Photos: L © Kate Laven R © Kate Laven

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Wed, 18 Jan 2006 14:06:17 UTC

By the end of the first week of December Cape Town’s seal population were wiggling with delight. They had heard all the hype about the Volvo Open 70, it was pretty hard to hide from it in South Africa, but as the yachts trudged across the finish line the balls of blubber didn’t show any respect.

One by one all the boats tried and all the boats failed to overtake the seals on their way into the harbour. Each drag race resulted in a resounding victory for the whiskered gymnasts of Table Bay. The yachties pointed the finger of blame at Table Mountain, claiming its wind shadow purged all the wind from the sails. If the seals could talk they’d probably claim they didn’t care.

No respect. No justice. The boats had travelled 6,400 miles to reach this stage, tackling the breakages and the Doldrums, smashing the world 24 hour record in ABN AMRO ONE’s case, completing the first leg in record time, but it all ended in anti-climax as the boats drifted into port with barely a knot of wind in the sails.

As the seals could tell you, the finishing order was ABN AMRO ONE completing the leg in 19 days, 24 minutes and two seconds, followed by ABN AMRO TWO, Brasil 1, Ericsson and then, finally, Sunergy and Friends five days, one hour, nine minutes and 53 seconds after the leader. The seals could also tell you that Ericsson had a keel problem with their hydraulics and a piece of halyard notched into their rudder trailing edge, while Sunergy and Friends were missing a fairing section on their keel pivot – something the boys on the boat didn’t even know.

Never mind, the crews disembarked, sank that highly coveted pint of beer and headed for the town. The sunshine was glorious, the entertainment was plentiful – featuring everything from the barbershop quartets to the African soul bands - and the atmosphere was fervent. The occasional autograph was signed and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, blessed The Pirates and captivated hundreds of local kids dressed in bright yellow slickers courtesy of Pescanova, a co-sponsor of Pirates.

In the meantime, shore crews worked like Trojans to fix the damage created by the adventurers in their team’s racing ranks. There were keel problems, structural problems with the hulls, modifications to make the boats more comfortable and easier to sail, changes to ready the boats for the Southern Ocean. Some teams had to work harder than others, while one particular company of designers hid sheepishly and Juan K got the recognition his efforts with Team ABN AMRO have warranted.

Two of the boats, movistar and Pirates, came to Cape Town by unconventional means. movistar arrived on the deck of a bright red Wallenius Wilhelmsen freighter and Pirates made an all together more spectacular entry by Antonov giant cargo plane, smacking down onto the Cape Town Airport runway in a cloud of rubber smoke from a myriad of tyres and coming in to town on the back of a low loader, only to be hidden away in a makeshift shed while midnight oil was consumed in vast quantities to get the repairs done in time for the In Port race.

Then it was back on the water for the In Port race. Cue more singing in the ABN tent and talk of team domination. There were wipe outs for the Pirates and groundings for the kids on ABN AMRO TWO and ING Real Estate Brunel. Ericsson broke a reefing line. It was all drama. Never mind, only the Southern Ocean to come.

Off they went on Leg 2 and the seals decided to take a day off, so did the wind.

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