Algoa Bay Yacht Club

ABYC - Port Elizabeth's Friendly Sailing Club

Vasco da Gama

At the Vasco da Gama finish in Port Elizabeth

Wallbanger Vasco da Gama Finish
After a gruelling trip down the East Coast of South Africa from Durban to Port Elizabeth THIS is what an elated crew on John Tudehope’s Simonis 35, Wallbanger, looks like. Not in picture – 4th crew member, Alan Straton

The smallest boat that travelled the shortest distance with the smallest crew of four in the fleet of 17 yachts did very well returning to home port on Tuesday 28 April 2015 with no breakages after an ‘eventful’ trip which included two spectacular spinnaker runs of over 7 hours each, huge seas and winds of over 40 knots, barepole surfing, whale and dolphin sightings, minimum sleep and much more ………..

Wallbanger finished in 3 days 4 hours 48 minutes and 47 seconds in the PHRF fleet which had two retires out of the 8 retires in total. But Free State Yacht Club entrant, Star Spirit, took first place on handicap with an elapsed time of 3 days 4 hours 50 minutes and 14 seconds – a mere a mere 7 minutes and 36 seconds but a great victory for the guys from the Gariep Dam.

Line Honours went to Gumption (2 days 6 hours 58 minutes and 25 seconds), followed by AL Mount Gay Rum and in third was ABYC’s second entrant, Nemesis, sailed by Tony and Sigi Bailes.

Tony and Sigi Bailes PYC
Tony and Sigi Bailes before setting off from Durban’s Point Yacht Club on their ‘sleigh ride of note’ to Port Elizabeth

Vasco Sisters take up the challenge

This year’s Vasco could turn-out to be a family “squabble” between sisters Heidi Kavanagh (Ray of Light) and Sigi Bailes (Nemesis). Of course their better halves will niggle each other months after the race until the next one. Maybe the race organisers need to have a special trophy (bragging rights cup)?

Michael and Heid Kavanagh represent the hops of the Royal Cape Yacht Club whilst Tony and Sigi Bailes are sailing for ABYC.

The Kavanagh’s Michael & Heidi sail a First 44.7, and the Bailes Tony and Sigi a Fast 42. The handicaps could very well be the deciding factor.

All in good fun of sailing!

One more cat joins the charge down the East Coast to ABYC

As late entries were about to finally close on Friday evening the 2015 Vasco Ocean Race committee received a last minute entry from Craig Deverson who will be sailing his 54 foot cat Nomad in the race.

With 19 entries received in total, and 2 withdrawals, the fleet now stands at 17 boats.

Deverson has supported this event religiously over a number of years now, but has yet to have his name inscribed on any of the trophies. This year he is determined to achieve this and at the same time renew the rivalry he and the huge 75′ cat HQ2 had during the last Cape to Rio Race as they charged across the South Atlantic.

There are 9 boats entered in the IRC class:

  • Al Mount Gay Rum – Rob van Rooyen – Farr 38
  • Alacrity – Dave Taylor – Taylor 37
  • Skitzo – Nigel Milln – Fast 42
  • Majimoto – Jon Marshall – Farr 38
  • Nemesis – Anthony Bailes – Fast 42
  • Bellatrix – Gregg Hurter – First 40
  • Gumption – Nicholas Mace – Simonis 40
  • Ray of Light – Michael & Heidi Kavanagh – First 44.7
  • Rocket – Herbert Karolius – Simonis 54

4 Boats are entered in PHRF:

  • Star Spirit – Willie Pretorius – Sun Fizz 40
  • Deo Volente – Trevor Donald – Lavaranos 36
  • Wallbanger – John Tudehope – Simonis 35
  • Bellissama – Vernon & James Goss – Hanse 401

1 Boat entered in Rally Monohull:

  • Alkistis – Christo Moller – Sun Odyssey 40

3 Boats entered in the Catamaran Class:

  • Numzaan – Ron Schwalbach – Prout cat
  • HQ2 – Grenville Wilson – Open Ocean 750 cat
  • Nomad – Craig Deverson – ZLYC 54′ cat

2 boats Withdrawn:

  • Yolo – Dale Kushner – Sunfast 3200
  • JML Rotary Scout – Grant Chapman – Tosca 39

With 7 days to go before the start at 12h00 on Saturday 25 April 205 attention will now turn to the expected weather.

