Cape Town - South Africa’s Alexforbes ArchAngel team participating in the Cape to Rio race is making good progress despite facing several challenges.
In a message to their supporters, crew members and their skipper Sibusiso Sizatu vowed, “we won't stop fighting until we cross the finish line”.
They started the race last Monday as one of 16 teams competing in the iconic 3 300 nautical mile race, dubbed the “adventure of a lifetime”.
“Weather conditions at the start were very light westerly, which allowed us to settle in reaching out of Cape Town.
By the first evening, the wind had turned north which allowed us to turn and head west which we did for two days, trying to also head north-west at the same time, the wind strength was 10 to 15 knots.
“By day four we were in the easterly winds heading in the north-west direction, we were aiming for and making good ground towards Rio. We are on day seven, and the wind has died down to about five knots during the day and 10 knots at night,” the crew said on Monday. Among the challenges the crew had faced was a diesel spill.
“We are also having problems downloading weather forecasts so it's difficult to place our boat in the right wind conditions. We also had battery-charging problems but have figured this out. With our first spinnaker hoist, we had a massive wrap around the forestay which took us 45 minutes to unwrap, but without any damages.
“On day five, we lost one of our spinnakers, it tore into two, and the next day got a rip in our S2 spinnaker.
So from here on, we are being more cautious with our spinnakers. Our rudder also has a bit of play while conditions are tough, but we feel we can get to Rio and will lift the boat when we arrive to check why this is. Other than this, we are pushing and moving forward to the best of our ability.
“After the first night we were positioned 13 but after that evening we fought back to 11th then eighth and at the moment we are fourth in the IRC fleet and fifth in the ORC fleet, and we won’t stop fighting until we cross the finish line.
“None of this drive would be possible without the support from back home and we thank everyone for this – we hope we making you all proud.”
Supporters can follow the team on the live tracker at www.cape2rio.live
Cape Times