Smooth Sailing
Sailing
News By A Sailor For Sailors!
In
Association with:
Sailing In Durban This Weekend
McCarthy
Toyota Inhaca Island Easter Race
Your Weekend Weather according to the South African
Weather Service looks like it will be as
follows:
Durban & Richard’s Bay: Saturday will be 30 degrees and sunny becoming
cloudy during the day with a 30% chance of evening showers. The wind will be a
moderate northeasterly but will turn to a moderate southwesterly late in the
afternoon. Sunday will be 28 degrees and cloudy with a 20% chance of light
occasional rain. The wind will be a light easterly that will become a moderate
northeasterly by the afternoon.
Midmar: Saturday will be 29 degrees and sunny but will
become cloudy later in the day. The
wind will be a moderate westerly. Expect overnight mist and drizzle. Sunday
will be 26 degrees and cloudy becoming partly cloudy later in the day. The wind
will be a light northeasterly.
Vaal Dam: Saturday will be 30 degrees and sunny with a light
southwesterly wind blowing. Sunday will be 31 degrees and sunny with the wind
still from the southwest.
Cape Town: Saturday will be 23 degrees with light morning and
evening showers and with a moderate westerly wind blowing. Sunday will be 25
degrees and partly cloudy with a 20% chance of morning showers. The wind will
be a fresh southwesterly.
The Sharks take on the Hurricanes at the Absa Stadium in Durban tonight in
their fourth Super 12 game of the season. On the whole the Sharks have
performed poorly this season with only one win in the three games. Playing at
home it is essential that they win tonight, and not just win but play some
convincing rugby in doing so. With injuries and suspensions keeping several
players out of tonight’s game it will take a big effort from the players on the
field to put on past the Hurricanes tonight. The game kicks off at 19:10 and
will be televised live on Supersport.
As far as Sailing In Durban is concerned this weekend it’s an all PYC
weekend with dinghy and keeler racing being run by PYC. Saturday’s Dinghy
Racing is in the form of the PYC’s Challenge Series. This will take place in
the bay starting at 14:00. On Sunday and is an all classes handicap event which
should produce some interesting results. The only other handicapped dinghy
racing we have are the pursuit races. Sunday’s keeler racing is the Sigma
Series 2. This round the cans racing will start offshore at 11:00.
Also on Sunday the RNYC are running a Rescue Rally in the bay. Despite the name this is not
an event limited to rescue teams but rather and event that the rescue teams can
participate in rather than just watch as they usually do. This is a fun event
in which competing teams will follow a course of cryptic clues around the bay.
It is open to all sail or power boats although I would think that motoring
around would be a lot easier than sailing around while trying to apply your
mind to the cryptic problems. The event will start at 12:30 with a briefing at
the club and there is an entry fee of R10-00 per person. The prize giving will
take place on the RNYC lawns later in the afternoon where the regular Sunday
afternoon braai and entertainment will be on the go.
For those of you planning to head off on the Inhaca Island Flotilla Cruise Nicky at the RNYC would like you to
contact her on 031-301 5425 regarding getting your Mozambiquan Visas. Remember
that these are an essential item for anyone heading to that part of the world,
don’t leave here without one!
Same place, different event, don’t forget
that as of today there are only 14 days until the early entry deadline for the McCarthy Toyota Inhaca Island Easter Race. This is not something that you want to miss as the entry fee goes
up considerably after this date. If you still haven’t got your copy of the NOR
for the event get it off the Smooth Sailing
Notices of Race page. The McCarthy Toyota Inhaca Island Easter Race is
supported by Bay Marine Tools, Plannet Communications and Pro Blast and PJ
Painters.
Your
final chance to put in some practice for the 2003 Hunter Nationals is this Sunday when HMYC will be running a pursuit race on
Midmar Dam. This race will start at 11:00 with a pre-race briefing at 10:00 and
should see pretty much every HMYC Hunter sailor as well as a few visitors out
on the water. This is your last chance
to get in some competitive practice ahead of the big event. While those who
have been a bit slack will still be working to get their boats up to speed the
rest will be carefully sussing out the windshifts and working out their
tactical options for the big regatta next weekend. For more information on the
Hunter Class visit www.hunterclass.com.
