CAPE TOWN – Owing to its geographical position, Cape Town is fortunate to see some fantastic water sport events happening throughout the year.
The month of December, with its summer sun and holiday vibe seems to lend everything that happens on the water a touch of extra sexiness. Locals and tourists are drawn to our shores every summer to taste some of the magic of the sport of sailing’s version of the festive season. In fact, the Mother City recently played host to one of the biggest sailing events on the global sailing calendar: the Volvo Ocean Race.
Just before the racing calendar takes a bit of a break over Christmas and New Year’s Eve, local and visiting enthusiasts can look forward to one of the annual highlights.
Cape Town Race Week, an end-of-year regatta run by the Royal Cape Yacht Club in Table Bay Harbour, started out in 1974 as Rothman’s Week. Since then, it has undergone several name and format changes, the most recent one being in 2015, all the while attracting some of the best professional sailors from SA.
A recent trend is that more and more international sailors have become aware of this event and are adding the regatta to their calendars, while the sailing season in Europe and North America comes to a wintery halt.
With 33 yacht entries, the 2017 edition of Cape Town Race Week will be seeing some exciting sailing and tight competition amongst the best of the best. The action will be visible from vantage points all around Table Bay this weekend, and since some extremely large yachts are taking part, the fleet of boats is set to be quite a magnificent spectacle.
The winner of this regatta will be established on Tuesday evening, December 19.