Smooth Sailing
Sailing
News By A Sailor For Sailors!
In
Association with:
Although it’s only
Wednesday today the end of week edition of Smooth Sailing has had to happen a
little early, as I will be away for the rest of this week. One of the things
that I will be doing on my travels is taking part in the SPYC Big Boat Regatta
at which I am sure I will see lots of Smooth Sailing readers. Unfortunately one
cant do everything as I would also have liked to be at the Nautical Nomads
Regatta at Sterkfontein but I trust that one will also be well supported by
Smooth Sailing readers, or should we call them sailors? For those of you in or
near Cape Town the Cape Boat and Watersports Show takes place from Friday until
Sunday. Last years show was very successful and this years promises to be even
more so. It should be a good window on the very healthy boat building industry
in South Africa and I am sure that there will be many interesting craft to look
over.
Izivunguvungu
Sailing School Newsletter
The Nautical Nomads Regatta takes place this weekend at the
Sterkfontein Dam. Last years event went down well with all who were there and
this year’s should be no exception. The cold spell that has been gripping the
country should have moved well away by then and Sterkfontein is almost always
windy so there should be some good sailing to be had. While the organisers tell
me that there haven’t been quite as many pre-entries as they had hoped for,
something that yachties are notoriously bad for, they are still expecting a
fairly reasonable turnout of boats. They also expect a wide variety from
dinghies to cats to a few trailable keelers. It should be a good weekend of
sailing so if you haven’t got yourself ready to go yet, download the Notice of
Race from out Notices of Race web page and get yourself organised. For more
information you can contact Gavin Davies at gavin_davies@scottbader.co.za or Steve Hegestrom at sheger@mweb.co.za.
South
Africa’s next game of the Rugby
World Cup is on Friday
when they play against Georgia. The game kicks off at 11:30 and will of course
be televised live on Supersport. An early lunch break looks like it will be in
order for this one. Despite the fact that most of the first choice players are
being given a break from the action we should be good for a big win in this
one.
The Sharks have no choice but to win and win big
when they play against the Cheetahs on Saturday. This is pretty much the
biggest game of the season, as it will determine who does and doesn’t make it
into the Currie Cup final. The Bulls will be there and the Sharks are in second
place at the moment but Western Province are only one point behind in third.
They have an easy game and one would be very surprised if they don’t come away
with the full five points. If the Sharks only win
and don’t get a bonus point, that would put them level with Western Province
and then the points scored in matches will come into effect! It’s all very
tenuous. The Sharks have to play well, they have been on top almost the entire
season and really need to finish this one off. It’s a long time since we have
won the Currie Cup and now is the time! I hope that the players think so too!
On Saturday the Henley
Midmar Yacht Club’s Spring Series is set to take place at Midmar Dam. This
series consists of two medium distance races. There will be a briefing at 10:30
with the start not before 11:00. This series is aimed at the more laid back
sailors who want to do a bit of racing without the pressure of hectic mark
roundings and packed start lines. For more information on sailing at HMYC
contact Robin McIntosh at robin.mcintosh@liblink.co.za.
For RC
Laser sailors in Durban don’t forget that the
first round of the summer series will be taking place tomorrow, Thursday, at
the Durban Radio Boat Club. Racing is set to start at 17:30 and will continue
until the sun goes down. The yellow cooler box bar will be in operation for
those of you who don’t make it to the bottle store on your way down. For more
information on anything to do with RC Lasers visit www.rclaser.co.za.
The
full results from the 2003 Muira Nationals
are available on the web at www.capewindjammers.com,
not .co.za as I erroneously published on Monday!
The following is the October Newsletter from Ian Ainslie’s Izivunguvungu Sailing School. It is really worth taking the time to
read it and get an idea of what good work Ian and his partners are doing down
there, not just for the sport but for the greater community.
Partners of Izivunguvungu
Mediterranean Shipping Company
The SA Navy
The Foundation for a Brighter Future.
The project
continues to grow in numbers and activities. New groups from St. James and
Ocean View High have started with us this term. The great group of highly
motivated kids that we have on the program make this work highly rewarding for
the instructors.
