Smooth Sailing
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News By A Sailor For Sailors!
In
Association with:
Laser 4.7 Worlds & European Champs
Lion of Africa Woman’s Day Race
The 2004 Vasco Da Gama Ocean Race, which took place last week, was a
fantastic event. The organisation of this race is exceptional especially when
one considers that this year the race organisers had to pull it all off without
a title sponsor. Ad to that the logistics involved in the event starting in a
foreign country and definitely one more third world than ours make this no mean
feat. Event more impressive though is the weather window that the race seems to
enjoy year in and year out. In fact I am starting to wonder if race organiser
Dave Claxton doesn’t have a hotline to the weather gods or perhaps someone even
more powerful. The event took place on a slightly different format this year
with an allowance for the cruising fleet to start 24 hours before the main
fleet. While I understand the logic behind this decision it is one that I
personally don’t like. For one thing it meant that the briefing and opening
function took place 48 hours before the start of the race. That left two days
for the racing fleet to hang around in Maputo and for those of us who were on a
tight time schedule meant that we couldn’t attend at all. Certainly one of the
reasons that one takes part in an event such as this is the social aspect and
it was a pity to feel that it was diluted by this. My second, and only other
gripe, is that I felt that the race started a day late for the racing fleet.
Starting the racers on Thursday would have had everyone in Durban by Saturday
night or Sunday morning and allowed the prize-giving to take place on Sunday
night. To my mind that would have made a lot more sense as it would have meant
that the race ate into less of the following week. Again I am a bit bummed with
this as I had to get back to work on Monday morning and couldn’t hang around
for the prize-giving! By all accounts though both were outstanding events with
all who were there having a good time. I am told that Club Naval once again
went to town on the pre-race party with outstanding food and plenty of free
draft meaning that many were seen sporting heavy looking heads the following
day. For those who had done the delivery trip this was a good opportunity to
unwind after a strong frontal system resulted in the majority of the fleet
experiencing some horrendous conditions on the way up. Fortunately the winds
were from behind which makes things easier than it might be. Still there were
some pretty horrible war stories doing the rounds in Maputo! Luckily the front
passed at just the right time, in fact the timing couldn’t have been better,
leaving some blissfully warm weather behind it. The cruisers got away on the
turn of the tide on Thursday afternoon in a light easterly with the prospect of
a slow light wind sail down the coast ahead of them. Things were pretty much
the same when the racing fleet got underway at much the same time on Friday
afternoon. The racing fleet was slightly smaller than last years with only 15
boats on the start line. Although the numbers might have been down the quality
certainly wasn’t and sitting on the dock before hand talking through it with a
fellow competitor we agreed that it was difficult to pick either a line honours
or handicap winner. The race started with the fleet beating out of Maputo bay
in what turned out to be a building easterly. Once again this proved to be an
interesting tactical battle with positions changing constantly as the fleet
picked their way through the tricky conditions. The early pace was set by the
Fast 42s Skitzo and Fascination of Power who were marginally ahead of a tight
bunch that included most of the 40 footers and the two Mount Gay 30s that were
taking part. Once out of the bay the majority of the fleet chose to follow the
conventional wisdom and set off down the coast sticking close inshore in the
hope of picking up the land breeze that is so prevalent at this time of year.
As they did last year Fascination of Power chose to head off out to sea and
paid an early price for this decision suffering from a poor first night on the
water. The land breeze was far enough back on the beam for most to be able to
carry spinnakers throughout the night. This saw the fleet making good progress
down the coast directly towards the finish line. It couldn’t last though and
although the wind lasted much longer into Saturday morning than expected it
eventually died to nothing and left the fleet bobbing while waiting for the
easterly to fill in. One of the features of this race for me was how close
together the fleet was and I have to say that it was the first time that I have
sailed an entire Vasco race in visual contact with other boats. On board
African Fire we spent Saturday chasing down a bunch that included the Fast 42s
Zeus and Fascination of Power and the Mount Gay 30 Enzer Betelgeuse. It was an
exciting days sailing that ended only when the breeze died once again to
nothing shortly after sunset. A good few hours of bobbing on a windless sea
ensued before the breeze came back from the west. Luckily it wasn’t too strong
and although on the nose made for some pleasant sailing. Most eased themselves
away from the coast in the second half of the race although some, most notably
the Leisure 42 Madiba, made the mistake of heading too far out to sea. The
westerly lasted until midmorning on Sunday when it died to nothing leaving the
fleet tantalisingly close to Durban. It also created and interesting bunched up
situation with many overshooting the entrance to Durban harbour slightly and
having to come back at it from slightly south of the breakwater. As the fleet
edged closer to the harbour the breeze came back from the east albeit very lightly.
