Local yacht City of Cape Town was declared the overall winner of the Heineken Cape to Rio yacht race, after race headquarters announced the official results in Rio de Janeiro in February.

Gerry Hegie, skipper of the winning boat on handicap, reflected that the victory was the culmination of some gritty determination building up to the race, which got under way from Cape Town’s Table Bay on 15 January.

“The crew and I are stoked about winning the race,” said the 25-year old. “The hard work has paid off despite all the negativity:

“We were not favoured before the race because we didn’t have a track history, but we put a lot of work into the boat, particularly where it would improve its performance.

“We ran the numbers around the IRC [rating rule] to optimise the yacht for this downwind race and also studied weather systems, downloaded weather files each day and worked through optimum courses.

“We took the boat apart and then reassembled it so we had peace of mind that we could push the boat to the very limit,” he added.

Record breakers

And that is precisely what City of Cape Town achieved. The boat completed the race in record-breaking time, securing Hegie and his six-man crew the prestigious South Atlantic Trophy, which was handed over at a function at the Rio Yacht Club.

“What helped our cause was having Duncan Mathews and Michael Robb there from the beginning until two weeks before the race when the Brazilians came on board,” he said.

“Apart from not being able to take a shower, the race was fantastic.”

Hegie, who has sailed City of Cape Town back to South Africa, said it would be rewarding to see sailing receive the same sort of profile that cricket gets in South Africa.

“Sailing went off the radar after apartheid ended,” he said, “and sponsorships also fizzled out because yachting was seen as a white elitist sport. But that now is no longer the case.”

Line honours winner Christ Frost, who smashed the record for the quickest crossing from Cape Town to Rio – arriving in just under 16 days – said the race had been a tremendously positive experience.

“Clearly, it is an iconic race, the premier event on the South African circuit and a must-do for any serious offshore yachtsman. It was great fun,” said the 47-year-old skipper from Umhlanga near Durban. “Line honours was the goal that we set out to do and we achieved it.”

It was a positive start to a hectic programme for the ambitious Frost, who has entered Prodigy in a number of international events for the rest of the year.

“We will be going to Antigua Week in April, followed by the Caribbean Transatlantic race from New York to Lizard Point in Cowes in June, then the [Rolex] Fastnet in August, and we will be ending the campaign in Malta in October with the Rolex Middle Sea Race around Sardinia, Tripoli and Malta,” he said.

The core of the crew will remain on Prodigy for these events, and South Africans will be flown in depending on the race – a case of horses for courses.

Notable performances

Another notable performance in this year’s race was unquestionably the Robinson family and their 35-foot Simonis Ciao Bella, which finished second on handicap. Ciao Bella’s crossing was a remarkable all-family affair that captured a following both in South Africa and abroad.

At one stage, skipper Mike Robinson and wife Gill, sons Ricky (23), Brennan (22), Ryan (14) and daughters Kathryn (25) and Michaela (10) as well as nephew Bradley (19) were only three nautical miles behind City of Cape Town on handicap until they ran into a hole.

The race will be remembered for the sportsmanship of Dale Kushner and the crew of Xtra-Link, which diverted in mid-Atlantic to supply Izivunguvungu with fresh water. Xtra-Link finished third on handicap.

The final word had to come from 71-year-old veteran Australian yachtsman Jon Sanders, who has now completed a total of eight circumnavigations.

The skipper of Perie Banou II, which at one stage was lying third on handicap, said: “If we had avoided all the technology that is now available for wind direction, like we had done before, we could have been in the top three on handicap, but we would never have beaten the winners City of Cape Town. Their skipper, Gerry Hegie, was very professional about the way he tackled this race.”

History of the race

The Cape to Rio is the longest continent-to-continent yacht race in the southern hemisphere.

While Cape Town has always been the starting point, there have been three finishing venues in the 12 editions of the race since its inception in 1971, namely: Rio de Janeiro, Argentina; Punta del Este, Uruguay; and Salvador, Brazil.

The use of different ports for the finish has seen the race distance vary between 3 400 and 4 500 nautical miles.

The idea for the holding of a continent-to-continent ocean race – from South Africa to either Australia or South America – was borne out of the success of South African sailor Bruce Dalling in the 1968 South Atlantic Single-handed Yacht Race.

Competing in Voortrekker, a yacht purpose-built for the event, Dalling was second across the finishing line and first on handicap.

His success turned him into a national hero, and provided sailing in South Africa with a massive boost.

The Springbok Ocean Racing Trust, together with Clube de Rio de Janeiro, and in conjunction with the Cruising Association of South Africa, organised the first Cape to Rio yacht race in 1971.

Sailing fever

A fleet of 10 to 15 yachts was expected, but sailing fever took hold of South Africa and extended beyond its borders. A total of 69 entries was received, many from abroad, and a good number from South Africans living inland. Ultimately, 59 yachts were on the starting line.

Dalling was chosen to lead the South African challenge in Jakaranda, which was built especially for the Cape to Rio. She was a hugely expensive yacht for the time; she cost US$12 000 to design and R135 000 to build.

The Royal Naval Association of Britain entered the race with Ocean Spirit, co-skippered by two high-profile men in the world of sailing: Sir Robin Knox-Johnstone, who had become the first man to circumnavigate the globe single-handedly in 1968 and 1969, for which he was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire); and Leslie Williams, who had finished fourth in the 1968 Atlantic single-handed race.

They had teamed up to win the 1970 Round Britain Race in Ocean Spirit.

History-making all-women crew

Sprinter was an entry that drew much interest. She had an all-women crew of five, and it would be the first time that an all-women crew would compete in an ocean race between two continents.

The race

The boats set sail on 16 January from Table Bay, with an estimated crowd of 100 000 in attendance. The fleet and the numerous craft surrounding it made for a breathtaking sight on a sunny day.

Voortrekker, which was already the most famous name in South African sailing, led the fleet on both handicap and distance after the first day’s racing. Jakaranda, meanwhile, had her title challenge ended by a broken rudder.

Ocean Spirit and the big Canadian entry from the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, Graybeard, had moved up to dice for the lead. They continued to push one another but, by the ninth day, Albatros II had taken over the lead on handicap.

Striana then moved into the overall lead, while Albatros II remained at the top of the board on handicap. A week later, Albatros II – after opting for a southerly course – was reduced to a virtual standstill while those boats that had chosen a course further north made good ground.

First winner

Ocean Spirit finally opened a small lead over Stormy and went on to reach Rio de Janeiro on 8 February, after 23 days and 42 minutes.

Graybeard was second across the line – almost a day later.

Fortuna finished less than two hours behind the Canadian entry, with Pen Duick III (the winner of the 1967 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race), skippered by Légion d’honneur holder Lieutenant Eric Tabarly, finishing fourth.

Albatros II was the eighth boat into port, but on corrected time she narrowly piped Striana for handicap honours.

Sprinter, with her all-women crew, was 44th across the line, where she was greeted with a special three-gun salute to mark the historic moment.

Press release (images on this page courtesy of Cape to Rio)

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