While
we have to be flexible if we want to meet the needs of the kids, we also need
to maintain the balance of being a very tightly focussed and cost effective
organisation. At the moment, we have a steady stream of kids coming through the
center on 6 days a week. On weekdays, there is time to first do homework under
supervision and/or chores before starting the various activities for the day.
Carder
was part of one of the first groups that came through the program a few years
ago. He is now working with us on a full-time basis. He is mostly responsible
for maintenance of our boats as well as the boat building program. But, like
the rest of us, he is part instructor, rescuer, sandwich-maker, etc. Carder is
quiet and relaxed, yet commands respect from all the kids. Also, having shared
a similar background to many of the youths, he is a very powerful role model
and is often in a much better position to offer advice and share life skills
with the kids than I could be.
Between
30 and 40 kids attended the school holiday program. At times it was a bit
hectic, as it seemed there was always a scuffle threatening to break out
somewhere, or at least 20 kids calling me simultaneously. Activities varied
from novelty races, navigational exercises, cruising to Kalk Bay harbour,
seamanship exercises, hiking, designing and building a model, environmental
education etc. All through we try to emphasise learning new skills and teaching
the core values of awareness, integrity and responsibility. It becomes obvious
to us that people love to learn, work and challenge themselves if the environment
is right and they are having fun. With no syllabus to "get through",
we try to provide the conditions for the kid’s to teach themselves. This is a
luxury that not many schoolteachers have! On one of the days, we had a group of
Timberland employees come down on a company volunteer day. They helped with the
various activities and cooked up a huge meal for everyone. Good times!
The latest
edition of development regattas was held over 10-12 October. Central Boating
sponsored the event. As well as kids from our program, there were teams
representing Grassy Park High and the Hout Bay YC development program. It
started on the same Friday afternoon that the Double Cape Race was cancelled.
Plenty of cocky sailors were demanding to race, so we rigged up one bosun and
let them have turns to blast and cartwheel around the bay in 30-40knots. They
were all humbled, coming in, tail between the legs, with much more respect for
the elements! On Saturday, the wind had died, so we sent them out into the bay
for some wave riding. The race committee (Matt and I) had a great view from our
bumpy, 10 ft committee boat. There was some great racing accompanied by much
whooping and yelling as the bosun tubs surfed downwind. We sent them back into
the bay for the afternoon after Carder "baywatch" Williams, buzzing
around in the rescue boat, had to pluck a few sailors who had been
"dispossessed" of their boat, from the water. In all, we got in 6
races during the day. Even though most of the sailors were pretty exhausted, we
had their rapt attention for a rules and tactics briefing afterwards. On
Sunday, there was no wind in the morning, so we paddled the fleet over to Long
Beach for a 5-a-side beach soccer tournament. I think the Simon’s Town School
hostel team won. After lunch, the wind came up and we could run a further 3
races in very variable, pre-thunderstorm conditions. The team of Wandisile,
Thembalani and Dane had definitely visited a sangoma the night before because
in the one race, they lapped the fleet. However, for the overall title the team
of Marcello Burricks, Enrico Geldenhuys and Brent Laguma were never threatened.
They were far ahead on points. Marcello is sailing really well, now. It is time
for him to start sailing lasers seriously. In second place overall was Musa and
Sikelela and third Wandisile (the hobbit) Xayimpi’s team. Central boating
handed out some really nice prizes. These regattas are really fun and the kids
learn a lot. Maybe some "mainstream" sailors will be surprised at the
level of the sailing when they come to compete.
