The 2003 edition Orion Vasco Da Gama Race reinforced the event's status as South Africa's premier offshore race.

For the third consecutive year the fleet raced between Maputo and Durban. This year's race attracted a higher quality fleet than the previous two races with more out and out racers taking part including a strong contingent from the Cape. In fact, I think it could be argued that there were more top sailors taking part in this event than competed for the Lipton Cup the previous week!

As well as being of a higher racing pedigree than in recent years the fleet was on the whole made up of bigger yachts with a number of 40 footers taking part. Pf particular interest here was the battle between the Leisure and Fast 42's with three of each taking part in this year's race.

The 2003 Orion Vasco Da Gama Race also turned out to be a triumph for the IRC handicapping system. After the better part of two days racing yachts were separated by only minutes in the final results. Of the top three yachts, the winner, Enzer Betelgeuse, is a modern all out racing design, a Mount Gay 30. Second placed Close Again is an L34. Designed 20 odd years ago she is a cruiser/racer, probably more of a cruiser by today's standards and certainly no flyer. Third placed Spilhaus is a classic yacht, a Swede 55. Although she sports some serious looking Kevlar sails she is an extremely well appointed yacht down below with no compromises to the crews comfort. The only thing these yachts really have in common is that they were sailed well. IRC sorted the rest out. I think it really is quite something that we have a handicapping system that so efficiently and equally rates such different types of yacht and can provide us with such good racing. I really hope to see this system continuing to spread throughout South Africa.

There is some attraction for competitors in a visit to Maputo. Third world as it is it is still a foreign city and an extremely interesting place to visit. The short space of time between the end of the Lipton Cup and the start of this race robbed most of us of the time to explore the city properly. This would be my only criticism of the event, that it came too close on the heels of the previous weeks regatta. From what I saw of it in the short space of time that I was there it looked like a great deal of development had taken place in Maputo in the last year. I would certainly have liked a little more time to check it all out.

With the exception, in my opinion, of the timing, the race was outstandingly organised. To make sure that the tight time frame between events didn't deter competitors a bus was provided the day before the race to ferry sailors from Durban to Maputo. A free of charge service this certainly took a lot of pressure off sailors who would otherwise have had to spend a large amount of money to make the start on time.

Club Naval, the Maputo hosts, certainly enjoy hosting this event and go out of their way to make the competitors welcome. The briefing was followed by a sit down dinner with some outstanding catering. It was a five star meal and certainly no one should have started the race the next day feeling hungry after that feast. With the race starting late the following afternoon one would have expected this event to turn into a raucous party but strangely it didn't. Perhaps it was the lengthy bus trip of the rigours of the delivery that had tired most crews out but everyone seemed to head off to bed fairly early after dinner.

The delivery trip to Maputo was perhaps the toughest part of this race. Many teams employed delivery crew to get their yachts to the start line while those who weren't engaged in the previous weeks sailing did the delivery themselves. Fresh northeasterly winds for most of the preceding week made this a long and unpleasant trip for most with few reaching Maputo from Durban in less than 70 hours. While there were no serious damages at least one yacht didn't make it to the start line, tiring and turning back to Durban after two days of strong headwinds.

The race started late on Sunday afternoon in order that the fleet sailed out of Maputo Bay with the tide. Trying to do this against the tide is near impossible, especially in light winds. As it turned out this was a fantastic decision as it meant that most yachts finished in daylight, something that adds to the spectacle of the event in Durban.

A light easterly breeze of around four to six knots was all that was blowing when the start time came. It did though give hope to all that it would be a long downwind slide home. This didn't turn out to be the case though. The beat out of the bay of Maputo was a tricky one. There was advantage to be gained from picking both the current and wind shifts correctly.

The start was largely uneventful with no yachts early on the line. The only excitement came when Madiba, a Leisure 42, rear-ended Sensation, an L34, right next to the committee boat. There was a bit of a crunch but it was a low speed collision and little damage done. Madiba did her penalty immediately before continuing racing.

Surprisingly it was the Mum 36 Ballyhoo Too that made it out of the bay first leaving several faster yachts in her wake. It took until late that night for the entire fleet to clear the bay and head off down the coast. Pretty much the entire fleet headed straight down the beach on the first night hoping to capitalise on the expected land breeze.