This gave the fleet the nudge it needed with the first boats crossing the
finish line shortly before sunset. So close was the front bunch at this stage
that if the wind have been blowing ten knots or more the first 10 boats would
have finished within 20 minutes but such was the lack of breeze that it took a
couple of hours for the first ten to cross the line. Controversy dogged the
finish however with a close race between Naledi, Felix Sheder-Bieschen’s J120
narrowly edged out for line honours by John Martin’s Fascination of Power, who
read the sailing instructions more closely and made use of the extension of the
finish line outside the harbour entrance. The margin was only 50 seconds but it
was enough to give Fascination of Power the victory. Had they read the sailing
instructions more carefully Naledi would surely have won. The debate was heated
afterwards with Naledi filing a protest that they ultimately lost. It was a
pity that the heat of the argument somewhat soured the end of an extremely good
race. Third over the line was Enzer Betelgeuse, just over 30 minutes behind the
winners. Once again this was an excellent performance by this team that has
notched up an impressive track record in this race in the last three years. One
handicap though it was a completely different story with only Enzer Betelgeuse
managing to hold her 3rd position. Finishing 13th over
the line Kieron Moore’s Stadt 34 Mean Time turned out to be the big winner in
this race winning on corrected time from Alex Schon on the L34 Kindred Spirit.
Moore is an experienced skipper having racked up many miles on the KZN
coastline and it was undoubtedly this experience that led to him being able to
bring his yacht home in such good time. All in all it was a fantastic event.
The light conditions meant that the race was slower than most would have liked
but lets face it, it was way better than if we had had the previous weeks
conditions! The top three positions on IRC were as follows:
|
1st
|
Mean
Time |
Stadt
34 |
Kieron
Moore |
|
2nd
|
Kindred
Spirit |
L34 |
Alex
Schon |
|
3rd
|
Enzer
Betelgeuse |
Mount
Gay 30 |
Piet
Van Niekerk |
For the full results visit the race web site at www.2004vascodagama.com.
Ultimately the South African results at
the ISAF Volvo ISAF Youth
Worlds, which are taking
place last week in Gdynia, Poland were disappointing. The South African team
did not fare as well as might have been hoped with only our 420 boys and girl’s
teams looking particularly competitive. For the 420 boys team of Ricky and
Brennan Robinson this was their second consecutive Youth Worlds. After a
promising result last year I certainly expected them to do a lot better this
time round. It seems though that despite good preparations, that included a
week with one of the UK’s top coaches before the regatta, they found a much
more polished and professional fleet this time round. Their 29th
place in the 32 strong fleet certainly doesn’t sound that flash but with a plan
to do some regattas in Europe next year in preparation for the 2005 Youth
Worlds I think that we can expect something good from them next time round.
Bronwen Klaas and Bridget Clayton sailing in the girls 420 fleet were
ultimately our best performers in the regatta finishing 21st in the
fleet of 28. They also have age on their sides and will be able to compete in
this regatta again next year. With the experience that they have gained at this
event and some focused training in the interim hopefully they will be able to
use this experience as a platform for something bigger next time around. James
and Jessica Hogg, who sailed in the boys and girls Laser fleets, didn’t enjoy
the best of regattas finishing 35th out of 41 and 29th
out of 32 respectively. It should be noted however that Jessica was the
youngest competitor in her fleet, which means that by the youth worlds of 2005
or 2006 she should be one of the most experienced sailors in the fleet and
experience counts for a lot in the events. There is plenty of Laser sailing in
SA at the moment so finding the boat-speed shouldn’t be a problem! To see the
full results visit the regatta web site at www.worldyouthsailingpoland.com.
