Cape Town - After a rough 24-day voyage at sea, five youngsters from marginalised communities around Cape Town made history by being the first complete crew from the Royal Cape Yacht Club (RCYC) Sailing Academy to cross the finish line of the gruelling 50th Cape2Rio yacht race.
The Alexforbes ArchAngel crew from Masiphumelele, Khayelitsha, Grassy Park and Athlone made their families, friends and country proud by landing in third position after spending nearly a month at sea competing in the Cape2Rio race between the RCYC and Rio De Janeiro club.
Departing on January 2, the crew were one of 16 from South Africa, Brazil, India, Italy and the US that set out to finish the iconic 3 300 nautical mile voyage from Table Bay in Cape Town to Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro.
Skipper Sibusiso Sizatu, 30, first mate Daniel Agulhas, 29, Renaldo Mohale, 29, Azile Arosi, 22, and Justin
Peters, 21, were trained by the RCYC Sailing Academy, which was formed to create opportunities for previously disadvantaged youth in the sailing sector, and sponsored by Alexforbes to compete in the race.
In the final hours of Alexforbes ArchAngel’s race, their boat was neck and neck with their closest competitor, Argonaut, eventually beating them by 23 minutes and arriving in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday.
The overall race was won by Atalanta, with Ray of Light in second position.
Sizatu said: “This is the achievement of our lives. So many years, so many obstacles, yet we kept moving forward. Thank you to my crew, the RCYC Academy, our sponsor Alexforbes and our supporters. When we were down at sea, your support drove us. This one is for you.
“For us, this was just a taste and our main goal was just to cross the finish line, but now we have an idea of what to do and next time we are going to push for first place,” he said.
With this success, the crew has broken stereotypes of race and class and showed that it was not only possible for people from diverse backgrounds to participate in these sports, which have been dominated by and accessible to only a privileged few, but to rise to the top of said sports.
Sizatu said in future he hoped to see an all-female crew from the Academy doing the race to empower more women in the sport.
RCYC Sailing Academy manager Jennifer Burger said: “I knew they had it in them to do really well as they all, by nature, were extremely competitive. Sibu, as the senior instructor at the academy, will be flying home next week.
“We have students waiting to start the year with the sailing programme. Azile starts college, so will also be flying home. At this stage the plan is for the remainder of the crew to bring the boat back to Cape Town after some repairs,” Burger said.
Alexforbes executive Viresh Maharaj said the team had made the country proud and defied society’s expectations by going boldly into this race.
kristin.engel@inl.co.za