Saturday saw a fleet of four boats taking part in the Sangoma Race from Durban to Richard's Bay. All were being delivered to Richard's Bay for next weekend's IRC KZN Champs.

While four boats is not exactly a huge fleet it is a long time since a Sangoma Race has actually happened which is a good thing in itself. The other good thing is that it was actually a really pleasant sail, proving just how good racing on this coastline can be if you pick the weather correctly.

Out on the start line at 11:00 there was a fairly blustery 20 or so knots of wind blowing however the start signal seemed to chase most of this away with the breeze quickly moderating to a gentle ten or twelve knots. With spinnakers up the fleet made leisurely but steady progress up the coast. The south westerly wind hung around until just before sunset when it started to die and then turned very rapidly to land breeze shortly after dark. This left the fleet on a tight reach up the coast for much of the second half of the passage. Those closer inshore probably benefited more from the land breeze than those out to sea and were also able to keep their spinnakers up for longer in the final miles into Richard's Bay.

First to cross the line was Prodigy, Chris Frost's Fast 42. She finished at 23:26 and was followed 25 minutes later by Harry Ellens on the Simonis 35 Ciao Bella. Next in a further 50 minutes later was the L34 Close Again with the Leo Kroone's Skitso, also a Fast 42 crossing the line at 00:56.

Once safely on the moorings it was off to the extremely hospitable Zululand Yacht Club where the bar stayed open until sometime after four in the morning.

The results of the race were as follows:

1st Close Again L34 Andrew Heathcote
2nd Ciao Bella Simonis 35 Harry Ellens
3rd Prodigy Fast 42 Chris Frost
4th Skitso Fast 42 Leo Kroone