Because we are unable to accept this commission to write the piece a PR agency is now on the hunt for one journalist with a love of sailing to feature the ultimate Christmas getaway…racing across the South Atlantic Ocean to St Helena – billed as one of the world’s most remotest and extraordinary islands.
The 2012 Governor’s Cup Race is one of the world’s most unusual sailing races. Taking place every two years, the route covers some 1,700 miles from Cape Town to St Helena. This year the race departs on 22 December from False Bay Yacht Club in Simon’s Town, South Africa, with the competing yachts arriving in Jamestown, St Helena in early January.
Unusually, the only way for the race crew to leave the island again is either by yacht (with a difficult into the wind sail back to South Africa, or to carry onto Brazil and the Caribbean), or as passengers on one of the last remaining Royal Mail Ships, the RMS St Helena. This five day journey, which will also carry back many of the competing yachts in the ship, arrives back in Cape Town on 16 January.
In addition to carrying passengers, the RMS St Helena is a lifeline to the island, bringing the mail as well as vital supplies from vehicles to Christmas turkeys!
St Helena is billed as the world’s most extraordinary island; ‘an emerald set in bronze’, which describes the lush interior against the rocky coastline. Just 10.5 miles long by 6.5 miles wide, this sub-tropical island has a unique bio-diversity with landscape ranging from lush vegetation to desert and from rocky coastline to imposing cliffs.
The island has many endemic and endangered species of wildlife and plants, from the world’s rarest tree the ‘Bastard Gumwood’ to the world’s oldest known land animal, a rare Seychelles Giant tortoise called Jonathan, estimated to be over 175 years old.
The island has many endemic and endangered species of wildlife and plants, from the world’s rarest tree the ‘Bastard Gumwood’ to the world’s oldest known land animal, a rare Seychelles Giant tortoise called Jonathan, estimated to be over 175 years old.
Historians will know the island as the place where Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled and died, and astronomers will know it’s famed for its extreme dark skies, enabling up to 1,000 stars to be viewed at one time. Its temperate seas offer outstanding fishing for tuna and blue marlin, its location makes it a safe haven for round the world sailors, and its landscape and climate attracts walkers and runners for the island’s annual festival of running in June 2013.
The Governor’s Cup race started in 1996 as a bi-annual event and the number of boats taking part has steadily grown as news of this unique race has spread. Over 25 boats have already registered for 2012 and it is now claimed to be an entry on many sailor’s ‘bucket list’
This year the race is being supported for the first time by Enterprise St Helena, which promotes the growth of economy of St Helena through the development of existing businesses and the promotion of the island to new investors and developers. With the opening of the island’s airport due by late 2015, it is anticipated that tourism, and marine tourism in particular, will be a key economic driver for the island and its community.
The PR agency is looking for just one experienced sailor and travel writer to have the opportunity to compete in this unique race, and travel back on the ship RMS St Helena to Cape Town.
The chosen person will need to be have the time free from 20 December 2012 to 16 January 2013, and anyone interested in applying should contact us