Smooth Sailing

Sailing News By A Sailor For Sailors!

 

In Association with:

 

 

Nelson Mandela Bay Isuzu Week

Craig Millar To Skipper Durban Clipper

HMYC Youth Regatta

RCYC Seniors Race

RCYC Lion of Africa Womens Day Race

Reward For Missing Sails

Active 15 Update

Notices of Race

Lost & Found

Classifieds

 

The 2005 Nelson Mandela Bay Isuzu Week ended a lot more quietly than it started. After the overly windy start to the week conditions moderated to allow for some decent racing to take place, especially on the last day of the regatta when the weather gods produced a nice building easterly breeze. Although it only kicked in at the last minute conditions for the final race of the regatta were superb with some fantastic racing taking place. It made for a fine end to the regatta. Hopefully that means that everyone who took part will go away with only good recollections of the regatta. Unfortunately the early part of the week didn’t provide the best of weather or racing. Tuesday, sadly, produced no wind, and consequently no racing.  By Wednesday the weather looked more promising but there was by now some urgency to get in races for the J22 class. It was just a little strange to me that the majority of the boats were kept on the moorings while the J22s were sent off to bob around on the windless ocean early in the day. They sailed one race in some pretty marginal conditions before the rest were called out and even then the conditions were pretty marginal. A light easterly breeze filled in nicely and allowed a pleasant race to be sailed. The J22s, who started ahead of the Class 1 boats, started a 3^rd race while the rest headed for home. Thursday saw another light easterly and one race for all but the J22s who got in two races. Friday however presented the best potential of all with the easterly predicted to build throughout the day. As it happened the wind came in much later than predicted but when it came it came well and built all afternoon. By the end of it the conditions were the best of the week with the wind peaking around 20 knots and a nice short chop offering the potential for the smaller boats to surf downwind. It really was excellent sailing! The results show pretty convincing wins in all classes with the exception of Class 1 where there was little to separate Bill Lee’s Farr 38 Chinook and Nicholas Mace’s Simonis designed ILC 40 Gumption. Chinook took it on IRC by 1 point while on the club PHRF system also in use Gumption enjoyed a 4 point win. Regardless of which set of results one looks at, and I know which one I pay any attention to, one thing is clear. The racing was good and both boats were sailed particularly competitively. Not that the others weren’t and there was some particularly good and close racing in all the classes. Those who took part would certainly have enjoyed most of the racing that they did. Unfortunately the weather didn’t always play ball throughout the week, which meant that there was less sailing that some might have liked. Off the water the vibe was good with plenty of partying in the bar and beer tent after sailing. I am sure that by the end of it everyone who took part went away happy and, with any luck, will be back next year. There is however plenty that the organisers can improve on and hopefully they will learn their lessons from this regatta and make the necessary changes for next year’s event. Unfortunately I didn’t see much of the Hobie 16 Nationals that were run in conjunction with, although almost entirely separately from the main regatta. Sailing off Hobie Beach from the PE Beach Yacht club and on a course closer to the shore. Ten races were sailed in the five days of this regatta. Conditions for most of the races were light with only the first three, and perhaps the final race sailed in the kind of breeze that most Hobie sailors look forward to. Particularly impressive was the number of new boats in the fleet with several sailors clearly putting together good campaigns for the 2005 World Championships that take place at this venue in October this year. Shaun Ferry made a blistering start to the regatta winning all three races on the opening day but battled to stay on form in the lighter conditions that prevailed for the rest of the week. This left the way open for the ever-consistent Blaine Dodds to record a comfortable win in the regatta. Two German and one Brazilian crew also took part in this event using it as a warm-up for the worlds. They will have been looking to gain some valuable local knowledge during the week. Top placed of them was Juliano Viana who placed 4^th overall. The winners by class were as follows:

 

 

The Full Results have been posted on the Smooth Sailing Racing Reports web page.

