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Today’s
newsletter contains a heap of reports on all the sailing that took place over
the last weekend and there really was a lot of it. While the reports and top
placings are included in the newsletter we are making a bigger effort to post
the full results on the web site and you will find complete results for almost
all the weekend’s major events there.
In
last weeks editorial I discussed local classes against international ones and
the need for affordable fun local boats. With this in mind I was very pleased
to find the Extra a boat that fills just that gap. It is a good quality small
boat that is fast and fun to sail. Cheap to put on the water while still being
very well built and fitted out and most of all provides some seriously close
racing. For sure it is not suited to everyone but there are many who can sail
it. The Nationals this weekend had some of the countries top talent taking part
and the standard of competition was extremely high. It was also interesting to
see that the class attracted a much bigger fleet than any of the others taking
part in that event. The class association and builder are making a concerted
effort to make the class more widespread in South Africa and in coming issues
of Smooth Sailing we will be telling you more about the boat, how to get on one
for a test sail and after that how to place and order for yours. In the
meantime, if some one offers you a ride on their Extra, go for it! You really
won’t regret it, they are loads of fun!
Being
a Wednesday newsletter again there will be only one issue of Smooth Sailing
this week. Next week we will be back to the regular two issues.
McCarthy
Toyota Inhaca Island Easter Race
Laser Laser
Radial Extra Nationals
MACS Shipping 24 Hour Challenge
RNYC High
Tech Piping Dinghy Series
PYC Challenge
Series For Dinghies
Optimist
African Championships
Including today there are now only 3 days left to enter for the McCarthy Toyota Inhaca Island
Easter Race before the
entry fee goes up! Some serious heavyweights in the KZN offshore scene have
already put in their entries. The following can be expected to be in the hunt
for both line honours and handicap victory:
Adios Fast
42 Guy Goes
Prodigy Fast 42 Chris Frost
Ocean Sailing Academy Leisure
42 Robbie Dove
Ciao Bella Simonis 35 Mike Surgeson
Fast Yachts Fast 42 Leo Kroone
Most of that
lot are going to be hard to beat although later in this newsletter there is a
report on the KLM Plant Hire winter regatta, which took place in Richard’s Bay
this weekend. None of the abovementioned heavies were there but there were a
good few smaller boats putting in some practice. Of these the two L34’s and the
Stadt 34 will be pushing hard for handicap honours, if they get their entries
in that is! 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.
I didn’t watch the Sharks playing this week; somehow it seemed a little foolish to do so
being the only Sharks supporter in Stormers country. Didn’t really matter
though as they lost again, this time to the Otago Highlanders. The margin was
not huge, 23 points to 19 and at least they were able to salvage a bonus point
for their efforts. Despite the team’s poor run of form so far this season the
coaching staff remains positive, which I guess that have to do, and in
fairness, the team has been hit hard by injuries. Sadly it’s not going to get
any easier though as the home games have now run out. Next week it’s off to
Ellis Park for a game against the Cats, a team that is in fairly good form at
the moment despite a loss last weekend. The good news is that AJ Venter is back
from suspension so the forward performance should be considerably improved.
Lets just hope that he keeps his head to himself for the rest of the season.
