish.

One of the world’s greatest yachtsmen, Giovanni Soldini, was the line-honours favourite aboard Maserati, a Volvo 70. But then there was also a completely South African crew, headed by Craig Sutherland, that had chartered an IMOCA Open 60 and renamed her Explora Their mission was also line honours and these two duelled across the South Atlantic.

Looking for the handicap win was the Australian entry Scarlet Runner (Robert Date), a Reichel Pugh 52, similar in size and speed to a TP52. The boat came to the race with a good pedigree, great crew and results to match.

Bristling with hi-tech electronics, Explora and Scarlet Runner had problems, with navigator Jess Sweeney of Scarlet Runner having to resort to her barometer and observations, while Ken Venn of Explora was forced back to old-school navigation when his electronic coms went down.

Early in the race, the majority opted to follow the recommended route of engaging the bad weather and getting through it, but François and Adrian Kuttel, sailing double-handed on Privateer, made a bold, calculated decision to sail north up the African coast. They quickly separated from the fleet and only knew their plan had paid off once they turned west and re-engaged with the fleet, coming into close contact with Explora and Scarlet Runner

Weather played a vital role in determining the finishing order. With boats of different sizes and therefore sailing speeds, any movement of the South Atlantic High either helped or hindered the fleet. Maserati, the biggest and fastest boat, got ahead of the high pressure system and as it moved northward, the rest of the fleet had to sail further to get around it. Superbly sailed and navigated, Maserati shattered the 14-year-old race record and finished the 3 300-nautical mile course in 10 days, 11 hrs, 29 minutes and 57 seconds.

This left Scarlett Runner in second place and the team on Iskareen (Christiane Dittmers and Soenke Bruhns) in third on handicap.

As one of the smallest boats in the fleet, Iskareen had sailed extremely well by taking advantage of every opportunity to set a personal speed record of 20.62 knots! Shipped in from Germany for the race, her preparation was flawless and her crew’s hard work paid off.

A young team of six university students competed aboard Amtec Wits Aladdin (Bradley Robinson) and finished a creditable sixth overall.

Back in Class 2, Dale Kushner and his long-time sailing partner Ian Coward, sailing Yolo two-up, led the fleet away from the start and had

Starts 4 January 36 entries 8 nations Two-handed entries Record passage by Maserati

Maserati and Explora

Windgat finishing in Rio

TREVOR WILKINS

to constantly keep an eye over their shoulders as veteran circumnavigator Jon Saunders, sailing Perie Banou Rolly Tasker was in hot pursuit. Saunders’ determination paid off later in the race when he managed to pass them (on handicap), but the team on Yolo responded to this challenge and finished far enough ahead to secure their win in Class 2.

Cool Runnings (Carel Jacobs) ended third.

Also competing this year were a number of multihulls. These crews sailed hard, had loads of fun, fished and partied, and after completing the race prepared to continue towards the Caribbean.

First in this fleet was Pierre Albertyn sailing his Leopard 40 Myrtle of Bonnievale, followed by Scott Kelly and Dave Gough on Tulliana and Craig Deverson on Nomad Yacht Charters

A young couple, Ian and Elske Henderson, aboard the catamaran Isla, participated in the race with their two daughters, aged four and seven, as they wanted to enjoy the experience and getting to know other cultures together as a family.

