Smooth Sailing
Sailing
News By A Sailor For Sailors!
In
association with Hood Sails, Royal Natal Yacht Club, Henley Midmar Yacht Club
, South African
Hunter Class Association and Sailing
KZN.
www.smoothsailing.co.za
It has been a busy day for Smooth
Sailing today and that was before I even got to the newsletter. There have been
loads of updates on the Smooth Sailing and Sailing KZN web sites with results,
loads of great pictures from the recent Sprog Nationals and the NOR’s for
several upcoming events being posted.
They are calling it the ‘Hula’ and it
could well be the most radical innovation in the America’s Cup since Australia
2’s winged keel stole the show way back in 1983. Team New Zealand stole the
show and upstaged the challengers on their unveiling day by unveiling both
their declared boats at the same time. As speculated on at length both of the
black boats came out of the water sporting what the public has dubbed the ‘Kiwi
Clip On’. The much talked about appendage clips onto the bottom of the hull a
meter or so back from the keel and runs back behind the rudder, effectively
adding to the length and volume of the boat. It is separated from the hull by
mere millimetres, a gap that must never close because the appendage is not
allowed to touch the hull. Neither of the challenger’s boats sported anything
quite as remarkable as the ‘Hula’ though both were slightly different in the
keel department. To see more for yourself take a surf past the Louis Vuitton
Cup web site at www.louisvuittoncup.yahooo.com.
RNYC Sunsail
Series For Dinghies
Sunday
Afternoon On The RNYC Lawns
JJ Giltinan
Trophy For 18-Foot Skiffs
The Durban Sailing Season
recommences after the Xmas recess with Dinghy Racing getting underway in the bay
again this coming Saturday afternoon.
This will be in the form of the final rounds of the RNYC’s Sunsail
Series.
Racing is set to start at 14:00 and will take place on the deepwater course
with two races scheduled for the afternoon. After a strong turnout at their
recent nationals rumour has it that the Sprog class are going to be resurgent
and well represented on the bay for the rest of the season. With exams and
other distractions out of the way it also looks like we are going to be seeing
more 29ers out on the water from this weekend onwards. After sailing on
Saturday the prize giving for the series will be held in the Foredeck Bar area
at RNYC. Snacks will be served to feed the appetites of the hungry sailors
after a good afternoons racing and it should turn into a good all round party
in true RNYC style! See you there.
While there is no organised
sailing this coming Sunday there certainly is an organised afternoons
entertainment down at RNYC. Sunday afternoon on the lawns looks like the place
to be to take advantage of the brilliant summer weather and the create social
atmosphere that the club offers. Braai fires will be on the go with braai packs
and salads available in addition to the regular menu and live music will be
provided by Ricky McGregor. For more details contact Nicky at RNYC on 031-301
5425. Remember, you don’t have to be sailing to make the most of your club
faciltities!
The RC Laser fleet will be back in action this week with their
Summer Series continuing down at the pond from this Thursday onwards. Racing is
set to start at 17:30 and will no doubt attract the normal good turnout of
boats and sailors. And remember, if you are not sailing you can still pop in
for a few beers and watch the action. For more information on RC Laser sailing
visit the class web site at www.rclaser.co.za.
A fairly large South African contingent has travelled to the
small Australian island of Tasmania to compete in the 2003 Mirror World
Championships.
The regatta takes place on the Derwent River, best known in yachting as the
finish for the Sydney to Hobart Race. Mirror sailors have been gathering in
Hobart since the New Year with the Australian Championships having started on
the 4th. This regatta continues until Wednesday the 8th
however Tuesday and Wednesday’s sailing also counts towards the Pre-Worlds
regatta and should see a far greater number of boats on the water than has been
the case in the previous two days. The regatta has a very good web site that
you can find at www.mirrortas.org.au. In addition the South
African team have their own e-mail address, rsamirror@hotmail.com so if you want to send them
god luck wishes or any other comments this is the way to do it. We will update
you on the teams results in the Pre-Worlds in Friday’s newsletter.
Following up on Fridays article on the Australian Tasar
Nationals in which well known former Durban sailor, now resident in
Asutralia, Derick Warne was competing with his wife Gwen, I can report that a
good fifth place in the final race saw them improve their overall position.