All you need to know about Vasco da Gama 2015

Vasco da Gama Ocean Race 2015 starts on Saturday 25 April 2015 at 12h00 and is jointly organised by the Point Yacht Club & Algoa Bay Yacht Club

Some useful information for all skippers, owners and crew:

Welcome to Durban – We have a wonderful entry from out-of-Durban boats, many of whom have now arrived.

First here was Star Spirit – the boat which made her way via road from Gariep Dam to East London and then on her own bottom to Durban. Rocket arrived from Cape Town as the Queen Mary 2 was leaving Durban on Monday evening. She was followed the next day by Wallbanger from Port Elizabeth. Next in was Gumption at midday on Wednesday who had made a relatively quick passage from Cape Town. Nemesis from Port Elizabeth was next. Still to come are Alacrity from Richards Bay and Al-Mount Gay Rum which is on passage from Cape Town.

Welcome to the 2015 Vasco da Gama Race – and HUGE thanks for the massive effort you have all put in to compete this year. We have not had out-of-KZN boats competing since 2008.

Entries to Date:

  1. Al Mount Gay Rum: Rob van Rooyen – Farr 38 – IRC
  2. Majimoto: Jon Marshall – Farr 38 – IRC
  3. Nemesis:  Anthony Bailes – Fast 42 –   PHRF
  4. Bellissama: Vernon & James Goss – Hanse 401 –  PHRF
  5. Yolo: Dale Kushner –  Sunfast 3200 –  IRC – LATE WITHDRAWAL
  6. Bellatrix: Gregg Hurter – First 40 –   IRC
  7. Gumption: Nicholas Mace – Simonis 40 – IRC
  8. Ray of Light: Michael & Heidi Kavanagh – First 44.7 – IRC
  9. Rocket: Herbert Karolius – Simonis 54 – IRC
  10. Alkistis: Christo Moller –  Sun Odyssey 40 – Rally mono
  11. JML Rotary Scout: Grant Chapman – Tosca 39 – PHRF – LATE WITHDRAWAL
  12. Star Spirit: Willie Pretorius – Sun Fizz 40 – PHRF
  13. Numzaan: Ron Schwalbach – Prout cat – catamaran
  14. Deo Volente: Trevor Donald – Lavaranos 36 – PHRF
  15. Alacrity: Dave Taylor – Taylor 37 – IRC
  16. Skitzo: Nigel Milln – Fast 42 –  IRC
  17. Wallbanger: John Tudehope – Simonis 35 – PHRF
  18. HQ2: Grenville Wilson – Open Ocean 750 cat – multihull

Regrettably Yolo and the Rotary Scouts have been late withdrawals.

Important Time lines (all dates being 2015):

  • Late entries close – 17h00 on Friday 17 April.
  • Welcome Function at PYC – Thursday 23 April 18h00
  • Registration – Wednesday 22 April – 12h00 to 17h00
  • Registration – Thursday 23 April – 10h00 to 17h00
  • Skipper’s Briefing – Thursday 16h00
  • Safety talk (SAS Offshore committee chairman) – Thursday 17h00
  • Registration – Friday 24 April from 10h00 to 17h00
  • Safety Scrutineering to be complete – Friday 24 April by 12h00
  • Crew Lists –  Friday 24 April by 12h00
  • Competitor breakfast at PYC – Saturday 25 April from 07h00 to 09h00.
  • Race Start – Saturday 25 April at 12h00
  • Final Race Cut-off time – Wednesday 29 April at 12h00
  • Prize Giving (18h00) at ABYC – Wednesday 29 April at 18h00

The crew breakfast on the morning of the start has been sponsored by MDM Marine Services who represent Raymarine in South Africa.

Official Race Documents: Race Secretary Lucy de Freitas has all the race documents that require completing, in a pack for each skipper. Please collect these from her at the PYC next week.

Regrettably with Durban being a ‘Port of Entry’ we have been informed of relatively new requirements for boats leaving for another local port. We hope to have all the key role players in this at the PYC on Friday morning from 10h00 to 12h00 to ensure that this paperwork runs smoothly.

All skippers are requested to please make sure they have a copy of each crew’s ID document available.

The less said about this the better!