2014 Cape to Rio Race

Position

Boat Name Skipper Country LOA Line Handicap

IRC

Amtec Wits Aladdin Bradley Robinson ZAR 40ft 11 6

Ava Colin Horton / Belinda Horton ZAR 31ft RTD RTD

Avanti Klaus Wiswedel ZAR 41ft RTD RTD

Avocet Dave Clements ZAR RTD RTD

Bille Luis Manuel De Oliveira Da Silva AGO 54ft RTD RTD

Black Cat Adrian Pearson / Dudley Dix ZAR 38ft RTD RTD

Cool Runnings Carel Jacobs ZAR 15 12

Dodo Roux Gerber ZAR 37ft RTD RTD

Explora Craig Sutherland ZAR 60ft 3 10

FTI Flyer Keith Mattison ZAR 33ft RTD RTD

Hot Ice Mark Wannenberg ZAR 49ft RTD RTD

Indaba John Levin ZAR 34ft RTD RTD

Insv Mhadei Dilip Donde IND 56ft 19 15

Investec Ciao Bella Michael Robinson ZAR 35ft 7 5

Iskareen Christiane Dittmers / Soenke Bruhns DEU 34ft 5 3

Jacaranda of Carrick Commodore Mike Bowker CBE GBR 44ft 20 14

JML Rotary Scout Peter Bosch ZAR 39ft RTD RTD

Maserati Giovanni Soldini ITA 70ft 1 1

Mussulo III Jose Pereira Caldas AGO 54ft 8 9

Peekay Sean Ryan / Bram Weller ZAR 51ft RTD RTD

Perie Banou Rolly Tasker Jon Sanders AUS 39ft 18 8

Privateer Francois & Adrian Kuttel ZAR 40ft 4 4

Rocket/Stop Rhino Poaching

Gerrie Boshoff ZAR 54ft 6 11

Scarlet Runner Robert Date AUS 52ft 2 2

Vulcan 44 Stephen Wilson ZAR 44ft 17 13

Yolo Dale Kushner ZAR 32ft 13 7

Multihulls

Alleycat Too Anthony & Robyn Burgess ZAR 40ft RTD RTD

Genevieve Too Adam Hannah ZAR 44ft 21 5

HQ2 Grenville John Wilson / Ian

Isla

Nomad

Charters

Tranquilo

Tulliana

Maserati

2017 CAPE2RIO RACE

After the first week, the Andrews 70 Runaway (Hector Velarde) was leading the racing fleet, which started a week after the cruisers, followed closely by Black Pearl (Stefan Jentzsch) and Lion of Africa Vulcan (Hylton Hale). What was interesting was that the two leading yachts were sailing a significantly more southerly route, while the rest of the fleet had taken a more northerly route.

Often the cruising class is seen as a rather jovial and non-serious one, but this year, it was clear that the cruising sailors were pushing hard towards Rio led by the Vickers 41 Avanti (Klaus Wiswedel), and chased hard by the Swan 411 Sophie B (Tom and Harry Moultree).

With the southeasterly firmly settled, the racers spent the first part of the race pushing hard in winds gusting up to 40 knots at times and lumpy sea conditions that tested each and every crew. These conditions are sure to expose any weaknesses and during its second night at sea, Dark Matter (Gavin Hamilton) broke its boom and was the first casualty of the tough weather. Without a mainsail, the crew’s only option was to head for home.

With the weather still battering the fleet, Trekker II (Mark Wannenburg) reported damage to her rudder and water entering the yacht. Initially, the crew thought they would be able to deal with the

Overall IRC winners Black Pearl

Lion of Africa Vulcan finished third in IRC overall and to date still holds the record for the quickest time elapsed for a SA-flagged monohull

