Smooth Sailing
Sailing
News By A Sailor For Sailors!
In
Association with:
Monday’s
Editorial got a number of interesting responses which have now bee posted on
the Smooth
Sailing Letters
to the Editor page. It is clear from these letters that my
thinking on the benefit of more socially inclined events was spot on and that
more of these on the calendar can only be a good thing. Then I got to think
about the kind of events that can fill this role and the HMYC 9-Hour Race
sprang to mind.
This
is the perfect event; it is a race, but also a great social affair. There is
more emphasis on having fun, effecting neat changeovers without falling in the
water and enjoying the atmosphere of one of the best club’s in the country. To
sail this race you need a boat, 2 crews since a minimum number of changeovers
need to take place, and the desire to go out and have a lot of fun. The race
takes place on a course around the dam, almost all of which is clearly visible
from the club. This makes the event a great spectacle as well as a great race.
Like the RTIR you don’t need to be an out and out racer though and there should
again be a good mix of boats from the very high tech to the plain old slow and
social. Being handicapped though it is a race that anyone can win so being too
social is not necessarily a problem.
Last
year’s 9-hour race was a great event with a large entry and a call to the
organisers has revealed that this years event should be as good if not better.
Plans are already well advanced and in fact 32 entries have already been
received. The race is set to take place on Saturday the 3rd of May.
Once again the regatta organisers will make use of a marquee in the car park
area and it is here that the Friday night SAB sponsored pre-race party will
take place as well as the prize giving on Saturday evening after the race. On
Saturday morning prior to the start of the race a free breakfast will again be
served to all the competitors while there will be full and very good catering
at the club throughout the day.
For
more information on this race including a copy of the Notice of Race and Entry
form go to http://www.geocities.com/hmyc_racing/9hr.html. Smooth Sailing will keep you updated as the race
draws nearer and will definitely be there to report on it afterwards, I hope
that you are all there to sail though!
PYC Congella Series For Keelers
Sunday
Afternoon On The RNYC Lawns
Greenlight
KZN L26 Training Weekend
Your Weekend Weather according to the South African
Weather Service will be as follows:
Durban & Richard’s Bay: Saturday will be hot and humid at 29 degrees with a
partly cloudy sky, which will become progressively cloudier throughout the day.
There is a 40% chance of rain and thundershowers during the afternoon and
evening. The wind will be a light northeasterly becoming a moderate
southwesterly later in the day. Sunday will be cloudy and cool at 24 degrees
with occasional rain. The wind will be a moderate to fresh southerly.
Midmar: Saturday will have a maximum temperature of 27 degrees with
a partly cloudy sky becoming progressively cloudier throughout the day. The
temperature should drop during the afternoon and there is a 50% chance of
thunderstorms followed by rain later in the day. The wind will be a moderate
southerly. Sunday will be cloudy and cool at 21 degrees with a 30% chance of
drizzle. The wind will be a moderate southerly.
Vaal Dam: Saturday will be hot at 32 degrees with a partly cloudy sky
and a 20% chance of afternoon thunderstorms. The wind will be a light
northwesterly becoming southwesterly in the afternoon. Sunday will be partly
cloudy with a maximum temperature of 29 degrees and a 20% chance of afternoon
thunderstorms. The wind will be a light northerly.
Cape Town: It will be 26 degrees on Saturday with partly cloudy skies
clearing throughout the day. The wind will be a strong southeasterly. Sunday
will be warmer at 28 degrees with clear skies although there will be cloud on
the mountains. The wind will be a strong southeasterly.
Tomorrow, Saturday, is set to be the second round of
the PYC Dinghy Class Champs. For some inexplicable reason last weekends first
round did not take place, which means that this weeks will in fact be the first
round. Now racing is set to take place on the deepwater course with two races
scheduled for the afternoon. Don’t take my word for it though, if you want to
be sure I suggest you contact Seton Thompson at PYC on 031-301 4787.
On Sunday PYC are running
the second round of their Congella Series for
Keelers. This round is in the form of a
there and back race which will take the fleet to a mark in the region of
Umghlanga and back. The cats have a long haul scheduled so I imagine that they
will be joining in from the beach. The race should start at 11:00 off Addington
beach. Again, for more information, I would suggest that you contact the club
on the number above.
The Junior Class Champs did however take place last Saturday with two races
being sailed for the Optimist class. Racing for them will continue this
Saturday afternoon with another two or maybe even three races scheduled to take
place after the morning training session, which is scheduled to start at 10:00.
