Smooth Sailing
Sailing
News By A Sailor For Sailors!
In
Association with:
Durban Keeler
Safety Inspections
Your Weekend Weather, according to the SA Weather
Service, should be as follows:
Durban & Richard’s Bay: Saturday will be 25 degrees
and partly cloudy becoming cloudy with a 20% chance of evening thunderstorms.
The wind will be a moderate northeasterly becoming a moderate easterly in the
afternoon. Sunday will be 26 degrees and partly cloudy. The wind will be a
moderate southeasterly becoming a light easterly in the afternoon.
Midmar: Saturday will be 25 degrees
and partly cloudy becoming cloudy with a 30% chance of afternoon and evening
thunderstorms. The wind will be a light northeasterly becoming a light easterly
in the afternoon. Sunday will be 24 degrees and partly cloudy with a might
southeasterly wind becoming a light easterly in the afternoon.
Vaal Dam: Saturday will be 26 degrees and partly cloudy with a 30% chance of
thunderstorms. The wind will be a light northeasterly. Sunday will be 24
degrees and partly cloudy with a 30% chance of thunderstorms. The wind will be
a light northeasterly.
Cape Town:
Saturday will be 27 degrees and cloudy at times with a 20% chance of light
showers. The wind will be a fresh northeasterly. Sunday will be 25 degrees and
partly cloudy with a 40% chance of showers in the afternoon. The wind will be a
fresh southwesterly.
Dinghy Sailing in Durban on Saturday
afternoon will be hosted by the RNYC who are running the third
round of their Rupert Ellis Brown Series. Racing will take place on the
deep-water course with the first of two scheduled races set to start at 14:00.
The weather forecast looks reasonably good so hopefully there will be a good
turnout of boats on the water. The racing is set to start well after the rugby
has finished so there is no reason for not being there!
On Sunday the RNYC are holding a Two-Handed Race for Keelers offshore Durban. The race will be sailed on a there and back course,
probably to Umghlanga and back depending on the weather though. There will be a
briefing at RNYC at 09:30 with the start scheduled for 11:00. Over the years
this has been a very popular event with lots of boats traditionally taking
part. For one thing no skipper can complain about not being able to get enough
crew although having a crew that is willing to work hard is pretty important
for this one! The weather forecast looks great, not too windy, so it should be
a good day for this race. The prizegiving will take place on the lawns at the
RNYC afterwards where the regular Sunday afternoon braai and live music will be
on the go.
The following press release was
passed on to me by Alon Finkelstein who last corresponded for Smooth Sailing
when working for the Oracle America’s Cup Team. Alon now works for Farr Yacht Design
whose latest, and in fact their first, Open 60, Virbac, just won the Transat
Jaques Vabre Race. What makes this of particular interest though is that Virbac
was recently in South Africa. She stopped off in Durban and Cape Town en route
from New Zealand to Europe shortly after her launch. Virbac certainly stood out
in Durban when she was here and I am sure made a similar impression in Cape
Town. It is good to see that her impressive looks are matched by impressive
performance. The Farr office seem justifiably please with her performance. Read
on to see what they have to say about it:
Farr Yacht Design's "VIRBAC" wins Transat Jacques Vabre in
Open 60 Monohull Class
DATELINE:
Bahia de Salvador, Brazil, November 18, 2003 -- VIRBAC, the first Open 60
designed by Farr Yacht Design, skippered by Jean Pierre Dick and Nicolas
Abiven, won the Transat Jacques Vabre, Open 60 Class, today in dramatic
fashion. Virbac's win is an impressive
victory considering the Farr Yacht Design product was competing against second
and third generation efforts from other design houses.
After
a rough start in stormy conditions Virbac claimed the lead on day 8 of the
16-day race and never looked back.
Virbac's win came by the way of better all around performance over a
broad range of conditions, allowing Virbac to set up a solid lead that was
never threatened as the race progressed. With
several days' runs in excess of 300 miles and one day of 364 miles, Virbac
showed consistent, superior speed in many of the conditions she is likely to
encounter during next year's Vendee Globe.
The
new yacht built by Cookson Boats in New Zealand met all expectations.
"Jean-Pierre
and Nicolas have done an outstanding job.
There is no question that they and their support team are a large part
of this success and the team at Farr Yacht Design is fortunate to have them as
a client", said Vice President - Russell Bowler.
Beyond
research and development, the design team played a physical role too. Team members Steve Morris and Mick Price
spent several days and nights in the Bay of Biscay, in winds up to 40 knots,
sailing with and helping Jean Pierre and his team learn about the boat and
gaining valuable first hand experience that will greatly aid in the development
of Farr Yacht Design’s new Volvo Open 70 design.
Steve
Morris, Vice President, commented:
"Virbac is fantastic to sail, blasting along at high speed all the
time. The 60 foot yacht is extremely
responsive and a joy to steer with a lightly loaded tiller, achieving our
design aims of a well balanced, easily driven boat".
Virbac is the
latest generation in design thinking from Farr Yacht Design and this
breakthrough is directly attributable to the expert research and development
team, led by Britt Ward, as well as their many years of America's Cup, IMS, and
Volvo Ocean Race success. "The
Virbac design effort will serve as a model for the upcoming Volvo Ocean Race
that will take place with boats built to the new Volvo Open 70 Rule", said
Pat Shaughnessy, Design Project Manager.
With input from the success of Virbac and feedback over the past few
months, Farr Yacht Design has designed and built a specific one-third scale
Volvo Open 70 model for tank testing and are now pursuing research of this new
concept. They expect to be able to
provide a Volvo Open 70 design for construction starts early in 2004 that will
dominate the front of the fleet as Virbac has in the Open 60 fleet.
Farr Yacht Design, Ltd. has earned
its reputation over the last 25 years as the world’s leading sailing yacht
design firm with 40 World Championships and 6 victories in the Whitbread Round
the World and Volvo Ocean Race.
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
3282
Supreme
racing condition, excellent racing record
Very recently
re-decked and refurbished
Custom made
brand new main and jib (Hyde Sails) together
Custom
engineered foils
Paul Green
mast, new dolly & top cover
Outstanding racing
deck layout.
R 12 000
Contact Peter
Funke
Cell: 072 245
0154
Home: 012-344
2438
E-mail: pfunke@xsinet.co.za
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
Contact:
Wilhelm Herbst
Phone: 011-324
0850
E-Mail: wherbst@msq.co.za
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
This newsletter is
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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
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