Satellite tracking of the race has been made possible thanks to the generosity of Phil Gutsche and GIMCO (Gutsche Investment & Management Company). Please support our race sponsor (www.gutsche-investments.co.za)

This year’s race is being tracked by Yellowbrick – a UK based company which specialises in tracking yacht races. Many of the major sailing events in the world are tracked by Yellowbrick.

The race tracker will be updated every 15 minutes after the start.

The link to Yellowbrick will be: http://yb.tl/vascodagama2015

When one logs in to the tracker there are various blocks of information available to viewers. On the left you can see the yacht information, with each yacht name listed along with its country flag. The colours are automatically chosen, and the yacht icon on the map will have the same colour as on the list.

At the top of the list are the ‘groupings’ – typically yachts will be grouped into classes.

The leader board reflects these groups, and shows the yachts in each group and their ‘leader board’ order based on the correct handicap.

Once the race starts, the public race viewer will update automatically with new positions. The leader board will update every time a new position comes in for each tracker. Position reports should be simultaneous for each yacht – e.g. if they are set to transmit every hour, regardless of when they were turned on they will synchronise together to get a GPS fix on the hour, and then transmit as soon as possible after that.

Data does sometimes take a couple of minutes to get from the tracker, through the satellites, and into the race viewer, but all the position reports should have their GPS fixes at the same time to allow for accurate leaderboarding.

A Race Viewer app can be downloaded from the app store allowing viewing on a phone or tablet. Search the app store for ‘YB RACES’.

It is important for skippers to know that once the units are switched on and working, the ‘off’ button will no longer work as the ‘off’ function is disabled by the tracking company.

Boats will only be tracked on the race, and not on passages to home ports after the race has finished. Tracking units will be removed from boats immediately after the finish.

The race viewer will show the time as South African time. ON previous races the time was shown as UTC.

Each ping contains a time, position, speed and course over ground value. Our system then calculates a velocity made good and distance to finish, estimated time of arrival (on the water) and estimated corrected time (handicap). This is then shown on the leader board with provisional rankings for each class. As each boat finishes the recorded finish times will be uploaded to make the leader board more accurate.

There are occasions when the satellite pass may be missed. Don’t be alarmed!

The boat speed shown is in fact the speed the vessel was travelling at the time it ‘pinged’ the satellite. So don’t get excited when you see a high speed, and certainly don’t despair when you see a low speed. These will even themselves out over time, so take an average every few hours to get a better idea as to how they are going.

The bottom line is that the system we are using is a guide for the public following the race, enabling those at home to get a picture as to where each boat is in relation to the others – and how they are doing.

Should a boat be in distress, it has a host of lifesaving items with which to indicate it is in distress and that outside assistance is required. The Tracker will not provide this information, and race organisers will not assume that if a tracker fails the vessel is in distress.

Skippers are URGED to ensure that their crew and their families and followers receive this information.

Thanks to Phil Gutsche of GIMCO (Gutsche Investment & Management Company), who has generously sponsored this aspect of the race.

Car Hire: Should anyone need to rent a vehicle in Port Elizabeth at the finish of the race, we have managed to get a special rate via Bidvest Car Rental. Bidvest Car Rental is supplying the vehicle the Race Committee are driving to and from Port Elizabeth. Bookings can be made via e-mail on: res@bidvestcarrental.co.za. Please ensure that the rate code: S10 is quoted at time of reservation so that the special rates are used for the bookings.

Please support our sponsors.

We will be using Facebook as the prime means of disseminating news of the race. The official Vasco Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/VascodaGama2015

PLEASE remember to LIKE this page and SHARE it with your family, sailing mates and anyone who may follow the race.

The race website address is: http://www.pyc.co.za/vasco-2015

If you have not already book-marked these sites and added them as ‘favourites’ or ‘groups’ – please do so now.

There are two key functions at the Point Yacht Club prior to the race starting:

  1. Thursday 23 April is the official welcome function starting at 18h00.
  2. There will also be a crew farewell breakfast at the PYC on Saturday morning (25 April) prior to the start. This is not a compulsory parade, but available to competitors who would like one last ‘feed’ prior to embarking on the race. The crew breakfast on the morning of the start has been sponsored by MDM Marine Services who represent Raymarine in South Africa.

We would like all boats to be moored in Clipper Corner from this weekend if possible. Please chat to Lucy or Malcolm Manion (Marina Manager) as to where you should moor.

Moorings will be allocated to boats on arrival in Port Elizabeth. There is water and electricity available on their marina.

