cape to rio yacht race 2023

Doyle-powered NORHI wins 2023 Cape 2 Rio Race

Congratulations to Doyle-powered Balance 526 NORHI, who has won the 2023 Cape 2 Rio race both on line and in the multihull division.

Doyle Sails Palma expert and crew member Scott Zebny who was onboard Norhi commented, “It was a pleasure to be part of this adventure with Norhi and Larry and the rest of the crew, a slightly longer trip than initially expected, but no less enjoyable! I was incredibly impressed with the Balance 526; the comfort and performance  were impressive for a boat this size and coupled with a superior Doyle inventory, it made a formidable duo.”

Facing stiff competition during the 3,300 nautical mile race, Norhi held the lead for most of the race against veteran Brazilian racer Johan “Hans” Hutzler, skippering his race-ready Outremer 51 catamaran, Aventureiro 4. This is the first Balance Catamaran to enter this gruelling ocean race – the longest in the Southern Hemisphere.

Recently launched in October, Balance 526 NORHI arrived in Cape Town ahead of the annual Cape to Rio Race 2023. With the Hall mast arriving via ship from Holland in mid December the crew were busy getting the yacht race ready. After just a four-hour sea trial with the new Doyle Sails inventory they left for their required 500 nautical mile qualifier which they completed successfully in 30 – 45 knots.

Owners Larry and Norhi Folsom commented, “Our Balance 526 was built in Saint Francis, SA, and the timing of her completion (October) fits with when we intended to sail to the US. A slight detour to Brazil, in the name of adventure, made for a more exciting crossing.”

Norhi has nine crew; four are family – Larry, as skipper, his wife Norhi and their two kids, Dylan (15) and Alexa (12). Campbell Field as Navigator, and Warwick “Waza” Kerr as bowman. Doyle Sails Palma, director and good friend of Larry and Norhi, Scott Zebny, fills the position of Tactician, and rounding off the crew is Catherine Fryer, an extremely experienced sailor, and Warren Russell from Balance Yachts. 

ABOUT DOYLE SAILS // Around the world, Doyle Sails has over 500 sailmakers in 46 different locations, all equally passionate about sailing – living and breathing our ethos ’Global Leaders and Local Experts.’

As sailors, our obsession with sailing connects us to the water. The water is our playground, a sanctuary where we seek enjoyment, a competitive playing field where we race as competitors; it’s sometimes our home and always a place that unlocks our sense of adventure wherever that adventure might take us. Behind every adventure is a Doyle sailor who shares this same obsession as you. We put your journey at the very heart of what we do to deliver the ultimate enjoyment and performance, powering our constant need to push the boundaries in sail design and innovation, to reimagine sailing.

From dinghies, club racers and cruising yachts through to Grand Prix campaigns and Superyachts, we are your experts. Meet our team  here .

ABOUT BALANCE CATAMARANS // Like many insurgent brands, Balance was born from our frustration. The catamaran market had become dominated by charter or racing cats, leaving few options for those seeking something in-between. We took our collective experience born from thousands of miles at sea to design and create truly balanced, handcrafted performance catamarans that would offer our customers years of blissful living and sailing. Learn more here .

Sailing Magazine

Cape2rio 2023. they’re off to rio today.

January 2, 2023 701 Views

by Richard Crockett

On 13 January 1973 the second Cape to Rio yacht race started in Cape Town with 43 yachts competing, and today, 50 years later another fleet of intrepid sailors head off into the South Atlantic in their quests to win the race to Rio.

The race organisers had learnt a lot from the very first race in 1971, and had fine-tuned things considerably for their own administrative benefit as well as those of the competitors.

For me the biggest change was that Ilha da Trindade became a mark of the course as in the previous race the fleet was spread so far across the ocean that it was impossible for the SA Navy Guardship to keep tabs on everyone. By making these islands a course mark, the fleet concertinaed as they approached the island and set course for the final leg to Rio. This was in the days prior to GPS, electronic navigation and satellite tracking. Today we know exactly where each yacht is almost instantly.

