Smooth Sailing
Sailing
News By A Sailor For Sailors!
In
Association with:
Optimist and
Laser KZN Grand Prix 2
Durban Keeler
Safety Inspections
ISAF, at their
meeting in Barcelona, Spain, this weekend made a major change to the format of
next year’s Olympic Regatta. In a controversial decision that has caused waves
around the world the ISAF council decided that there should be no discards
allowed in the Olympic Regatta. Their reason is that the last race of the
regatta will now always count and so make the event easier for the general
public and the press to understand. While the press and administrators all seem
to think that this is a great idea the sailors are less than impressed. Ben Ainslie, who won gold in Sydney, said: "I'm
very shocked. I don't think you would find many of the sailors in favour of
that decision." So, there is now no space for gear failure,
disqualifications or just plain bad luck in the Olympic regatta. Certainly this
will intensify the pressure on the sailors in an already pressured event but it
is hard to say if, on the whole, it will be for the better or worse. It also
means that the gold medal fight will go right down to the bitter end. Boat
preparation will become even more important with no room for error here at all.
Not that sailor in the Olympic regatta don’t prepare their boats with
meticulous precision already. Something else that will change is that the
starts will probably become far less conservative affairs with sailors far more
reluctant to score a potentially regatta ending OCS. Something else to consider
is that changes such as this will no doubt filter down through the sport.
Perhaps it is now only a matter of time before discards are a thing of the
past. This could well be one of the most far-reaching decisions in our sport
for a long time.
There was also
extensive discussion of RRS 16.2 - Changing Course. Some had favored the
removal of RRS 16.2, otherwise known as the "Anti-Hunting Rule", the
Council considered a submission to clarify the wording, which was approved
amended as follows: "In addition, when after the starting signal a
port-tack boat is keeping clear by sailing to pass astern of a starboard-tack
boat, the starboard-tack boat shall not change course if as a result the
port-tack boat would immediately need to change course to continue keeping
clear." For an updated report detailing the
other key decisions that were made go to www.sailing.org/meetings.
Dinghy Sailing in
Durban on Saturday afternoon was slightly
disappointing with not as many boats turning up as some had expected. Only the
Flying Fifteen fleet was at full strength, as usual! It seems that these guys
don’t watch rugby or something. For the rest I think that many sailors spent
the day in front of their televisions rather than out on the water, which was
disappointing. Although the weather wasn’t the most inviting of the season the
conditions were good with a fresh southwester blowing. With the occasional
rainsquall and some pretty big gusts it was an exciting afternoon on the water.
There were some scorching downwind legs on the harbour mark course and a good
time seemed to be had by all on the water despite the chill in the air. There
were definitely some tired legs around the place afterwards. This was the
second round of the PYC’s Dinghy Series and the class leaders in each of the
three classes that have sailed on both weekends so far are as follows:
|
Flying Fifteen |
Patrick Harris & Jeremy Kriek |
|
Laser |
Ian Hogg |
|
29er |
Rob & Andrew Tarbotton |
The full
results are available on the PYC web site at www.pyc.co.za.
Sunday’s Port
Captain’s Sprints were
also not that well attended with four cruising and two racing boats taking
part. It was a pity as Sunday turned out to be one of the best day’s of the
summer so far with idyllic conditions. Two races were sailed in a moderate
north easterly breeze on a flat sea and accompanied by a huge school of
dolphins. It really was sailing in paradise and it is quite sad that more
sailors didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to go racing. The class
winners were as follows:
|
Cruising Class |
Aquilla |
Trapper 28 |
Phil Downing |
|
Racing Class |
Skitso |
Fast 42 |
Andrew Heathcote |
The full
results are available on the PYC web site at www.pyc.co.za.
The KZN Optimist Class Association held the second round of their 2003/04 Optimist & Laser Grand
Prix Series at HMYC,
Midmar this weekend. Four sets of races comprising the Grand Prix series are
held over a weekend at different venues in KZN in order to foster junior
sailing at the yacht clubs around KwaZulu Natal. The first was held in the
harbour in Durban and the next two will be at ZLYC (17 Jan 2004) in Richards
Bay and the grand finale, offshore Durban on 27th March 2004. Conditions at
Midmar on Saturday were wet, cold and only a light SW wind was blowing. Five
races were put in by Race Officers Andy Gray and Steve Martin. Rudy McNeil and
Vincenzo De Gennaro dominated the Optimist fleet taking first and second
respectively in all five races on Saturday. Vincenzo winning by a huge margin
on Sunday. In the Laser fleet, it was Aaron
Larkens who showed how to do it, taking two firsts in the
morning races. The Michaelhouse sailing club turned out in force, Jerome
Gristwood taking two firsts in the afternoon. Anthony McMillan did
well to achieve a first in the only race held in very light North Easterly
conditions on Sunday. Overall positions in the Lasers were close and Stuart
Purchase was forced to take second overall to Anthony on a tie-break count
back. This weekend also saw the KZN Optimist Association honouring the team who
are going to compete in the National Championships and it was a privilege to
see the KZN Squad members sailing in their new Second Skins KZN tops. Well done
guys and we wish you all the best and good sailing. The final positions for
Grand Prix II with one discard were:
Optimists
|
1st
|
Rudy
McNeill |
|
2nd
|
Vincenzo
De Gennaro |
|
3rd
|
Sam
Hancock |
Lasers
|
1st
|
Anthony
McMillan |
|
2nd
|
Stuart
Purchase |
|
3rd
|
Jerome
Gristwood |
The full results have been posted on the Smooth Sailing Racing Reports web page.