Crew lists are an important aspect of race documentation for various reasons. We do need to know numbers, as do our partners in Port Elizabeth, so please, if you have not supplied this information let us have it as soon as convenient. Please note that all crew in the race have to be members of SAS. Would all skippers please sort this out with their Club, or Runa at the SAS Office (031-301 3078). This is a requirement of the Notice of Race.

Each boat is required to undergo a safety inspection prior to the start. Gavin van der Meulen will be doing this check. Skippers may make an appointment with him from NOW for this. There is nothing untoward in terms of this inspection. It is done to give the organisers peace of mind that when the fleet puts to sea they are all fully compliant with the safety regulations. Please contact Gavin to arrange your inspection on: 083 708 3830 or meulen@yebo.co.za

Port Elizabeth Welcome: As has always been a tradition in the Vasco da Gama Race, all crew receive breakfast when they finish the race – irrespective of the time of day or night! This will be available at ABYC.

This race has a good number of trophies to award.

There are three new trophies added to the already impressive list of trophies for this race:

  1. The Dave Cox Memorial Trophy will be awarded to the 1st Line Honours boat in the PHRF division.
  2. The de Beyer Memorial Trophy will be awarded to the 1st PYC boat on handicap in PHRF.
  3. The ABYC trophy will be for the 1st ABYC boat on handicap.

Choose Life Youth Trophy: This trophy was presented to the race in 2012 by Vernon Goss. It is awarded to the first under 25 youth sailor on IRC handicap. It’s a wonderful trophy for an up-and-coming sailor to win. Please would you advise Lucy (sailing@pyc.co.za) of the names and dates of birth of any crew under the age of 25 – so that we can use this information for publicity for this worthwhile award.

Navigator’s Trophy: Please would every skipper advise Lucy (sailing@pyc.co.za) of the name of their navigator as there is a Navigator’s Trophy in the IRC division.

Vasco Virgins: It is always worth knowing how many crew are doing this race for the first time. Would skippers please advise Lucy (sailing@pyc.co.za ) of these names.

Organising Committee Contacts:

  • Chairman: Richard Crockett – 083 265 3885
  • Principle Race Officer: Jimmy Melville – 082 900 8573
  • Race Secretary: Lucy de Freitas – 083 340 3089
  • Safety Scrutineer: Gavin van der Meulen – 083 708 3830
  • PYC Rear Commodore Keelers:  Jon Marshall – 083 703 2995
  • Media: Sophie Thompson – 083 609 8729

Excitement builds ahead of Vasco da Gama Race 2015

The Vasco da Gama yacht race is the oldest coastal race in South Africa and the 2015 race is now the forty third race. Originally a race from Maputo (Lourenço Marques) to Durban in the late 60’s and 70’s, politics plus civil war forced the race out of Mozambique and into a race from Durban to East London. After 24 races to East London and renewed friendship with Mozambique and South Africa the race reverted back to Maputo in 2002.

For the next 3 years the race will once again go south from Durban and finish in Port Elizabeth (a good move as it keeps sailing in South Africa), adding an additional 100 nautical miles to the distance making it a 400 nm ocean race. This year the fleet is divided into 3 classes IRC/PHRF/Cruising, strategy and tactics will be the deciding factor. The use of the Agulhas current and the winds on the day and distance off-shore, will all play a part.

ABYC members are urged as with the success of the 505 Worlds, to get behind the Vasco Race, with the finish line off Shark Rock Pier on Hobie Beach a marker buoy (manned 24hrs), some spectacular sailing will be seen especially from the IRC fleet. The success of the race and future growth will be based on how members receive the participants – this is a given. The potential to link Vasco and Algoa Bay Week are enormous.

The Vasco starts on Saturday the 25 April 2015 @ 11h55 and the cut-off is Wednesday 29 April @ 12h00. Closer to the start date details of the “Tracking” will become available or alternatively visit Point Yacht Club web site.

Vasco da Gama Ocean Race 2015
Vasco da Gama Ocean Race 2015

Entry Forms for Vasco da Gama Ocean Race 2015

The 2015 edition of the legendary Vasco will start on Saturday, 25 April 2015 and end in Algoa Bay, Port Elizabeth.

The Vasco da Gama Ocean Race is the oldest coastal ocean race on the South African sailing calendar. Next year it will be sailed for the 44th time.

