Smooth Sailing
Sailing
News By A Sailor For Sailors!
In
Association with:
Sailing
KZN Mauritius Race Announcement
KZN
Dabchick Champs Gallery of Images
Boat Handling
Tip - Roll Tacking
Sailing KZN issued the following statement this weekend. With
the general upswing that keelboat and offshore racing has experienced in the
region in the last couple of years it is good to see that the momentum is being
capitalised on. The Mauritius to Durban race was an extremely popular event
until the general decline in sailing saw it fall by the wayside. I for one will
be very interested to see just what kind of support this event will generate if
it successfully rekindled. Judging by what I have heard around the yacht club
recently it could be a very popular race!
“Sailing KZN are pleased to announce that plans for a Sailing KZN Mauritius to Durban Ocean Race are fairly well advanced. Sailing
KZN's own Dave Claxton organiser of the Vasco da Gama and Chairman of the
Sailing KZN Oceanic Committee is Race Organiser.
At a recent special Sailing KZN Executive meeting, Dave
tabled an exciting proposal that was accepted and put into immediate
action. Discussions have been held with potential sponsors and things
look positive. As the event requires enormous organising lead-time, it is
pencilled in for September 2005. This gives all the parties involved time to
plan properly.
The executive is aware that the race is planned to take
place only 4 months or so prior to the proposed 2006 Cape to Rio Race,
however for reasons of impetus, ideal lead-time and sponsorship
requirements, it is felt that four months is sufficient time for a serious
racing team to participate in the Mauritius to Durban, and still get to Cape
Town in time for the Cape to Rio.
The amount of interest in the Race has startled Dave, who sent out
a "teaser" in a recent Vasco da Gama email newsletter. He received
phone calls from Cape Town and Gauteng within 15 minutes of sending out the
email. Contacts from a New Zealand party, new to sailing in our
waters, has since been received.
Preparatory meetings have already been held with a number of local
yachtsmen and organisers of previous Mauritius to Durban races in order that
Sailing KZN is as prepared as possible for the task ahead. Dave intends making
as much use of local expertise as possible, and in so doing organise a Race of
very high standard, one which will catch the imagination of Southern Africa's best.
Dave leaves for meetings with Mauritius partners and Government
departments before the end of the month, as it is crucial for him to have a
list of their requirements before the final green light is given in terms of
Sponsorships and local arrangements.
If you have a comment, a suggestion or something to offer, Dave
would be interested in hearing from you. You can either contact Dave on his
email at function@iafrica.com, or
contact Sandy at Sailing KZN on sailsa@hit.co.za.”
The first round of the Royal Natal Yacht
Club’s Rupert Ellis Brown Series was sailed on Saturday at 11:00. A small
but enthusiastic fleet took to the water in conditions that didn’t look that great
but turned out to be very good indeed. The tail end of a small cold front meant
that there was a light to moderate westerly wind blowing with the occasional
passing rain cloud causing the wind to pick up and switch. It made for very
interesting racing. For the Flying Fifteens this was the first round of their
KZN Champs so they understandably had the biggest fleet on the water. It was
definitely the most committed fleet too with a good number of new sails
floating around! A handful of Lasers and a Hobie 16 made up the rest of the
fleet. it was particularly good to see the Hobie 16 out on the water and this
is definitely a class that we are going to see more of racing on the bay along
with 14’s and perhaps even a few Halcats! One race was sailed with the fleet
getting back in plenty of time to watch the rugby. Next Saturday will be more
of the same with PYC running one race at 11:00 on the harbour mark course.
Hopefully there will be twice as many boats on the water this coming Saturday
and twice more the following! Wouldn’t that be something? The results of
Saturday’s race were as follows:
Flying Fifteen
|
1st |
Mike Wright & Darren
Hinnett |
|
2nd |
Peter Morgenrood &
James Kier |
|
3rd |
Patrick Harris &
Jeremy Kriek |
Laser
|
1st |
Andrew Heathcote |
|
2nd |
Richard Bate |
|
3rd |
Daniel Larkens |
The Springboks got off to a winning start in the Rugby World Cup on Saturday with a win over Uruguay. The
opposition wasn’t exactly up to scratch so it’s really hard to gauge much from
this performance. The Boks scored about as many points as most of the other top
teams have against the less fancied nations but that’s about all you can say.