The Laser, Laser Radial and Extra Nationals took place at Club Mykonos, Langebaan,
this weekend. There were also three Laser 4.7’s sailing. The 4.7 is a
relatively new, smaller rig. I think that there are considerably more of these
in the country than we saw at this regatta and it will be interesting to see if
this set-up gains any further popularity in the next while. The Extras were the
biggest and most competitive fleet with 34 boats on the start line while the
Radials attracted 24 entries and the full rig Lasers 21. The regatta started on
Saturday in conditions that can only be described as a race officer’s
nightmare. The wind direction had switched through something like 180 degrees
by the end of the day forcing numerous course changes and general recalls as
the wind shifted the bias of the line after the start procedure had been
started. The races were being sailed on a trapezoid course, which allowed for
good separation between the fleets but doesn’t make life any easier when it
comes to changing the course. Despite the difficult conditions and more than
one general recall three races were sailed. The breeze was mostly light,
probably below ten knots, but it did occasionally gust to around 12 or maybe
even 14 knots. In all the fleets the racing looked fairly close. In the Lasers
Gareth Blankenburg won the first and third races convincingly and scored a
second in the middle race only to find that he had been over the line at the
start in both the first and the third races. In a regatta that was only going
to run to 9 races and therefore only one discard at best this was a fairly big
blow. In the Extra class Alex Runciman pitched up late, too late for the first
race in fact, but then proceeded to win the next two in fine style while a
fairly tight bunch of 8 or 10 boats fought it out for the minor placings. Day
two was a little breezier and a lot colder. With the forecast predicting strong
winds and the local paper advising that people stay away from the mountains and
sea there was some delay as the race committee assessed the conditions before
sending the fleet out onto the water. As it turned out the conditions were
great, a little fresher than the previous day with the breeze in the 18-knot
region and with a small swell running. It was hard and sometimes cold work but
the racing was lots of fun. Certainly I had a great time in the Extra although
the legs did take a little strain and I was pretty happy when the fleet headed
back home after three races. Runciman again dominated the Extra fleet with
Blankenburg doing the same in the Lasers. There was more of a ding dong battle
in the Radial fleet though with JJ Provoyeur, Robyn Keen and Peter DuPreez all
winning races. Sunday dawned wetter and colder. Worse still there was now a
fairly large swell running with the occasional wave breaking across the harbour
mouth and there wasn’t really much wind blowing. After a reasonable
postponement to give the conditions and in particular the sea state a chance to
settle the race committee decided to abandon racing for the day. Their timing
wasn’t quite up to scratch though and just as everyone went out to pack up
their boats so the rain came bucketing down and the wind started blowing. Half
an hour earlier and we would have been able to pack up boats without getting
wet! After six races then the class winners were as follows:
Extra Laser
1st Alex
Runciman 5 Points 1st
Paul Wilcox 10 Points
2nd Stephen Du
Toit 10 2nd Pete Shaw 12
3rd Mark Sadler 16 3rd
Alan Keen 20
Laser Radial Laser
4.7
1st Markus
Progli 11
Points 1st Justin Onvlee 6
Points
2nd Meagon
Clayton 11 2nd Sean Heydenrych 10
3rd Robyn Keen 11 3rd
Nicky Silberbauer 12
34 boats took part in the 2003 Hunter Nationals, which were sailed at the Henley Midmar Yacht Club this weekend.
Seven races were sailed in the regatta and for a change the points spread at
the front of the fleet was fairly wide. There were also a few surprises on the
results sheet and certainly if I had been picking winners before hand I would
have got it badly wrong. Lucky I am not a gambling man then! I haven’t had a full report on the event yet
but will post one on the Smooth Sailing web site just as soon as I get it. In
the meantime the full results are posted on the web site on the Racing Reports Page with the top three places being as follows:
1st Herbie
Karoulis & D Koen 11 Points
2nd Tim Kiln
& Rob Barker 16
3rd Tony
Cockerill & Jason 19
The full
results for the Laser, Laser Radial, Laser 4.7 and Extra Nationals are posted
on the Smooth Sailing Racing Reports web page.
Alan Barr submitted the following report on the 4th
leg of the NNYU Interclub
Challenge:
“The
4th leg of the NNYU interclub challenge was sailed at Hattingspruit
dam on 15th & 16th March. For those of you who are
wondering how to find the dam, it is the home ground of Glendee Yacht Club and
is approximately 12 kms outside of Dundee.
Saturday morning
we awoke with a gentle breeze coming down from Newcastle way which was a great
relief to a number of sailors who had attempted to see if the bar would remain
open all night, (mutual consent by all concerned, the bar closed at 3:20am).
With a start time of 11:00 AM the wind decided to play its part and suddenly
increased in strength to approximately 30 knots. (the wind strength measured at
the bridge was 20 knots – the bridge is protected from the full force of the
wind by Plain trees that are 30 meters tall).
The first start was unfortunately abandoned as a number of first time
racers (and some old timers) went over and had to be rescued.
Once
racing officially started the course race was the old Olympic course of
triangle, sausage, triangle. This made very interesting racing as for the past
two years all we have been doing are windward leeward courses and suddenly we
once again are forced to reach. This on a cat can be an extremely exhilarating
experience, and my skipper and I were worried that we would be forced to pay a
fine of downing a beer or two after managing to flip twice.