This
award is given to the sailor who shows the most improvement, commitment and
willingness to help others. The award comes with a voucher from Cafe Pescado
for a big scoff as well as the prized ‘gray shirt"
Winners
were:
August
Thembelani Sidlayi
September
Wandisile Xayimpi
The
league runs for a school term, accumulating the scores of the 4-6 races we run
every Friday afternoon. The stakes are high as the winners, providing they
fulfill their other obligations with the program, get to sail the mirrors in
the Western Cape points series regattas. The racing is fierce and often very
entertaining to watch. We normally film these races so that we can go over
their errors. The footage is sometime hilarious. It is very funny to see a guy
go for a huge roll tack, miss his toestrap and catapult himself out of the boat
backwards with a dramatic somersault. Entertainment value is enhanced if he
continues to shout his rights to nearby boats as he is being towed by the
mainsheet 5m behind the boat, while the crew steers. Another example: crew gets
their mainsheet caught on a moored motorboat. They frantically try to free it
as the fleet roar by. In desperation, the helm jumps into the water, swims over
the motorboat and disentangles it. The boat, of course, goes flying off with
the helmsman still hanging onto the moored boat. From the video evidence, the
thought of turning around to rescue his helm does not enter the crew’s head for
a second. He grabs the helm, mainsheet, jibsheet etc and hikes hard
(single-handedly) all the way around the course. He even covers the group
behind him up the last beat, ignoring the plaintive wails from his helmsman.
Meanwhile, other boats are roaring by the helmsman, also unconcerned by his
pleas for rescue. (what happened to safety first??)Finally, he grabs
desperately onto the last-placed boat, who allow him on board with very
ill-grace. For the rest of the race I hear vociferous muttering from the glorious
rescue team about the extra weight in the boat and demands that the passenger
hikes harder! By this stage, the camera is shaking violently as I hoot with
laughter.
There
are some serious moments, though! The winners of the term league were: Wandisile
Xayimpi and Andile Zenzile with Musa Mbakaza and Sikelela Sotyato second.
Matt
has finally got his way, and now we are farmers as well. He has grown his beard
and started wearing a floppy hat so that he looks the part. (Strange, bru).
Carla Jackson comes in and teaches the kids and us how to grow and look after
the vegetables. The farmers each have their patch, the vegetables from which
they will be able to take home once they are ripe. We hope to encourage them to
start growing vegetables in their communities, using the skills that Carla has
taught them.
Matt
is teaching the kids about recycling. He is aiming for our project to have zero
emissions and, to this end, we are trying to cut down on waste and to recycle
as much as possible. We find that the poorer kids take to it very easily. For
economic reasons, their communities do not waste much and it has been
insightful for us to be aware of all the waste that we normally produce
unthinkingly.
A
group of students are building a mirror dinghy from a kit. The emphasis is on
learning handwork skills. I often have to rein in my natural impatience to see
the final product in order to emphasise the learning process. Together with
Salvatore Sarno, We will develop this side of the project much more in the next
few months.
A
group of sailors are competing in the Western Cape points series in Mirror
dinghies. Matt was distinctly unenthused when we got our first mirror.
"Lemon" and "tub" were the most frequent adjectives. Fast
they are not, but the amount this program is teaching the kids has won him
over. As the regattas are "away," planning and boat maintenance
skills are very important. Anyone reading this who sailed against me a few
years back, could be forgiven for thinking it is a case of the blind leading
the blind in this respect. However, the squad is now quite good at getting
their boats fixed and we are sometimes on time for the races. As we build new
boats, the older one’s get shuffled down the pecking order. Squad members all
have long term goals and a training plan to get there. The problem is, quite a
few have "2005 mirror world champion" on top of the goal list!
Matt
and his team Donna Mia, continue to develop their seamanship, boat maintenance
and teamwork skills on the L26. They have been really successful and have
recently won the GBYC Spar Regatta, the JML Development regatta and they topped
their class in the FBYC Spring Regatta. Many more of the kids crewed on other
boats in the spring regatta. I noticed that post-race discussion seemed to
center more around comparing the dimensions of their respective boat’s cooler
box and it’s contents than the actual racing!
Matt
and I are really bad at fundraising. In fact we don’t even try. So we are
constantly amazed when someone phones up saying: "I saw all these kids
sailing so well and I’d like to help, donate something etc.." or they’ll
pop in with some old clothes or sailing magazines. We get the feeling that
people want to contribute to society. In the last few months, we’ve had
generous donations from the following people, who I would like to acknowledge:
Theo
Waardenburg who donated a mirror dingy, which is in constant use.
