Cape to Rio 2014

Four days after the start, this most recent Cape to Rio 2014 is already being talked about on the same terms as the Fastnet race of 1979, the Sydney Hobart of 1998 and the Vasco da Gama Race of 1984. To be fair, the weather wasn't quite as extreme, but conditions did result in sustained Force 8 Winds and 6m seas, resulting in a quarter of competitors (9/36) retiring in the first few days. Widespread damage was reported across the fleet. One crewman tragically died onboard SV Bille (Bavaria 54) during their dismasting. Rescues were mounted by naval frigate SA Islandwana, Tug Miriam Makeba, NSRI Station 3, and several fellow competitors.

Start of Cape to Rio 2014

Picture credited to my friend Louis Louw

Notable casualties included:

Black Cat: Suffered a major capsize in heavy seas, loss of rudder, followed by a subsequent complete roll in a giant wave that collapsed on them, and fair mayhem in the boat. Despite a remarkable recovery from the experienced crew they were unable to continue and started making their way to Saldanha slowly. NSRI 3 later assisted with a tow back to Cape Town. Besides sprains and bruises, they are all ok, and the boat is easily repairable. Watch this one in subsequent races as she was looking extremely quick until the crash. See Dudley Dix's account on his blog (skipper, designer, original builder of the vessel). The official race report said "BLACK CAT has reported a broken rudder and is proceeding back to Cape Town, one crew has a sprained ankle and all are well." Can't accuse them of being verbose I suppose!!

See Black cat tell their story courtesy of Steve Searle's video. This is a must see!

Bille:  Bille is a 54' Bavaria with Angolan Crew and flag (along with Mussulo III, she was one two Angolan Bavaria 54's in the race). Sadly she seems to have suffered the worst damage with a dismasting and loss of a crew member, plus a M.O.B. situation. All remaining crew (including the deceased) were evacuated by the Frigate SA Isandlwana, and are now safe.

Ava: A Miura 31 sailed by father and daughter team Colin and Belinda Horton, suffered damage and flooding (details unclear to me at this stage). They lost electrical power and all comms for a day or two, causing widespread concern, especially after an EPIRB signal was received from them. Their track log looked equally curious during this time and the worst was feared. Competitor yacht SV DODO (Fortuna 37) diverted to look for them. They were eventually spotted by the Frigate who found them in good shape, besides the lack of systems. AVA made it back into Saldanha Bay unassisted a day or so later, I was able to hear their comms and Channel 16 from the South of Cape Town 100 kms away, so I guess they managed to regain at least the main VHF. Well done Ava, and viva la Miura!

Peekay: A Beneteau 51, suffered a variety of sail problems (probably more detail we don't yet have) and limped back to Saldanha Bay. The skipper has decided to leave the boat and is looking for a replacement, according to some reports.

Isla: A large Wilderness Cat, lost both engines and had some flooding in one engine compartment. Container vessel "Bosun" standing by for them, followed by tug Smit Madura, which may tow them home to Cape Town. I am not clear what eventually transpired , but Isla tracker shows her back in Cape Town at time of writing. (Update: she was towed in, the last bit by NSRI). A PAN-PAN was issued by Isla at some stage and received by Peekay. I see two of my HBYC clubmates were aboard, Rian Turner and Dave Mills.

Avocet: A Beneteau 45, disappeared from the track log for a while, she appears to also have lost comms for a day or so. She did however make it back to Cape Town somehow without serious injury, as far as I can tell at this stage.

Indaba: Stadt 34, skippered by the very experienced John Levin, and with Angelo Lavranos aboard, has had to return to Saldanha bay with an injured crewman. They arrived safely last night sometime.

EXPLORA: An Open 60, reported engine flooding but were able to continue and are doing very well in the continuing race.

Dodo: Fortuna 37, despite standing by for AVA, also suffered loss of steering and engine. They have made it back to Saldanha Bay unassisted, and appear to be tied up at Club Mykonos according to the tracker, no doubt swopping tales with Indaba.

FTI Flyer: A Charger 33, well known campaigner in our local club races and veteran of the Rio Race, adopted a unique and very northerly route for reasons I am not clear on (possibly to avoid worst weather and be close to shore). They headed back after two days and made it safely into Cape Town unassisted. I hope to get the story from skipper Keith Mattison at some stage.

Avanti: A Vickers 41, also returned to Saldanha Bay, and is tied up at Club Mykonos, after apparently spending some time at Kraal Bay if the tracker is to be believed? Avanti's story still unknown to me at this stage, but bots like this don't give up this kind of race without extremely good reasons...

Anecdotally, services from the SA Navyand the NSRI have been very commendable, as has the seamanship of fellow competitors and even passing commercial traffic.

The satellite weather image of Sunday 6 Jan 2014

Links:

• Cape to Rio official race website here
• Cape to Rio race live online tracker.
• RCYC Facebook group on the Rio Race
• Blog of Yolo SA6130 Sunfast 3200
• Blog of CiaoBella (Simonis 35 with family Robinson)

I would be grateful for all and any further info, or race accounts, or corrections for inclusion here. Please email me here. Contributions and accounts from competitors especially will be appreciated. Many thanks!