The team looked pretty confident although just a little odd in those
body-hugging jerseys. The Poms were also in good form against Georgia although
they too looked just a little odd in their tight tops. Luckily for us they
suffered a few injuries, something that the Boks thankfully avoided. Injuries
or not next Saturday’s game is going to be a tough one and honestly, I think it
will be a brave person who bets too much money on the Boks! Remember that for
all games in the Rugby World Cup are being screened live on Supersport and that
the Royal Natal Yacht Club is the best place to watch them all. They have
imported a big screen, which is located in the Trafalgar Room, especially for
the tournament and will have cold beer and hot snacks available for all games!
As well as the world cup games there are also a few vital Currie Cup games that
will be screened on the big screen including this coming weeks encounter
between the Sharks and the Lions.
The Sharks lost their second game in the last three
on Saturday evening going down to a motivated Bulls team at Loftus in Pretoria.
The Bulls outplayed the Sharks in the first half but the tables turned in the
second with the Sharks enjoying the upper hand. The only problem was that they
couldn’t convert that upper hand into points. They scored a minor victory of
sorts by getting a last minute penalty. That kept them within 7 points of the
Bulls and so secured them a bonus point that just keeps the Sharks at the top
of the log. There are now two games left in which the Sharks have to score
maximum points to stay at the top of the log because you can bet that the Bulls
will be getting five points from each of their next two games against easy
opposition. Problem for the Sharks is that up next are the Lions, to whom they
lost in the first round. The good thing is that it’s a home game, next Friday
night at the Absa Stadium.
Sunday’s Keeler Fun Race rounded off a
perfect weekend of sailing in Durban with the bay race taking place in perfect
conditions. An 8 to 10 knot northeasterly was spot on for a good fleet o boats that sailed around a longer than
usual course. As it was the course was a very good one, taking the fleet down
the Maydon Channel. That must have been a good spectacle for the Sunday
lunchers sitting at the various eateries at Wilson’s Wharf and is definitely
something we should d more of in Durban, as it has to help in making the public
more aware of our sport. The beat back up the channel wasn’t quite as easy as
the run down had been though with lots of short taking between the sandbanks.
It was good fun though and followed by a pleasant afternoon on the lawns at
RNYC made for a good day out. We should have more of that kind of racing! The
results were as follows:
Racing Class
|
1st
|
Close
Again |
Andrew
Heathcote |
L34 |
|
2nd
|
Dockleveller
Supplies |
Nigel
Miln |
L26 |
Cruising Class
|
1st
|
Xosha
Moya |
|
¼
Tonner |
|
2nd
|
Raine |
Brian
Millar |
Holiday
23 |
The full results are
available on the Smooth Sailing Racing Reports web page.
New on the Smooth Sailing web site is a Gallery of Images from the recent KZN Dabchick Champs. The regatta was sailed at the Henley
Midmar Yacht Club in a mixture of light, cold and misty and also sunny and
windy conditions, a bit of everything really. Check out the pictures from this
event by going to www.smoothsailing.co.za/kzndabpic1.html.
There is a reasonable amount of Sailing on TV again this week although its not all at
the most convenient times so you might have to set your video recorder to catch
some of it. The schedule for this week is as follows:
|
Watersports
World |
Supersport
2 |
21:00 |
Monday
13th |
|
Moet
Cup |
Supersport
3 |
10:00 |
Tuesday
14th |
|
Swedish
Match Danish Cup |
ESPN |
06:00 |
Wednesday
15th |
|
Watersports
World |
Supersport
2 |
04:00 |
Wednesday
15th |
|
Watersports
World |
Supersport
2 |
01:00 |
Friday
17th |
A recent debate on Roll Tacking on one of the e-mail groups I subscribe
to posed the following question:
When roll tacking the boat, at the
very end when you are 'pushing' the boat down, and thus the mast through the
air, should you 'push' the boat down slowly or rapidly?