Walter
Impey gave us a bookshelf full of wonderful sailing books, covering every
topic.
Pia
Cornelius went and bought us trolley-load of groceries and donated some cash to
buy more.
Ian
Weinberg of the NSRI gave us a small rubber duck for rescue.
After
a few months of getting absolutely no funding, a cheque appeared for R3000 from
children of the Loreto Convent in Mulligar, Ireland. These kids organised a
fundraiser for the program on the basis of seeing some video footage of the
kids – incredible!
Dr.
Adnaan Mia dropped off a whole stack of t-shirts, which he had made up for us.
(A stock of prizes for a long time)
Admiral
Koos Louw continues to pop around with goodies for the kids.
The
SA Mirror Class Association donated a mirror kit to us. We also have one boat
on loan from fleet 6 of the class association.
Sanlam
contributed to the costs of a new bosun mast.
There is some Sailing on TV in the next few days although it’s mostly
this week’s edition of Watersports World. Still it is worth watching if you get
the chance, as there is often some good sailing on it. The schedule for this
week is as follows:
|
Watersports World |
Supersport
2 |
15:45 |
Wednesday
22nd |
|
University Boat Race
(Rowing) |
Supersport
1 |
09:30 |
Thursday
23rd |
|
Watersports
World |
Supersport
1 |
19:00 |
Thursday
24th |
|
Watersports
World |
Supersport
1 |
01:00 |
Friday
25th |
|
Watersports
World |
Supersport
2 |
21:00 |
Monday
27th |
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 |
|
|
Seal Point Yacht Club/Manten
Marina |
25 & 26 October |
|
|
Durban Radio Boat Club |
8 & 9 November |
|
|
Hout Bay Yacht Club |
15 & 16 November |
|
|
Lake Denys Yacht Club |
15 & 16 November |
|
|
FBYC & HBYC |
22 November |
|
|
Hout Bay to St Helena Island |
29 November 2003 |
|
|
Point, Royal Natal & Zululand
Yacht Clubs and Club Naval, Maputo |
December 2003 to July 2004 |
|
|
Spionkop Boating Club |
6 & 7 December |
|
|
Royal Natal Yacht Club Christmas
Regatta |
Royal Natal Yacht Club |
13 to 16 December |
|
Royal Cape Yacht Club |
13 to 17 December |
|
|
Stutterheim Aquatic Club |
13 to 20 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
Wooden Extra
In excellent
condition for sale.
Built by
Stephen du Toit.
Kept
permanently inside and seldom sailed in the past few years.
Price R11
000-00
Includes
spare sails, dolly and boat cover.
Contact: John
Sibbald
Work: 021-762
5067
Home 021-786
3012
Cell: 082 658 2490
Sail Number
186.
Sail
Wardrobe-Main , Working jib , No.1 Genoa , Spinnaker
Roller
furling gear . Marriner 5hp outboard
All in
excellent condition
Yacht moored
@ Midmar
Contact: Mike
E-Mail: tessmike@mweb.co.za
Cell - 0835564182
No. 23575
Situated in
Cape Town.
Contact:
Carel
Cell: 072 551
4223
E-mail: zvogel@kingsley.co.za
In the Durban
Marina
R3 000-00
Contact:
Brian
Phone:
039-973 2247
E-Mail: yachty@telkomsa.net
On trailer with
sail box
Contact: John
Lupton-Smith
Cell: 083 301
4775
With sails
and dolly
R1 500-00
Contact:
Charles
Cell: 082 926
0046
WANTED
Boom length
max2.15 m
Or similar
main sail
Lance
0844263475
E-Mail: lance@connections.org.za
E-Mail: Brendan.vickers@poyry.co.za
2nd
Hand in good condition
Preferably
in Durban area
Contact:
Trish Adams
E-Mail:
vixend@iafrica.com
In reasonable condition for Club Racing.
Contact: Louwrens Toerien
Tell: (H) 021 880 1749, (W) 021 659
4867
E-Mail: louwrens.toerien@za.didata.com
Andrew Heathcote
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 783 8805
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