Wednesday
Evening’s Fun Racing in Durban was once
again well supported this week with a turnout of 21 cruising boats and 6 racing
boats on the start line. This despite a howling northeaster that really was a
lot fresher than most of us expected. Despite the breezy conditions there were
very few who headed for home although I note from the results sheet that there
were one or two retirements. The up side of the breezy race was that everyone
got around the course in good time with the fleet finishing two full laps
pretty much at sunset. Only the slower racing boats seemed to be still racing
in darkness. Back at the club the Bavaria girls did well to feed everyone up
with a good quantity of the sponsors brew and I think it is fair to say that
they are welcome back any time. While the full results are posted on the Smooth Sailing Racing Reports page for those of you who want to analyse the times and
handicap performances, the top three places in both classes were as follows:
Cruising Class:
1st Cracker L26 Andrew Murray
2nd Four Play
3rd Aquilla Trapper 28 Phil Downing
Racing Class:
1st Shearwater Simonis Cat Richard Jacob
2nd Bandit Simonis Cat Peter Latter
3rd Wombat Fast
42 Neil Tocknell
An interesting little Yacht Security Device is newly on the market in South Africa. It is a wireless alarm system
that alerts your cell phone vie SMS when there is someone in your boat. It has
several interesting functions including an alarm and listening device so that
you can hear exactly what those intruders are up to when they are on board. In
addition the unit can be connected to items inside the boat such as your bilge
pump or batteries giving you remote control of a number of systems within the
boat from wherever you are in the world just as long as you are armed with your
cell phone. There are several optional features that can be installed and
controlled from your cell phone including flashing lights, silent alarms, smoke
detectors and my personal favorite, teargas, which you can activate to chase
those intruders right out of the boat. The system itself is very small and easy
to install and being wireless doesn’t require any wiring in the boat. The units
that need to be installed can be tucked neatly out of the way and are very
small and lightweight. For more information on this system visit www.smsmarinesecure.co.za or contact Fonz
Marine on 031-368
5222.
On Day 61 of her Jules Verne Trophy record attempt, the Cap Gemini and Schneider Electric trimaran covered
431 nautical miles at an average speed of 17.96 knots. It's a performance that
extends Geronimo's lead over the current record. At 03:00 GMT today, Orange was
the equivalent of 1361.60 nautical miles from the finish line, whilst Geronimo
was 1251.90 nautical miles away: a lead of 109.7 nautical miles. As predicted,
Olivier de Kersauson and his 10-man crew arrived off the Azores last night. By
the end of this morning, the wind had fallen to 5 knots and Geronimo was making
just 9 knots between the islands. However, the average speed over the last 12
hours remains 13.40 knots, raising the average required to cross the finish
line before 12:36:33 on Sunday to 15.97 knots. Forecasts are beginning to
predict low wind speeds of between 2 and 15 knots for the next 700 nautical
miles, thanks to an oscillating high pressure region currently sitting right
over their route home. The final 300 nautical miles are promising around 15
knots of wind from the south-east. In these conditions, Geronimo could make
over 20 knots on a flat sea, but will it be enough? For more information visit www.grandsrecords.com.
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 |
|
|
Glendee
Yacht Club |
15 &
16 March |
|
|
Royal
Natal & Point Yacht Clubs |
March to
May 2003 |
|
|
Point
& Zululand Yacht Club’s |
14 March
2003 |
|
|
The
Sailing Center, Simon’sberg Navy Base, Simonstown |
20 to 22
March |
|
|
Henley
Midmar Yacht Club |
20 to 23
March |
|
|
HBYC Admirals Regatta Incorporating the L26
Western Province Champs |
Hout Bay
Yacht Club |
20 to 23
March |
|
Aeolians
Club |
21 to 23
March |
|
|
Club
Mykonos |
21 to 23
March |
|
|
Milnerton
Aquatic Club |
21 &
22 March |
|
|
Lake
Denys Yacht Club |
29 &
30 March |
|
|
Island
Sailing Club |
5 &
6 April |
|
|
Durban
Radio Boat Club |
12 &
13 April |
|
|
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.
Semi refurbished 22' Mistral Yacht on
trailer.
8hp Yamaha long shaft outboard, new
winches, & tender
Cash offer or swop for 16' Hobie
Kloof, Durban.
Contact: Hugh Douglas
E-Mail:
belline@cybertrade.co.za
Comfortably
fitted cruiser with many extras
Outboard and
road trailer
Well
reinforced with extra stowage etc
Has sailed up
Amazon
Moored at
Midmar
R14000 onco
Contact:
Martin
Cell:
0826401222
Or
Caroline on
0725182874
033- 3451796
Work
Hunter Class
2 suits of
sails
1 brand new
North suit
Recently
refit
Great
condition
R12 500 ono
Contact: Kim
Wilkinson
Phone: 011
373 6610
E-Mail: kimw@ampnet.co.za
WANTED
Ideally with
Venter trailer
Price
negotiable
Cape Town or
environs
Contact Neil
White
Cell: 082
9225517
E-mail: Kwhite@mweb.co.za
Second hand Laser
In
good condition preferably with dolly, cover and radial rig
In
Western Cape area.
Price range R10 000 to R12 000.
Contact: Stephen Flesch
Tel: 021 705 4317
Cell: 083 229 3581
E-mail: sflesch@iafrica.com
Andrew Heathcote
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 783 8805
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