Wits to Rio
BRAAMFONTEIN -The Wits Yacht Club team competed in this year's Cape to Rio race on 4 January.
The team managed to put together a very successful campaign and placed sixth out of more than 20 boats that finished.
On the day 36 yachts sailed out of Table Bay in Cape Town and headed for the western horizon, and ultimately Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Wits Yacht Club entered a team of six crew members into the race – three of which are current students and two alumni.
Bradley Robinson, geography honours student, was the youngest skipper of the race and led the team into sixth position.
Former Parktown High School for Girls matriculant and Wits Yacht Club spokesperson Alexa Brown said their result was fantastic as the team raced against professional and semi-professional teams.
“Ricardo de Carvalho and Alistair Moodie, Parktown Boys matriculants and Wits University alumni, took leave from their jobs to compete in this 23-day race and relished every moment of it.
“Every crew member was wholly dedicated to the campaign and poured blood, sweat and sometimes tears into it, which Patrick Chappel, a fifth-year medical student, can attest to,” she said.
“Wits Yacht Club is a club to keep an eye on this year, we have big ambitions.”
She said being students their budget was non-existent and thus the team owed their victory to their sponsors which included the Wits Sports Council, Amtec Engineering and PPS Insurance.
“We were awarded the Youth Ocean Sailors award at the prize giving at the Iate Clube de Rio de Janeiro in early February, and are very proud sailors indeed,” she added.