A highlights of that race was ‘Stormy’, skippered by the “old man of the sea” Kees Bruynzeel, taking both line and handicap honours, and acknowledging victory as “the crowning achievement of my yachting career”.

The German yacht ‘HIC III’ broke her mast very shortly after the start. She quickly secured a new mast and returned to the race days later.

The biggest scandal of the race was the stowaway aboard ‘Albatross II’ which was skippered by Richard Edwards. When Edwards discovered his “green-eyed problem”, his girlfriend, aboard, he decided to only declare her presence at the finish.

The final highlight was the favourite for line honours, ‘Ondine’, skippered by Huey Long, retiring after taking too southerly a course, and running out of wind. He retired with grace and promised to return in 1976 – a promise he kept.

From the heady days of the first race in 1971 of 69 entries to the massive 128 starters in 1976, this year the race is tame and far more compact in comparison.

As in every race there is always an eclectic range of yachts and crew, all with very different goals and dreams to fulfill. Some simply want to have the experience of crossing an ocean and take things casually, while others set out with the intention of winning and push hard 24-hours a day from start to finish.

For the landlubbers reading this, ocean racing is a non-stop 24-hour slog day in and day out, with the night watches being even more important than those during daylight hours. The reason is that fatigue, night blindness and a relaxed attitude can prevail at night, making the hours of darkness achieve less in terms of distance sailed compared to daylight hours. Oh, and no, they don’t drop the anchor at night and sleep!

Napoleon Bonaparte is alleged to have said that an army marches on its stomach. It’s true, as while the crew may not be getting their 10 000 steps every day, every muscle in their bodies is constantly moving as they trim the sails, steer the boat or just go about their daily routines. So the role of the cook is vitally important as those bodies need feeding – constantly. A good cook will keep morale up by keeping their charges well fed and well watered, especially with that late night hot drink or early morning coffee at the change of watch.

Talking of watches, each skipper has a system they prefer and stick to. The most common though, is four hour watches during the night and 6 hour watches during the day. This gives the off watch every second night of just a single watch – and believe me, it’s always well appreciated. However, when the chips are down or a sail needs changing, it’s “all hands on deck” whether off watch or not.

There are just 17 yachts celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Cape to Rio Race.

There are several yachts capable of winning this race on handicap, and the winner will come from the crew who drive their boat the hardest and fastest throughout the race. Yachst such as ‘Alexforbes Archangel’, ‘Audaz’, ‘Cool Ideas Nemesis’, DHL Me2me’, ‘Ray of Light’, ‘Sterna’ and ‘Translated 9′ are all in with a shout for bragging rights of winning the 2023 Cape2Rio race.

My sentimental favourite is ‘Alexforbes Archangel’, and not because they are a black team of sailors from disadvantaged backgrounds, but simply because this entire crew has the experience, ability, knowledge and level-headedness to perform to a high level and take the race by the scruff of the neck and win.

The team is skippered by Sibusiso Sizatu (30) who is backed up by Daniel Agulhas (29) as first mate, with Renaldo Tshepo Mohale (29), Thando Mntambo (23), Azile Arosi (22) and Justin Peters (21) as the balance of crew.

Plus, they have put an inordinate amount of quality time in to their preparations, as mental as well as physical preparation is required to successfully race a yacht across and ocean.

This is acknowledged by Sibusiso Sizatu who said “you mentally pace yourself to spend a long time out at sea. We know we are in for the long haul – between 24 and 27 days.”

A testament to their ability is the fact that all crew members have their basic skipper’s ticket, with three having passed the written and practical exams for their offshore skipper’s certificate of competence. They have also completed courses in personal survival techniques, while Justin Peters and Sibu Sizatu completed a diesel mechanic course enabling them to work on the boat in the case of engine failure.”

The bottom line is that this is a well prepared team.

Line honours should, on paper, be taken by ‘Translated 9′ which at 65-foot long is the biggest boat in the fleet, although there are some multihull which could make the quickest passage and snatch line honours, with ‘Aventureiro 4′ leading that challenge.

