Sailing Magazine
pic by Mike Rushworth
There are two ‘sharp ends’ to every yacht race. One of these, the cold, tiring, often uncomfortable and sometimes storm-ridden end, is the lot of yachtsmen themselves, to whom the exhilaration and rewards of racing more than make up for the mental and physical strain.
The other ‘sharp end’, perhaps stormier than the first, is the lot of the race organisers, the middlemen who stand between the sometimes temperamental yachtsmen on the one hand, and the watchdogs of public safety, especially the newspapers, on the other.
lt is the organisers who most often take the flak of public disapproval when things go wrong, as they did in the tragic Vasco Da Gama race late in April. But while these race organisers must sometimes accept a measure of responsibility for the events which follow their approval for a race start, misconceptions such as that created by the Cape Times editorial on May 1, entitled ‘Three Yachting Fiascos’, should not go unanswered.
Reprinted below is the letter written by Jerry Whitehead, in answer to the Cape Times leader.
His years of sea experience around the South African coast, and a number of cross ocean passages which included a rounding of Cape Horn in his yacht ‘Bootlicker’ in 1979, gives him more qualification than most for his extremely reasoned exoneration of the Vasco Da Gama race organisers.
In describing a great gale, Joseph Conrad wrote: ‘The sea was white like a sheet of foam, like a cauldron of boiling milk’. Nature abhors a vacuum. Great gales can rise suddenly without warning. Within a space of two hours, steep, heavy seas build up to majestic height and power, rolling along, curling and breaking at the top. When the new wind is contrary to the old, a highly irregular, confused sea results.
Should these conditions obtain where the Agulhas Current meets the continental shelf between Durban and East London, and the vast volume of the south-westerly flowing current is opposed by a south-westerly gale of over 60 knots, the confusion becomes exacerbated and the seas become highly dangerous.
Survival for a yachtsman depends upon good design and construction of his boat, stout hearts and stomachs of his crew, his own past experience and a little luck.
These were the conditions that befell the fleet of 29 yachts in the recent da Gama race. Several boats were rolled over 360 degrees – some several times. One boat was pitch-poled i.e. stern over stem and then rolled. Others had their decks stove in and were dismasted. The fact that 25 yachts survived these conditions of exceptional severity and returned safely to harbour, unaided, is firstly a tribute to the outstanding seamanship of the skippers and crews who took part. Secondly, it is a test of the efforts of the organising authority for the sport, the Cruising Association of SA (CASA) which it passed with distinction.
Special regulations governing the design, construction, equipment, accommodation and safety standards for each yacht have been laid down by CASA and are based on stringent international standards. Each competitor’s boat is inspected and every item is checked by independent scrutineers before every race. To ensure that unnecessary demands are not made on the rescue services, CASA has set standards of competence for skippers and crews of sea-going boats and suitable training courses for achieving them. No unqualified skippers are permitted to start.
pic by Mike Rushworth
The day of the race dawned after several days of light north-easterly winds. At 08h30, the weather report from Louis Botha gave winds not more than 20/30 knots. The race started at 10h00 with no local amendments in the weather. At 11h03 ‘No gale warning’. At 15h00 ‘No gale warning’.
At 19h00, nine hours after the start, there was a warning of a 30/35 knot gale which is no more than the daily lot of offshore sailors on these coasts. However, at 20h00 the gale exceeded 60 knots. Thus, weather forecasting, in spite of satellite aids, still remains an imperfect estimate of the unpredictability of nature’s sudden moods
This statement, I hope, rebuts the grossly unfair and poorly researched second leader ‘Three yachting fiascos’ in The Cape Times of May 1 calling into question the efficiency of the organisers, who were totally blameless.
In conclusion, one may ask if sudden, unpredictable danger lurks, is it right that risks should be taken which require special rescue efforts?
The answer is, I think, that in the last war the SA Navy was built up from yacht club members both full time and reserve. Such a cadre of experience is in fine tune today should the need arise.
A Passionate Plea
Over the years I have been given a lot of material about the 1984 race, and in fact many other Vasco races, to have accumulated a burgeoning archive of material from newspaper cuttings, original photos, reports, magazine features and even personal accounts.
I cherish each and every one of these, and have sufficient to write a book about the 50-plus years of the Vasco da Gama Race – something I will ultimately do.
I already have in excess of 15 000 individual Vasco Race files.
But as always, there are gaps that need filling in terms of full results, photos, reports, personal accounts, scrap books, newspaper cuttings and basically “anything Vasco” that individuals, Clubs and organising authorities have on the race.
So I am making a plea to anyone, and everyone, who has any material on this tough ocean race to consider lending me their personal records of the race for digitising. My promise is that they will be returned in good order – and with digitised files of their material too.
From the files I have so far, I have been able to compile a results database, starting with the earliest races when the race was from Maputo to Durban.
I have a complete database of all the trophy winners in the Vasco da Gama Race.
Every single written word, every single photo, and every single memory of the Vasco race is important to me.
Should you have any material you would lend me, please contact me via email at: editor@sailing.co.za