SMITH

2017 Cape to Rio Race Race

Boat Name Skipper Country LOA

IRC Overall

Avanti Klaus Wiswedel ZAR 12.42m

Black Cat David Immelman ZAR 11.37m

Black pearl Stefan Jenztsch DEU 14.3m

Blue Label Telecoms Skitzo

Thinus Groenewald ZAR 12.8m

Bolero Gavin Lochner McLead ZAR 11.14m

Dark Matter David Elcock ZAR 12.14m

First 40 Dave Arnott ZAR 12.24m

INSV Mhadei Capt. Atool Sinha India 17.1m

JML Rotary Scout Grant Chapman ZAR 11.53m

Lion of Africa Vulcan Hylton Hale & Francois Kuttel ZAR 12.8m

Mercenario 4 Martin Nacarato ARG 13.48m

Pinto Russell Marie Galante Paul van Tellingen ZAR 13m

Ray of Light Michael Kavanagh ZAR 13.35m

Raymarine Regardless William Brooks ZAR 10.77m

Runaway Hector Velarde PER 21.49m

Saravah Pierre Joullie BRA 16.58m

Sophie B Henry Moultrie ZAR 12.44m

Team Angola Cables Mussulo 40

Team UCT powered by B&G

The Ullman Challenge Gryphon

water ingress, until they realised that they would have to declare an emergency. The crew were rescued by the merchant ship MV Golafruz, with Trekker II succumbing to the depths, and bringing an end to the life of a great ocean-racing yacht.

With the fleet split into two different classes and the cruising boats having started a week early, it was clear that this edition of this classic ocean race was having favourable winds as Avanti (Klaus Wiswedel) was at the head of the fleet, being chased hard by Black Pearl, Runaway and Lion of Africa Vulcan, the leading South African yacht.

It was only in the closing days that these race boats were able to pass Avanti

First across the line, and no stranger to victory, was Runaway of Peru. Next in was Black Pearl that snatched the overall handicap honours away from Runaway. Suddenly all eyes were on Lion of Africa Vulcan and The Ullman Challenge Gryphon (Andre Julius/Theo Yon) as there was a possibility that they could still take the handicap win away

Jose Guilherme Mendes Pereira Caldas

AGO/ VGB 12.19m

Matthew Whitehead ZAR 11.2m

Theo Yon ZAR 13.02m

Trekker 11 Mark Wannenburg ZAR 19.6m

Weddel Vladimir Kulinichenko RUS 22.5m

Yachtport SA David Herman ZAR 12.7m

Multihull Overall

Compromise

Robert Newman ZAR 12.1m

Leia B Wynand Burger ZAR 11.43m RTD RTD

Sea Oyster Ernst Eugster ZAR 11.45m 1 1

Skimmer Mike Giles ZAR 22.55m

WOW David Liddell GB 14m RTD RTD

from Black Pearl Lion of Africa Vulcan had to be content with a third on handicap.

The above three finished within a corrected time of seven hours, a massive achievement after 14 days of hard racing.

The Ullman Challenge Gryphon had an outside chance of pulling an upset. Originally known as Orion Express and later campaigning hard as Gumption, she carried the hopes and dreams of a young crew of previously disadvantaged sailors. They had gone out and found the money to buy the boat, found a committed sponsor and then charged out of Cape Town with their hearts set on trying to win the race as the first development crew.

A hundred-and-sixty nautical miles from Rio, their hopes and dreams were shattered when their rudder sheared off. Undeterred, they informed the race committee and then set about building a jury rudder to take them to the finish, earning them much admiration.

Back in Class 2, Team UCT Powered by B&G (Matthew Whitehead) and Raymarine Regardless (William Brooks) were having a great battle as they closed the finish, as were the crew on Avanti who took the cruising fleet honours.

Among the multihulls, Sea Oyster (Ernst Eugster) took the honours followed by Compromise (Robert Newman) and Skimmer (Mike Giles).

Runaway at the start

The Ullman Challenge Gryphon with her innovative jury rudder

Scatterling finishing in Rio

2020 CAPE TO RIO RACE

Thanks to satellite tracking with six-hourly positions depicted on a course chart, the sailing world was able to follow the race closely.

It was difficult not to concentrate on the two ‘big-dog trimarans’ as they criss-crossed the South Atlantic in what was a titanic duel. Love Water at 24m was chartered by a South African syndicate headed by Craig Sutherland. They took on the might of the 21.2m Maserati (Giovanni Soldini).