Originally a race from Maputo to Durban in the late ’60s and early ’70s, politics forced the race out of Mozambique and into a race from Durban to East London. After 24 races to East London and renewed friendships between Mozambique and South Africa, the race reverted to Maputo in 2002.

For the next three years the race will once again go south from Durban and finish in Port Elizabeth, adding an additional 100 nautical miles to the distance, making it a 400nm ocean race.

“The rules and regulations for a yacht going foreign, plus the high costs, have not created significant growth for the race” said Jon Marshall, Rear Commodore Keelers at the Point Yacht Club (PYC). “This is why we have chosen to go to Port Elizabeth”.

“We believe that the changes will revitalise this historic event, and even make the race attractive to competitors from outside our Province. We have interest from Algoa Bay Yacht Club (ABYC), the finishing Club in Port Elizabeth, plus growing interest from the Cape” said Marshall.

Statistics show that in the last 8 races there has been little if any growth and that it had become too club parochial. Expanding it to become a truly national ocean race again, should bring renewed interest and with it entries from around the country.

Additional positive changes which will see the race grow are:

  • Partnering with another South African yacht club helps to spread the benefits associated with the race within South Africa and provides opportunity for linking into other sailing events.
  • Taking the race half way to the Cape makes it more accessible to a wider number of people and boats.
  • Timing minimises leave requirements meaning if crew is short of leave only one day’s leave is needed to complete the race, three days leave for a return delivery.
  • Arriving in a secure environment. And it’s possible to leave boats in this secure environment if necessary.
  • It becomes possible to make an event out of the build up and start for the city of Durban and sailing in SA generally.
  • Reduces red tape and costs for owners.
  • The additional 100miles brings it more into line with other serious international races most of which are in the 500 – 600 mile range.
  • The change should in fact be positive for ocean racing in the country as it will let finishers in Port Elizabeth compete in the ABYC annual Algoa Bay Sailing Week, should they choose to. Plus, and an important consideration is that these two events alone should have Cape yachtsmen salivating, as a race from Port Elizabeth after the Vasco da Gama Race will complete a circuit – something Cape yachtsmen are getting excited about.

Chris Grylls, President of the Algoa Bay Yacht Club said “We look forward to partnering with the PYC and seeing the Vasco da Gama race being raced exclusively in South African waters and finishing in Port Elizabeth. It will indeed be a fillip to ocean racing, not only in our area, but all South Africa.”

With April to June providing some of the best weather along our coast, the change of course should see the Vasco da Gama Race increase in popularity.

NOR, Entry Forms and Safety Scrutineering Checklists may be obtained from the Point Yacht Club: Tel. 031-301 4787 or email sailing@pyc.co.za

As befits such a venerable event the trophy list is an extensive one.

Trophy List 2015

Line Honours Trophies:

  • Barens Trophy: 1st on Line Honours
  • Marlow Trophy: 1st L34 over the line
  • Woodcraft Trophy: 1st Stadt 34 over the line
  • CASA Salver: 1st KZN boat over the line – IRC Fleet
  • Richie MacDonald Trophy: 1st PYC boat over the line – IRC Fleet
  • RNYC Rescue Trophy: 1st RNYC boat over the line – IRC Fleet

Corrected Time Trophies:

  • Wilbur Ellis Trophy: 1st on Handicap – IRC Fleet
  • NSRI Trophy: 2nd on Handicap – IRC Fleet
  • Premier’s Cup: 1st KZN boat on corrected time – IRC Fleet
  • Clube Naval Trophy: 1st Cape Town boat on handicap – IRC Fleet
  • Paper Pack Trophy: 1st on Handicap – PHRF Fleet

Multihull Trophies:

  • R&G Trophy: 1st Multihull across the line
  • Gary Warren Memorial Trophy: 1st Multihull on handicap

Special Trophies:

  • Transvaal Yacht Club Interclub Trophy: Interclub trophy awarded to the yacht club which performs the best in the race, taking into account
  • the results of the first three boats over the line from any club.
  • Rubicon Memorial: Trophy for Outstanding Seamanship
  • Ken Smith Trophy: Good Comradeship Award
  • Bentley Nuttall Trophy: Navigator of the overall winning boat on handicap (IRC)
  • Choose Life Youth Trophy: 1st youth under 25 on IRC handicap