Sailing Magazine
The final day of the Maserati race week arrived with pre-dawn showers, but very soon, the sun came out accompanied by a light Westerly wind. The wind eventually picked up, and allowed a course to be set on the Atlantic seaboard getting the much anticipated final day was under way.
In IRC Division 1, ‘Cape Fling’ charged from the gates with a point to prove after a retirement in their last race. They hung on to beat ‘Nitro’ into 2nd, with ‘Windpower’ 3rd and ‘Vulcan’ back in 4th place. That result put ‘Nitro’ into a very strong position overall, with ‘Vulcan’ having realistically been their only challenge for the overall title.
Patrick Holloway and his crew on ‘Hollard-Jacana’ increased their lead in IRC Division2, with a win over ‘Mwah’ and ‘Bally Hoo Too’, and in Division 1, Greg Davis aboard the little 22-footer ‘Numero Uno’ took line honours ahead of ‘Xtra-Link Yolo’.
Race 2 saw the battle play out over the same course, except one of the legs was lengthened for the IRC 1 boats. ‘Cape Fling’ were on a roll as the big RP 52 doubled up to take out back-to-back wins, but ‘Nitro’ did what they needed to do, keeping ‘Vulcan’ racing off their stern – and that meant they took Overall honours in IRC Division 1.
‘Hollard Jacana’ were crowned IRC 2 champions, ahead of ‘Bally Hoo Too’, and huge congratulations to the young team aboard ‘Tenacity RCYC Academy’ to hold on for the final podium place.
Division 1 overall honours went to ‘Xtra-Link Yolo’, after a run of consistent finishers for Dale Kushner and his crew. ‘Yachtport’ and ‘Scarlet Sun’ were 2nd and 3rd.
In division 2, Vitor Medina’s ‘Far-Med’ won, ahead of ‘Shadowfax’ and ‘Iechyd Da’.
At the end of the day, sailing was the winner.
The first Maserati Cape Town Race Week will be remembered for technical, close racing, where mere seconds separated the leading crews. If the smiles on the quayside were anything to go by, 2016 will be bigger, and better.