 

 

Well-known Durban Yachtsman Craig Millar has been appointed to skipper the yacht named after the City of Durban, in the Clipper 05-06 Race. This may in no small part be due to a well orchestrated e-mail campaign by PYC’s Commodore Gavin Smith and Manager Terry Flynn that saw the race manager’s mail box bombarded with e-mails requesting that Craig get the job! Craig will be skippering ‘Durban Clipper’, a 68-foot Dubois designed yacht that was built in China with a paying crew in what is said to be the world’s longest circumnavigation race. And this is no joke, but worth noting, the yacht was built at Shanghai, Double Happiness Yachts in China! She is one of ten identical yachts that will compete in the race that sets off from Liverpool in the UK later this year. Crews for each of the yachts will only be assigned on June 4 but all are amateurs who are paying for the privilege of racing sailboats around the world. Craig should however be well placed to deal with such a relatively novice crew having spent some time as a sailing instructor at the Ocean Sailing Academy in Durban. He is also a well known name on the local yachting circuit having won and competed in various national championship regattas in boats ranging from radio controlled classes to Hunters and J22s not to mention winning the odd race in the Lipton Cup regatta! We wish Craig well in this race and trust that we will see him and the ‘Durban Clipper’ first not just in Durban but all the way around the world! For more information visit www.clipper-venntures.com.

 

 

The Henley Midmar Yacht Club’s Youth Regatta took place recently on the expanded waters of Midmar Dam. By the sound of things it wasn’t the warmest regatta but the racing seems to have been good with 7 sailed during the course of the weekend. I am somewhat disappointed to see so few Dabchicks having turned out. That class really does seem to be being overrun by the Laser class as the moment but that’s a story for somewhere else sometime else. Mostly though, its good to see that there are kids sailing and racing and enjoying themselves doing it and that’s really all I want to see, no matter what they are sailing. Rob Walker sent us the following report on this event:

 

"There was a happy turnout of 16 Youth Lasers, 11 Optimists and 2 Dabchicks at the recent HMYC annual Youth Regatta recently. The 2005 event was the 4th since it's inception at the insistence of HMYC Commodore Reg Beavitt. Reg constantly reminds us that the future in sailing lies in promoting the youth sailors and remembers events in the past like the 1974 KZN Interschools where 70 double-handed Dabchicks participated. He was race officer at the time.

 

Conditions were mild and somewhat chilly with a light, variable 4 to 6 knot North Westerly breeze. The fleet set off on Saturday morning for an Olympic Triangular Course and separate starts for the Lasers, Dabchicks and Optimist Classes. It was immediately apparent that in the light conditions the Laser full rigs were going to dominate and this Sam Hancock did from the start winning both morning races in great style. Bryan Martin and James Hogg shared the follow up podium positions. Jessica Hogg dominated her lone opponent Dabchick, Dylan Evans and the 'no contest' was the way it was going to stay. In the Optimist Fleet it looked like Byron Gray was going to have a field day. He certainly had superior boat speed. Surprise of the day was superfast James Leigh, recently ex novices. He loaded a creditable string of thirds onto the board. Visitor Stewart Walker from Botswana had a ding dong battle to hold off Luke Vogelsang.

 

The afternoon’s racing was a bit more lively with the breeze getting up to 8 to 10 knots. Sam Hancock was still in top form and displayed some exciting tactics and speed but James Hogg managed put his first win on the board in the Lasers. Sadly local HMYC boy Luke Wagner had a bad race and this enabled Laser Radial sailor Stuart Purchase to go into an overnight lead in the smaller Radial rigs. Byron Gray in the Optimist fleet produced his second win easily putting him in overall lead.

 

Sunday dawned even colder! The fleet hung around 'till late morning when a steady 6-knot South East breeze filled in. James Hogg won all three races in the morning snatching victory from an unfortunate Sam Hancock on the count break to break the tie on points. Third overall was Bryan Martin followed by a persistent David Leigh. Young Paulo Marques opted to swap his Oppie for a Laser full rig and showed what the depth of training and experience he had gained in Optimists by getting a personal best of a 5th in his first race on a full rig Laser. Dylan Evans nearly caused Jessica to regret swapping for her boat but she managed to beat him by a small margin retaining her unbroken string of firsts in the Dabbies. Latecomer to the event was Oppie sailor Claire Walker who discarded her DNS and put two wins on the board. Byron had an unhappy dunking when he missed his foot straps costing him the regatta by one point. Third overall was Emma Walker whose one bad race pushed her down to Byron also by a mere point in the tense, tight racing.

