Smooth Sailing
Sailing
News By A Sailor For Sailors!
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There
hasn’t been much racing in the America’s Cup for nearly a week now, frustrating
stuff if you have been getting up at two in the morning to watch it! As sailors
we often bemoan the lack of televised sailing, it’s fair to say that live
televised sailing is something that we rarely debate though because we so
rarely see it. Watching the progress of this America’s Cup though the reality
of just how difficult scheduling live sailing coverage on tv is dawned on me. Imagine
scheduling a rugby match that was delayed for five hours at a time for five
days before it finally got played. Millions of people watch tv for those five
hours if the race is on, hardly any if there is no wind and the boats are just
bobbing around with the AP up. Now imagine the headache for the tv execs trying
to sell ad space five hours of nothing happening, maybe, or, maybe something
will happen. Get the picture? I hope so, either way, the point is this, I think
that those of us sitting in our lounges watching ESPN at two in the morning
don’t know just how lucky we are that the good people at ESPN got it all
together to show us this broadcasters nightmare as it happens! It really is a
special thing to be able to watch and I trust that all of you out there with
DSTV in your homes are making the most of this very rare opportunity!
Still
on the same subject, TV, and I was pleasantly surprised to have been told by
more than one yachtie in the last week or so just how good the wrap-up program
on the Cape to Rio Race, screened on Supersport recently was. Sad to say that I
missed it myself, and in fact missed completely the fact that it was coming.
While the Rio Race may have had a few problems I think its fair to say that in
terms pf publicity it did really well, thanks in no small part to 5fm’s Mark
Gilman, and I am pleased to hear that their TV slots were no exception. So
often South African TV productions on sailing are an absolute shambles. Good thing this one wasn’t!
Marblehead
Interprovincial Regatta
Can you believe it, still no wind and no
racing in the 31st
America’s Cup Match!
Conditions on all the race days have been light and switchy and it seems that
the race committee is very reluctant to sail in these conditions. There is
loads of speculation flying around the place that the race officer is trying
his hardest to prevent Team New Zealand from having to sail in light
conditions, which they fear will benefit the Swiss. Whether this speculation
has any reasonable grounding or not remains to be seen but whatever the case
racing on any of the last three days would have been marginal anyway. Things
are looking up though and the forecast for tomorrow is for strong winds in the
order of 18 to 30 knots. Now the problem here for TNZ is that the last time
they sailed in these conditions the boat filled up with water and suffered
numerous breakages, hopefully this wont be the case tomorrow when they look
sure to sail in some fresh winds. Forecasters are predicting the same
conditions for Wednesday and Thursday in Auckland so there will be no respite
if it turns out that the windy conditions are not what they need. So, after
nearly a week, race four is scheduled to take place on Tuesday afternoon New
Zealand time. It will be televised live on ESPN, DSTV Channel 33 at 02:00
tomorrow morning, Tuesday, South African time. For more information visit the
America’s Cup web site at www.americascup.yahoo.com.
Ellen Macarthur’s Kingfisher 2 suffered a catastrophic dismasting in the
Southern Ocean this weekend when the rig of the giant cat came crashing down
during their Jules Verne Trophy Record attempt. The reason for the dismasting
was not immediately apparent and luckily none of the crew was hurt. In order to
prevent the broken spar from damaging the boat further it had to be cut away and
thrown overboard. The crew managed to save the boom and the bottom section of
the mast, a piece about 10 meters long. With these and their remaining
headsails they have managed to erect a jury rig and are now heading for
Freemantle in Western Australia. Reports from the boat indicate that the crew
are particularly gutted as they had felt that the weather was just starting to
be good to them again and that they were in with a good chance of breaking the
record and with Geronimo stuck in light winds off the coast of South America
the chances of bettering her time were also looking good. Kingfisher 2 now has
some 2000 miles to sail under jury rig before reaching Perth, a passage that
should take one to two weeks. Meanwhile Geronimo, while stuck in light air off
the South American coast, is still well ahead of the current record although
her lead is eroding quite rapidly in the light winds. She has a difficult few
days ahead of her as she negotiates her way north up the Atlantic and will be
trying to lose as little time as possible on the way. For more information
visit the Kingfisher web site at www.teamkingfisher.com or the Geronimo web site at www.grandsrecords.com.
