Posted by Graham Cox
Durban has a long-standing reputation among ocean voyagers as one of the world’s great ports of call. Local sailors appreciate their achievements and shower them with hospitality. Joshua Slocum was the first solo sailor to visit, on 17 November, 1897, 21 days out of Mauritius, and his skill in handling his ‘handy sloop’ (as he called it), alone and in close quarters, was admired and commented on by yacht club members and newspapers.
Known for his pithy observations, Slocum wrote, ‘The SPRAY was not sailing among greenhorns when she came to Natal.’ This was fine praise indeed from the flinty captain, who had commanded full-rigged ships, stared down mutinies, survived shipwrecks and financial ruin. He did not suffer fools gladly. His sojourn was marked by introductions to leading members of the Colony and lavish entertainments.
The next solo sailor to arrive was Harry Pidgeon, sailing the ISLANDER, on 23 December 1923, the first amateur sailor to circumnavigate solo. He was as remarkable a character as Slocum, in a very different way – a gentle, open-hearted man, raised as a Quaker, who met all people as equals, as much at home with indigenous people as he was with colonial rulers. He wrote, ‘I shall always retain many pleasant memories of the days that I spent at Durban… At no place was greater interest taken in my voyage.’
Year by year, decade by decade, the reputation of Durban grew. Bernard Moitessier immortalised the place in his first book, SAILING TO THE REEFS, when he spent a year there on MARIE THERESE II in 1955, and John Guzzwell’s account of his visit aboard TREKKA in 1958 added to the allure. John mentioned that there were five voyaging yachts in port that year, a record number.
Things remained much the same until Suez Canal closed in 1967, when the number of visiting yachts jumped to 15. This coincided with an unparalleled boom in voyaging yachts – some old hands blamed this on the invention of self-steering gears – and by 1970 there were 25 foreign-flagged yachts in port, rafted five-deep to the famous International Jetty. Like Moitessier, some of them arrived penniless, and stayed for a year or two, working ashore.
By this time, Durban port authorities were beginning to pull their hair out, but the Point Yacht Club (PYC) continued to offer unconditional hospitality to the visitors, as did members of the Royal Natal Yacht Club (RNYC), though that esteemed establishment found itself on the ‘wrong side of the railway tracks’ – literally – not to mention the busy, multi-laned, Esplanade, that had been built between their clubhouse and the water.
Today, the RNYC has relocated to the waterfront, and the weathered, timber International Jetty has been replaced by a floating-pontoon marina, but the rich tradition of hospitality remains. The skippers of the Mini Globe Race (MGR) received a very warm welcome from both clubs, and were showered with hospitality, including free meals, formal functions, access to all facilities, and even a cut-price safari by one member of the RNYC, who operates a resort.
Local yachting identity and club official, Vince Nel, who is also port officer for the Ocean Cruising Club (OCC), was always on hand to solve issues that might arise, and the local media posted stories about the MGR, as well as interviewing skippers. As Dan Turner, skipper of IMMORTAL GAME, put it, “The hospitality has been fantastic – the locals have treated us like celebrities!”
In return, the skippers welcomed club members and others to view their boats, gave talks, signed national flags that will be strung together and displayed in the RNYC, and presented Vince Nel, plus the clubs, with MGR memorabilia. At midnight on Sunday, 16 November, the fleet began leaving Durban for Cape Town, but they left behind a great deal of goodwill and some indelible memories.
A phone call from Eric, at 0130 Durban time on 17 November, advised that SUNBEAR was underway for Cape Town, sailing in a light NE breeze under full mainsail and A7. He had not yet reached the full strength of the Agulhas Current, but was already making more than 5 knots over the ground. A short time later, SUNBEAR was 5 miles SE of Durban Harbour’s breakwaters, with Dan on IMMORTAL GAME about 2 miles astern, followed closely by Renaud on CAPUCINETTE, then Pilar on PETER PUNK, and Ertan on TREKKA.
Adam slipped away in the early hours, with LITTLE WREN’s heavily-patched mainsail still proudly sporting the Ella Dawson Foundation logo, followed by Jakub at first light, who posed a short video clip of BIBI ghosting out of through the breakwaters at 0500 Durban time. A shout-out should go to the Durban sailmakers and others who went out of their way, at short notice, to assist the MGR fleet to prepare for the passage to Cape Town.
It did not take long for the usual order to reassert itself. BY 1000 Durban time, Renaud was leading, with 753.9 miles to go to Cape Town. Dan was one mile astern, while Eric and Pilar were three miles further back. Ertan was another mile to the north, with Adam 10 miles astern of Ertan and Jakub five miles behind Adam. The NE wind was still light, though it was due to freshen a little over the following 24 hours, before dropping off again, then heading the fleet. With luck, they hoped to get to East London, at least, before a developed SW change occurred.
By 2200 that evening, Renaud was making 7.8 knots, with Dan, hot on his heels still, averaging 7.2. Four hours later, either due to a lick of current, or more likely a developing NE wind, CAPUCINETTE was making 8.6 knots, with half the distance to East London already under the keel, while Dan was sitting on 8.2 knots. The rest of the fleet were sailing at least one knot slower.
It should be remembered that this was not a mass start, so the relative positions of the boats do not necessarily reflect their elapsed time status for Leg 3. The leaderboard on the MGR website gives a better indication, but this is still also provisional. On the leaderboard, Dan’s elapsed time is only 50 minutes behind Renaud’s, with Pilar 7 hours further back. There are only 12 hours between the first 6 boats.