The
results at the end of the weekend were as follows,
1st
Kyle De Wet and Hugh Barr (4 1st and 2 2nds)
2nd
Gordon Marshall and Mornay
3rd
Piet Wissekerke and Monica
A
total of 9 seniors entered the event with 6 Darts, two Halcats and a Hobie 18.
Two juniors entered the event on Dabchicks.
The
NNYU Open Cat Champs is scheduled for the weekend of 9/10 August 2003 at AFYC.
The NNYU are also
introducing a long haul event which is to be hosted at Chelmsford Dam on 4th
/ 5th of October 2003. This particular event we are hoping to attract
both serious racers and those people who have never raced before. The emphasis
will be on having fun.”
Rob Walker sent me the following report from the Optimist Border Provincial Championships:
“It was quite a weekend!
The
first day started overcast and by the time everybody had got sorted out the
wind had dropped away to next rather than coming through as expected. Race 1, Day 1 was a drifter with the Oppies
getting off the start line kiting downwind in 1 to 3 knots of a very
variable puff. So much so that the RO shortened course and there were boats
ghosting across the finish line from both directions!! Race 2 was not that much
better though with more wind but shifting so that it was a bit of a soldiers
course.
Saturday
the main fleet (Multihulls, Fireballs and Open Class) got in 5 races while the
Oppies who forced a general in race 5 only got in 4. The sun was out, sort of,
and the wind stronger nearly up to 10-12 knots at times. The last race finished
after 18h00 and it is the only time I've seen a sunset clause in the sailing
instructions being taken seriously! But we had wind!
Sunday
dawned wet and damp with very little of the necessary to start a race which
gave bedraggled campers time to get the moisture going! Three races were got in
before the cut off last race not after 13h00. Wind was coming through in puffs,
which gave those like Brett Stirk who could read them a huge advantage.
It
was for me, disappointing not to see a bigger Oppie turnout given that the two
Provincials (Northvaal & KZN) immediately before Nationals will be on a
similar dam setup and the Nationals themselves which have been mooted for this
same venue. I think the experience gained would have been
very beneficial. Also, there were only three Africans squad sailors getting in
the all important 'big' fleet startline practice. Every, yes, every, coaching
report on the performances of SA Teams at international events has lamented the
poor starting ability of the SA sailors in big fleets.
Brett Stirk
walked way with a 1st, to win Border Gold. Josh Saunders bagged a very
consistent 2nd, with Vincenzo De Gennaro from PYC third, there only being 8
points difference. Sam Hancock and Claire Walker from HMYC took 4th & 5th
with 4 points difference. Young Ian Stirk and Emma Walker (HMYC) went to a
double tie break with Ian taking it with a 3rd in race 4 compared to Emma's 3rd
in race 8! The second 'group' even though being a lot further and well
separated from this batch in terms of points had their own fun and close
racing. We look forward to them giving the leaders a run for their money soon.
For KZN
Junior sailing it was pleasing to see all four sailors in single digits and I
hope this will set the future pattern!”
The full results from this event are posted on the Smooth Sailing Racing Reports Page.
Shawn
Richards submitted the following report on the KLM Plant Hire Winter Regatta which took place at the Zululand Yacht
Club in Richard’s Bay last weekend:
“The KLM Plant Hire Winter
Regatta sailed on Friday 21st of March through to Sunday the 23rd of March at
Zululand Yacht Club (ZYC). This regatta
normally takes place in June, but has been pulled forward because of the Keeler
Provincials that are taking place. It
was a pity that four of the yachts that normally participate in this event
either had skippers that were away for the long week-end or were in various
states of repair and preparations for the Inahaca Island Easter Race in April,
but it was still exciting for the six yachts that entered. There were a total of five races sailed offshore and in the harbour with
a total of more that 100 miles being logged by most yachts. The regatta worked on a low points scoring
system with one discard allowed and this proved to a close series once again,
ending with the final race determining the overall outcome of the regatta. The
end results (after the discard) was that three yachts were tied on 3 points
each and so it went down to a consultation with various neutral parties and
after each had given the race committee their impression of how things should
be worked out, it was decided to consult the good old faithful rule book.