The 2004 Optimist World Championships are taking place at the moment in
Salinas, Equador. The regatta, which ends on Sunday the 25th of
July, has an impressive 228 competitors from 51 countries taking part. Sadly
the SA team is taking a bit of a pasting yet again. Yesterday saw the
team-racing event taking place. This sideshow to the main event sees the top 16
teams competing against each other on a lay day from fleet racing. Judging by
the reports the standard of this team racing is extremely high and is surely a
great way of expanding the sailor’s skills at this event. In the team racing
that took place yesterday Poland defeated Italy in the final with hosts Equador
securing an unexpected third place when they defeated China in the race for the
bronze medal. After a lay day today racing resumes tomorrow. So far 8 races
have been sailed in the regatta with the best of the South Africans being Rudy
McNeil who is currently lying in 133rd place. Its no coincidence
that Rudy is also the most experienced sailor in the SA team having previously
competed in two African Championships, one of which he won, and one previous
world championship. Close behind him in 135th place is Taariq
Jacobs. Taariq and Rudy have fairly well dominated the SA Optimist circuit of
late and it is no surprise to see that they are placed well ahead of the rest
of the SA contingent. The next South African is Wayne Watkins who is placed in
182nd position. Looking at the points situation and their results so
far it is conceivable that both Rudy and Taariq can work their way up the
leader board however I think it is fair to say that top 100 positions are
probably out of reach. Conditions thus far have been on the light side with the
breeze only between 8 and 12 knots. The South Africans are currently positioned
as follows in the regatta:
|
133rd
|
Rudy
McNeil |
263
Points |
|
135th
|
Taariq
Jacobs |
265 |
|
182nd
|
Wayne
Watkins |
380 |
|
200th
|
Daniel
Moreau |
419 |
|
203rd
|
Andrew
Collier |
425 |
Follow the regatta online and view the full results at www.salinasyachtclub.org/optiworlds/index.htm.
The Laser European Champs are on the go this week in Warnemunde, Germany. Our Olympic
hopeful Gareth Blankenburg is faring very well in this regatta and is currently
lying in 4th place overall after 4 races. While the fleet at this
regatta is not the strongest Laser fleet you will find with some of the Athens
medal contenders missing it is nonetheless a very strong fleet and Gareth’s 4th
position is nothing to be sniffed at. Enough of the medal contenders are there
for this to be an encouraging sign that Gareth is starting to hit form at the
right time. What will really be telling though is if he can maintain his
position in the second half of the regatta. Gareth has, of late, shown a
tendency to fade in the second half of regattas, often from very good
positions. Hopefully this is something that he has got out of his system! What
is interesting to note is the fairly rapid fall from grace of 2003 Laser world
champion Gustavo Lima of Portugal. Lima has had a pretty poor season, not
featuring at the top of any of the major regattas. In this weeks regatta he is
currently lying in 17th position! For the full results visit the
regatta web site at www.laserchampionships.org/eur04/.
At the same time the Laser 4.7 World and European Championships are taking place on Lake Garda in Italy.
Personally I have always considered the Laser 4.7 to be a silly concept but
clearly I was wrong. There are 280, that’s right, 280 sailors entered in this
regatta that started on the 17th of July and ends on the 24th.
Four young South African sailors are taking part in the regatta and doing very
well at that. Justin Onvlee is setting the standard in this event and after
four races is leading with three firsts and a second t his name. This is
another outstanding effort from this young sailor who has an impressive track
record in this class internationally. Also taking part is Sean Heydenrych, who
is well placed in 36th position with a 23, 28, 4 and 3 on his score
line. Further down the fleet Michael Bissett is in 49th while Aaron
Larkens is lying 53rd. Considering the size of the fleet all are
doing particularly well. It’s a good sign that we have local sailors who are
clearly on the pace at international events. I think that this is something
that many of our classes lack locally. Over the years it’s only really been the
Hobie 16 class who have had SA sailors consistently at the top of the
international fleets. Perhaps I need to have a rethink on the 4.7 concept and concede
that if it is getting more of our young sailors onto the international pace it
could well be the way forward. To follow the regatta more closely visit the
regatta web site at www.laserchampionships.org/47wor04/.
Another event taking place in Europe this
week involving South Africans is the Volvo Open European Yngling Championships. For those who don’t know the Yngling is
the 3-person keelboat that was selected for the Olympics as the women’s class.
This European Championship is however an open regatta featuring both men’s and
women’s teams and I notice that there are relatively few Olympic contenders on
the entry list. South Africa’s sole entry is Dominique Provoyeur who has Lacy
Norton and Penny Allison sailing with her. After 6 races they are lying 44th
in the 79-boat fleet, which is no mean feat given that there are no Ynglings to
practice on in SA! The regatta is taking place at the Royal Yachtclub Sneek in
Holland with the sailing taking place on the Ijsselmeer near Stavoren and ends
on Saturday. For more information visit
the regatta web site at www.yngling.nl/ec2004index.php.