Des
Fairbank sent us the following report on last weeks MRYC Club Regatta:
The past Saturday
was the last chance to practice for the 36” Shipmate Club Championship to be
sailed on the 22 November 2003. Unfortunately those sailors with interests in
other forms of sailing lost out but we still managed a fleet of 9 boats.
The wind was good top
suit strength straight down the river but with the odd dramatic shift moving
through which made for very interesting sailing. Martin had put his loss to his
wife behind him rigged a set of Fairbank sails and was flying winning the first
two races after which the wheels started to come off. He produced one of his
best days sailing finishing second behind myself.
After 8 Races the
results were:
|
1st |
Des Fairbank |
8 Points |
|
2nd |
Martin Stephens |
16 |
|
3rd |
Robin Macintosh |
22 |
From: Nico Louw
Re: Dinghy Classes
Regarding the search for the ideal dinghy. I would
like to know if any consideration was given to the Sonnet class?
I have recently decided to make a start into the sport
of sailing. After considering many options I decided that the Sonnet is an
ideal boat. elative easy handling , speed, ability to handle strong coastal
winds, locally designed and built were some of the plus points. With crew
weight of 120-140kg. This is an ideal father and son/ husband and wife or two
junior boats. It even has a special jib for solo sailing.
Was this boat ever considered and what in your view
were its negative points. There is certainly a strong and enthusiastic fleet in
the Western Cape.
I hope to have my boat in Natal waters soon.
The time has come for the annual Keel Boat Safety Inspections to take place in Durban. These are vital
in order to ensure that your boat remains registered with the port and cleared
for sailing offshore Durban. Both the Point and Royal Natal Yacht Club will be
doing their safety inspections on the morning of Saturday the 29th
of November. The relevant inspection and registration forms are available from
either of the yacht clubs. It is worth remembering that when the boat is
inspected the Ship’s Radio Licence, Radio Operators Licence and Liferaft
Certificate need to be on board. For more information about the safety
inspections please contact either the Point Yacht viable locally.
The schedule of Sailing on TV for the next few days is as follows:
|
Watersports World |
Supersport
2 |
20:00 |
Monday
24th |
|
Watersports
World |
Supersport
2 |
06:00 |
Tuesday
25th |
|
Watersports
World |
Supersport
1 |
14:00 |
Tuesday
25th |
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 |
|
FBYC & HBYC |
22 November |
|
|
Denysville Aquatic Club |
23 November |
|
|
Hout Bay to St Helena Island |
29 November 2003 |
|
|
Victoria Lake Club |
29 & 30 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 - Flying
Fifteen Nationals & Hobie KZN Champs |
Royal Natal Yacht Club |
13 to 16 December |
|
Stillbaai 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 |
|
|
Theewaters Sports Club |
27 to 31 December |
|
|
Lake Denys Yacht Club |
30 January to 1 February 2004 |
|
|
Glendee Yacht Club |
1 & 2 February |
|
|
HMYC 9-Hour Endurance Race |
Henley Midmar Yacht Club |
21 February |
|
Point Yacht Club |
20 to 22 March |
|
|
Hoedjiesbaai Beach, Saldahna Bay |
9 to 12 April |
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
Sail No 735.
Lying at
Manten Marina.
Full set of
sails including spinnaker and pole.
Interior in
mint condition,
3.9 HP Volvo
Penta outboard sail motor included (Good running condition).
All sheets
new. Various safety equipment.
R19 000-00
Cell: 082 876
8366
Phone: 01-
868 5355
E-mail : markc@mdm-eng.co.za
Laser
Barely used
R15 000-00
Contact: Neil Burnett
Cell: 082 552 6436
E-Mail: neil@speakersofnote.co.za
WANTED
Preferably
diesel & 2nd hand
8 to 12 hp
Contact: Andrew
Heathcote
E-Mail: andrew@smoothsailing.co.za
Any Condition.
Preferably well used.
(To keep the price down.)
Contact: Trevor Emmett
Cell: 082-555 0162
Mail: trevor@test-a-relay.co.za
Hull
with/without trailer and sails
In the
Gauteng area
Graham Danney
073 236 0495
Andrew Heathcote
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 783 8805
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