Leg 1 of the Portimão Global Ocean Race with Quantum Sails

South African brothers Lenjohn and Peter van der Wel are finally safely in Cape Town after a very trying first leg of the Portimão Global Ocean Race, which started on 12th October this year in Portimão, Portugal.
South Africa can be proud of Lenjohn and Peter, the first South Africans to set out on a single or double-handed circumnavigation race since JJ Provoyeur did the Around Alone in 1994 fourteen years ago. They are also following in the wake of great South African circumnavigators John Martin and the late Bertie Reed who both competed in the BOC Challenge in 1986 and 1994.

Portimão Global Ocean Race directors, Josh Hall and Brian Hancock, arrived in Cape Town in early November to prepare for the arrival of their fleet. In Cape Town, the race office and fleet are based at Royal Cape Yacht Club, which has been abuzz with the Volvo Ocean Race Fleet’s arrival and departure and now the arrival of the Portimão Global Ocean Race Fleet and the ARC Cruising Fleet.

South Africans Lenjohn and Peter van der Wel on their Class 40 Kazimir Partners crossed the line at 16:55 UTC on 26th November and were met by a huge fleet of welcoming yachts and a Royal Cape Yacht Club packed with supporters who cheered them in to the pontoon.

Brothers Lenjohn and Peter van der Wel are 40 and 43 year old respectively and grew up in Cape Town, sailing at Royal Cape Yacht Club. In their twenties, their sailing experience took them overseas and today they are both super yacht captains, based in the Bahamas and Majorca, It was always Lenjohn’s dream to do a Whitbread – or to complete a solo circumnavigation, and the Portimão Global Ocean Race is a great stepping stone to that goal. When Lenjohn and Peter got wind of the race about two years ago, they entered immediately and were in fact the 1st official entry. They did a lot of research, and within a week of entering had secured a yacht and a boat builder. Lenjohn and Peter have entered the race in an Owen Clarke designed Class 40.

An emotional arrival in CT for Lenjohn and Peter van der Wel

The class 40 is a box rule that restricts the use of super-expensive materials and construction techniques as well as items such as canting keels and carbon hulls.

(For more information on the Class 40, go to www.class40.com )

The yacht was built in Cowes, Isle of Wight in the UK and construction took around nine months. As with all the Portimao Race boats, Lenjohn and Peter’s Class 40 is Category 0 compliant.
In basic terms, this means that she is completely self-sufficient for extended periods of harsh conditions, very low air and sea temperatures and heavy seas and storms. (i.e. the Southern Ocean!)
The Class 40 has a waterline length of 12.03 metres and a maximum beam of 4.15 metres. She draws 3 metres, has a displacement of 4.5 tons and the mast is 19 metres high.

The Portimão Global Ocean Race is an ideal stepping stone to a race like the Vendee Globe or a single-handed circumnavigation and is open to Class 40’s and Open 40’s. The inaugural race has 6 entries, 4 double-handed and 2 single-handed, the double-handed entries are all in Class 40’s and the two single-handed entries are Open 40’s. Having six entries has been ideal for race organisers Josh and Brian, who have had the time to spend with the ten skippers and give them the support they need, something they would have found very difficult with a larger fleet. Josh explains that they in fact lost around seven entries since the beginning of the year – skippers with their own businesses who could finance their entries themselves. But in the current economic climate, these skippers decided they needed to stay home and look after their businesses but they have all vowed to enter the next race. The Portimão Global Ocean Race will take place every 2 years and in 2010, around 20 entries are anticipated! Adrian Kuttel from Cape Town is the first official entry in the 2010 race.

An emotional arrival in CT for Lenjohn and Peter van der Wel, being greeted by friends and family on the docks at CT

So, the big question: How was Leg 1?
Slow and frustrating, seems the obvious answer. Lenjohn and Peter took a good few days longer than anticipated, with the result that they ran out of food a few days before they came into Cape Town and in fact had depleted their grab bag rations by the time they got in. “We started to ration food two weeks ago knowing that we were looking at a forecast of light winds,” Lenjohn said on their arrival in Cape Town, “and it’s a very good thing we did. We ate our last meal three days ago.” They indeed looked rather gaunt when they arrived. So what went wrong?

As Peter explains, “We lost the race off the Canary Islands. In my 17 times crossing the Atlantic it’s always paid to go outside the Canaries, but this time it was a disaster for us. We dropped behind the fleet and never recovered.”

The Leg from Portugal was tough for the South Africans. They seemed to bounce from one poor weather system to another. They also hit a whale off the West Coast at around 11h00 one morning. Luckily there was no major damage and after the shock of the impact and checking the hull, they continued on their journey.

Typically, the brothers work on a watch system of one hour on, one hour off. Needless to say they spent far more time than they would have liked sitting in very little wind so the leg was not one laden with the physical stress of constant strong winds.

Despite that, Peter explain that they kept very busy: “There is always something to do on the boat – repairs, maintenance, web updates, communications, weather routing…” All the boats have their own weather routers except the South Africans. At $80 per contact, it is quite an expense.