The final results on count out were
as follows:
|
1st |
Mean Time |
Stadt 34 |
Various! |
3 Points |
|
2nd |
Money Penny |
L34 |
Dave Scorer |
3 |
|
3rd |
Roulette |
L34 |
Peter Van Breda |
3 |
|
4th |
Devocean |
Tosca 36 |
Vince
Fandaro |
12 |
|
5th |
Ocean Music |
Muira 31 |
Ivan Peake |
14 |
|
6th |
Maggie May |
Sadler 32 |
Nick Prinsloo |
18 |
I would like to thank Kieron Moore
from KLM Plant Hire for the sponsorship and hope that he is happy with the
replacement crew that were found to sail his yacht Mean Time while he was away
for the long week-end.”
Martin Adelbert submitted the following
report on the MACS Shipping
24Hour Challenge which
took place at the Milnerton Aquatic Club this weekend:
“The 6th challenge has come
and gone, and for the 1st time the weather Gods "treated" us to all
weather conditions (with the exception of snow !!)
From beautiful sunshine to very mild
winds to no wind, rain, some squalls, fog and strong gusty spells, the MACS
Shipping 24-Hour Challenge delivered something for all tastes.
A lovely spectacle of colourful
sails on the waters of Milnerton Aquatic club together with the stunning
back-drop of Table Mountain was certainly enjoyed by all - Competitors,
supporters and spectators. The weather conditions were perfect on the Friday
and some excellent light-air sailing skills became the order of the day. The
line honours and handicap positions kept changing constantly for the 1st three
hours, after which the Royal Navy Enterprise started to feel the groove and
stepped into the lead. Their team of highly skilled helmsmen and crew together
with some high-tech equipment enjoyed the conditions and steadily increased the
distance between them and the rest of the fleet.
The handicap position fight was
closely contested between the first 4 Mirrors but the Jacobs family on
"MACnificent 7" managed to keep the edge throughout the many course
changes and varying weather conditions.
Night sailing was brilliant - a
co-operative moon and the super-duper mercury vapour lighting tower assisted
both competitors and time-keepers throughout. The weather however started to
change - varying, changing, picking up and then dying down again. A few more
forced course changes saw some interesting tussles, but the top positions
remained constant, with the Royal Navy Enterprise stretching their lead by 5
laps - an awesome sailing display.
The early morning brought along some
fog and then a strong rain squall made our Irish and UK teams and supporters
feel right at home. A few of the teams found themselves capsizing, others were
busy with repairs but most of the 36 strong fleet kept tussling for better
positions and continued sailing with great determination.
Intermittent rain and cold spells
continued and a further course change later (a record 5 changes over the
24-hours !!), the wind subsided completely resulting in an average 45 minute
lap just before the noon day gun and the end of the race.
Overall line-honours belonged to the
Royal Navy team on their Enterprise, completing the race 9 laps ahead of the
next team, thereby achieving a distance of 191.23 km (average of 7 laps per
hour at 4.36 knots average speed). 2nd spot went to the very impressive junior
team "Force Ten" (Enterprise from Simonstown), and 3rd position was
taken by Team Ecotech from Vogelvlei (same position they achieved last year).
Overall handicap position belonged
to "MACnificent 7" (139 laps), followed by the incredible family
achievement of the Robinsons (all the way from Boskop Yacht Club) and 3rd spot
was awarded to the combined MAC and PE team "Iolar na Mara".
The top Bosun spot was also reeled
in by the Royal Navy (151 laps) with their super sleek Bosun, which won the
event on handicap last year. 1st GP14 was the MACS Shipping team on MACSimun
Exposure (152 laps) - a very fine effort from the main sponsor. The top junior
position was awarded to "The Fluffy Bunnies" from TSC (129 laps).
And once again, Steven Bentley of
Team SAS Unitie managed to better his own individual endurance sailing record
by 1 hour. Steven skippered for 23 hours non-stop - a remarkable achievement
earning him the "Sailor of the event" award.
All in all, a fine event was enjoyed
by everyone with many indications that next year will see even more
participation (especially from our overseas teams and supporters). The 24-Hour
endurance challenge has certainly become a much spoken about event and has
firmly lodged itself onto the sailing calendar as a "must-not-miss".
Once again, thechallenge2go4 has certainly enhanced it's reputation of being
thechallengenot24get.
