Smooth Sailing
Sailing
News By A Sailor For Sailors!
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Association with:
The current front-page
picture on the Smooth Sailing web site shows the first ever modern America’s
Cup class yacht to arrive on our shore being offloaded from a MSC container
ship in Cape Town harbour. Elsewhere on the web site, on the Photos page, are
several more picture of the yacht during offloading. So if you don’t know what
all the fuss is about yet, take a surf past the site to find out more.
New Volvo Race Syndicate Announced
Northvaal Optimist Association Raffle
SAMSA
Circular On The Small Vessel Safety Regulations
Jules Verne
Record Attempts
Cheyenne's
SA Crewman Takes A Tumble
Your Weekend Weather, according to the SA Weather
Service, should be as follows:
Durban
& Richard’s Bay: Saturday will be 25
degrees and cloudy clearing partially later in the day. There is a 30% chance
of morning showers. The wind will be a moderate southeasterly becoming a
moderate northeasterly in the afternoon. Sunday will be 27 degrees, partly
cloudy and humid. The wind will be a moderate northeasterly.
Midmar: Saturday will be 17 degrees and cloudy with morning
mist and a 30% chance of drizzle. This will clear later in the day. The wind
will be a light northeasterly. Sunday will be 21 degrees and partly cloudy with
morning fog and a 30% chance of afternoon storms and thundershowers. The wind
will be a light northerly.
Vaal Dam: Saturday will be 21 degrees and cloudy at times with a 40% chance of
thunderstorms. The wind will be a light northeasterly. Sunday will be 20
degrees and cloudy with an 80% chance of rain. The wind will be a moderate
northeasterly.
Port Elizabeth: Saturday will be 22 degrees and partly cloudy. The wind will be a fresh
easterly. No forecast was available for Sunday at the time of publication!
Cape Town: Saturday will be 26 degrees and fine with a fresh southeasterly wind
blowing. Sunday will be 28 degrees and fine with a moderate southeasterly wind
blowing.
Amro,
the Dutch banking syndicate, today announced their entry into the 2005
Volvo Ocean Race. Ordinarily this wouldn’t be the kind of
news of interest to Smooth Sailing readers but what makes it of interest is
that the name of former South African Roy Heiner featured prominently in their
press release. In fact Heiner’s name was the only one mentioned as far as
sailors are concerned. The release didn’t however name Heiner as the skipper
instead stating that they will be looking around to find the best possible
skipper for the yacht. Actually they will be entering two yachts in the event
as they plan to run a two-boat campaign. Readers will remember that Heiner was
fired as skipper of Assa Abbloy while in Cape Town at the end of leg one of the
last race after a spectacularly poor result in that leg. Ultimately the boat
went on to finish second in that race. At the time there was much talk and even
a couple of press conferences based on the possibility of a South African entry
in the next race. Heiner was touted as the skipper and even appeared in at
least one press conference on the subject. That looks highly unlikely now and
with Heiners name having been associated with what looks like it will be a very
good, well funded campaign, one can only assume that our own America’s Cup
Campaign is the only high profile international event that South Africa will
have an entry in in the next while!
Meanwhile
on the South African America’s Cup
front the boat has been moved to a warehouse and is being prepared for
repainting. This will take place next week following which one of the members
of the Prada shore team will arrive to assist with getting the boat rigged and
ready to go sailing. This includes fitting the keel and rudder and stepping the
massive carbon rig. We will keep you updated as things progress. In the
meantime we have posted a page of pics of the boat being offloaded from the
ship on Monday on the Smooth Sailing web site at www.smoothsailing.co.za/shosholozagal.html.
The Northvaal
Optimist Association has bought a second hand Laser (Sail No. 99816) that
they are raffling. Tickets cost at R100-00 each and only 100 are being sold. Of
these 100 60 have already been sold so they are running out fast. The raffle is
to raise funds for their training program and to assist with any kids who may
make the South African team for the Optimist Worlds or African Champs. The boat
is in good nick and is on a dolly on a Laser specific road trailer. For more
information or to purchase your ticket contact Trevor Emmett on 082 555 0162 or
at trevor@test-a-relay.co.za or Owen Baxter
on 083 236 7518 or at obaxter@fnb.co.za. The draw will
take place as soon as all the tickets are sold. Hopefully this will be by the
time the Northvaal provincials take place on the Vaal Dam. Optimist sailing
remains one of the cornerstones of our sport.
Entries for the 2004 MACS Inhaca Race close on the 19th
of March, which is getting pretty close. Thereafter a further cost of R250-00
gets added to the entry fee, which is an expense that I am sure most crew
budgets can do without. To date there are six confirmed entries and a further
sixteen verbal confirmations which would bring the total number of entrants to
22. This would be close to a record
entry for this race and make for one hell of a party on the island the night
before the start. Of course whether all those who have said that they will be
there will put their money, and their boats, where their mouths are remains to
be seen. Something that skippers should be reminded of is that it is from April
2004 law that there must be one crew on board with at least a SAS Coastal
Skippers. The organisers cannot pass any concessions for experienced
non-qualified skippers and crews to sail the race as has been done in
the past. So far the confirmed entries include four Fast 42’s, an L36 and Willy
Van Der Verre’s stunning Shearwater 45, Peperuka! It will be interesting to see
how this boat in particular performs since despite her traditional lines she
has a modern underwater form and has shown herself to be pretty quick around
Durban since her launch. For more information or to get your copy of the Notice
of Race visit www.smoothsailing.co.za.
