"Black Cat" Rio Race Report #1

Skipper Dave Immelman sent me his first report today on their race thus far.

"Sorry it has taken such a long time to get back to you. We have been a bit busy. The start was mad. It was 30 knts in the Paarden Island corner and a tight reach to Milnerton and on to Blouberg then off. I have made the call to go north and to be conservative in the first few days. As it now seems with Dark Matter, Wow out and Trekker being scuttled I think it has been a good call for our 20 year old lady.

We are now the most northern boat in our  fleet and I want to see what the next grib says as there seems to be something strange happening to our SW. A front or maybe a split low. Will keep you informed. BC is behaving beautifully if a little heavy.  We have topped out at 22.6 knts and I am happy with the 200 plus miles per day. Now comes the long haul. Keep the trim up keep the speed up and hope to the high does what we want. I am not sure why the rest followed Black Pearl as they can make their own wind. But it seems too far south for them. We need to find it.

Anyway keep well and I will write soon."

"Black Cat" leaving Table Bay as seen from the kitesurfing beach at Blouberg. Photo Robin Schultz

Dave Mentions "Black Cat" being a bit heavy. This is because they have 6 crew, 1 more than we have had in previous races. Of course this means extra weight of the additional crew plus gear and stores, all needing more water to be pushed aside for the boat to pass through. Despite that, they have matched the best speed that we have attained in previous races.

It will be interesting to watch the relative progress of the various boats as the race goes on. The northern course has more distance but also the potential for more wind, so more speed. All courses will converge on Cabo Frio, closest landfall on the Brazil mainland.

Sad news from the race is the sinking of "Voortrekker 11" due to catastrophic rudder failure. Without news of exactly what happened, I wonder if she hit something that caused the damage. We will hear when the crew are safely back ashore. Happily there was no loss of life.

DS15 "Bateleur"

Jim Foot is the owner and builder of the Didi Sport 15 (DS15) "Bateleur". He made a beautiful job of the build, as an amateur builder. Jim has sent me some new photos of his boat and new impressions of her sailing characteristics.

"Bateleur" relaxing on Island Lake in South Africa, waiting to sail in the George Lakes Yacht Club New Year Regatta.

Here are some of Jim's comments.

"I finally had the Genoa ........ have tried the sail.   For the first time I now feel that Bateleur is performing to her abilities. In dinghy config, at 8-10 kts its full trapeze single handed. More than 12 kts single handed its asking for trouble. Acceleration is up, planing in 7 kts upwind, and I'm absolutely delighted." Here he is talking of sailing her without the ballast bulb.

When you read this comment think about what it means to actually sail a dinghy in this much wind, not just survive being caught out there.  Most people will not venture out in 40 knots of wind, Jim does so intentionally in his DS15 with the ballast bulb on the board. The capitals are his, not mine. There is a link on my YouTube channel to a video of them sailing in 35 knots. "ABOVE 40 KTS, AND I MEAN 40 KTS, , THE JIB FURLER IS A MUST OTHERWISE BALANCE OF THE BOAT BECOMES A BIG PROBLEM.  HANDLEABLE BUT ONLY JUST."  Correction, Jim says that he didn't intentionally go sailing in 40 knots but was caught out there by the gale. He did intentionally go sailing in 35 knots, so what is another 5 knots between friends?

"Basically I remain delighted with the boat and would not swap her for anything.   As time has proceeded, the little tweaks have just increased my delight and made things a bit easier.   Fast, quick to plane, stable, and absolutely no tendancy to nose dive, makes her a proper little delight.   Next step is a code 1 rather than a reaching kite.   I think this will be a better option than a reaching kite."

Closer view at the same venue.

As you can see, Jim is very happy with this boat. We also have a modified and de-powered version of it for disabled sailing.

See more about our designs on our main website or our mobile website.

Rio Race Tracking

The 2017 Cape to Rio Race has started. The race tracking links on the Royal Cape Yacht Club and Cape to Rio Race websites bring up the map but seem to be having a problem with showing the boats and their tracks. Go to the Xtra-Track website, select the Cape to Rio Race 2017 tracking and you should get a map that shows the boats and tracks, with boats updating about every 10 minutes.

As for "Black Cat", it looks like they stuck themselves away in light air downwind of Robben Island and have had to change tactics to find more wind. Now they have to play catch-up.

I should start receiving reports from "Black Cat" in the next day or two and will post stories here.