Sangoma Cruise a speedy sea saga

A SMALL fleet of adventurous yachties ventured offshore for the Sangoma Cruise, a return sail from Durban to Richards Bay, hosted by Point Yacht Club.

The 80 nautical mile cruise had five keelboats entered, with three of the yachts taking the first weather window on 26 December, the remaining two checked out to leave on 28 December to catch the southwesterly winds.

First to depart, Ocean Spirit helmed by Neville Bransby, set the pace in the dying southwester on Boxing Day.

The enthusiastic team took 12 hours from Durban to Richards Bay.

Hot on their heels was the spirited crew sailing on Therapy, and following them was the experienced skipper, Jon Marshall (Rear Commodore of Keelers for Point Yacht Club), on his yacht Majimoto.

His crew was small catamaran sailor Bart Fokkens who had never ventured beyond uMhlanga, clocking up his first overnight passage with the duo taking 18 hours to get into Richards Bay.

The second batch of boats kept an eye on the weather window, opting to wait for the 20 knots southwester two days later.

Round the World Clipper skipper, Craig Millar and his crew on Argo FY ,departed Durban at 9am.

Keen sailor Robin Hulley was due to sail with Millar on his yacht Mafuta, but as he was heading out the door at his home, his geyser burst, dampening his spirits and not allowing him to compete.

Argo FY had a gentle sail up to Richards Bay, having blown their kite shortly after getting out of the harbour channel.

‘We specifically chose the southwester to sail up in as the whole team were keen to get offshore and fly the kite.

‘A minute after we hoisted the spinnaker, it gently floated back down to the deck. We fished it back in, and after a debate whether our light weather kite would handle the conditions, we opted for the safer option of putting the gib out on the pole and goose winging it,’ skipper Millar said on his return.

Surfing

From breakwater to breakwater, it took the Argo FY team 10.5 hours to get to Richards Bay, with only one gybe to enter the harbour mouth as the sun was setting.

Both Therapy and Ocean Spirit had a quick turnaround in Richards Bay, catching up on a bit of kip and then catching the northeaster back home before it switched to the southwester that brought Argo FY up.

Ocean Spirit sailed impressively with 11 hours on the clock back home, top speed reaching 17.4knots. The sleek Therapy notched up a top speed of 18knots.

Majimoto missed the window, waiting for Argo FY who were transporting their main sail. Marshall and Fokkens sadly damaged their main on the ride up.

Both Argo FY and Majimoto had a day in Richards Bay to carry out a few running repairs before they took to the water on the second last day of the year.

At 6.30am, the two boats made their way offshore in a gentleman’s race back to Durban.

Argo FY surfed the entire way home, with Millar recording 21knots, pumping the tiller as he caught a swell and surfed his way to the impressive speed.

The team made up of Millar, Ed de Lange and Hannah and Rudi Fokkens made it back in 8 hours and 5 minutes.

(The record was set in October 1990 by Sun Tonic, a Royal Cape One Design skippered by Peter Atkinson: Richards Bay to Durban in 7hrs.13min, Durban to Richards Bay in 7hrs.3min)

Majimoto, with only the two sailors on board came in sailing most of the way with only their jib up, but still managing to hit a few numbers over 15knots on the speedo.

They got back into Durban a couple of hours after Argo FY just after 7pm, having been pummelled by the sea in the howling northeaster.

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