05|01|18
Cape to St Helena 2018 Day 11
Naledi was the third boat to cross the finish line, shortly after midnight South African time last night.
She has posted a corrected handicap time that takes almost 18 hours off the corrected time posted by Rocket yesterday, and will present a tough “time to beat” for the rest of the fleet. Indaba are currently their biggest threat, and will need to finish shortly after the Cape Town sunset tomorrow to wrest the monohull handicap honours from Naledi.
Similarly, to beat Naledi, Felix would need to finish by late morning tomorrow, and Carpe Diem by Sunday afternoon tea time (all South African time.)
Yolo needs to be in tonight at about 21h30…but skipper Dale Kushner’s resolve is more firmly set on the goal of successfully accomplishing a single handed Cape to St Helena.
To Naledi: Well done to seven super sailors aboard: the adults Felix Scheder-Bieschin, Stefan Falcon and Gawie Smit; and laaities Hamilton Slater, Alex Falcon, Theo Scheder-Bieschin and Mattias Scheder-Bieschin.
When they were still two days out, skipper Felix Scheder-Beichen shared some island goals “The adults are looking forward to the pub in Jamestown, the younger generation hopes to find at least a Wimpy burger.”
Let us know how that works out for you when you clear customs and immigration!?
In saying “Hello!” to the Island, they also bade a fond farewell to their trusty large blue A2 spinnaker, and asserted “May it rest in pieces.” They sailed the last miles with a slightly smaller spinnaker. The A2 had seemingly survived a couple of wraps in the second last night at sea, but alas, not.
News from Dale Kushner aboard Yolo is that, all going well, this will be his last position report at sea. Hopefully by this time tomorrow he’ll be at Anne’s Place eating breakfast on the island – if the weather allows. Right now very light. “The past 24 hours has been in downwind trade conditions. With variable strength and oscillations, becoming light at times, and thus requiring constant attention, particulary during the night hours. Other than that, not much to report. Currently happy with the trajectory to the island. Will try keep posted later in the day or when the island is sighted.”
Next to finish should be the big cat, Compromise, with about 60 miles to go. They are looking good to take the multihull handicap win.
Strange-ways and days on Caribbean Soul: “It was the most frustrating night so far. Most yachtsman have encountered a little fellow called MURPHY. He is a little fellow about 6 inches high. He mostly visits at night. Although he is small, he carries a large toolbox with all the things needed to cause havoc. So far he managed to undo shackles, cut through sheets, explode mainsheet blocks etc. Last night he even managed to wrap some unidentified stuff around our keel just to be different. He shuts the gen set off at will, so we do not have ice for our cocktails at night. Last night he even managed to spray salt water in various electrical switches so we had a bit of a power issue. I do have to report though that we caught him this morning and have ungracefully exterminated him. I think he was after the ice-cream in the freezer. So we are going to have pancakes now with ice-cream. It’s overcast and still light so lots of concentration needed. Boet & Crew.”
Strange days too on Felix: “Our Captain is suddenly ecstatic, a little sail change suggested by the farmer and the cloud has lifted from his head. We have been suffering in silence. Now even the boat is happy as we flow through the last leg to victory. It’s been a wild ride definitely not the milk run! The Crew.” This morning a spinnaker line chaffed through, followed immediately by main sheet block failure.”
Ronin’s three efforts to repair their kite have been unsuccessful, and they’ve declared it beyond their repair.
JML Rotary Scout have solved their forestay woes and cleared out of Luderitz yesterday morning and have continued sailing to St Helena – great news for the ocean sailing experience for all the scouts aboard – where the crew will swap with a return delivery crew, and fly back to Cape Town. They are just under 1200 miles from the island. They retired from racing and are no longer part of the race.
More news from the boats and the result updates to follow, as they come in.
by Luke Scott
Cape to St Helena 2018 is a sister race to the #Cape2Rio2020, which is supporting the race with a daily race update. Like|Love|Share!
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