Smooth Sailing
Sailing
News By A Sailor For Sailors!
In
Association with:
The Official Web Site of the 2003 Lipton Cup
Texwise
Natal Fetch & Return Sail Repairs
Manex
Marine Lipton Cup Competitions
Orion Vasco Da
Gama Race Briefing
Into
The Eye Of The Storm A Safety At Sea Reminder
The NCS Regatta got off to the best possible start
yesterday with the fleet sailing two windward leeward races in the best
conditions that Durban has to offer. A
building easterly, moderate sea, clear blue skies, temperature around the
25-degree mark, what more could you want. Certainly no one who made the effort
to get to this regatta will have regretted it after yesterdays sailing while
those of you who didn’t get here, well, I have to say that you really missed
out! Any more good days are just a bonus now but you can bet that there will be
more of yesterday’s conditions to come. The easterly breeze started off blowing
unusually far from the north and ended up a little more in the east than usual.
This made the race officers job a little more difficult than it might have been
and saw the course slightly skewed by for most of the second race.
Warming up for
Lipton the L26 fleet really does look hot. Mark Sadler on Daly’s and Dave
Hudson on Greenlight really came out firing yesterday, each recording a first
and a second and look like they will be hard to beat in the next two weeks. Ian
Ainslie might be a little disappointed with his 5th and 3rd
but there is still a lot of sailing to do and I am sure that he will want to
ease into it slowly. Sieraj Jacobs was the biggest surprise of the day running
in the top five in both races and recording a fifth and a third. Sailing well
his boat looked good on the water and if he can keep it up and improve a little
he might be able to challenge for the top spot in the racing still to come. The
two top KZN Challenger both had mixed days. Jerome McLoughlin on Foreshore,
looking great in her new colours and sporting some next artwork on the sails
too, sailed a great first race to finish in fourth place. They battled a little
in the second race though and will need to work on their consistency a bit.
Foreshore did however look like she has the pace to stay at the front of the
fleet though so there is some hope for KZN. Craig Millar and Alec Lanham-Love
had a mixed day on Lipton Yellow Label. They struggled to tenth in the first
race but then sailed well for a fourth in the second race. There is still some
work for them to do but with a small improvement they can certainly get
themselves to the front of the fleet.
The Stadt 23’s are also competing for their National
Title and although the fleet was smaller with only eleven yachts taking part
the racing was extremely close. Peter Lee’s Staggerlee won both races but
didn’t have things all her own way on the water. She was chased hard in ace one
by Rob De Vlieg on Stadtistic and Mervin Mcluckie on Upstadt. With Staggerlee
again prevailing in the second race of the day it was left for Upstadt and
Stadtistic to battle for second place with Upstadt gaining the upper hand.
The top three
positions in each of the classes after two races are as follows:
L26
1st Greenlight Dave Hudson 3 Points
2nd Daly’s
Insurance Mark Sadler 3
3rd MSC Donna Mia Ian Ainslie 8
Stadt 23
1st Staggerlee Peter Lee 2 Points
2nd Upstadt Mervin McLuckie 5
3rd Stadtistic Rob DeVlieg 5
Micro Multi Hull
1st Bandit Peter Latter 2 Points
2nd Ladybird Andrew Dolloway 4
3rd Magic Dragon Bill Ellens 6
The IRC and
PHRF Class 2 results were not available at the time of publication.
The Smooth
Sailing NCS Regatta web page is being updated with pictures, race reports and results
each day of the event. We have posted some good pics of the action on day one
and will have more for you later this evening. Visit www.smoothsailing.co.za/ncsregatta.html.
The Weather
Forecast for today,
Monday the 30th of June, for a clear day. Expect a northeasterly
wind that will peak at around 20 knots this afternoon and swells in the 1.5
meter region. High tide is at 16:22 so the breeze should build all afternoon
and the temperature should reach a high of 24 degress.
