Alacrity and Nomad ready for battle
'We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust our sails'
ALACRITY and Nomad from the Zululand Yacht Club will be competing in the Vasco da Gama international Blue Water Ocean Race hosted by the Royal Natal Yacht Club.
Competitors will set sail from Maputo on Thursday and navigate their way to the finish line, which is just offshore from Durban.
The faster yachts will be looking to be home in under 40 hours.
David Taylor will be at the helm of Alacrity, with Rod Banwell skippering the only multi-hull in the race, the 56 foot catamaran Nomad.
These two yachts will line up against ten other boats.
‘We are almost ready to go. We still have to clear customs and passport control,’ said Taylor.
‘We are hoping to leave ahead of the predicted south westerly due on Youth Day.
‘This will be our second trip to Maputo this year and our seventeenth since 1995.’
Taylor is no stranger to this gruelling 300NM race, having competed in six in total to date, namely Maputo to Durban (three times) and Durban to East London (three times).
‘This will be my seventh Vasco race.
‘We always aim to win the handicap, but our competition looks awesome this year.’
Banwell will be hoping that the northerly wind comes through for the Vasco.
‘If the northerly does appear, then we are going for line honours, but if the south westerly blows then the monohulls will take us,’ Banwell conceded.
‘Things are good with both our crew and the boat. We only needed to replace our spinnaker pole that we snapped on the return from Rio.’
Nomad is aiming to depart for Maputo on Monday morning ahead of the predicted south westerly.
The Zululand entries will be racing against some big boys on the South African sailing circuit, including the record holder, Chris Frost racing on his Pacer 37 Southern Storm.
Joining them are 2013 handicap winners Bellatrix with Gregg Hurter at the wheel and line honours champion, Nigel Miln, and his boat Skitzo.
The crew for Alacrity will be David, his son Andrew, Shaun Cooper, Selwyn Wright and Victor Pitchers, while Rod will be racing with his wife Michele and Craig and Wendy Deverson.
For more information, go to the Facebook page Vasco da Gama Ocean Race 2014.