The African Maritime Safety Authority, SAMSA, have released a circular
detailing pretty much everything you need to know about the Small Vessel Safety Regulations, which come into force at the beginning
of April. It's not a short document but is extremely detailed. We recommend
that anyone who goes boating in the coastal regions of South Africa should
download this document, print themselves a copy and read through it at their
leisure. It really is of vital importance. To get your copy click visit the
Sailing KZN web site at www.sailingkzn.co.za.
The 33rd day of Cheyenne's Round the World record
attempt saw Steve Fossett and his team pointed in the right direction again -
SE towards Cape Horn - after several days of investment in a NE position to
avoid the worst of the gale to their South. They
have covered 245 miles over the past 12 hours - every one of them towards the
next waypoint. Cheyenne's lead over the 2002 RTW position of Orange is now some
1900 - 2000 miles, but will only increase if Fossett and crew can avoid further
detours en-route to the Cape. It hasn’t all been plain sailing on board though.
Yesterday South African crewmember on board Cheyenne, Nick Leggat, was taken
out by a big wave while trimming the mainsheet. Swept from his seat Leggat’s
head collided heavily with the steering wheel mount and compass. He suffered
what sound like some pretty nasty cuts and will be off watch for a few days
while he recovers. Cheyenne’s web site quoted skipper Steve Fossett as saying
that there would definitely be some scarring once the wounds healed. No
stitches were necessary though and one can bet that’s something that Leggat was
pleased about!
At the end of last night, the Cap
Gemini and Schneider Electric trimaran, Geronimo, gybed
once more and onto a heading for South Africa. Since Day 13 was spent rounding
the high-pressure area, the point-to-point distance covered was only average,
not helped by the progressive shift and slackening of the wind. The current
record holder covered only 277 nautical miles on her day 13, leaving Geronimo
still significantly ahead. In the early hours of today, the northerly wind
picked up a slight easterly component and a few extra knots, allowing the
trimaran to make for the southeast at over 20 knots. The forecasts as far as
the Cape of Good Hope are good. Only the wind direction, which will continue to
move round to the west, offers any threat to Geronimo's progress. A following
wind full astern would mean continual gybing to avoid being forced too far
south and into the threat of ice, which can occur as far north as 40°South on
the same longitude as South Africa. Geronimo has sailed 368.55 nautical miles
in 24 hours, at an average speed of 15.36 knots.
Cheyenne’s Web Site: www.fossettchallenge.com
Geronimo’s Web Site: www.trimaran-geronimo.com
World Sailing Speed Record Council: www.sailspeedrecords.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 |
|
|
Henley Midmar Yacht Club |
13 & 14 March |
|
|
Hout Bay Yacht Club |
19 to 22 March |
|
|
Fish Hoek Beach Sailing Club |
20 March |
|
|
Witbank Yacht Club |
20 to 22 March |
|
|
Point Yacht Club |
20 to 22 March |
|
|
Mossel Bay Yacht Club |
20 to 22 March |
|
|
Mossel Bay Yacht Club |
20 to 22 March |
|
|
Mossel Bay Yacht Club |
20 to 22 March |
|
|
Aeolians Club |
20 to 22 March |
|
|
Island Sailing Club |
27 & 28 March |
|
|
Club Mykonos, Langebaan |
3 to 7 April |
|
|
Zululand Yacht Club |
9 April |
|
|
Point Yacht Club Easter Regatta Including Sprog, 505
& Dart kZN Champs |
Point Yacht Club |
9 to 12 April |
|
Hoedjiesbaai Beach, Saldahna Bay |
9 to 12 April |
|
|
Dabchick Downham Trophy &
Optimist Interclub Challenge |
Pretoria Sailing Club |
24 & 25 April 2004 |
|
Algoa Bay Yacht Club |
24 to 30 April |
|
|
Transvaal Yacht Club |
24 to 27 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.
Fastest small
keelboat in SA
Complete with
kevlar main, No1 Jib, No3 jib and dacron storm jib.
3 x spinnaker
On trailer
with cover
3hp outboard
Carbon mast
and prod
R197 000-00
Contact: Alex
Schon
Cell: 082 806
0918
Placed: 23/02/04
On trailer
New mesh tramp,
rigging and more.
R15 000-00
ONCO
View Durban, @
RNYC
Contact: John
Lupton-Smith
Cell: 083 301
4775
R3 500-00 onco
Contact: Shane
Hone Phone: 031-708 4118
Cell: 084 403 3357
Placed: 23/02/04
WANTED
In reasonable
condition.
Will pay fair
price and postage
Cape Town
area.
Contact:
Lance McIntosh
Home: 021-785
5332
Cell: 084 426
3475
Placed: 04/03/04
Andrew Heathcote
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 783 8805
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