Vasco da Gama Ocean Race sets off from North Beach
Last year, the slowest and smallest boat won the race on corrected time.
AN array of sailboats will glide along the shore at North Beach on Sunday, April 30 as the Vasco da Gama Ocean Race takes off at 10:00.
Competitors will cover 280 nautical miles from Durban to East London in a bid to win one of the two main prizes: Line Honours for the first boat to cross the finish line and what race director Ron Pet calls ‘the serious trophy’, the Corrected Time Trophy.
Any sailboat can be used in this race – regardless of its size.
“The minimum size is 30 feet, and there is no maximum size. Any sailboat. We have had Catamarans in the past, but none this year,” said Pet.
Each boat has a skipper and crew. The smallest boat has a crew of four, and the crew size ranges up to 10.
“All boats have a handicap rating. We take the elapsed time and multiply this by the handicap rating to get a corrected time. For the boat that wins on corrected time, that’s where the real honour is,” said Pet who added that they use Offshore Rating Council (ORC), a handicap rating system.
“Last year, the slowest and smallest boat won the race on corrected time – the last boat across the finish line,” said Pet.
While the record for this race was 24 hours and seven minutes, Pet says weather conditions are not in the sailors’ favour for the upcoming race.
“It looks like it might be upwind into a south-westerly for most of the race – we are looking at 40 to 50 hours,” he said.
Also read: Undefeated, Berea school wins 13th regional hockey champs
Pet added that each race boat has a tracker which sends a signal every 15 minutes.
“The race can be followed on the Yellow Brick Tracking Website. We had something like 23 000 hits on the tracker last year,” he said.
Watch the race start
As race director, Pet will go out to sea, set a start line and set the boats off at the start of the race before heading back to shore and travelling by car to the finish line to await the winners.
The Durban community will have an opportunity to watch the race start as sailors will be racing from North Beach toward the first mark at Vetchies Pier.
“[Sailors] will go around a buoy, and from there, they will go out to what we call a fairway mark. This is a huge buoy out at sea where the boats will line up, and from there, they will head down the coast,” explained Pet.
Pet said several local sailors are taking part, along with visitors from Richards Bay and Port Elizabeth. The race is open to anyone over the age of 18, and the oldest competitor this year is in their late 70s.
Race relevance and history
The Vasco da Gama Ocean Race is an annual event that has been run by the Point Yacht Club for the past three years.
“It’s an iconic race on the South African Racing Calendar. It’s one of those bucket-list items. If you haven’t sailed the Wild Coast, you actually haven’t sailed a serious race in South Africa,” said Pet.
“The race has a long history. It started in about 1968, taking part from [East London] to Durban,” he added.
The race route has changed several times over the years. Sailors raced from Durban to East London at one point although fears of sailing along the Wild Coast saw the race discontinued.
“It was resurrected in the 2000s when [sailors] raced from Maputo to Durban,” said Pet.
After several more route changes, the race has been set between Durban and East London for the past three years.
“We approached Buffalo River Yacht Club, and they welcomed us with open arms, so this is the third time we are racing from Durban to East London,” explained Pet.
Also read: Para surfer represents Durban at international competition
For more information, visit the Point Yacht Club website: www.pyc.co.za or the South African Sailing website: www.sailing.org.za/events/173862/
For more from Berea Mail, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can also check out our videos on our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok.