Sunday’s
Rob Allen Memorial Race took place in the most pleasant of conditions offshore
Durban on Sunday. A flat sea with a small swell and a building easterly wind
greeted the fleet as the came out onto the open sea for the race. The
handicapped start saw some yachts starting as much as an hour and a half before
the serious racing guys with some of the slow boats somewhere in the region of
Virginia Airport when the racing boats came out the harbour mouth. The sky was
blue; the sea was clear and the water warm, what more can you ask for! The
course took the fleet down to a mark off the Umgeni River mouth and then off to
a mark off Virginia Airport. From there it was out to the Fairway marker and
then back into the Umgeni River mark before heading back to the finish. The
cruisers certainly benefited from their early starts and managed to hold their
lead all the way to the finish although there was some close racing amongst
them. The conditions really were perfect for the cruisers with a lot of tight
reaching on the course and a wind and sea state that allowed them to carry
their full sail areas. The racing fleet finished a little later surrendering
the podium places to the cruisers for a change. Once it was all over the
sailors returned to the club where they were greeted by some very friendly
young ladies handing out bitterly cold Sterling Lagers at the front door. The
veranda and lawns at the RNYC were packed and a very festive atmosphere
prevailed. Good sailing, good social, an all round perfect day! The top five
boats across the finish line were as follows:
1st Big Blue Stadt 34 Rory Simpson
2nd Chatur Theta Greg Challis
3rd Peperuka Shearwater 45 Willie Van Der Verre
4th Jambo Cutter Hank Walter Gaiser
5th Aquila Trapper 28 Phil Downing
Des Fairbank submitted
the following report on this weekends Marblehead Interprovincial held on Centurian Lake:
“Seven RSKZN Skippers travelled up
to Centurian for defence of the Annual Keith Mackey Interprovincial Trophy.
This is an event, which has been competed for between Transvaal and Natal since
1977. The trophy was donated by Keith Mackey a founder member of the original
MYASA and a dominant figure in Radio Sailing for many years until his death.
The event was
originally split into an individual
section to establish the team members and then a series of team races. It is
now only the individual section with the scores for an equal number of skippers
being added together. Sailing took place in extremely difficult light thermal
wind conditions. There were a total of 18 entries with 11 from Northvaal Radio
Sailing. It was decided under the conditions to sail two fleets resulting in 11
boat heats. Racing started at 13h30 on Saturday finishing at 17h00 after which
every one got together under the Centurian Lake Lappa and enjoyed some drinks
and a wors roll and salads. Sailing started again at 09h30 on Sunday with the
same wind conditions and the last and 10th race ended at 13h30. The results
were as follows:
1st Des Fairbank RSKZN 20
Points (3
first places)
2nd Shaun Carroll NRSC 20 (2 first places)
3rd John McKerchar NRSC 21
4th Gerard Ras NRSC 23
5th Bernie Warner RSKZN 40
At this
level it did not look good for RSKZN but the next four places were all RSKZN
and this helped RSKZN to a total of 360pts for its seven skippers against 378
for the top seven NRSC skippers. So once again RSKZN took the trophy home.
Despite the conditions the event was enjoyed by all with a lot of discussion
taking place over the ability to claim an overlap on a group of 10 boats a
situation which seemed to crop up regularly in the difficult wind conditions.”
The organisers of the 2003
Inhaca Island Easter Race, which is set to take place from the 18th
to the 21st of April, tell me that the fleet is already starting to
look quite good with firm commitments from several skippers. Seasoned Richard’s
Bay campaigner Kieron Moore will be on the start line with his Stadt 34, Mean
Time. Also firmly committed is Mike Scorer’s Money Penny, an L34. Both these
boats should be contenders for handicap honours but will be pushed hard by line
hounours contender Adios, a Fast 42 owned by Guy Goes, also from Richard’s Bay.