 

It was a real pleasure to see the spirit on the water and the fun these guys were having made me yearn to join them. It was especially great to se the effort that Westville Boys High sailor Jean-Marc George had gone to, to introduce new sailors to the sport. These newbies were set afloat for the first time in Club 09ers and Mpumelelo Sithole persevered despite untold swims! Young Taylor Schwab proved beyond doubt that he could sail and was 1st 09er home overall.

 

Many thanks to Rescue crew Andy Gray & Mike Leigh also to Mark Layers Dave Wagner & Graham Keir. Andrew Walker and Judy Gray assisted on the Bridge.

 

The day ended with the Commodore Reg Beavitt and Vice Commodore: Youth Rob Walker taking the closing cruise salute. This is traditionally a wet affair and indeed the youngsters gave their flag officers a thorough dousing amid cries of three cheers. Rob took no prisoners and gave as could as he took. Reg Beavitt did the honours at a very congenial prize giving.”

 

The Full Results are posted on the Smooth Sailing Racing Reports web page.

 

 

The Royal Cape Yacht Club is celebrating its centenary this year and as part of their celebrations are hosting several events throughout the year. The first of there, which took place recently, was their Seniors Race. The following was received from Ron Keytel who has taken on the task of distributing information from RCYC recently:

 

“This unique event, in that it is one of the only sporting events where seniors citizens can compete amongst themselves on an equal basis took place last Saturday on Table Bay.

 

An entry of over 50 sailing yachts had been received, with most of the competitors in the 60 to 70 year of age category, over 15 competitors in the 70 to 80 age group, and even 1 competitor in the over 90 years of age group.

 

The format of the racing is a Pursuit Race were the slowest competitors start 1st at about 14h30, the hotshot boats will be starting at about 15h15.

 

The race itself was sailed in a pleasant South West wind of about 10 knots, the 1st yacht away was the Buccaneer of D Johnson at 14h30 and the last was the Reichel & Pugh Windsong sailed by Gerhard Koper at 15h01.

 

The eventual winner was the Benetau 47 sailed by Dave Abromowitz, which carved her way through the fleet to win by a couple of minutes. 2nd boat was UkuZwana sailed by C du Toit and 3rd Windsong. The handicapping of Dave

Smith was excellent but he felt the racing could have been even closer if the wind had not become lighter than expected Back at the Club the competitors enjoyed a free meal whilst prizes were handed out to every skipper. The other Trophy winners were Hein Skipper the over 90 year age group, Molly Warr the over 80 year age group, and Geoff Myburgh the over 70 year age group.

 

The Event was the 1st Race of the Club's Centennial Year Celebrations.”

 

 

More news from Royal Cape Yacht Club is that their Lion of African Insurance Company Women’s Day Race is due to be sailed this coming Saturday, the 7^th of May. For those interested in this event the following tells you pretty much all you need to know: 

 

“The sounds of women’s voices and laughter will dominate Royal Cape Yacht Club on Saturday 7th May when the annual Lion of Africa Insurance Company Women’s Day Yacht Race is sailed.  Now in its third year, the race was previously held on Women’s Day but due to the inclement weather experienced during the past 2 years; it was decided to move the date earlier in the year.

 

Only female skippers and crews are allowed to enter the race, which is a fairly familiar concept internationally but in South Africa, and even on the African continent, it’s the only race of its kind.  The skippers can enter their yachts in either a spinnaker or non-spinnaker class and instead of traditional silverware trophies, these ladies compete for beautiful limestone sculptures of women.