Commentary:
The outcome of this storm could have been significantly worse. It is a huge credit to the crews and vessels that nearly all boats survived or were able to get back unassisted, despite loss of sails, rudders, engines and electronics. It should be noted that these vessels are all very seaworthy and well scrutineered for a race of this nature. Many of these vessels are well accustomed to the very challenging conditions of the Cape waters. Many of the crew are veterans of ocean racing and several have done this race multiple times. Normally, the Cape to Rio race is thought of as a Trade Wind "milk run", but long races always bring suprises, and Cape Waters bring them all too frequently. These boats and crews have shown extreme seamanship, and there will not be need for any kind of review into "what went wrong". This was all well done. That's what ocean racing is all about.....

I will add detail and stories as they become available. 

Praise for Legacy Yacht Sales!

Malcolm McRobert of Legacy Yacht Sales

When I recently decided to sell my little Flamenca "Quest", I elected to use Legacy Yacht Sales. For no particular reason than I bought her from Carl Olivier who started this company, and he turned out to be a good guy. Subsequently, Carl sold the business to Malcolm McRobert, with whom I had had some email exchanges on boat details previously. Malcolm seemed like a very decent bloke although I had never met him personally. I was keen to use a broker because they serve a very useful role as intermediary in the transaction, which makes it objective, safe and efficient. And so it was....

Due to the market being very low, and despite a steady stream of nibbles via the website etc, it was clear we would have to drop the price somewhat. We did eventually sell her (Quest) at about 20% less than the asking price. On account of this, Malcolm was very conciliatory regarding the commission - I won't spell it out in case someone thinks its a precedent! - but on account of the great service I insisted we stick to the original terms at 10%. Now even at 10% on such a small boat, its a lot of work for a broker. Paperwork was efficiently handled thanks to email and scanners etc. It was a dead-easy experience for me.

The proceeds of the sale were transferred promptly and in fact Malcolm even arranged to skipper the delivery of the boat up to Saldanha himself. That's 120% service as I see it. I am sure the buyer would offer similar views.

I must add I have no reason to doubt the service of the other brokers in town, but in this case I just happened to use Legacy, and would gladly use them again. 

Malcolm's email.
Legacy Yacht Sales website.

Dabchick

Thanks to Mossel Bay Yacht Club for all these pics,

and to Tracy London for bringing them to my attention!

Its often said that many of the greatest racing drivers started with Mini-Coopers, and the same is often said of sailors and Dabbies. The Dabchick turned out to be one of the best sail training boats ever. This is the purest sailing you can imagine, although it helps if you have warm water! They are very sensitive boats and equally rewarding. Anyone sailing a Dabby develops strong instincts for the key elements of sailing viz. boat balance, sail trim, concentrating on the helm, anticipating the waves, weight distribution aboard etc - and a sense of how these can make you go faster or not. I think the element of single-handing comes into it as well, which in turns brings a level of resourcefulness and self reliance that is natural to Dabbie sailors. People who learn sailing on keel-boats often don't get this experience easily.

Dabbies perform uniquely well, especially in fresh winds. Their flat scow shape makes them quite controllable when planing at speed, and their well-balanced rig - main and jib - is fairly predictable and orthodox. Off the wind, they go like blazes, easily planing, and bouncing over the back of the waves as you surf over them.  When beating, they can be heeled over to an extreme angle - ride on the vertical gunwales - although this isn't the right way to go fast it did seem like fun at the time! Dead downwind - they can bury their bows and submarine while lifting the rudder out of the water if one had a fair load on board.

Dabbies are about the simplest boats to build and were very cheap then ... made of three sheets of ply, a few bits of meranti, Aerolite epoxy glue, a strip of fibreglass on the keelson, decent paint, and brass screws. No power-tools used. By comparison they seem quite high-tech now. My first Dabby had no bought components besides the mainsheet blocks and the stay wires, excluding the chainplates. All other fittings were simply fabricated from stainless steel off-cuts. The mast was wooden, with a track routed into each of  the meranti halves. The sails were "K" sails - made in Dacron by Jack Koper (well I seem to think his wife made the sails). The whole effort cost less than R100 in 1967.

Besides the low cost - the simplicity of Dabbies made them so attractive. The flat topped hull was light and easy to move and lift - making them manageable for even quite young children. Lifting onto car tops, storing in garage etc was also easier. Not to mention that the hull can't hold water - they were also relatively safe in that respect. 

The hull-design of scow dinghies is another fascinating point. Every boat needs a fine bow to soften the waves it hits. The bow can be soft in plan view or in the side elevation - i.e. pointy when viewed from above, or flat and tapered when viewed from the side... They each have pros and cons. For keelboats and displacement vessels, the pointy (plumb) bows seem attractive because they offer a longer waterline length, and create smooth lines to deep wineglass hulls. They usually track well. If waterline length isn't the key factor as in planing boats - then broad bows are good because they create a smooth run for water under the hull plus no sharp bends near the bow. When a V-bottom scow dinghy heels slightly - it is running on a flat underside which offers maximum lift and minimum wetted area. 

Key measurements:

• LOA 3.6m
• Beam: 1.2m   
• Dry Weight 38.6 Kgs
• Sail Area 5.6 sq.m

Note the length is exactly 1.5x a standard sheet of ply, and the width exactly equal to one sheet. No wastage here!

It is fantastic to see how the class is thriving in at least Cape Town, Hermanus and Mossel Bay at least - though I understand there are active classes all over the country and in fact many Dabchicks around the world now. Total numbers over 5000.

There can't really be a better boat for kids to learn sailing on....

See also the Sonnet reviewed elsewhere in this blog - also from the pen of Jack Koper. The Tempo has not been covered yet however.

Dabchick Class Association http://www.dabchick.za.net/
See also http://www.classicboat.co.uk/class-notes/dabchick/