Racing traditional Tanzanian fishing boats in tropical waters may sound idyllic, but the Kraken Cup is anything but
“This is probably the most extreme and uncomfortable sailing I’ve ever done,” says Simon Walker. “And I have sailed twice the wrong way around the world, 17 times across the Atlantic. I’ve sailed to the Arctic, the Antarctic – so that’s quite something when you’re in an absolute tropical paradise of clear blue skies and seas.”
Walker is describing the Kraken Cup, formerly known as the Ngalawa Cup, a unique adventure sailing race held off east Africa in the traditional Tanzanian fishing boats called Ngalawa.
The premise of the race is simple, but punishing. Teams of three charter a Ngalawa and race it over seven days and multiple stopovers for about 180 miles across the Zanzibar archipelago, pitching camp at each stop. Crews are banned from sailing past nightfall, but the days are long. At the end of each day’s racing the crews drag their boats up the beach and sleep on the sand or in a hammock slung wherever they can find.
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