Sailing Magazine
By Richard Crockett
The St Helena Race is one of those short, sharp and challenging races that should put some life back into ocean racing, yet it never appears to have really gripped the imagination. Why not?
Maybe followers of this Blog have some thoughts on this?
Some things have changed since today’s newspaper cutting was published in the Argus 21 years ago. “To this day, the island of St Helena is still only accessible by sea and the local yacht club is one of the most remote clubs in the world.”
Well, it now has an airport, and it is serviced by regular flights, making it far more accessible and more of a tourist destination than it has ever been.
The report went on to say: “The Governor’s Cup Race is different from other yacht races. In addition to being a fast eight to 12 day downwind dash in warm southeaster trade winds, competitors have the opportunity of spending a week or more exploring St Helena before having their yachts hoisted on to the ‘RMS St Helena’, the passenger and supply ship that serves the island, for a luxury return cruise to Cape Town.”
Sadly the ship no longer serves the island, although this should not detract from the race which deserves far better participation from local yachties.
READ MORE HERE: 2004 12 02 – argus – 982 – S&A – OCR