As far as the Durban boats go the organisers are expecting an entry from Robbie
Dove, presumably on his all conquering L34, Kindred Spirit, while Chris Frost
has also indicated that his Fast 42 Prodigy should be making the trip in which
case she will also be a strong line honours and handicap contender. So, already
it is looking like being a really good race with some interesting contenders
lining up. As well as the race there is also the holiday aspect of the event to
consider. There are certain to be a few cruisers heading up to the Island a week
or so before the regatta to enjoy the island life before heading back to
Richard’s Bay as part of the race. Mark Schoeman’s Wasabi, a Wild Cat, will be
one of these with this kind of boat ideal for cruising the islands around
Inhaca. Smooth Sailing will continue to keep you in the picture as the race
draws nearer but in the mean time if you want to download your copy of the
Notice of Race go to www.smoothsailing.co.za/inhaca03nor.html.
For those of you planning to take part in, or even who
are only vaguely interested in the 2003 Winter Flotilla Cruise don’t
forget that the first skippers meeting takes place at the RNYC tomorrow,
Tuesday night. The main speaker at this meeting will be Nuno Quartin who will
be leading the cruise up the coast. Nuno is a well-known sailor who is very
experienced in sailing this part of the coast line having grown up in
Mozambique where he spent a lot of his time sailing, diving and spear fishing.
He has an intimate knowledge of the coastline between Durban and Inhaca and
will be chatting to skippers about all sorts of details including where it is
planned for the flotilla to stop along the way. Even if you are not yet
committed to going on the cruise this is a good opportunity to meet some of the
people who are and hear all about it from the man who will be leading the way.
The meeting is set to take place at 18:00 and to confirm your attendance or for
any other queries please contact Rob Upton on 083 771 4187.
Some
time ago we ran a piece on South African Duncan Ross’s
undertaking to cross Drakes
Passage on a Hobie Cat. Well, I have
been keeping an eye on their web site, www.travessiadodrake.com.br for the last few weeks and can tell you that they
certainly seem to be having one huge adventure. Just before writing this I read
a description of a passage down the Antarctic coast in the full range of
conditions from dead calm to gale force with high winds and snow. While the
sailing sounds rugged to say the least the scenery and coastline that they are
encountering on their trip sounds absolutely amazing. I have found that the
English version of the web site can be a little confusing to navigate around
but if you find the way to their Log Book page you will find the most amazing
details of the trip. This is most definitely something out of the ordinary in
sailing terms. Not your average burn on a clear blue ocean on a Hobie 16! Have
a look at the site and see what it’s all about. I was impressed and am sure
that you will be too!
In the Around
Alone the first two boats
are now out of the Southern Ocean and making their way up the South American
coast. On board race leader Bobst Group Amor-Lux skipper Bernard Stamm has been
battling to sort out a problem with the canting keel. This has forced him to
throttle back a bit which will be worrying as second placed Solidaires has
sailed a more northerly course after rounding Cape Horn and could be looking
for a tactical advantage from this move. Over the weekend Solidaires has been
able to halve the lead and is making a strong challenge to break Stamm’s
winning streak. While Solidaires has been able to close the gap the rest of the
class one fleet continues to be left behind. Hexagon and Ocean Planet have both
suffered broken booms and are now making their way towards Cape Horn under
headsail only. Hexagon’s shore team is planning to meet up with the boat
shortly after she has rounded the horn to assist skipper Graham Dalton with a
repair. They are going to fit a carbon sleeve to the outside of the boom over
the area of the break. The positions on the water in both classes are as
follows:
CLASS 1:
1. Bobst Group-Armor Lux Bernard
Stamm 2718 miles from finish
2. Solidaires Thierry
Dubois 64 miles behind leader
3. Hexagon Graham
Dalton 562 mbl
4. Tiscali Simone
Bianchetti 565 mbl
5. Ocean Planet Bruce
Schwab 723 mbl
6. Pindar Emma
Richards 802 mbl
CLASS 2:
1.
Tommy Hilfiger Brad Van Liew 3684 miles from finish
2.
Everest Horizontal Tim Kent 515 mbl
3.
Spirit of Yukoh Kojiro Shiraishi 810 mbl
4.
BTC Velocity Alan Paris 1156 mbl
5.