Christian left around midday, in company with Jasmine and Josh. He’d taken the time to thoroughly overhaul ARGO’s running rigging and repair his A3 in particular, which seems fragile, despite always being stowed below when not flying. He could find no reason why that sail’s halyard, renewed in Mauritius, should have failed after only two weeks of use on the trip down to Durban. All he can do is keep a close eye on the new line. ARGO had been thoroughly cleaned, water bottles topped up, and supplies stowed.
Asked if he was planning to keep ARGO light for this passage, as John Guzzwell did with TREKKA, Christian just chuckled, and said that his boat was the heaviest in the fleet anyway, and his habit of carrying extra water added to that situation. He still had 113L left when he arrived in Durban. Guzzwell said that, although TREKKA’s motion was quicker when light, it was noticeable that the boat was hit far less often by breaking crests.
Keri, on ORIGAMI, decided to stay until the next weather window opened up, as his mother’s funeral was on 17 November. A champion dinghy sailor in his youth, he has used the extra time to coach a young RNYC member for the upcoming National Laser championships, and engage with the local sea scouts.
As the MGR skippers were getting underway for the last stage of Leg 3, Mike Blenkinsop, aka Popeye, and his son, John, have been bringing their grand voyage to a close. Beginning in Lagos, Portugal, on 28 December, 2024, they have sailed close to 19,000 miles across two oceans aboard DELJA 99 and DELJA 100. For much of their Pacific crossing, having left Panama a few weeks after the rest of the fleet, they were within VHF range of each other, if not always in visual contact. Otherwise, they talked daily on WhatsApp via Starlink. Their bond remains one of the most touching MGR stories.
On Saturday morning, 15 November, John sailed DELJA 100 into Brisbane, Australia, after a passage from Fiji via Tanna Island, Vanuatu, while Mike, a mere 20 miles off the coast that evening, was driven back out to sea by a severe thunderstorm. By Sunday morning, DELJA 99 was 45 miles offshore.
By Monday morning he was 60 miles out, and had been set south again by the east coast current while drifting during the night. He remained in fine spirits, however, in tune with DELJA 99 and the ocean. The wind was NW by then, so he was beating NNE to regain latitude, then NW as the wind swung into the SW late in the day. After another night at sea, he made landfall on Tuesday afternoon.
Mike has always admired the great ocean voyagers, and it is fair to say he now qualifies as one! There is a truism among experienced sailors – if in doubt, stay out – and Mike has demonstrated that he has the true grit required.
John sent this brief summary of his passage from Tanna Island to Brisbane. ‘The passage started simply enough, but the long stretch toward Australia quickly became the most challenging trip I’d ever done. If I wasn’t becalmed and drifting like a lost message in a bottle, I was beating straight into the wind, clawing for every stubborn mile. The ocean couldn’t seem to make up its mind—either flatten me with stillness or slap me senseless with headwinds.
‘Halfway between New Caledonia and Australia, the storm I’d been expecting finally arrived—though not the one I’d prepared for. I knew something was coming, but nothing like this. The wind roared past 70 knots, and DELJA shook so violently it felt like she was trying to tear herself free from the planet. I didn’t dare leave the cabin to pull down my triple-reefed main. I just braced myself and waited for the next bang, wondering what part of the boat would give up first.
‘Then, out of nowhere, the A5 decided it wanted to see the world and unravelled itself in the middle of the chaos. With winds still hammering at 50 to 60 knots, I somehow hauled the flogging beast down—still don’t know how. By the time I dragged it in, the cockpit looked like someone had cooked spaghetti and launched it at full power. Only then did I realise the topping lift had escaped the mast completely and wrapped itself neatly around the A5 sheet. It was madness. Pure, salt-soaked insanity.
‘And, as if the weather wasn’t enough, a massive shark chose that exact moment in my life to start rubbing itself against the hull—like it was inspecting the craftsmanship, or checking if the boat came with snacks.
‘By the time I reached the approaches outside Moreton Bay, I thought the worst was behind me. Wrong again. The night turned into a different kind of torture – one made of timing, tides, and too many vessels in too little space. I hovered in the dark, with fishing boats, cargo ships, and every other floating thing that had chosen that exact stretch of ocean for their sunrise parade. Their lights drifted around me like restless ghosts.
‘Everything depended on matching my boat speed perfectly. Too slow and I’d drift into trouble; too fast and I’d arrive at exactly the wrong moment. I streamed warps over the side to control my course and constantly trimmed the jib – easing to bleed speed, grinding to pick it up – like some exhausted circus act trying to balance on a tightrope.
‘And because this journey just kept giving, that’s when I realised that I’d torn my drogue. Right outside Moreton Bay. Maybe it caught on fishing gear. Or maybe it was thanks to the trawler that cruised a friendly 100m off my stern like we were out for a romantic dawn rendezvous. Either way, the drogue was finished.
‘Then came last night’s encore: another burst of weather. A lightning show cracked open the entire sky, complete with deep rumbles that vibrated through the hull. I didn’t dare look too long – hard to feel relaxed when 30L of petrol are staring back at you from the cockpit like, “Mate… blink and see what happens.” Finally, dawn broke, the tide lined up, and I slipped through Moreton Bay toward Brisbane – salt-crusted, half-delirious, and grateful that both I and DELJA 100 had somehow survived the madness.
Image shows the 2025 MGR fleet moored in front of their hosts, the generous Royal Natal Yacht Club, in Durban Marina, with the equally-hospitable Point Yacht Club in the background.