The Class 40 is water-ballasted and has tanks which hold 750 litres of water. Peter tells me that they are constantly playing with the water – moving it fore and aft and pumping it on and out… when there is no load on the tiller, then the water is right. “When she gets in a groove and gets going, she just feels RIGHT”, says Peter.

If Peter and Lenjohn really push the boat, they are achieving boat speeds of around 22-25 knots. The record on Leg 1 is believed to be around 32 knots, but the brothers explain that at this speed one is really pushing the boat’s limits and one cannot do that the whole way around the world. It is clearly a matter of finding and maintaining the delicate balance between getting the optimum performance out of the boat and making sure one does not push it too hard so it makes it around the world without breaking.

On the subject of safety, Peter tells me that Owen Clarke pretty much guarantees that the Class 40 will not sink, even if it loses its keel. There is a crash box at the bow and the boat is made of various water tight compartments. By flooding certain compartments, one can right the boat, even if it has lost its keel. This sounds incredible, but also rather re-assuring!

And how do Lenjohn and Peter feel about the next leg?
The 2nd leg from Cape Town to New Zealand and 3rd leg from New Zealand to Brazil are both going to be about boat speed, say the South Africans. In these speed legs, it is going to be a lot about who is prepared to push their boats the hardest.
There are still four legs to go in the race so anything could happen.

And the big question – how did the Quantum Sails perform?
It should first be explained that one of the Class 40 class rules is the restriction of eight sails per boat and a limit of membrane sails on the boat at any given time.

In looking for a suitable partner to make the sails for the very challenging circumnavigation facing them, Lenjohn and Peter looked no further than Quantum Sails in Cape Town. The brothers have a long-standing relationship with Quantum which is certainly now destined to carry on way into the future!

Quantum’s Membrane/Fusion M Racing Sail Loft boasts some of the most advanced racing sail technology in the world and was therefore the obvious choice for sails that were both very durable and high-performance.

The sail plan for the Class 40 is as follows:

• Mainsail: 73.6 m2 , made from double taffeta with carbon Vectran
• Genoa: 40.1 m2, made from Fusion M
• Solent Jib: 23.9 m2, made from double taffeta with carbon Vectran
• Storm Jib
• Code 0: 69.4 m2, made from Fusion M with Twaron and Pentex fibres
• Spinnaker: 120 m2
• Code 5: 86.5 m2: A heavy-weather furling asymmetric, made from 2.2oz nylon, for use in the Southern Ocean

Quantum is supplying a new suite of sails at the start of every new Leg, no mean feat in itself.

When Peter van der Wel was asked how the sails had performed, he beamed and told us that they were “incredible” and that the performance of the sails had far surpassed their every expectation. In addition, the brothers said that they could not believe the service that they had received from Quantum and the amazingly personal and professional attention.

“Without us asking or expecting him to, Warren Oldroyd just arrived in Portimão where we were preparing for the race”, said Peter. “He helped us fit the sails and did all the sail testing with us. His attention to detail was incredible – it was far beyond our expectations”.

Lenjohn and Peter added that Quantum is definitely the partner to have when considering a Circumnavigation, as their service extends across the globe.

And after the race?
“We want to carry on with this”, says Peter, “Double-handed racing like we are doing now.” It appears that Lenjohn and Peter are super-yachted, Majorca’d and Caribbean’d out! “Yes”, says Peter, “We are so tired of the super yacht scene. It is good money and we will go back to it of we have to, but this is what we want to do now.
So it definitely seems like the brothers’ partnership with Quantum is destined to be a long one!

The South Africans were overwhelmed by their welcome in Cape Town. “This is just amazing to see all these people and be back in South Africa,” said Lenjohn on their arrival at Royal Cape Yacht Club. “I guess we finished at just the right time.” The Wednesday evening sailors were all out racing and had just finished as Kazimir Partners sailed across the finish line. It was a superb homecoming for two well deserving sailors. The brothers were clearly emotional at seeing so many people and close family, including their parents and grandmother. Even one of Peter’s school teachers from CBC who encouraged him to sail when he was a pupil there, was on the dock to greet them.

The camaraderie between the skippers in the race is also incredible. They have all been there to meet each other and celebrate each arrival in Cape Town with a celebratory meal – steak, chips and salad every time!.
As Peter puts it, what is amazing is that six boats started the first Leg in Portugal, and six boats arrived safely in Cape Town. In comparison, the Vendee Globe had eight casualties on the first night!

South African sailors can look forward to watching Lenjohn and Peter van der Wel’s progress around the world in what is indeed an incredible race and an incredible achievement of Living Their Dream for these two young South Africans.

For more information on Quantum Sails in Cape Town’s Fusion M and other racing sails, contact Tony Strutt at Quantum Sails in Cape Town on telephone + 27 21 5931620 or at email tony@quantumsails.co.za

For more information on Lenjohn and Peter van der Wel’s entry, go to http://www.vanderwel-racing.com/

For more information on the race, go to at http://www.portimaoglobaloceanrace.com/