Competitors were finally treated to a downwind dash in the 33rd edition of the Mykonos Offshore Regatta. The 75nm dash to Club Mykonos, Langebaan started in a 16 knot SE’r in Cape Town, which luckily lasted the whole day for the 65 finishers.
The best of both worlds
The popular Mykonos Offshore regatta is run and organised by Royal Cape Yacht Club. It’s a firm favourite on the local sailing calendar as it combines a long distance race from Cape Town to Club Mykonos, Langebaan on the Friday with a pursuit race on the Saturday around Langebaan lagoon, Saldanha Bay and the outer-lying islands. The Bay Race is still one of my all-time favourites.
After a few years of little or unfavourable wind, the 2023 edition finally got a constant SE for the downwind dash to Langebaan. The finish line just outside Club Mykonos saw the same 16 knot SE, until early evening where it started to die down to a light 7-10 knot breeze.
The wind remained consistent allowing all 65 starters to finish well before the cut-off time, with the boats tied up on their moorings by 10pm.
Racing around the bay
If you were to ask, it would be no surprise to hear that The Bay Race is a favourite with most sailors. The course, which takes you from outside Club Mykonos up to Schaapen Island, to Saldanha Bay, outside the mouth and around Jutten Island, and back to Club Mykonos – offers incredible scenery and tactical sailing. The “slower” boats on handicap start first, followed by the faster boats at the back of the fleet, racing past the boats in front of them to reach the finish line before them.
The wind was forecast to build heavily early in the day, which led the race committee to bring the start forward by an hour. This turned out to be a good decision as the wind was gusting close on 30 knots by mid afternoon.
The start line saw 65 boats start in progression of each other with an ideal 16 knots SE. Each boat set off at their alotted time, and as the race progressed the wind increased throughout the day. The final dash to the finish line from the mark at Schaapen Eiland was very breezy where the wind went up to +25 knots SE.
The winner takes all
The Cape 31, Team Nitro, skippered by Mike Hayton and David Rae, led the awards tally by walking away with three firsts: first overall in the Distance Race, first Cape31, and first in Class A.
First place in Class B went to Southern Star, skippered by Chris King, and first in Class C was FarMed, skippered by Vitor Medina. This year the Simonis 35 and the Miura made up their own classes. The first Simonis was MF Reve, skippered by Mitch Blackburn, and the first Muira was FarMed, skippered by Vitor Medina. Recently back from her successful Med campaign, the TP52, Phoenix, skippered by Tina Platter, won Line Honours in both the Bay and Distance Races over Phil Gutsche’s Windpower 2.
Adding to the fun were great items up for lucky draw. Sebastian Harinkouck, skipper on Jiwo won a GNX Wired Sail Pack 52, generously sponsored by Garmin, presented by Mariska and Deon Coetzer. Ballistic Eyeware sponsored 8 pairs of sunglasses, which went to Di Hutton Squire’s team on Tin-Tin. StarBrite sponsored a large hamper, and Atlantic Yachting sponsored a PB2 course, which was won by Alan Haefele on Derbigum.
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- Tina Plattner and the Team Phoenix crew took line honours in the Bay Race and the long distance race.
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- Team Nitro, skippered by David Rae and Mike Hayton cleaned up the medal tally.
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- Winners of Class B: Chris King and his team on Southern Star
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- Winners of Class C: Vitor Medina and his team on FarMed
Thank you’s
Big thanks go to Club Mykonos for their 33rd year as title sponsor and wonderful host. Great appreciation also goes to Seaport Supply, Garmin, Atlantic Yachting, Harken, Ullman Sails, Starbrite, Eezy Sun, and Ballistic Eyewear.
Thank you to Craig Leslie – Race Officer; Dave Hudson – Protest Chairman; William Crockett – scoring, as well as Kerry Pryde and Robyn Patrick from the RCYC Sailing Office for their tremendous hard work in producing an exceptional regatta.
The Mykonos Offshore Regatta proves year after year that it is still one of the largest and most supported events on the sailing calendar.
This year was definitely one of the best regattas we’ve seen fir a while, which will only make next year’s event more of a challenge to top!
All pictures by Matthew du Toit – @mattdtza