 

Introducing a race of this nature onto the sailing calendar is to encourage females to actively enter the sport of sailing and not merely view it as just a joy ride.  “While visiting Australia a few years ago I witnessed lots of all-female teams competing in yacht races and realised that we had to do something in South Africa to get more females involved,” advises Carol Middleton, from the RCYC Ladies Association and founder of the Women’s Day Race.

 

Royal Cape Yacht Club is fortunate to boast a number of accomplished female sailors and would like to see more female participation in local racing events.  The Club established an Academy to accommodate awareness of the sport and basic training to disadvantaged communities.

 

Fred Robertson, Chairman of Lion of Africa Insurance says:  “Lion is proud to support the race.  We view this as a commitment to helping women and female sailors from all walks of life empower and assert themselves in areas generally dominated by men”.

 

For more information, please contact::

 

Estelle Wilsnagh       Mango Marketing

082 381 6555            wilsnagh@telkomsa.net

 

Carol Middleton         RCYC Ladies Association

021 511 6742            info@vetus.co.za

 

Dee Siebert               RCYC Sailing Manager

021 421 1354            info@rcyc.co.za”

 

 

I hope that the following notice, which I have been asked to publish by Doug Harrowsmith, is the result of nothing more than an innocent mistake and that the Missing Sails will be returned shortly. If not then I hope that the criminal in question is cursed with the fleas of a thousand camels, or worse! If these sails have been stolen then all I can hope is that it’s not a yachtie who stole them. I would like to think that those of us who share this sport are of more sound moral fibre than one who would steal a suit of sails. I would also hope that we are all blessed with a little more mental capacity since it shouldn’t take a genius to work out that its highly improbable that one would be able to use these sails without a fellow yachtie of higher moral fibre and intelligence cottoning on!

 

REWARD

R500-00

 

A reward of R 500-00 is offered to the person offering information leading to the recovery of a new suit of sails removed from the boathouse store at Hermanus Yacht Club recently.

 

The suit of sails comprises a mainsail and jib cut from GP Dacron by North for the prototype ACTIVE 15 Club rig.

 

The sails were in a mid blue North sail bag bearing the words Active 15 Club below the central carrying handle.

 

Anyone knowing the whereabouts of the sails is asked to please contact Doug Harrowsmith on the following numbers:

 

Telephone:                    021-715 2531

Mobile:             082 461 2531

 

 

Anyone who isn’t familiar with what a suit of Active 15 sails look like, and everyone else who is at all interested for that matter, should check out the new Gallery of Images of 3 Active 15s Sailing at Hermanus recently. Three might not be many but it’s certainly the start of something. Personally I think that it is encouraging just to see 3 new boats of any kind on the water. That it is a new class is even better. Our sport is, and has for some time been, in desperate need of some revitalisation. I hope, as do those behind projects like the Active 15 and others that are on the go in SA at the moment, that these will prove to be the catalyst for this. We need to get new people on the water and I think that we have more chance of doing this with new boats and projects that catch the man in the street’s interest and imagination than we do trying to get long lost sailors back onto the water. As well as the pictures Doug Harrowsmith sent me the following update on the progress of the Active 15, which I thought I would publish as it is of general interest. To see the pics of the new boats, including the first composite hulled boat, go to www.smoothsailing/photos.asp/.  When sending me the pictures Doug had the following to say:

 

“You may notice that the folk sailing the boats are all 30/40/50 something: right on the nail for the target market for this rig. All individual crewmembers were +80kgs, with the exception of Lucas who weighted in at around 70kgs. Charles is probably the largest and is pushing 110.

 

Charles as you know is the flow dynamisist for the Shosholoza design team, had quite a lot to do with the decisions in designing the boats rigs and designed the profile for the foils. His take on the boats' handling was that it was the most balance dinghy he had sailed to date. [He owns a 505, 49er and Moth all of which he has sailed with some competence].

 

With more of the hulls on the water and Greg's Race 1 all but complete, we will be able to start finding out the true potential of the boat. Certainly all who have sailed her speak of the roominess and ease of tacking. BUT it is not all that forgiving. If you sail it well it goes fast; foul up and it stalls and slows; so you need to know a bit about sails & trim.