This was a ‘battle royale’ at breakneck speeds as both wanted to finish in less than seven days. The lead changed regularly until Love Water hooked into a weather system that took them across the finish line in a time of 7 days, 20 hours, 24 minutes and 2 seconds to beat their rival by about seven hours, smashing the Rio Race record that stood at 10 days and 11 hours, set by the monohull Maserati in 2014.

Love Water averaged 23.6 knots of boat speed for the race, and sailed a massive 4 450nm on a course that is approximately 3 300nm on the rhumb line. They touched 40 knots in boat speed twice, and had several runs averaging 35 knots for an hour at a time. Breakneck speeds indeed.

These two simply took most of the media coverage due to their sheer size and speed, which sadly relegated the rest of the fleet as ‘also rans’. But there were some good stories and great sailing among them.

Multihull

Team Angola Cables’ double-handed entry, Mussulo 40

Almagores II to leeward of Saravah and Ballyhoo Too

ALEC SMITH, GREG BEADLE

Despite the massive size difference between Almagores II (Francesco Donati) at 31.53m and Mussulo 40 (Jose Guilherme Mendes Pereira Caldas) at 12.12m, these two finished just eight hours apart led by the latter. To be fair, though, Mussulo 40 was an out-and-out racer, while Almagores II was an out-and-out cruiser.

Haspa Hamburg (Torben Mulbach) and Saravah (Pierre de Menezes Paes Joullie), two similar sized yachts, traded blows across the South Atlantic to finish within two hours of each other, with Haspa Hamburg winning that battle, but succumbing in the handicap stakes when the honours went to Saravah by just over an hour.

JM Busha 54‘s (Ryan and Michaela Robinson) team of university students had chosen early on to take a northerly course up the western side of Africa, due to the several days of light winds after the start. This did not prove beneficial on the results sheet until they made their move to alter course for Rio. They looked good and put together a string of good daily runs, the only problem being a massive low pressure system storm between them and the finish which slowed them down consider ably. The Busha team ended sixth overall.

This storm affected the entire fleet, which literally had to batten down the hatches and go into survival mode to make it through. And this they did with flying colours, despite concerns from ashore. Many tales were shared during ‘war-story time’ after the finish.

Zulu Girl, (Siya Vato) a pretty hot racing boat with a young crew, chose a more southerly course, and may well have done better overall had they not been plagued with problems en route. Yet their fifth place showed a very creditable performance overall.

A standout performance came from Ballyhoo Too (Rijk Kuttel and Chris Garratt) that sailed just two-up. Once they found their feet and got into their stride, they climbed the leader board rather rapidly to finish in second place overall, just five minutes slower than the winner, Mussulo 40, on handicap. It rarely gets much closer than that!

In a race of this nature there are always tussles on the water, wagers between boats, and, especially on the multihulls, cook-offs deluxe between the crews who have the luxury of fridges, freezers and fresh food. The monohulls, especially the more racy ones, simply don’t have these luxuries and envied their multihulled brethren who had a habit of bragging about just how well they’d eaten.