The results after last week’s two races are as follows:
1st
Rudi McNeil 2 Points
2nd
Jessica Hogg 4
3rd
CJ Despy 6
For more
information on junior sailing in Durban contact John Marshall at jon@enviroconsult.co.za.
On Sunday afternoon the RNYC Lawns, as usual, look
like the place to be for a bit of relaxed entertainment and a fine lunch. There
will be live entertainment by Ricky McGregor with braais, braai meat and all
the necessary trimmings available. So, don’t miss out, this is by far the best
way top spend a Sunday afternoon in Durban. See you there!
Next Friday is Valentines Day, I only note this so clearly so that I don’t forget
myself, something that I am prone to doing! Now I know that most sailors have
much the same problem but RNYC has a solution that combines two good things,
time at your yacht club, and a romantic little dinner for two which should go
down a treat with your loved one! In the Britannia Room there will be a special
Valentines Day Buffet. While you are there why not try out one of the fantastic
new cocktails now on the menu. Colorful, tasty and definitely out of the
ordinary they are definitely worth trying. Numbers are strictly limited so make
sure that you get your table booked early, now is a good time to do it! Make
your booking by contacting Nicky on 031-301 5425.
Next Sunday, the 16th of
February, the biggest cat event of the year will be taking place when the
annual Hobie Indaba Day takes
place at the PYC Beach Site at Vetch’s Pier. The aim of the day is to get as
many cat and cat sailors on the beach for the day. This creates not only a great spectacle with so many brightly
coloured sails on the beach but also a whole load of interest in the sport and
gets some old sailors and boats out of the woodwork. There must be hundreds of
beach cats lying around in people’s gardens, not only Hobies but also Halcats
and Darts. Hopefully some of those old sailors and boats will get into the
swing of things and come back for more throughout the rest of the season. During
the day there will be some informal handicap racing, beach games and prizes for
the oldest boat on the beach and more interestingly the oldest sailing t-shirt
on the beach. While all this is going on the bar will be open with cold beer
and hot food on sale. All in all it should be a great day. For more information contact Lorraine
Duggan-Jones on O82 664 8555 or Ed Page
on 082 422 8464.
In the build up to the 2003
Inhaca Island Easter Race we have now added
the details of the Inhaca Race Record to the Records page of the Smooth Sailing web site. The record was set in
the 2001 race when the fleet started in a 15 knot north easter, perfect
conditions for this race. Setting the pace early on was Guy Goes’ 17 year old
50 foot Jeanneau, “Parole”. This 17-ton yacht stormed away from the fleet in
the hard running conditions. When ‘Parole’ was off Cape St Lucia the easterly
died and a fresh westerly of around 30 knots came through. From then on it was a
tough upwind slog into the westerly until Richard’s Bay. So, the record could
have been a whole lot lower if it weren’t for the onset of the dreaded
westerly. While the easterly was still blowing ‘Parole’ recorded a top speed of
14 knots, one, which the current generation of Fast 42’s will easily beat. With
a god few of these boats around this is a record which is easily attainable,
the only question is who of the Fast 42 owners will be the one to claim this
record?