The general consensus was
that faster is better. The reason, it gets the boat moving through the water
sooner and will gain you a boat length up the course sooner than the boat next
to you that ‘pushes’ down slowly. Faster also creates a stronger burst of
apparent wind and therefore allows one to sail higher for a short period of
time. The slow ‘push’ will ultimately yield a higher boat speed but it will
take a lot longer to get there. Most important though is to have the sails
trimmed properly since poor sail-trim will nullify the effect of any roll tack,
good or bad. So, there’s something for you to think about the next time you are
heading upwind in light air in your dinghy.
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 |
|
Nautical Nomads Society |
25 & 26 October |
|
|
Albert Falls Yacht Club |
Changed to 15 & 16 November |
|
|
Pennant Nine Yacht Club |
18 & 19 October |
|
|
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 |
|
|
Henley Midmar Yacht Club |
13 to 16 December |
|
|
Henley Midmar Yacht Club |
27 to 30 December |
|
|
Glendee Yacht Club |
1 & 2 February 2004 |
|
|
Point Yacht Club |
20 to 22 March |
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 andrew@smoothsailing.co.za.
FOR SALE
Cruising
yacht lying Vaal Dam
New set of
sails
18 hp inboard
Yanmar diesel motor
Full deck of
instruments
Excellent
condition
Ready for
cruising
R70 000-00
Contact:
Collin Smith
Phone:
016-422 5460/1
Cell: 083 271
9208
E-Mail:
gemins@mweb.co.za
Yacht R35
000-00
Trailer R10
000-00
Contact:
William Heydenrych
Home Phone:
011-678 5534
Work Phone:
011-793 1031
New AMPAIR 100
Wind Generator
Unit never
been used and is out of the box
See specs on www.ampair.com
R6 500-00
&
(From 32 ft
Jenneau)
D =360 mm
(14"), Pitch = 200, Shaft 1260 X 22mm
With cutlass
bearing, key and nut.
R1 000-00
&
18"
MAXPROP
Two blade,
variable pitch, auto feathering
Type MP2B,
Nickle Alluminium Bronze
D = 457mm
(18"), 1:10 taper, 30 mm shaft with 8 x 4 keyway
R6 500-00
Contact: Neil
Cell: 072 299
8670
E-Mail: saltygoose110@hotmail.com
WANTED
Contact: Ray van Rensburg
Cell: 083 750 0944
E-Mail: ray@geotron.co.za
Phone 031-463 1572
E-Mail:
thewoods@absamail.co.za
Formula One Keelboat
E-Mail: richann@mweb.co.za
To loan or Rent for the month of December 2003
For the purposes of taking part in the South Star Race.
Contact: Dale Kushner
Cell: 082 552 4533
E-Mail:
info@daewoogoodwood.co.za
For a
HYDROVANE self steering unit.
Contact: Neil
Cell: 072 299
8670
E-Mail: saltygoose110@hotmail.com
Andrew Heathcote
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 783 8805
This newsletter is
distributed free of charge to anyone who chooses to subscribe to it. The
subject matter contained herein is entirely of a yachting orientated nature or
that which may be of interest to yachtsmen.
Please note that the views
contained in this newsletter are those of the authors concerned and in no way
reflect the view or policies of any of Smooth Sailings associate clubs,
sponsors or advertisers.
To be added to the mailing
list send a blank e-mail to sailing.join@ffs.co.za.
To be removed from the list
please send a blank e-mail to sailing.remove@ffs.co.za.
All submissions are welcome. News of any club or yachting related
event should be sent to andrew@smoothsailing.co.za
for publication.
Smooth Sailing is kindly distributed courtesy of FFS Refiners (Pty) Ltd