Local Toti sailors share details on hair-raising South Atlantic crossing 

HAVING made it across the South Atlantic Ocean aboard a tiny 30 foot yacht, Amanzimtoti-born Raymond Ninow (25) has recounted how raging seas and a violent storm tested his small crew’s mettle.

The three young sailors, Raymond Ninow, Davin Clarke (25) of Ireland and Pieter de Wit (23) of Stilbaai completed the 9,000km leg of their journey after leaving Durban in mid-March for Cape Town and onward for their trans-Atlantic crossing.

Before they left the shore: Caribbean bound voyagers set sail

Twenty days in, they reached St Helena Island. The sailors spent five wonderful days at St Helena, meeting the friendliest people and enjoying their hospitality. It was all about sight-seeing, spear fishing and loading the boat with provisions for the next 4,000kms to Fortaleza in Brazil.

The trip took 18 days in fair weather. However, it took some 45 days of sailing to reach their first surfing port of call at Fortaleza in Brazil. They had initially planned to island hop from there until they reached the British Virgin Islands, about 3,800km north in the Caribbean.

View more photos of their time in Fortaleza in this gallery: Schatzi in Fortaleza, Brazil.

However, these plans have been scuppered by high costs, and instead of venturing out towards Trinidad and Tobago, they’re now headed to Granada.
Davin, who qualified as a medical doctor last year, left them in Fortaleza, as he plans to make his way to Mexico where he will do his internship.

The trio’s first order of business after making the crossing was to surf some of the best breaks in the world, while having their accommodation and transport on hand close by.
The voyagers had their fair share of both great weather and terrifying conditions at Cape Agulhas and when leaving Cape Town for St Helena Island in the middle of the south Alantic, about 3,300km from Cape Town.

“It was a truly hectic trip,” said Toti’s Ninow.
“Two days after leaving Cape Town we got ‘klapped’ by a southeasterly that was a lot stronger than it was forecast to be. The waves were as big as I’ve ever seen. It was intense and relentless for four days – the toughest days of my life and everyone else’s too.”

With everything on board drenched and their nerves completely shattered, they managed to pull themselves together as Schatzi was pummeled.

“We were taking full white-water, foamy waves over the cockpit about three times per hour for four days,” explained Raymond. “Water filled the entire cockpit and we had to use buckets to empty it. The entire lazarette also filled with water from the waves, even though it was tied shut.”

For the sailor’s full account of their turbulent journey to reach South America, see this week’s edition of the South Coast Sun. 

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