Spirit of Canada Derek
Hatfield 1399 mbl
For more information and
daily position reports visit the event web site at www.aroundalone.com.
Ever
wonder what happens to those High Profile Boats that we have seen
competing in the Whitbread Race, previous America’s Cups and the like? Well,
mostly they carry on sailing I guess, it’s just that we don’t hear much about
them once the boats have changed from the hands of the rockstar yachties to
those of the mere mortals like you and me. Well, today I spotted one of those
famous old boats, La Poste, one of the last of the Whitbread maxi’s, advertised
for sail. She sailed in the last race in which the maxi’s competed, which was
also the first race in which the Whitbread, now Volvo 60’s appeared in 1993/94.
She didn’t win, that distinction went to her sister ship, New Zealand Endeavour,
but she sailed well and has an unforgettable look with her long overhanging
clipper bow. Interested? For more details including pictures of the boat go to http://www.boats.com/listing/boat_details.jsp?entityid=10735651. The price for this piece of history is a
mere US$520,000 but it will probably still get you to the front of most fleets!
The following Dart Catamaran was Stolen from
the Transvaal Catamaran Club. Should you come across it please contact John
Churchill on 072 171 2646 or at john.Churchill@ibuscon.co.za. Details of the boat are as follows:
Dart 18 Catamaran
Registration number: MWZ101
GP
VIN number: AAPV0079450011508
Colour: Grey
Distinguishing features: Bicycle
& Dolly Mountings, off road trailer
Tyres (no trailer box)
A couple of new Notices of Race have found their way into the
list today, most importantly the NOR for the prestigious Radio Controlled Laser KZN Champs. This regatta is to be sailed at the
Durban Radio Boat Club on the weekend of the 12 & 13th of April.
With a new batch of boats just having been imported and the fleet spreading
into Gauteng as well as a few Durban owners upgrading to new boats this could
be a very well attended and hard fought regatta. For more information download
your copy of the NOR from the link below or visit the RC Laser web site at www.rclaser.co.za or if the bug has really bitten and you
want to buy a boat and join in the fun contact Terry Flynn on 082 792 4642.
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 |
|
|
Henley Midmar Yacht Club |
1 & 2 March |
|
|
Sterkfontein Dam |
1 & 2 March |
|
|
Glendee
Yacht Club |
15 &
16 March |
|
|
Royal
Natal & Point Yacht Clubs |
March to
May 2003 |
|
|
The
Sailing Center, Simon’sberg Navy Base, Simonstown |
20 to 22
March |
|
|
Henley
Midmar Yacht Club |
20 to 23
March |
|
|
Club
Mykonos |
21 to 23
March |
|
|
Durban
Radio Boat Club |
12 &
13 April |
|
|
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.
J22
- "After Dark"
Sail # 183
Complete with 3 sets of sails and double axle trailer.
Competitive boat , 7th in CT worlds and
5th in PE worlds.
Price R80,000 onco.
Contact: Lance Burger
Cell: 082-890-9793
E-Mail: lanceb@gem.co.za
10% Shares in
Prout Cat
5 Shares Available
Totaling 50% of yachts
value
Well Appointed cruiser
Lying in Durban
Contact: Rob Black
Cell: 082 640 8731
E-Mail: jbtrade@yebo.co.za
Boat is sound but a
little heavy, excellent entry-level craft
Standard rig Tornado
with trailer and launching dolly.
Sport rig available at
additional cost
Contact: Gavin Davies
Cell: 082 447 6479
Work: 031-709 3879
E-Mail: gavin_davies@scottbader.co.za
WANTED
Conact: Andrew
Heathcote
Cell: 083 783 8805
E-Mail: hethcot@iafrica.com
Preferably
fibreglass
Price approx.
R2000.00 or less
Contact:
Mykee
Cell: 084 734
3309
E-Mail: mykee@mweb.co.za
Starter Boat
Reasonable condition
R4000/R4500 neg. once
viewed.
Preferably with Dolly
but no road trailer required.
Contact: Arthur
Bertram
Tel: 072 194 7337
Fax: 032-945 4778
Email: pbera05@kearsney.com
Preferably in Durban Area but not essential.
Andrew Heathcote
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 783 8805
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