Smooth Sailing
Sailing
News By A Sailor For Sailors!
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We trust that you are all enjoying the new look Smooth Sailing web
site. Looking at our site stats last week was one of the biggest we have ever
had with nearly 2000 visitors to the site. I trust that everyone who visited
the site liked what they found. Please feel free to drop me a line and let me
know what you think, be it positive or negative.
While I was pleasantly surprised at the number of visitors to the site
on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I was somewhat surprised that there wasn’t any
comment on the Rebel dinghy article, which we published on Friday! Either
nobody really read or it nobody who read it thought much of it. Which was it?
The month of December brings with it a host of sailing activity around
the country. It all starts with the annual SASSU Intervarsity Regatta, which
takes place at Henley Midmar yacht club this week. The regatta starts today and
ends on Friday. This Regatta does a number of good things. It gets a large number
of youth sailors; sailors who are finished in the junior classes and often
disappear rapidly from the sport, onto the water. This in itself is very
important, as we desperately need to keep these guys in the sport. It is also
one of the few team 2racing regattas in the country. Certainly it is the most
regular and the only one that I know of that takes place on an annual basis.
Team racing is a very unique form of sailing with its own set of rules that
differ greatly from those of regular fleet racing. It is a very interesting
tactical and psychological battle out on the water and nurtures a number of
skills that regular fleet racing does not. It is also very exciting to watch,
especially when the boats each have different coloured sails as they do in this
regatta making it dead easy to identify the teams.
A week later, on the 13th of December, the Junior Nationals
take place at Wriggleswade in the Border Region. This regatta is important for
its own very different set of reasons. It is the place from which our sport
should grow and the sailors taking part here should become the cornerstone of
the sport in years to come. The problem is that they often don’t and the loss
in numbers after junior sailing is something that desperately needs to be
addressed. There are many reasons why this happens but in my opinion, its
mostly because there is too much pressure and not enough emphasis on fun. This
is the case especially in the Optimist class where sailors are forever trying
to make worlds or European Champs teams when they would probably be far better
off just having fun! I was disappointed to see that the Mirror class’s attempts
to sail their nationals along with the rest of the junior classes came to
nothing. The Mirror is after all essentially a junior class. At the moment it
is one of the few classes in which junior sailors sail double handed
competitively. I am sure that the organisers of the junior nationals have their
own perfectly good set of reasons for not wanting to include the Mirrors but in
my opinion this was a mistake. As it stands the Junior Nationals probably
attracts more boats than any other regatta in the country, both senior and
junior, and the opportunity to get more boats on the water shouldn’t have been
passed up.
While the juniors are battling it out on Wriggleswade the big boys will
be playing on Table Bay where Table Bay Week takes place from the 13th
to the 17th of December. This is a regatta that has been, if
anything, in decline for the last few years but it seems that there is renewed
enthusiasm among both the organisers and sailors for this event. This is still
probably one of the most prestigious regattas in the country to win but despite
this hasn’t seen many entries from outside of the Western Cape in recent years.
Hopefully for the organisers this year will see the tide turn with a bigger,
better and more nationally representative fleet on the water. For more
information on this event visit www.rcyc.co.za.
Where's Russell? The rumor-mill gains momentum on Russell Coutts'
continued absence from Alinghi's spotlight. Despite the presence of senior
Alinghi sailors and other top America's Cup skippers, Coutts kept a low profile
during the venue announcement. He also did not skipper for Alinghi in the
Moët Cup. Some say Russell is just taking a break; others see deeper
meaning and wonder whether he will be at the wheel in 2007. Sailing Anarchy ups the ante a bit with their piece: Word out of Geneva Sunday is that Russell Coutts and
Ernesto Bertarelli may have come apart. Coutts was conspicuous in his absence
at the Moet Cup against Oracle BMW in September (which Alinghi lost). Then
Coutts was AWOL this week for the venue announcement in Geneva and the
follow-on folderol in Valencia. In the meantime Alinghi have hired ex Oracle
BMW helmsman Peter Holmberg, and, curiously, this was announced last week by
Alinghi's "Director of Sport" Jochen Schumann, not by team CEO
Coutts. Schumann also skippered Alinghi in the Moet Cup...Further word out of
Geneva is that Australian Cup veteran Grant Simmer, Alinghi's Technical
Director, has been tabbed to replace Coutts. At the Cup press conference in
Valencia on Thursday, when Valencia's verbose Mayoress Rita Barbera and ACM
supremo Michel Bonnefous finally invited some team reps to join them on the
stage, sure enough it was Grant Simmer, not Schumann or Butterworth let alone
Coutts, who fronted up and did the talking for Alinghi. When an official
announcement comes, if there is to be one, it will surely be on www.alinghi.com.
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 |
|
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
Valued R48000.00
To swap for sail boat
similar value 23-29’
Contact: Louise Swart
Cell: 082 870 7875
Complete and in
reasonable condition
On road trailer
To swap for trailer
suitable for 2 Sonnet dinghies
‘M4’
New sheets
New paint
(yellow)
Good genoa
Good Spinaker
Racing
condition
Park on shore
at Hartebeespoort
Motor all
included
Contact: Ken
Bishop
E-Mail: kee@yebo.co.za
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
reflect the view or policies of any of Smooth Sailings associate clubs,
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All submissions are welcome. News of any club or yachting related
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