Line honours winner Love Water

2020 Rio Race Results

Boat Name Skipper Country LOA

Monohull

Adriana Diamantino Leitao AGO 14.48m

Almagores II Francesco Donati ITA 31.53m

Anjo Clayton Craigie ZAR 12.58m

Argonaut Charles Robert McDonald ZAR 14.2m

Ballyhoo Too Rijk Kuttel / Chris Garratt ZAR 10.91m

Haspa Hamburg Torben Mühlbach ZAR 15.92m

Indulgence Roux Gerber ZAR 10.25m

JM BUSHA 54 Ryan Robinson & Michaela Robinson ZAR 10.77m

Mojie I Dale Kushner / Gavin Vorwerg ZAR 12m

Mussulo 40 Jose Guilherme Mendes Pereira Caldas

ZAR 12.12m

Northern Light Pieter Kroon ZAR 14.45m

Rotary Scout Nicholas Chapman / Daniel Skriker ZAR 11.7m

San Salvador Tomas y Leonardo Vugman ARG 12.7m

Saravah Pierre de Menezes Paes Joullie BRA 16.58m

Tam Tam Jasper van der Westhuizen ZAR 10.67m

Umoya Pete Martin ZAR 10.77m

Zulu Girl / CFM2 Siyanda Vato ZAR 11.8m

Multihull

Love Water Craig Sutherland ZAR 24m

Maserati Giovanni Soldini ITA 21.2m

Myrtle of Bonnievale Pierre Albertyn (Snr) ZAR 11.97m

Ronin Mark Wannenberg ZAR 13.41m

Sulanga Sunethra Abey ZAR 14.52m

Zulu Girl

Don’t

ROYAL CAPERS ABROAD

49er Olympians

Alex Burger and Benji Daniel qualified for the 2021 Olympics at the Mussanah Open Championship in Oman, an Asian and African Olympic qualifying event, where the pair sailed brilliantly to finish fourth overall. At the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, they competed in the 49er Class, sailing in Enoshima Yacht Harbour, where they finished 18th.

The Plattner’s Phoenix sailing team: TP52s

The Plattner family is once again supporting the South African-flagged TP52 campaign in the 52 SUPER SERIES. With Tony Norris at the helm, and fellow RCYC members Matt Whitehead, Shane Elliot and Paul Willcox onboard, and James Largier as boat captain, they have been on the podium for two out of the four events to date, with a first in Peurto Portals. The Phoenix sailing team is currently leading the championship overall.

Royal Cape members fly the RCYC burgee high with their achievements on the world stage. We list a few below.

Benji Daniels and Alex Burger at the Olympics

The Plattner’s Phoenix sailing team representing South Africa

SSL Team Ubuntu RSA

SSL Team Ubuntu RSA in the SSL Gold Cup

It was success for the sailing team put together by Ian Ainslie as South Africa is through to the finals in Bahrain in November. A tight elimina tion round saw their experience sailing in moderate-to-strong south easterly winds in Table Bay come into play. Included in the team were RCYC members Howard Leoto, Joweal Klaase, Marlon Jones, Gareth Blanckenberg, Mark Sadler and Murray Willcocks.

29er Youth success

Youth sailing in South Africa took to the international stage when Sean Kavanagh (Grade 8) and Thomas Slater (Grade 10) travelled to Europe to sail in their very first international regattas. The first regatta they sailed was the 29er EuroCup during Kiel Week in Kiel, Germany. They went on to Denmark to take part in the 29er European Championships. Competing against 164 other boats, they qualified for the silver fleet, finishing 71st overall and 15th in the U/17 age group.

Highland Fling

Irvine Laidlaw, a long-time supporter of RCYC, saw his Gunboat 68 place second in the Multihull division of the Giorgio Armani Superyacht Regatta in Sorrento. With RCYC members Hylton Hale at the helm (Irvine couldn’t make the racing) and Mark Sadler on tactics, Highland Fling was leading the regatta until they picked up kelp during the overnight race.

The team went on to race the RP82 in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Porto Cervo. It was a fitting end to a decade of successful regattas. Highland Fling XI finished first in the Maxi Class with Irvine at the helm. Royal Capers who joined in the victory included Hylton Hale (helm), Mark Sadler (tactics) and Michael Giles (crew boss).

‘This is my fifth win at the Maxis so, now, Highland Fling XI leaves my ownership in a blaze of glory,’ Irvine Laidlaw said. Fling now joins a new sailing team.

Thomas Slater and Sean Kavanagh at the 29er European Champs

SSL Team Ubuntu RSA through to the finals in Bahrain in November

The RP82 Highland Fling XI wins the Maxi Class at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

The Gunboat Highland Fling placed second in class at the Giorgio Armani Cup

PHOTOGRAPHY: NICO MARTINEZ, MARTINA ORSINI, KRISTIAN JOOS, LUCA BUTTO

SAIL