my new boat

The Saints are the people who live on St Helena Island, a remote island in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. They live on a mountain of rock that comes straight up out of the ocean, with steep cliffs all round and nary a beach to be seen. The terrain is very convoluted, with deep valleys and mountain passes. Until now, the only way to reach St Helena has been by boat or ship but soon an airport will be completed, making the island more accessible to others and opening up the world to the islanders. This is an interesting place to visit on Google Earth, to see how remote and inhospitable it is. The new airport can also be seen; consider the mammoth task that it must be taking to create it with the minimal resources available on the island. I imagine that much equipment and material has been shipped in over the past few years to accomplish this.

Saloon view of "Black Cat". Photo courtesy of What The Saints Did Next.

St Helena is the finishing point for the Governors Cup Yacht Race, sailed from False Bay Yacht Club in Simonstown on the western side of False Bay, South Africa, every two years. It was also the place to which Napoleon Bonaparte was banished for his second imprisonment. It was far enough away from anywhere else that he was not able to get up to any more mischief.

What The Saints Did Next is the blog for the island, which helps to keep the world up to date with whatever is happening on the island. The blog has a great post about "Black Cat" and her win in the most recent edition of the race. It includes an interview with the crew about the race and life aboard, as well as a bunch of really nice photos of "Black Cat" and crew.

I hope that I can be on "Black Cat" for her next voyage in this race. Visiting St Helena is on my bucket list as a place to visit. An ancestor of mine and the first Dix to settle in Cape Town arrived from St Helena. What he was doing there I don't know, possibly a soldier guarding Napoleon.

"Black Cat" is the prototype of my Didi 38 design and forerunner of all of my radius chine plywood designs. Visit our website at http://dixdesign.com for more info on my designs.

The 2014 Governor's Cup Race from Simonstown, South Africa, to the South Atlantic island of St Helena, is all done and wrapped up. The results have all been sorted and the crew of the Didi 38 "Black Cat" have been presented with the magnificent glass floating trophy.

Sophie Pages, owner Adrian Pearson, Cathleen Hughes, skipper David Immelman & Shaun Cooper

The race started out in strong conditions that stayed with the fleet for much of the race, then disappeared. In battling through the extensive calms, most of the racing division boats chose to use their motors and defaulted into the cruising division, inflating the cruising fleet and decimating the racing fleet. Those who stuck to the ideals of yacht racing under wind power alone are to be congratulated for staying there to the end. In doing this, "Black Cat" and her crew won both line honours and on handicap.

For those who wonder where this place is, St Helena is the island to which Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled in 1815 after being defeated at the Battle of Waterloo. He was interred there in a tiny home until his death in 1821. The island is home to a small population of "Saints" under a governor who answers to the government in Great Britain.

The Governor's Cup Race occurs each year in the Southern summer, except for years when there is a Cape to Rio Race. It starts in late December and finishes early January, after crossing 1720 miles of open ocean. In past years boats have been able to ship back to South Africa on the RMS St Helena, a combined cargo and passenger vessel that has been the major physical connection between the island and the outside world in the past. Now the island has an airport that is nearing completion and which will soon be operational.

RMS St Helena offloading cargo.

The RMS St Helena service will be cut back considerably now and shipping of boats back to Cape Town may not be possible. It will be interesting to see what effect this has on entries for the Governor's Cup Race in the future.

This is a worthy race to enter if cruising around the world and passing through Cape Town. Also for kicking off a long distance or world cruise with South Africa as departure. From St Helena, the next stop of the trans-Atlantic leg would likely be the island of Ascension, another weeks sailing NW of St Helena, then on to Fernando de Noronha and mainland Brazil.

I have not yet visited St Helena but it is high on my bucket list.