15 May 2002
ACCOMMODATION PACKAGES IN MAPUTO
Great news for those looking for a little comfort for themselves and their families leading up to the Start of the Race on the 13th July. The Five Star HOTEL POLANO have offered an excellent VASCO DA GAMA - HOTEL POLANA deal at US$80.00 per double room with Breakfast included. This deal is only applicable if booked through the Race Organisers. For more information contact function@iafrica.com To read up a little on this Internationally renown hotel, visit it's web site at http://www.polana-hotel.com
For those looking for somewhere to bed down for a night or two, Clube Naval has arranged excellent dormitory style accommodation for crew, and it's free! To find out more, contact function@iafrica.com
SHIPPING NEWS
For those yachts down in chilly Cape Town, PE and East London,the NCS Regatta Organisers and Shipping Sponsors (MSC) have very kindly agreed to permit Vasco Entries to make use of the free shipping facility from Cape Town to Durban and return, on condition that all shipped boats compete in the NCS Regatta. Completion of the NCS REgatta will be strictly applied, and boats not fulfilling the requirements will be charged normal commercial rates for their shipping. There is little problem with shipping smaller boats, although those over 40-foot will be considered on application. PLEASE NOTE THAT APPLICATIONS FOR SHIPPING CLOSE ON WEDNESDAY 22 MAY. Although the NCS event ends some time before the Vasco Da Gama Race, a deal has been put together which will still enable the shipping of Vasco boats back to Cape Town. One final point on shipping is that Cape Town is heavily conjested at present, and MSC has advised that competitors should look to ship their boats to Durban as EARLY AS POSSIBLE. Due to the conjestion, yachts not delivered to the ship on time will be left behind, and could end up misisng the regatta completely. Unfortunately the conjestion is out of the hands of MSC and the race organisers who have ben warned about boats being presented to the ship timeously. To find out more about the NCS Regatta,
certainly KZN'S biggest Regatta, herewith a hyperlink to the Notice of Regatta http://www.smoothsailing.co.za/ncsnor.html
LOOKING FOR A LIFT TO MAPUTO, OR HOME?
Many entries have a separate delivery crew to race crew and there seems to be a fair demand for lifts to and from Maputo. If the demand is great enough, we shall arrange a shuttle bus from Durban to Club Naval, and back. The cost of this Shuttle service will be dependant on the support it gets. Interested? contact Dave at function@iafrica.com
VISAS AND TAXES
Visas can be obtained from the Consulate situated in 320 West Street (Durban) building. If you apply before 10h00 you can collect it at 15h00 on the same day. The cost is R85.00 . As regards Taxes, this seems to change from one point of entry to the next. By road, in April, we were charged R12.50, but when we cleared out of Maputo, the charge was US$10.00 per person. That said, some yachtsmen who departed Maputo only a week or so prior, paid nothing. The Race Organisers are currently seeking clarification on the issue and more detail will be posted in due course.
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