This annual sailing event has been running since 1986 and saw its heyday in1989 when over 50 boats entered.
It is a week of fabulous sailing on Kariba, restricted to cruising yachts, during which the fleet makes its way far up the lake. The likely turn-around points are as far as Honeymoon Bay, Nhamembere Island, Tiger Bay or Bonde River.
Typically yachts are from 18 ft to 34 ft long, with heavy winds suiting the bigger boats, though the impressive Farrier trimarans are by far the quickest in all conditions.
This year the event attracted a near record entry (by today’s standards) of 24 yachts with a great many more youngsters than is usual. Entire families took to the water in the biggest yachts, thus the age range in the fleet ran from 4 to 77.
Evening singalongs around mopane fires with a magic Kariba sunset in the background typified the evenings, with the smell of cooking in the little boat galleys making for a surreal but delightful atmosphere. Snorting hippos and elephant herds silhouetted against the orange evening sky gave the extraordinary experience only Zimbabwe can offer.
A mid rally stopover at the lovely Musango Safari Camp offered a chance for cold pool, hot showers, proper toilets, and a feast worthy of Asterix and Obelix (the bards however free to perform). A similar, but more formal evening at The Dome at Lomagundi Lakeside in Kariba marked the end of the adventure.
It is an extraordinary event worthy of international participation, with the South Africans always threatening to bring more of their countrymen. Not necessarily for the faint-hearted though, as the alcohol fuelled evening discussions centre around ripped mainsails, broken masts, groundings, torn spinnakers, close croc-calls, scrapes, bruises, breaks and hangovers.
Adventure of the cleanest and funnest type.
- Written by Rob Barrett
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