I finally found the results of the Dart Worlds posted on the regatta web site. The
regatta, which took place from the 9th to the 16th of
July at the Lagos Sailing Club in Portugal attracted 87 entries, of which 1 was
South African. Kyle de Wet and Jessica Walton of the Albert Falls Yacht Club in
KZN were the only South Africans taking part in the regatta and finished in a
credible 21st position. The seven-race regatta looks to have been
dominated by French sailors who, along with the Brits, seem to dominate this
class internationally. Looking at the pictures on the regatta web site it looks
like the event took place in largely light conditions. Further details than
that I couldn’t find as all the information on the site, including the press
releases, are in Portuguese! For the
full results go to www.designars.com/dart/.
“Lion of Africa Insurance Company roars into action again this year with their support and sponsorship of
the Women’s Day Race on Saturday, August
7th at Royal Cape Yacht Club (RCYC).
Overseeing
the event, Carol Middleton from the RCYC Ladies Association has been hard at
work securing prizes, donations, guest speakers and generally raising awareness
of this unique annual sailing event. Last year’s inaugural regatta attracted 16
entries overall in both the spinnaker and non spinnaker classes. With a very
fresh 20-knot north-westerly gusting across the Bay, most of the skippers
decided to tuck in a reef, and put any thoughts of spinnaker flying on the back
burner. Undaunted by the weather, Marion Cole, skippering the Simonis 35
Wallbanger, went all out to win and romped home well ahead of the rest of the
fleet, securing first place in the spinnaker class. Sadly, due to a shoulder
injury and two very painful operations, Marion will not be defending her title
this year, but assures us that she will be involved from the shore side of
things and hopes to be back on the water by the end of the year.
Entries
to date include a team from Good Hope Sailing Academy, comprising former
students as well as current instructors at the Academy. Gawie Fagan has very
kindly lent his RCOD “Suidoos” to the girls for the day, and they are
definitely a force to be reckoned with! Dominique Provoyeur, currently in
Holland with her all girl team sailing the Open European Yngling Championships,
will be skippering her fathers’ boat “After You” a modified L35, bound to be a
front runner for Line Honours.
Now
in it’s second year, the regatta has gone a long way towards encouraging and
supporting lady skippers and crews to become more prominent in the local racing
scene, helped enormously by the Lion of Africa sponsorship. It is proof that
there is a definite niche on the racing circuit for this regatta.
Fred
Robertson, Chairman of Lion of Africa Insurance says Lion is proud to support
the race. “ We don’t see this as a one-off investment but as a long-term
commitment to helping women and female sailors from all walks of life empower
and assert themselves in areas generally dominated by men”.
For
more information, please contact:
Brent
Melville Spinworx Communications – 021
554 1504 or email: brent@spinworx.co.za
Carol
Middleton – RCYC Ladies Association – 021 511 6742 Email: info@vetus.co.za
Viqui
Stevenson – RCYC Sailing Office – 021 421 1354 Email: info@rcyc.co.za”
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 |
|
|
Zululand Yacht Club |
23 to 25 July |
|
|
Victoria Lake Club |
24 & 25 July |
|
|
University of Cape Town Yacht
Club |
31 July & 1 August |
|
|
Newcastle Aquatic Sports Club |
7 to 9 August |
|
|
Transvaal Yacht Club |
7 to 9 August |
|
|
Pretoria Sailing Club |
7 to 9 August |
|
|
Pretoria Sailing Club |
7 to 9 August |
|
|
Durban Radio Boat Club |
7 to 9 August |
|
|
ZuluLand Yacht Club |
7 to 9 August |
|
|
V & A Waterfront, Table Bay |
20 to 27 August |
|
|
Maritzburg Radio Boat Club |
21 August |
|
|
Seal Point Yacht Club |
11 & 12 September |
|
|
Denysville Aquatic Club |
22 to 26 September |
|
|
Theewaters Sports Club |
23 to 26 September |
|
|
Zululand Yacht Club |
1 to 3 October 2004 |
|
|
Redhouse Yacht Club |
22 to 24 October 2004 |
|
|
Hermanus Yacht Club |
11 to 18 December |
|
|
Royal Cape Yacht Club |
4 January 2006 |
The Smooth Sailing Classifieds are a free service for private advertisers only. This service is not available to any commercial enterprise or service provider. To place an ad, e-mail the details to andrew@smoothsailing.co.za.
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Cell:
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Andrew Heathcote
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 783 8805
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