 

In fact unlike any other dinghy we have in the country at present.

 

The hull in composites [epoxy laminate on structural foam core with carbon and carbon kevlar hybrid weave strategic panels] is very rigid carries the rig well. Plenty of righting moment on the beam at deck level.

 

The regatta rig is a hiking version. The race 1 carries a single trapeze.

 

What I like about the folk that are coming into the class is that they tend to be technical and come from a background of sailing, having left it due to lack of interest in the hardware available.

 

Just, maybe, this will attract more such folk back into the sport and appeal to others who have looked at available dinghies and gone "Hmmmm, too forgiving/small ... " and walked away.”

 

 

 

Our Notices of Race page on the Smooth Sailing has all the NOR’s available to us. If you have a regatta coming up and would like to make the NOR available online then e-mail it to hethcot@iafrica.com and it will be posted and listed in this newsletter. To get your copy simply click on the name of the regatta you are interested in below:

 

 

LOST

 

Red Bethwaite Trapeze Harness

On Sunday after the Nine Hour race at HMYC

Contact: Roy Dunster

Cell: 083 6616 522

 

The Smooth Sailing Classifieds are a free service for private advertisers only. This service is not available to any commercial enterprise or service provider. To place an ad, e-mail the details to andrew@smoothsailing.co.za.

 

FOR SALE

 

C-Kayak

Rigged for fishing

R1 500-00

Contact: Craig Brown

Contact: 083 236 9696

Posted: 03/05/05

 

Galvanised Trailer for Hobie 16 or Dart

Not licensed but in good condition

In Mooi River

R3200.00 onco

Contact Heinz Venter

Phone: 033-263 2237 (Home)

Phone: 033-263 1252 ext 227 (Work)

Posted: 03/05/05

 

Optimist

Ideal for beginner

Wooden Dolly

Spare sail

Good condition

Ready to sail

R3 250-00

Contact Steve Jacobs

Cell: 083 376 1202

Posted: 03/05/05

 

Hobie 16

Good condition, ready to sail

No trailer

Choice of sails

R10 000-00

Cell: 084 611 4889

Posted: 03/05/05

 

Hobie 16

Good condition, ready to sail

Excellent Trailer

R13 000-00

Cell: 084 611 4889

Posted: 03/05/05

 

L26

Dry sailed

Ready to race

Good sails, road trailer, spare mast & numerous extras.

Contact Nigel Milln

Cell:  083 301 8423

Posted: 06/04/05

 

Contessa 35

Built by Jeremy Rogers

As "Bootlicker" and won a Fastnet race (1975) 

 Currently named "Odyssey".

Good sails. Engine needs some work.

US $34,900-00

Located in Luperon Bay in the Dominican Republic.

Contact: Gil McWhirter

E-Mail: mcwhirtergil@gmail.com

Posted: 06/04/05

 

 

WANTED

 

Nimbus 28/Trapper 28

Contact: Felix/Annett Groenwaldt

Cell: 083 389 4263

E-Mail: felix.groenwaldt@lgmsa.co.za
Posted: 03/05/05

 

Laser Mast Top Section

Contact: Louwrens Toerien

E-Mail: louwrens.toerien@za.didata.com 

Work: 021-659 4867

Home: 021-880 1749

Posted: 03/05/05

 

Gypsy Sails

Main and jib please.

Including battens in good condition.

Contact: Kevin Evans

Cell: 082 603 9229

Posted: 03/05/05

 

Cruising/Live On Board Yacht

Around 30-feet.

Around R150 000-00.

Contact: Arch Vermeulen

Phone: 021-940 3499

Cell: 083 284 3499

E-Mail: archiev@transtel.co.za

Posted: 03/05/05

 

Andrew Heathcote

andrew@smooothsailing.co.za

http://www.smoothsailing.co.za/

Mobile: +27 (0) 83 783 8805

 

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