There is a lone singlehanded entry from Adrian Kuttel who will be sailing ‘Atalanta’, a hot modern racer. While he won’t have the luxury of crew to assist him, he has put in an inordinate amount of physical training to prepare for the race. Who knows, he may well surprise many at the finish line!

Going along at a leisurely pace will be ‘The Impossible Machine (TIM)’ which is owned by Ard Matthews, one of South Africa’s most prized singers, song writers and award-winning artists who will be competing in his first ocean race.

‘The Impossible Machine (TIM)’ was formerly known as The Howard Davis, and under that name did several races to Rio, so maybe there is a special groove in the water which she will follow!

Despite the small entry, this is a quality fleet, and a very open race which is difficult to call.

The race will be tracked by YB Tracking (https://www.ybtracking.com) With positions updated every few hours. It’s a great way to follow the race closely, with good sailing info supplied by the satellite trackers.

The race website is: https://cape2riorace.com/

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TWO NEW ENTRIES FOR CAPE2RIO | FAROS & WHITE MISCHIEF

Two new entries for Cape To Rio 2023, by Liesl King

With nine months to the start of the 2023 Cape to Rio race, the entries are starting to mount up. Two more entries were recently received, taking the total to 12 so far. The race organisers confirmed that there are still a number of boats who are finalising plans and possible entries.

The first new entry is Faros , a 43’ Dudley Dix, that will be skippered by Alex Mamacos. Lexi is well known to RCYC members as one of the sailing instructors at the Good Hope Sailing Academy. She was also instrumental in getting the first group of black Academy instructors through their skippers and instructor courses. Her introduction to the ocean started with a holiday house on Langebaan lagoon. “We had a tender called The Pram , that had a mast, a dagger board and a rudder. It went sideways more than it went forward, but I had a lot of fun fooling around on it and that’s how I learnt to sail.”

Lexi holds a SAS Yachtmaster Offshore as well as a SAMSA Commercial skippers license and comes with a wealth of offshore sailing. She has sailed double-handed from Cape Town to Reunion on a Gib’sea 44 and she is no stranger to the Cape to Rio race.  Lexi crewed on Windgat in the 2014 edition and was part of the delivery team that brought Northern Light back after the 2020 race. The 2023 race will be her first as skipper.

She has been dreaming about doing the Cape2Rio race on her own boat for many years and in reality, has been prepping for about five years in anticipation of doing the Cape to Rio 2023. Her dreams actually stretch far beyond Rio though. Lexi will be using the race as a launching pad to continue cruising afterwards. With the start still nine months away, she is well aware that things can still change and hence she has a pool of crew available from which the final four will be selected closer to race time.

The second new entry is White Mischief , a Sovereign 51, which will be skippered by Richard Wiederhold, a previous winner of the Cape to Rio. He will be share the skippering duties with Bernard Haupt and Glen Landridge. Crew members will include Richard’s 18-year-old son Alex, who has junior provincial sailing colours, another championship sailor with provincial colours, Greg Plunkett, along with Donovan Penaluna and Cherene Nel.  White Mischief  is currently based at the Royal Cape Yacht Club.

When interviewed by the Race Organisation, Richard explained his motivation for doing the C2R2023:

“I started sailing with my dad, at age six and the sport has become a lifelong passion. I have sailed over 15 Lipton Cup Challenges and will be taking part in the J22 World Championships in July this year in Durban with Greg Plunkett.

“I’ve sailed the Cape to Rio twice before, once with my father in 2000, and in 1996, when I was on the winning boat,  Renfreight . It is a once in a lifetime experience and I want to share it with my son Alex, for many different reasons.  Not only to forge a stronger lifetime bond, but also to give the gift of a transatlantic crossing, which will give him an underlying confidence and the ability to dig deep, something that few other sports in this world can offer.

“I’m really excited to take on this challenge, especially with my son, my best friend, girlfriend, cousin and two great friends. It’s rare to get to spend three weeks with your favourite people crossing the Atlantic Ocean while racing your heart out and having the time of your life!”

Faros and White Mischief we look forward to seeing you and your crews on the start line!

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