The provisional
final results of the SAP Cape To Rio Race have now been
released and they confirm the Gauteng entry Baleka, as the overall winner. The
prize giving for the race takes place at the Rio Yacht Club this evening,
Friday, and after that it’s all over. Ten boats failed to make the finish
before the cut-off time on Wednesday however it is expected that all of them
should have made Rio by the time the giving takes place this evening. That so
many failed to make the cut off is indicative of the extremely light conditions
experienced on this year’s race. For a final update and the full results, visit
the race web site at www.capetorio.org. The top five
positions, provisionally on IRC, are as follows:
|
Position |
Yacht
Name |
Yacht
Type |
Skipper |
Elapsed
Time |
|
1st |
Baleka |
Fast 42 |
Alec
Schon |
21 Days,
21 Min & 52 Secs |
|
2nd |
Madiba
Racing Team |
Leisure
42 |
|
20 Days,
13 Hours, 57 Min & 9 Secs |
|
3rd |
Investec |
Fast 42 |
Sean
Cummings |
22 Days,
1 Hour, 33 Min & 39 Secs |
|
4th |
Diel |
|
Bernard
Diebhold |
20 Days,
7 Hours, 49 Min & 25 Secs |
|
5th |
VCR 90.6
FM |
Gitana 43 |
Gerrie
Boshoff |
24 Days,
30 Min & 58 Secs |
Down in the depths of the southern ocean
Geronimo, Olivier De Kersausan’s giant trimaran, is battling ferocious weather
conditions on Jules Verne
Trophy attempt. Huge seas
and high winds have meant that the crew are sailing in survival mode, just
trying to keep the boat upright and in one piece. In these huge seas any
attempt to go too fast will more than likely result in a capsize, something
which it is fair to say would be pretty terminal for this voyage. The tough
conditions are expected to last for most of the weekend before the team can
wind the boat back up to full speed. However they do remain over three days
ahead of the previous record set by Orange, and have set a new record from
Ushant to Cape Leeuwin of 26 days, 4 hours and 53 minutes. Meanwhile on
Kingfisher things are altogether different as they struggle with light air and
high temperatures in the region of the equator. The information and in
particular the pictures coming off Kingfisher are fantastic and it is well
worth a trip to their web site to see exactly what is going on. This sort of
coverage really does give an amazing insight into the daily life on a boat such
as this. Take the time to check it out if you have the chance! Kingfisher
remains fairly slow by comparison to Geronimo and is quite some time behind her
at this stage in the passage. She has however got ahead of the time set by
Orange and still has plenty of distance left to make inroads into Geronimo’s
lead. For more information visit the Kingfisher web site at www.teamkingfisher.com or the Geronimo web site at www.grandsrecords.com.
Oops, small error in the last Smooth
Sailing, the Greenlight KZN
L26 Training Weekend is
in fact taking place next weekend from the 14th to the 16th
of February. Commencing on Friday evening the weekend will involve both on and
off the water session conducted by Dave Hudson and Rick Nankin. The weekend is
aimed at helping the more serious L26 crews get onto the pace with Lipton 2003,
which is being sailed in Durban in July, in mind. For more information contact
either Rick Parker on 072 244 4548 or Chris Rudham on 082 5723 201.
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 |
|
Various
WC Dinghy Clubs |
September
2002 to March 2003 |
|
|
Various
KZN Clubs |
December
2002 to July 2003 |
|
|
Club
Mykonos |
21 &
22 February |
|
|
Henley Midmar Yacht Club |
1 & 2 March |
|
|
Glendee
Yacht Club |
15 &
16 March |
|
|
Henley
Midmar Yacht Club |
20 to 23
March |
|
|
Club
Mykonos |
21 to 23
March |
|
|
Milnerton
Aquatic Club |
21 &
22 March |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Saldahana
Bay |
18 to 21
April |
|
|
Inhaca
Island to Richard’s Bay |
18 April |
|
|
Henley
Midmar Yacht Club |
26 to 28
April |
|
|
Henley
Midmar Yacht Club |
3 May |
|
|
Zululand
Yacht Club |
14 to 16
June |
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.
Cell: 082 564 4037
‘Getafix’
22 Foot Sport boat
Lively performer under
asymmetrical kite
In good sailing order
On road trailer with
new axel
Price Negotiable
Contact: Graham Rose
Cell: 083 251 0485
E-Mail: grose@pixie.co.za
Overhauled in 2001
Rigged for racing
New Hood Sails
New Ronstan Deck Gear
R21 000-00
(Negotiable)
Contact: Kathy Manten
Cell: 083 632 1963
E-Mail: manten@lantic.net
WANTED
To be used
for diver training purposes.
No motors
required.
Will collect
if still accessible on site.
Contact:
Grant Trebble
Cell: 083 446
1447
E-Mail: gtrebble@iafrica.com
With lifting keel or
centerboard
On trailer.
About 20 foot.
Contact: Max Ozinsky
Cell: 082 414 7147
E-mail: maxo@anc.org.za
With trailer, turbo
Kit
And all necessary accessories
for fun sailing.
Contact: Chris Oberem
Cell: 082 373 2397
(JHB)
E-Mail: Chris@demaplastech.co.za
Needed urgently
Suitable for a
Fireball dinghy
For the Round The
Island Race.
For sale or on loan
Contact: Jeff Dell
Cell: 0827077166
E-Mail: jeffm_d@hotmail.com
Andrew Heathcote
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 783 8805
This newsletter is
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that which may be of interest to yachtsmen.
Please note that the views
contained in this newsletter are those of the authors concerned and in no way
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