Heineken Cape to Bahia Race - Finish

PODIUM FINISH FOR FAGAN IN HEINEKEN CAPE TO BAHIA YACHT RACE

80-year old Gawie Fagan and his crew on Suidoos 2 sailed across the finish line in Salvador to complete the 3380-mile Heineken Cape to Bahia yacht race in 21 days 22 hours and 24 minutes to take the third place on handicap. This is widely considered a remarkable accomplishment for the minuscule 9-metre Royal Cape One Design Suidoos 2 and her crew. Suidoos 2 is not only the oldest yacht in the fleet, skippered by the oldest skipper in the race, but bar the two mini-Transats she was also the smallest in the fleet.

Yachting enthusiasts all believed that Fagan did his final ocean crossing when he completed the 2003 Cape to Rio race on the same boat with his crack crew of son Henry Fagan and youngsters Jamie Waters and Brandon Smith. The lure of Salvador, capital of the Brazilian state Bahia, and the exciting new route proved to much for Fagan and on 4 January, he and his intrepid crew set off on this epic ocean crossing. Race organisers had Fagan pegged as a strong contender for handicap honours due to his amazing sailing experience spanning several decades and having a crack navigator in son Henry on board.

Fagan made history during the 1982 race when he scored a handicap victory over a highly competitive fleet on the 40-feet Suidoos. In 2003, he returned on the 29-foot Suidoos 2 and again threatened for handicap honours. Sailing with the exact same crew as in the 2003 race, Fagan proved pre-race predictions correct when he led on handicap for the first ten days of the race before eventual handicap winner Windsong took over the lead. During the first 72 hours of the race, the diminutive Suidoos 2 astounded followers of the race with her cracking pace covering close to 250 nautical miles at an average speed of more than 10 knots during a 24-hour period.

However, the treacherous South Atlantic high pressure system once again frustrated Fagan when they got stuck in a lull for several days and had to contend with covering a mere 70 miles per day. Despite their weather routing information, the system once again took its toll and Fagan had to watch his handicap lead being destroyed by a flying Windsong, skippered by Rob Meek. The super-light racer made the most of their more northerly course and light wind preference to eventually take line honours in 16 days 2 hours and 46 minutes.

Respectfully dubbed “Ancient Mariner” by the rest of fleet, Fagan and his crew was elated at their arrival in Salvador. “Obviously those windless days were awful. We also had a couple of breakages and had to fix the several sails by hand-stitching, but it was a great race,” mentioned Fagan shortly after his arrival.

With the final cut-off date of 4 February looming and only a week to go, all eyes are now turning to the remainder of the fleet. Currently John Morley’s Dream is the yacht with the furthest distance still to go to the finish with 928 miles left of her ocean crossing. As she is currently averaging over 140 miles, she should be in Salvador before the official cut-off next weekend if the winds hold. Both mini-Transats are looking in good shape to finish over the next couple of days. Brit Richard Smurthwaite sailing solo on the 6.5metre Crean is less than 500 miles from the finish and currently making good progress at speeds averaging 6.77 knots. Fellow single-handed Argentinian sailor Rodrigo Cella on board Federico trails by about 200 miles.

For updates and positions, visit www.heinekencapetobahia.co.za