For those of you sailing the NCS Regatta
don’t forget that Texwise
Natal are operating their
Fetch and Return Sail
Repair Service throughout
the week. Sails that need repairs after a tough day on the water can be left in
the Texwise trailer that will be located next to the guard hut at the top of
the walk-on mooring. When leaving your sails in the trailer please don’t forget
to fill in and attach a tag to your sail bag. The trailer will leave the yacht
club a hour or two after the fleet has returned to the marina each day and will
return each morning with a load full of repaired sails ready for another days
sailing. Clyde Kinloch of Texwise Natal is the man to talk to regarding this
service or if you need to discuss any out of the ordinary sail repairs. Clyde
can be contacted on 082 572 3408.
Don’t forget to enter the Manex Marine competitions, which are now up and running on the Lipton Cup web site. For the competitors there is a fantastic Suunto M9 watch up
for grabs. This really is a special prize and anyone taking part in the Lipton
Cup will be doing themselves a disservice by not entering this competition.
Entries for this competition need to be in by 12:00 on Saturday the 5th
of July. For non-competitors the prize is a very special clock and barometer
set, manufactured by Stockburger Instruments in Germany to be won. Non-competitors have the advantage of
an extra week to enter this competition, with the closing date on Friday the 11th
of July. To complete the entry forms for both these competitions you will need
to spend a bit of time on the Manex Marine web
site gathering the information needed to answer the questions so don’t leave it
to the last minute to enter.
The briefing for the 2003 Orion Vasco Race takes place on tomorrow, Tuesday the 1st
of July, in the Trafalgar Room at the Royal Natal Yacht Club at 18:00. It is
absolutely essential that the skipper or at least a crewmember from each
competing yacht attend this function. Not only will all the race kit and packs
be handed out but also vital information regarding all aspects of the race will
be discussed at this meeting. Something else to remember is that if you want
your visas processed the easy way you need to get your passport, R100-00 and a
passport photo to Sandy in the Sailing KZN office by the end of business today.
She will then send your passport off to the embassy where it will get the visa
and be back in her office on Friday the 4th of July when it will
need to be collected by 12:00. For more information visit the race web site at www.vascodagama.co.za.
I didn’t expect quite so many people to
want copies of Into The Eye of The Storm, the Sydney Hobart Tragedy. Neither did I expect so many people to
offer to pay the cost of my making and sending them a copy. So, instead of
lending the tape to a few friends as I had expected, I am going to have to make
several copies. It’s a busy week this week with the NCS Regatta and other
worries to deal with but I will try and get it done this week. I will mail all
of you who have asked for copies of the tape later in the week and let you know
what the cost and ETA for your copy are. All it will cost is the price of a
30-minute videotape and postage if necessary.
Kiel Week,
possibly the biggest sailing regatta in the world, catering for all manner of
sailing craft including the Olympic classes ended yesterday in Germany. Gareth
Blankenburg was in action in the Laser class and enjoyed mixed results during
the regatta. Despite some good results early on an early OCS and some bad races
towards the end of the regatta saw Gareth finish up in 25th place
overall. For more detailed information on this event visit http://www.kieler-woche.de/.
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 |
|
|
Island Sailing Club |
28 & 29 July 2003 |
|
|
Point Yacht Club |
28 June to 4 July |
|
|
Durban Offshore Challenge Incorporation the Mirror
& Laser Youth KZN Champs |
Point Yacht Club |
28 June to 4 July |
|
Point Yacht Club |
4 to 11 July |
|
|
Point Yacht Club |
25 to 27 July |
|
|
UCT Yacht Club, Zeekoeivlei |
2 & 3 August |
|
|
Albert Falls Yacht Club |
9 & 10 August |
|
|
Henley Midmar Yacht Club |
3 to 5 October |
|
|
Chelmsford Boating Club |
4 & 5 October |
|
|
Albert Falls Yacht Club |
25 & 26 October |
|
|
Spionkop Boating Club |
6 & 7 December |
|
|
Glendee Yacht Club |
1 & 2 February 2004 |
Andrew Heathcote
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 783 8805
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