ANTIGUA YACHT CLUB

The Maiden, with Antigua’s Junella King on board has arrived in Cape Town after leg one of 27,000 mile McIntyre Ocean Globe Race. Just a quick dash around the globe!

Spirit of Helsinki was took line honours in this leg. Translated 9 IT (09) continues to lead in Flyer Class and International Rating Certificate (IRC) ranking, just pipping Maiden to the post. The two  have been close thoughout the race, although Translated 9 led into Cape Town 70-odd nm ahead.    This puts Maiden currently 2nd in flyer class, 3rd in IRC and 4th in line honours. 

The flyer class is for yachts previously entered in the 1973, 1977, or 1981 Whitbread Round the World Race, or of ‘relevant’ historic significance and ‘approved’ production-built, ocean-certified, sail-training yachts generally 55ft to 68ft LOA. 

 Both boats faced high winds over the weekend, gusting  45 knots with 4-5 meters seas. as they came into Cape Town. Skipper Heather Thomas described it as “not the most comfortable.” They were all, she said “definitely looking forward to hot showers and food. Chicken wings, nachos and sushi are the things we’ve been craving.” After 42 days at sea, who can blame them? While in port,  as well as normal  preparation for the next leg, Maiden has repairs to carry out, with the hydraulic pump in the back stay broken. 

Junella King said “it was a very good trip, light winds sometimes, no wind at all in the doldrums….wind picked up at the end.  It was stiff competition with Penduik and and Translated 9.” 

Explorer and Godspeed remain en route, facing unpredictable winds in the next few days. They are unlikely to reach Cape Town before the start of the next leg. As the OGR Notice of Race requires yachts to have a mandatory minimum four-day stopover in port they  need to arrive into Cape Town by 14:00 local time on November 1st to ensure starting Leg 2 with the rest of the fleet.   Leg 2 will take the fleet  from Cape Town to Auckland and sets off on November 5th.

As well as  Cape Town, stopovers include Auckland and Punta del Este, before finishing back in Southampton in April 2024.  With the first leg of 7,800 miles out of the way, the boats face the next 7,250 miles to Aukland, the first boats are expected to finish 14-23 December 2023, just in time to celebrate Christmas and toast success in Auckland, New Zealand.  We will all be toasting The Maiden and Antigua’s Junella King.