On 1 January 2017 Port Elizabeth’s Bailes family, from the Algoa Bay Yacht Club, set out to race across the Atlantic from Cape Town to Rio De Janeiro on Michael Kavanagh’s yacht Ray of Light. They are sailing in the faster fleet and will be chasing the early starters who set off on 26 December 2016.
Husband and wife Tony and Sigi and their two daughters – Jenna and Tamryn Bailes are all accomplished sailors with many national and international regattas to their credit. They have extensive offshore experience and have completed two Vasco Da Gama (Durban to Port Elizabeth) races on their own boat, Nemesis.
The Cape to Rio is the pinnacle sailing race on the South African Calendar and the tongue in cheek route of; “Turn right out of Cape Town Harbour, when the butter melts turn left and listen for the samba” is one that is rather too flippant for this iconic race. Storms and hourly decisions on navigation await, water and food rationing, running repairs, constant risk of collision, sheer frustration, beating sun and constant second guessing make for a cruel and taxing race.
What also awaits competitors are spectacular sun rises and sets, all manner of sea creatures, impossibly violet blue coloured seas, heaps of learning opportunities, true tests of character, superb spinnaker runs, close sailing over thousands of nautical miles and the satisfaction of completing a sporting event that is a badge of honour amongst sailors worldwide.
Ray of Light – a 44.7 foot Beneteau First design – is owned by Sigi’s brother-in-law, Michael Kavanagh who is skippering the yacht, navigator is Siyanda Vato and the two other crew members of the 8-man crew are Michael’s wife Heidrun and son, Sean. Sean has completed 2 Atlantic crossings and is the youngest crewman in the 2017 Cape2Rio.
The Cape2Rio is the longest continent-to-continent yacht race in the southern hemisphere, spanning 3 500 nautical miles. The sailed distances vary as the yachts take different course and over the years the race has finished in Rio de Janeiro, Punta Del Este and Salvador with the latest course cutting out the trip to round Ille de Trinidade.
The 28 strong fleet is an extremely high class field, with the largest yacht at 80 foot and some proven race boats around the 50 foot size. These vessels have come from Peru, Russia, Argentina, Brazil, UK, Angola, India (with an all women crew) and Germany. The favourites for line honours at the race include Runaway (Peru) and Russian boat Weddel.
The Bailes family are joining a long line of ABYC sailors who have sailed in this iconic race:
The first ABYC yacht to take part in the Cape to Rio was the 34 foot yacht Flame – crewed by an all Port Elizabeth crew and the then youngest crew member, Philip Stone at 17. See: http://abyc.co.za/meet-the-crew-of-1971-cape-to-rio-yacht-flame/
Son of Port Elizabeth, Bertie Reed took part in many Cape to Rio races as the skipper of Naval yacht, Voortrekker.
Another link to Port Elizabeth occurred in 1993 when the high-tech 15.3m race machine, Morning Glory skippered by SAP computer software systems executive Hasso Plattner, completed the crossing in 18 days and 7 hours and 41 minutes, to take the handicap trophy. Plattner’s company sponsored the 2015 SAP 60th 505 World Championships hosted by ABYC. 1993 was the year that current ABYC Trustee, Phil Gutsche sailed his first Cape to Rio on his 42 foot Baltic, Witchdoctor.
In 1996 Phil Gutsche sailed the Cape to Rio on Warrior – many will remember the iconic moment when the 60-foot mini-maxi snapped out it’s magnificent spinnaker in the colours of our new South African Flag. An image of that iconic moment hangs on the walls of the Algoa Bay Yacht Club.
In 2000 Warrior was joined by present ABYC Commodore Alan Straton and his wife, Glynnis who sailed Myott Chubb Protector across the Atlantic. This race was postponed to 2000 from 1999 to allow it to co-incide with the 500th anniversary of Pedro Cabral’s discovery of Brazil. Phil Gutsche’s ABYC registered 60-foot mini-maxi, Warrior, was the first South African boat to finish the 2000 MTN Cape to Rio de Janeiro. Myott was caught in what was described as the fiercest storms to hit a Cape to Rio race ever and took 26.5 days to complete the race. Two other ABYC yachts also sailed in the 76 strong fleet.
The 2017 yachts will be chasing the record set in 2014 when the Italian Open 70, Maserati, skippered by Giovanni Soldini smashed the record with a time of 10 days 11 hours and 29 minutes.
Alan Straton
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