They finished off ninth in the fifty five boat fleet which sounds like a pretty
good result to me! For the full results visit the regatta web site at www.tasarvictoria.asn.au/nationals/.
In the JJ Giltinan Trophy Championships for 18-foot
skiffs Clynton Wade-Lehman has had a slow start on board Sunday
Telegraph. A ninth in race one was not bad at all in the tough twenty eight
boat fleet but unfortunately they followed this up with a DNF in the second
race. This leaves them a long way down the standings but it is a long regatta
and you can bet that most will have their setbacks before the end and I am sure
that Clynton’s position will improve. You can follow the action on the 18-foot
skiff web site at www.18footers.com.au.
The first batch of boats, the slower and in some cases very
small cruisers, started the SAP Cape To Rio Race on Saturday, a
week in advance of the main fleet who will start this coming Saturday, the 11th.
Early on there was some drama when a crewmember on the Brazilian entry
Acalantis had to be taken ashore after severely lacerating three of his
fingers. The yacht carried on without him so he will have to find his way to
Rio by jumbo jet! On the second day of sailing I was surprised to see that the
yacht, which had done the most mileage was the small RCOD, Suidoos 2. She
continues to lead on the water from many far bigger boats and it will be
interesting to see if she can maintain this pace for the rest of the race. Conditions
so far sound like they have been a little rough however as the fleet eases its
way away from the coast and into the depths of the Atlantic they are bound to
ease somewhat and make for a pleasant sail, at least I hope that this is the
case for all involved! Unfortunately there will be no live television coverage
of the main start on Saturday however there will be a highlights package
screened on Supersport on Sunday the 12th of January at 18:00. To
keep and eye on what is happening with this race in the week before the start
visit the race web site at www.capetorio.org.
The Around
Alone Race leader, Bobst
Group Amor-Lux looks set to arrive in New Zealand sometime on Thursday evening.
Looking through the standings there seems to be very little in the way of close
racing going on and it is alla bit pedestrian in both classes. For more
information including the latest reports from the boats visit the race web site
at www.aroundalone.com. The current standings are as follows:
Class 1:
Bobst Group Amor-Lux 0 365
Soldaires 486 852
Hexagon 719 1085
Tiscali 806 1172
Pindar 1082 1448
Ocean Planet 1178 1544
Class 2:
Tommy Hilfiger 0 1642
Everest Horizontal 672 2315
Spirit of Canada 906 2549
Spirit of Yukoh 1063 2705
BTC Velocity 1655 3298
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:
Regatta Venue Dates
Western Cape Points Series Various WC Dinghy Clubs September 2002 to
March 2003
KZN Optimist Grand Prix Series Various KZN Venues November to
January
Sailing KZN Blue
Water Challenge Various KZN
Clubs December
2002 to July 2003
2003 Cape to Rio Race Royal Cape Yacht Club 11 January
Port Owen River
Race Port
Owen 25
January
Round The Island Race Lake Denys Yacht Club 1
& 2 February
NNYU Interclub Challenger –
Leg 4 Glendee Yacht Club 15 & 16 March
Hunter Nationals Henley Midmar
Yacht Club 20 to 23 March
MACS 24 Hour Challenge Milnerton Aquatic Club 21 & 22
March
IRC KZN Champs
(Announcement) Zululand Yacht
Club 21
to 23 March
Western Province Dinghy
Champs Saldahana Bay 18 to 21
April
The Classifieds has been updated on the Smooth Sailing web site. Take a surf past to see what is for sale or sought after in the wanted column. To place an ad, e-mail the details to hethcot@iafrica.com.
One trailer
with box
New mast, sails
and standing rigging
R17 000-00 ONCO
Contact: Tim
Two Laser
Rudders & Mast
Also Second hand sails
For Michaelhouse
sailing club
Contact: Rainer von Schlichting
E-Mail:
raisch@mhs.kzn.school.za
Complete, in good
condition & on road trailer
Preferably fiberglass
‘wide hull’
JHB or Northern OFS
Contact: Jeff Dell
Cell: 082 707 7166
E-Mail: jeffm_d@hotmail.com
Andrew Heathcote
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 783 8805
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Please note that the views
contained in this newsletter are those of the authors concerned and in no way
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