The wind died a few minutes after the start gun was fired for the McIntyre Mini Globe 5.80 round-the-world race Leg 4 in Cape Town.
However, race rules allow these plywood home-built 19-footers, five minutes after the start to use their 1000W electric engines. The wind was just two miles to the west and visible on the horizon. It was not due to arrive for a couple of hours. So the majority of the fleet motor-sailed Northwest at 2–3 kts.
Cork Harbour's Jakub Ziemkiewic sailing Bibi waited for the wind, deciding not to motor. However, after 20 minutes, he changed his mind!
Jakub did not have his engine fitted to the stern. No wind came, so he fitted the engine and followed the others for an hour of motoring at 2–3 kts.
The fleet of 11 boats from the original 15, which started a year ago from Portugal, is now headed for St. Helena. After an 8-day ‘pit stop’, they will sail onto Recife in Brazil for another ‘pit stop’ and then start Leg 5 to the finish at Antigua of the total 24,300 nautical miles race. The first yachts are predicted to reach there from March 23 next.
In the MGR rules, the 1000Watt engines can be run on the course, but with limited battery capacity, they cannot go far. “The MGR has been the ultimate test bed for electric motors. Many have failed,” according to the race organisers.
Late Monday night, after 36 hours since Sunday afternoon’s start, the fleet was reported to have covered about 150 nautical miles in good wind conditions.
