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Following the Finn Nationals, which took place at
the Aeolians Club at the Vaal Dam last week I received some interesting
comments by e-mail from one of our readers. He commented as follows:
“Ian Wolmarans was the youngest competitor at 19
whilst the next youngest were Jimmy Melville at 43 and Ken Reynolds at 44.
The rest of the fleet are much older prompting the question of where the
next generation of Finn Sailors are to come from. The age of the boats in the
fleet is also of concern with the newest boats probably some 15 years
old.”
Those are two very valid questions indeed. The Finn
class has over the years been one of the stronger classes in South Africa. In
fact it has a rich history with sailors such as Ernie Shaw and Bruce McCurrach
having been very competitive internationally in their younger days while more
recently Ian Ainslie was very competitive internationally for a decade or so.
Despite this the class has not prospered locally although it does have a very
loyal, if slightly small, following. The class remains an international one,
and while a state of the art boat won’t come cheap, it certainly isn’t in the
league of something like a 505 when it comes to cost. In the last 15 or so
years though there have been some huge developments in the class with the rigs
in particular evolving at a rapid rate. Masts are now made of carbon, with some
resembling wing masts, while sails are made of an amazing array of clothes of
various weights and of course having a sail to match the mast is just vital. So
for one thing the local boats are not only old but also basically obsolete,
despite a reasonably number of carbon masts and modern sails floating around.
Size is also an important consideration and perhaps we have just been turning
out smaller sailors of late! Whatever the case it’s an alarming trend and
perhaps something that Smooth Sailing readers might have some thoughts on.
E-mail any comments you have to me at andrew@smoothsailing.co.za.
Royal
Natal Yacht Club Windhoek Regatta
Keeler Fun
Race In Durban This Sunday
Island
Sailing Club Season Opening Sail Past
Laser
Masters World Championships
Rolex
Women Sailing World Championships
The
Royal Natal Yacht Club’s
Windhoek Regatta ended yesterday
with the final event, the famous poitjie competition, taking place on the RNYC
lawns. The regatta comprised of two round the cans races, a pursuit race, a bay
race, a cryptic clue challenge and finally the poitjie cook-off. It requires a
wide range of skills and consistent performances in all the disciplines to come
out on top of this regatta, which is exactly what the crew of the Leisure 42
Ocean Sailing Academy managed. They were never particularly flash on the water,
but they weren’t bad either and improved slowly as the regatta went on. Off the
water though they were on fire winning both the cryptic clue challenge and most
importantly the poitjie competition. It was a close run thing though with the
Fast 42 Skitzo, slightly better on the water, not at all hot in the cryptic
clue and solid in the poitjie with a 4th place ending in the runners
up spot less than 3 points behind the leader. Whether you won or lost though
this was mostly a regatta to have fun in. There was a bit of something in it
for everyone with light winds on the first day, a moderate easterly and big sea
for the pursuit race and a howling westerly for the final bay race. In between
there were some very big parties and a lot of fun had by all. The poitjie was
without doubt the highlight though with many crews going out of their way to
impress the judges on all counts including presentation. Smooth Sailing popped
down to the club on Sunday afternoon to have a look at what was going on and I
have to say that I was amazed at the amount of effort that went into the
poitjie. Pictures of the contestants in action have been posted on the Smooth
Sailing web site at www.smoothsailing.co.za/windgal1.html. Whether you were there or not it’s definitely worth
having a look to see just what went on. The results after two races in both the
cruising and racing classes are as follows:
Overall Results
|
1st
|
Ocean
Sailing Academy |
Leisure
42 |
12.5
Points |
|
2nd
|
Skitzo |
Fast 42 |
15.4 |
|
3rd
|
Ciao
Bella |
Simonis
35 |
16.6 |
The full results, including
the race-by-race results have been posted on the Smooth Sailing web site at www.smoothsailing.co.za/wind03rslts.html.
