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News By A Sailor For Sailors!
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Friday
is a public holiday, Human Rights Day, although I am sure that is a fact that
hasn’t escaped many sailors. The first long weekend of the year, and the first
of many in the next month or two. There are a good number of regattas taking
place around the country this weekend with several National Championships
taking place for both dinghy and keeler classes. This means lots of choice for
those of us doing the sailing but more importantly, as I see it, it means a huge
number of people taking part in sailing events around the country.
When
it comes to scheduling regattas there is often much emphasis placed on ensuring
that classes do not clash with others that may have a negative effect on
entries. I am not always sure that this is a good thing. While it is great for
any one class to have a long weekend all to itself this practice promotes class
hopping and leaves us with a false impression of which classes are strong and
which are not. The reality is that the classes that attract good turnouts on a
weekly basis for club racing really are the strong ones. And when it comes to
major regattas clashing the numbers on the start line will be a fair reflection
of who is strong and who is not. For a long time I have felt that we have too
many dinghy classes in SA and have heard many debates on how to reduce the
numbers and focus on any given class. Deciding at an administrative level,
which classes should stay and which should go, can only be a disaster. Instead
I think that clashing regattas is the best way to work it out. Let the sailors
vote with their feet. That way we will find out what they really want to sail.
The classes that attract good numbers will survive while others may fall by the
wayside and probably, after a period of time, we will find that those classes
that have survived will attract a far more loyal following than they did in the
past and provide a far higher standard of racing.
When
debating the class issue one of the often-raised points in favour of various
classes is their international status or lack thereof. This is an argument that
I have heard at both the junior and senior levels. International status is not
necessarily something that I think is important either. More important I think
is quality racing in fun boats that are affordable for the local market.
Affordable is something that international classes often are not. If the
classes that we are sailing provide high quality racing and high quality
sailors, adapting to new boats or international classes for shouldn’t be a
problem for the few who actually want to give it a go overseas. And here’s
another reality, there are actually very few sailors competing internationally
these days so perhaps the international status is not so important after all.
In Australia, where I have done a lot of my sailing, there are a multitude of
local classes with no international links whatsoever. These classes, are mostly
boats that are very fast and exciting to sail however the fleets are fiercely
competitive and breed top quality yachtsmen. That should be our priority!
So,
that train of thought took me a long way, and to be honest not in the direction
I had intended when I started writing this piece. I think that it is fairly
valid though and would like to hear others thoughts on the matter. Please don’t
think that what I have said is an attack on any particular class, it is not. It
is just my train of thought on how we could increase numbers and quality of
racing in SA.
To
those of you travelling to regattas this weekend, please travel safely and have
fun. I think that there is going to be some awesome racing to be done in the
next few days!
McCarthy
Toyota Inhaca Island Easter Race
PYC Sigma
KZN Lipton Selection Series
RNYC High
Tech Piping Dinghy Series
MACS Shipping 24-Hour Challenge
Jules Verne Trophy Attempt Fails
There are now only ten 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.
Between the McCarthy Toyota Inhaca Island
Easter Race, the 2003 Winter Flotilla Cruise and the Vasco Race in July there
are going to be an aweful lot of boats travelling up and down the coast between
Durban and Maputo in the next while. Now to make this passage a Coastal Skippers Ticket is necessary and it turns out that there
are a good number of boat owners who don’t have this qualification. This in
turn means that there is a good deal of demand for crew who do have it. So, if
you have a coastal skippers ticket but no boat, and would like to do one of
these trips then why not put your name forward. The man coordinating this
placement of qualified crewmembers is the RNYC’s Sailing Secretary, James Kier.
For more information drop him a line at jimbric@ananzi.co.za.
To say that the Sharks were bad on Friday night would be being
nice to them. Although one has to concede that injuries have played more than
their fair part in the sides poor performance there is still no excuse for
their throwing away the lead they had going into the final quarter of the first
half when they were up by 19 points to nil. The home games are starting to run
out for the Sharks, which is a problem because if you can’t win your home games
in this competition I really don’t know how you will get by in the away games.
This Friday they take on the Highlanders at the Absa Stadium in Durban. Kick
off is at 19:10 and the game will be televised live on Supersport.
Sunday saw the second round of the PYC’s Sigma Series taking place in conjunction with the
first round of the KZN
Lipton Selection Series.
For the selection series I was please to see a six L26’s on the start line on
Sunday. In the last few weeks I have been more than a little concerned by the
poor turnout from this class with so little time left before Lipton. It was
also pleasing to see three cruising boats out taking part in the Sigma Series.
I hope that this regular participation by the cruisers will continue and that
we will also begin to see an increase in numbers in this fleet. A building
westerly with some fairly large swells running made for an interesting days
racing and challenging conditions. The breeze was by no means stable so picking
the wind shifts was also essential and in the time I watched there was a great
deal of place changing going on in the bunch. Jerome McLoughlin’s Harken was in
good form and won both races. It’s fair to say though that they didn’t have
things all their own way and were pushed hard to a close finish in both races.
The series continues until the 11th of May. The top three places in
the PYC Sigma Series after five races are as follows:
Racing Fleet:
1st Orion
Zephyr Craig Millar 5
Points
2nd Parental
Guidance Harry Ellens 9
3rd Winesong Nigel Milln 15
Cruising Fleet
1st Chatur Greg Challis 3 Points
2nd Aquilla Phil Downing 5
3rd Good News Roy
Cook 6
The full
results of both the PYC Sigma Series and the KZN Lipton Selection Series are
posted on the Smooth Sailing Racing Reports page.