At this time of year it is fairly certain that it will happen and it did. A pleasant 8 to 12 knots of bitterly cold breeze carried the fleet down the coast on a two sail reach. Those with tight reachers were probably able to carry kites, on our L34 we certainly weren't. Monday morning saw the land breeze fade and turn to the south where it settled for the day.

This called for a big decision, head offshore or stick to the beach. As always there are varying schools of thought. Personally, we stuck to the beach and I don't think it did us much harm. Perhaps heading further out would have been better but we still didn't do badly in there and the scenery was pretty anyway. That has to be one of the advantages of racing on the coastline actually; it is amazingly beautiful. The beaches and dunes really are something to see and on a stunning sunny day such as Monday really worth seeing. Keeping us company on a relatively flat sea were dolphins and a few whales, actually more whales than dolphins by the end of the race. Monday night saw the southerly wind fade away and the land breeze kicked in again after and hour or so of dead calm.

Some who had gone out to sea during the day stayed there though and they seemed to make big gains on those who had gone inshore for the night. Judging where the advantage can best be gained from the current or the land breeze is a tricky thing and hard to get right at the time.

Tuesday morning saw most of the big boats bunching up in a windless hole off Durban while further behind we enjoyed the land breeze, again 8 to 12 knots, swinging to the northeast without dying and increasing in strength! With kites up the smaller boats rushed towards home closing in all the time on the slower boats.

Orion Express eventually crossed the finish line shortly before midday on Tuesday. Prodigy, a Fast 42, followed her an hour and twenty minutes later with Orion Flyer taking third place over the line an hour and a half later. Prodigy led home a bunch of eight yachts that finished within 33 minutes of her for one of the most spectacular finishes in Vasco Race history. That it happened in broad daylight off Durban made it all the better and it is just a pity that it couldn't have happened on a weekend when even more people would have been gathered at Durban's harbour mouth.

While the slower yachts had the advantage of the wind filling in from behind on the final stretch into Durban the Mount Gay 30, Enzer Betelgeuse, was so well placed on the water that this was less of a factor for them. Enzer Betelgeuse made the most of the light conditions that prevailed during the race and finished well up on the water.

Back on the moorings early and with a safe lead the crew were left to wait and see if anyone still on the water could beat their corrected time. On Close Again, an L34, we gave it a good crack but just couldn't get to the finish fast enough missing out by just 400 odd seconds on corrected time!

While the 30 footers were pushing hard in the fresh downwind conditions the crew of the Stadt 34, Mean Time, pushed just a little too hard losing their mast. With a masthead kite up the crew of Mean Time were pushing hard in a neck and neck race with the L34 Sensation. Skipper Kieron Moore, who was at the helm at the time said that they sailed into the back of a particularly large swell and were hit by a fresh gust at much the same time. He suspects that the backstay failed sending the rig crashing over the front of the boat. in a dangerous situation the crew were quick to cut the rig away before it damaged the hull and proceeded to Durban under motor. Luckily Durban was directly downwind of their position when they lost the rig the hull was not damaged at all. This was the only casualty of an otherwise quiet race.

Sunbeau, an L36 and Dalmega, a Carribea, finished under motor shortly before the prize giving. When it became apparent to both that they wouldn't make it into Durban before the cut off time they retired from the race and motored to the party.

This was a good move as the RNYC and the race organisers laid on the prize giving of the year. Held in a marquee on the club lawns the prize giving included a sit-down dinner and was compared by former Sharks and Springbok rugby coach Ian Mackintosh. Mac was in good form and kept the yachties well entertained throughout the evening. It was a fitting end to a great race with the party going on well into the next morning!

The results of the race and prize-winners were as follows:

Corrected Time (IRC)
1st Enzer Betelgeuse Mount Gay 30 Mark Sadler
2nd Close Again L34 Andrew Heathcote
3rd Spilhaus Swede 55 Ted Kuttell

Line Honours
1st Orion Express ILC 40 Ellian Perch
2nd Prodigy Fast 42 Chris Frost
3rd Orion Flyer Willy Van Der Verre