I could never have imaged that the Sharks
could be as disappointing as they were on Saturday afternoon when they
conspired to lose to the Pumas in Witbank. To say that it was a poor
performance would be understating it, it was shocking! The Sharks never really
looked like they meant to play rugby on Saturday afternoon, instead clearly
thinking that they only needed to be on the field to win. That definitely
wasn’t the case against a home side that really played their hearts out. While
they definitely don’t have the quality players that the Sharks have the Pumas
played with pride and commitment and put their more illustrious rivals to
shame. While this is only their second loss of the season it places a lot of
pressure on the Sharks who are now only five points ahead on the Currie Cup
log. Making things worse is that they still have to face the Bulls, Lions,
Cheetahs and of course Western Province, who they are up against this coming
Saturday. As always that’s going to be a big game and it will require a massive
improvement from the Sharks if they are going to beat the in form Province
team. Luckily it’s a home game and the Sharks haven’t lost at home this season.
Still, there is going to be a lot of hard work to be done this week.
The Northvaal Junior
Championships took place this
weekend at the Aeolians Club on the Vaal Dam with the regatta ending today. It
sounds like a very interesting regatta not least because of the particularly
low Optimist entry. Only 18 boats were entered into this regatta, something
that has to be very alarming for the powers that be as this has always been one
of the strongest classes in the country, attracting good fleets to all its
provincial championships. Apparently there was a provincial championship in the
Eastern Cape that clashed with this event and I believe that it also included
the Laser 4.7 fleet. In this regard it was very interesting, and encouraging,
noting that a strong fleet of 23 Dabchicks contested the Northvaal Champs. Not
only were the numbers good but it was a strong fleet too with a number of
sailors on the entry list. I am told that the racing throughout the regatta was
very close in this class and that too is a good sign. The regatta started on
Saturday with a good 15 or so knots of breeze allowing 5 races to be sailed. In
the Optimist fleet Rudi McNeil was in a class of his own and dominated the day.
From a KZN perspective it was good to see that the top three places were
dominated by KZN sailors with Vincenzo DeGenaro and Sam Hancock in second and
third places respectively at the end of the day. In the Dabchick fleet Peter
Funke didn’t quite have it all his own way but was definitely the dominant
force on the day to lead the regatta after the first five races. In second
place was James Hogg while occupied third spot. The wind got so strong on
Saturday evening that many had to get out of their beds to go and ties their
boats down in order to prevent them from blowing away. That wasn’t a sign of
things to come on Sunday though which was a completely windless day, leaving on
shore with no races sailed. There was a
bright and early 08:30 start on Monday morning though in an attempt to get a
race in the early morning breeze. It wasn’t to be though and it was quite a lot
later until the wind settled and five further races could be sailed. Nothing
changed in the Optimist fleet where Rudi McNeil continued to dominate but there
was a big change of affairs in the Dabchick fleet where Brigitte Clayton stole
the top spot. She put in a good performance in shifty conditions to win the
regatta, relegating overnight leader Peter Funke to second place. Despite the
loss of the middle day, always a potential problem on the Vaal Dam, it sounds
like this was another good regatta at this venue. That the numbers in the Oppi
fleet were a bit down is concerning but I am sure that this wont be a long-term
effect. Next week the juniors will be in action at Midmar where the KZN Junior
Champs are taking place at HMYC. The results of the Northvaal Junior Champs are
as follows:
Optimist
|
1st |
Rudi
McNeil |
PYC |
|
2nd
|
Vincenzo
DeGenaro |
PYC |
|
3rd
|
Sam
Hancock |
HMYC |
Dabchick
|
1st |
Brigitte
Clayton |
PSC |
|
2nd |
Peter
Funke |
VLC |
|
3rd
|
James
Hogg |
PYC |
|
1st
U15 |
Jessica
Hogg |
PYC |
The Sailing Calendar for the 2003/2004 Durban
Sailing Season has been finalised and released. While it is not yet
available in hard copy official version can be downloaded from the Smooth
Sailing web site where you will find it on the Upcoming
Events page. It is you will find details of all sailing happening
in Durban from now until December 2004. So, if you are planning on sailing the
season in Durban or just popping down for a regatta find out what’s happening
when by going to www.smoothsailing.co.za/0304dbnsailingcalendar.html.
