The day before the "Off"
Jacana
David Munro
Fri 9 Jan 2009 06:27
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Jacana is now officially ready for the start of the
Cape Bahia Race, the daily job list has been reduced to a few final tweaks of
the rig, a super market dash for provisions, a trip to the laundry and one last
drinks party to attend. The start time for the race on saturday is 2.00pm
local time, noon GMT, the start line is just outside the Cape Town Harbour break
wall and the first mark of the course takes us along the water front before we
head for the second mark which is Salvador some 6000 kilometers
away.
The forecast for the start is a fresh South
Easterly, fresh in Cape Town means 20-25 knots which should push us quickly up
the coast - all of us are keen to get away! The entry numbers are down for
the IRC fleet but there are some interesting boats to sail with and against. The
headlines for this race have been grabbed by Sea Leopard and Rambler, two of the
largest boats on the circuit who last battled head to head in the last fastnet
race. They are both looking to set a new record for this race and the local
interest is enormous.
Jacana rates as one of the slower boats in this
fleet so we are likely to be bringing up the rear attempting to save
our time on handicap - "The South Atlantic Race" website shows our
position each day but their map system doesn't seem to be working
yet!!
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