A great big thank you goes to each
and every one involved in staging this unique sailing regatta - to all the
rescue staff members, timekeepers, race committee, club management, event
committee, helpers and volunteers - Well
done - you were awesome !!
But most of all, our sincere
gratitude goes to our Main sponsor, MACS Shipping and to our major co-sponsors,
Abbotts College and Toyota SA, and to our generous contributors: The DIY Shop,
NSRI Station 18, Manex Power and Marine, GSW (Graphic Supply Warehouse), The
Shed Promotions, Betty Zwick Textiles, Gary Hennink, Axel Adelbert, Caltex,
Psitek, Alnet, AllScaff, Western Cape Paramedic Services, Dr Johan Dippenaar,
Milnerton Fire Brigade, Cor Wesdorp family, Sika (Pty) Ltd, Toker Bros (Pty)
Ltd, Blaauwberg Municipality, The City of Cape Town, South African Sailing,
Western Cape Race Officers, Old Mutual Events, Essential Cleaning Services,
WBHO, The CAT Rental Store, Sales Hire, Gavin Lloyd, Craig Elston, Ysterplaat
Airforce Base, SAS Website, Smooth Sailing Website, North Sails and SAILING /
SA Yachting.”
The full results and list
of prizewinners can be found on the Smooth Sailing web site on the Racing Reports Page.
While all these regattas were going on
around the country there was still regular club racing happening in Durban with
the RNYC running the final round of
their High Tech Piping
Dinghy Series on Saturday
afternoon and then their Albatross
Series 3 incorporating the second round of the KZN Lipton Selection Series for L26’s on Sunday. Being a long weekend
the fleet sizes were always going to be smaller. Saturday saw five Lasers, five
Flying Fifteens and a Sprog out on the water to enjoy some racing while Sundays
fleet was made up of five L26’s and two cruisers. The full results of both the
keeler and dinghy racing and the Lipton Selection Series to date are posted on
the Smooth Sailing Racing Reports web page.
Wednesday Evening Fun Racing in Durban tonight is to be hosted by the RNYC. Summer is ending
fast and there are precious few Wednesday evenings left before the winter break
so now really is the time to get out on the water and enjoy the midweek break.
The racing fleet starts this evening at 17:30 with the cruisers at 17:35. The
after party will be on the lawns at the RNYC.
This coming Saturday sees the sailing of the third round of the PYC Challenge Series for Dinghies in Durban. Racing starts at 14:00 on the
harbour mark course and is open to all classes. It will be scored on an all in
handicap basis.
South Africa’s top Optimist sailors are gathering in Port Elizabeth
this week where preparations are underway for the Optimist African Championships, which start on Sunday. The South
African team, selected on the basis of two provincial regattas a the 202
Nations consists of:
From Border: Brett Stirk and Sam Waterson
From Eastern Cape: Justin Onvlee, Phillipa Baer, Josh Saunders & Ruth
Saunders.
From KZN: Aaron Larkens, Rudy McNeill & Jessica Hogg
From Western Cape: Alexander McClarty, James Largier, Daniel Moreau & Karen
McClarty
From Northvaal: Robert Jones.
They
will be competing against sailors from the African continent as well as a team
from the United States. KZN sailor Rudi McNeil is the defending champion having
won the title in Morocco last year although he will be harder pressed this year
with a stronger South African team than we have seen in the past. In previous
years SA has sent their second team to this regatta however this year with it
being on home soil the top sailors are all taking part. The regatta lasts a
week and Smooth Sailing will keep you updated both in the newsletter and on the
web site as it progresses.
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
KZN Clubs |
December
2002 to July 2003 |
|
|
Glendee
Yacht Club |
15 &
16 March |
|
|
Royal
Natal & Point Yacht Clubs |
March to
May 2003 |
|
|
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 |
|
|
PYC
Beach Site |
18 to 21
April 2003 |
|
|
Henley
Midmar Yacht Club |
26 to 28
April |
|
|
Henley
Midmar Yacht Club |
3 May |
|
|
East London Yacht Club |
26 to 30 April |
|
|
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.
FOR SALE
Including spinaker
On new road trailer
All in reasonable
condition
Offers on R2 500.00
Contact: Mark Spooner
Cell: 082 558 6032
E-mail: spooner@intekom.co.za
Andrew Heathcote
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 783 8805
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