Stories from My First Offshore Race - Vasco 2015

Animated Race Tracker from YB.TL 

The 2015 edition of the Vasco da Gama race ran 400 nautical miles (741kms for the landlubbers reading) along the east coast of South Africa from Durban to Port Elizabeth along a piece of coastline known as the wild coast.  It doesn't have that name just because it is sparsely populated, but because of its weather and the rough coast-line.  It was along this coast that the Oceanos sank in August 1991 which I remember as we were just 100kms north at a holiday resort that day.  But this was April ... it wouldn't be that bad ... it couldn't ...

A Windy Day in Cape Town

It was a windy Saturday where I spent a couple of hours on the water in the south-easter* as it blew through Cape Town. It was the Royal Cape Yacht Club's Croc's Regatta, but this time we were watching the other yachts beating into the wind and waves trying to get around the course that was set for them. It was blowing hard and we knew that things were going to get broken, but we were not racing which meant we could take it easy.