One of the
things you will find the calendar telling you is that Wednesday Evening
Fun Racing starts in Durban this coming Wednesday. That’s right, on Wednesday
the 1st of October the first of a summer full of Wednesday Evening
Fun Races will be taking place. The weather forecast for Durban this coming
Wednesday is just perfect with clear skies, 30 degrees and a moderate westerly
wind blowing. Racing starts at 17:30 for the racing fleet and 17:00 for the
cruising fleet. This week’s race will be hosted by PYC so head over there for
the after party. With summer well on its way and the sun setting later and
later each day now is just about the perfect time for Durban’s favourite form
of sailing to get going again.
There is more bay racing on Sunday, 5th
of October, when the PYC are holding a Keeler Fun Race in the bay.
There will be a briefing for this event in the PYC at 11:00 with the race
itself set to start at 12:00. It will be sailed on the Wednesday evening course
with separate starts for the racers and cruisers as usual.
Also on Sunday the Island Sailing Club in Durban are holding
their season opening Sail Past. This will include a champagne breakfast, which will
take place at the club at 09:00 followed by the sail past at which the club
commodore will take the salute at around 12:00. The sail past will be followed,
in true ISC style, by a pub-crawl around the bay. This will no doubt visit all
the popular spots including Wilson’s Wharf and the RNYC lawns. ISC has a strong
cat fleet and has in recent years enjoyed a strong association with the
offshore cat sailing fraternity that has seen a good number of offshore sailors
becoming regular participants in the bay. It would be good to see this event of
theirs supported not only by the cat but also the dinghy fraternity as we
really do need to see more interaction between the various fleets that sail on
the bay. For more information on this or any other ISC event contact Villette
Pretorius at villette@iafrica.com.
Racing was
supposed to have started at Laser Masters World Championships yesterday but
unfortunately the regatta web site hasn’t been updated with any results yet.
The South African sailors at the event are follows:
Apprentice Masters: (35 – 45) Tom Plaistowe, Pete Shaw
Masters: (45 – 55) Lance Burger, Alan Foden,
Alan Keen
Grand Masters: (55 – 65) Brian Hallock
Great Grand Master: (over 65) Ken Holliday & Geoff
Myburgh
Apprentice Mistress:(?) (35-45) Mary-Ann Sharwood.
Perhaps the web
site, which you can find at http://www.laserchampionships.org/worlds03/index.htm will be updated at some stage so that we
can see what’s going on. Check up on it every now and then to see for yourself.
The Rolex Women’s Sailing World Championships started yesterday in Annapolis with the practice race being
sailed. The South African team, skippered by Dominique Provoyer, sailed a great
race, finish in fifth place. Dominique had this to say after the race:
"We had a good race, rounding the top mark in fifth the first time and in third the second time," she said. "We got past two boats at the bottom mark. It all happened quite quickly. There is no current like that in Cape Town. We were surprised by it and almost hit a mark on the second lap."
The serious racing gets underway tomorrow and hopefully
Dominique and the girls can maintain their good form in the practice race and
challenge for a top five position. You
can keep track of the team’s results at this regatta by logging onto the event
web site at http://www.race.annapolisyc.org/rolexkeelboats/.
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 |
|
Henley Midmar Yacht Club |
3 to 5 October |
|
|
Hout Bay Yacht Club |
4 October |
|
|
Chelmsford Boating Club |
4 & 5 October |
|
|
Various Clubs |
10 to 12 October |
|
|
Simon’sberg Naval Base,
Simonstown |
10 to 12 October |
|
|
Nautical Nomads Society |
25 & 26 October |
|
|
Albert Falls Yacht Club |
Changed to 15 & 16 November |
|
|
Seal Point Yacht Club/Manten
Marina |
25 & 26 October |
|
|
Durban Radio Boat Club |
8 & 9 November |
|
|
Hout Bay Yacht Club |
15 & 16 November |
|
|
FBYC & HBYC |
22 November |
|
|
Hout Bay to St Helena Island |
29 November 2003 |
|
|
Spionkop Boating Club |
6 & 7 December |
|
|
Royal Cape Yacht Club |
13 to 17 December |
|
|
Glendee Yacht Club |
1 & 2 February 2004 |
|
|
Point Yacht Club |
20 to 22 March |
Andrew Heathcote
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 783 8805
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