The annual Quadrangular Challenge between the Royal Cape Yacht Club, SAS Unitie, SAS Yselstein and
the General Botha Old Boys Club took place in overcast and wet conditions on
Table Bay on Saturday. Judging by the report it was a seriously tough bunch of
sailors who took part with the weather conditions sounding atrocious. Four
boats, two L26’s and two Muiras, each representing one of the club’s, took part
in the event. A full report and the results of the event have been posted on
the Smooth Sailing Racing Reports page.
With plenty of regattas on around the country the Weekend Weather is probably of more interest than usual.
From so far ahead though the accuracy of the forecasts can be a little
variable, although this seems to be the case anyway. If you want to check up on
the predicted conditions closer to the time go to www.weathersa.co.za. In the meantime the predicted conditions
according to the SA Weather
Service are as follows:
Durban & Richard’s
Bay: Friday will be 28
degrees and partly cloudy with a moderate northeasterly wind blowing. Saturday
will be 32, sunny and humid and the wind will again be a moderate
northeasterly. Sunday will be 32 and fine becoming partly cloudy with a 30%
chance of evening showers. The wind will be a moderate northeasterly becoming a
fresh southwesterly in the afternoon.
Midmar: Friday will be 24 degrees and partly cloudy after
morning fog. The wind will be a light northerly. Saturday will be 28 degrees
and sunny with a moderate northwesterly wind blowing. Sunday will be 28 degrees
and fine becoming partly cloudy with a 40% chance of afternoon and evening
thunderstorms. The wind will be a light northwesterly but a moderate southerly
in the afternoon.
Vaal Dam: Friday will be 25 degrees and cloudy
becoming partly cloudy with a 30% chance of thunderstorms and a moderate
northwesterly wind blowing. Saturday will be 26 degrees and partly cloudy with
a 20% chance of thunderstorms and a moderate northwesterly wind blowing. Sunday
will be 25 degrees and partly cloudy with a 40% chance of thunderstorms and a
moderate northwesterly wind blowing.
On Saturday the final two races in the RNYC’s High Tech Piping Dinghy Series will take place on the bay. The first
race of the afternoon will start at 14:00 and will be sailed on the deepwater
course. After sailing there will be a prize giving in the Fordeck Bar at the
club. The bar will be open and snacks will be served making this a good
opportunity for the dinghy sailors to get their family down to the club to join
in too.
Sunday sees the second weekend of racing
in the KZN Lipton Selection series taking place. This weekend’s
racing was meant to be run in conjunction with the second round of the RNYC’s
Albatross Series however since this was run a few weeks back to fill a gap in
the calendar, it will instead be dedicated L26 racing. Two races are scheduled
for the day with the first of these set to start at 11:00. The sailing will be
followed by the regular braai on the lawns of the RNYC.
As mentioned earlier there are several regattas taking place this
weekend. At Midmar Dam in KZN HMYC are hosting the Hunter Nationals. This regatta has attracted a confirmed
entry of 30 boats of which at least one will be one of the news Fast Yachts
built boats. By my reckoning there are at least six boats that are in the
running to win this event and I am sure it will go down to the wire. Looking at
the forecast I think that this will be a light air regatta but as always picking
the shifts on Midmar will be crucial. I was going to pick a potential winner,
Smooth Sailing’s pick for the event or something like that, but looking at the
fleet it is just too hard to do. The only thing that I am prepared to predict
about this regatta is that it will probably be decided in the last race and
that there wont be much more than six points separating the first four or five
boats. Next week we will see just how accurate that prediction was! For more
information on the Hunter Class visit www.hunterclass.com.
One of the more unique events taking place
this weekend is the MACS
Shipping 24 Hour Challenge,
which is being sailed at the Milnerton Aquatic Club on Saturday. This event has
attracted and entry of 35 boats, 9 Bosuns, 10 Enterprises, 4 GP 14s and 12
Mirrors. Five of the entries are from international teams with 3 from the Royal
Navy and 2 from Ireland. This is quite something for a local event that carries
no more importance than the fact that it happens and people sail in it. It is
not after all a nationals, worlds or anything else of any importance, just a
unique sailing event. The organisers have certainly gone out of their way to
make sure that this is a quality event and all the pre-race information gives
the look of a well-organised regatta. For the sailors this race presents some
unique challenges, staying awake is one, sailing at night another and most
importantly keeping the boat together for the duration, probably the biggest on
of all. The teams all come armed with a manager and probably some decent
support crew as well. If you worked it out I am sure that you would find that
most dinghies probably only spent about 12 hours a month on the water, so two
months sailing in one day probably does take quite a toll. Making things more
difficult is that this is not necessarily a light wind event. I recall seeing
pictures from this event two years ago where the wind was blowing a gale.
Looking at the forecast it could be doing much the same again this time around.
Planning down the reach in pitch darkness could be fun! Next week we will bring
you a full report and results from this interesting event.
After staying ahead of the record pace for pretty much all of her
circumnavigation Geronimo lost the breeze when it counted most and failed in
her Jules Verne Trophy attempt. In the end she was 680 miles short of the
finish when the clock ticked past the record time leaving a disappointed crew
to make their way home in light conditions after two months at sea. Making
matters worse for this disappointed bunch is that the boat is that the
conditions from where they are now to their home port in France look to be very
light. Having anticipated being at sea for only 65 days they are starting to
run short of supplies. While they have not achieved the result they were hoping
for this has still been a remarkable voyage for this boat. Many where skeptical
when Olivier De Kersauson opted to go for a trimaran rather than a cat as has
been the trend recently. Despite some early problems with the rudder that
forced the abandonment of their first Jules Verne attempt Geronimo has
performed well on this trip, undone by the weather in the final leg more than
anything else. The boat certainly proved that she is capable of matching the
performance of the big cats and there are many who cannot wait to see them go
head to head sometime in the future. 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.
Andrew Heathcote
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 783 8805
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