Participants in this year's Vasco da Gama Yacht Race gathered at the Royal Natal Yacht Club in Durban last week before the start of the race to East London.
Image: Leon Lestrade / Independent Newspapers.
JUST two seconds separated Regardless 2 and CFM ll, the first two yachts to cross the finish line in the nail-biting 300-nautical-mile Vasco da Gama Yacht Race from Durban to East London.
Barry Boorman, commodore of the Royal Natal Yacht Club, which organises the event, described it as a duel between two of the fleet’s fiercest rivals.
“They're always battling it out, no matter what race it is. And before the race, Regardless was saying that she's going to give it everything. And CFM said, ‘No, you are not going to get our title.’ It was incredible. We’ve had a wonderful finish,” he said.
Regardless, skippered by Peter Blofield, took line honours ahead of Nigel Milln’s CFM in what organisers described as one of the closest finishes in the race’s history.
They were followed by AWEH, skippered by Dale Kushner, a few hours later, while Adios, with John Tudehope at the helm, sailed in afterwards.
Speaking to The Independent on Saturday, Boorman said Spirit of Anna Wardley was expected to arrive next, followed by Zephyr, Moondancer and Moneypenny.
While the official cut-off time was 4pm, Boorman said organisers were considering extending it after a slow start to the race on Sunday due to light winds.
The race was filled with drama from start to finish after Free Spirit, skippered by Neville Bransby, encountered rudder problems at about 3am on Monday morning and lost steerage, Boorman said.
“So they lost power, they lost their rudder, and at about 4 o'clock they started calling on channel 16 and put out a PAN-PAN, which is one step lower than a Mayday, which means that they are declaring that they have a problem, but the boat is not in imminent danger.”
Eventually the National Sea Rescue Institute launched from Shelly Beach and assisted Free Spirit back to KwaZulu-Natal.
Boorman said that unlike previous years, when the race had a main sponsor, this year several smaller sponsors contributed to making the event possible.