Smooth Sailing
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News By A Sailor For Sailors!
In
Association with:
South Africa’s Shosholoza
team are in Marseilles, France, at the moment where they will be contesting the
Marseilles Louis Vuitton Act 1 regatta starting this weekend. More about that
elsewhere in this newsletter but before, or after you read that, you just have
to check out the picture of Shosholoza in the water at Marseilles on the front
page of the Smooth Sailing web site. It’s an image that
all South Africans, and especially South African yachtsmen really can be proud
of!
Shosholoza – Marseilles Louis Vuitton Act 1
Things didn’t go quite according to plan
for South Africa’s only sailor in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. Gareth Blankenburg, competing in the Laser class in which sailors
from 42 countries took part, finished the regatta in 17th position.
Gareth started off slowly in the 11 race series and although he appeared to
improve in the second half of the regatta never really managed to get himself
to the front of the fleet. Ultimately one would have to say that his 17th
position at the end of the regatta was well below par for a sailor who is
ranked 4th in the world. Conditions were tough, tougher than many
expected with light winds and some big shifts. Of the three medals, the Gold,
as expected, went to Brazilian Laser legend Robert Scheidt who won with ease. The
Silver unexpectedly went to Austria’s Andreas Geritzer who pushed Scheidt
harder than he might have expected. The Bronze went to Slovenian Vasilij Zbogar
who also surprised many although he was at the top of some light air regattas
earlier in the season so clearly the conditions played in his favour. With all
but three of the classes now decided there have been several surprises on the
podium but also a lot going according to form. What I found most surprising
though was in how many classes the Gold was decided before the last race was
sailed. This was the case in the Laser, Yngling, 470 Women and the Stars, who
finish their regatta on Saturday. In such a highly charged regatta where the
pressure is so intense one doesn’t really expect anyone to be able to dominate
to such an extent. Up front it was particularly difficult to pick the medal
winners in most of the classes with only Europe, Womens 470 and Finn having
been dominated by one team throughout the season. Even Ben Ainslie, Great
Britain’s prodigal son when it comes to sailing, was unable to win the Finn
class with a race to spare although he did turn in an outstanding performance
after being dubiously disqualified from a race early in the regatta. On the
whole it seems that conditions were not ideal for this regatta, winds were
generally light and very shifty with some big shifts and changes in pressure
often difficult for the sailors to predict. This meant that races were never
over until they were well and truly over and there were often some big place
changes on the last leg of races, especially in the Tornado and 49er where the
difference between being in a gust or not can be massive. Quite predictably it
was the British who once again walked off with the bulk of the sailing medals.
They did the same in Sydney 4 years ago. Next best in the medal count were the
Spanish. What these two nations have in common is that they spend more money on
their Olympic campaigns than anyone else; this is, after all, an arms race!
That doesn’t mean to say that money guarantees medals though and there were
some notable failures with Britain’s Ian Percy, a favourite in the Star class,
probably the biggest of the lot. Percy struggled to get to grips with the light
conditions in Athens. All this helped to make it one of the most fascinating
regattas to follow.
The 2004 Lipton Challenge Cup took place in Table Bay last week. Defending champion Rick
Nankin, at the helm of Daly’s Insurance for the Theewaters Sports Club retained
the trophy in convincing style. In the early stages of the regatta Daly’s
closest challenge appeared to be coming from the Algoa Bay Yacht Club’s entry
Blick/Stanley Challenger, skippered by Rob Archibald. Their consistency seemed
to be paying off as they led the regatta after two races but then seemed to
struggle a little in the breezier conditions later in the week before a broken
main halyard on the only two race day of the regatta effectively ended their
challenge. After that had happened there was little for the Theewaters team to
worry about. They were never far from the front of the fleet, furthest in the
final race of the regatta when they finished in 4th. Taking nothing
away from Nankin and his team the consummate ease with which they won this
regatta and their large winning margins in some of the races along the way,
should perhaps be a cause for concern. Granted a good number of the countries
top sailors didn’t take part in this regatta this year as they are now employed
on the Shosholoza campaign and this has to have slowed the fleet down on the
whole. As a direct result of this I had expected to see more teams challenging
for the trophy. To my mind this year was going to be the easiest in a long time
to win the Lipton Cup. Its never easy though and clearly its going to take a
lot more practice before anyone matches the Daly’s team. On the other hand it
was very encouraging to see the emergence of several young skippers who could
well become serious contender for the trophy in years to come. Most impressive
of the lot was Andrea Giovanni, representing the Traditional Boat Association
on Quiver Outdoor Gear. Andrea’s team won two races, the only team other than
Daly’s to achieve this feat in the regatta. They ended the regatta well in 5th
place. Another young team that fared well in the regatta was the North Sails
Wits team skippered by Graeme Willcox for the Wits University Yacht Club. They
finished 7th overall and will definitely be worth watching in years
to come. The top five overall in the regatta were as follows:
|
1st
|
Daly’s
Insurance |
Theewaters
Sports Club |
Rick
Nankin |
14
Points |
|
2nd
|
Greenlight |
Royal
Cape Yacht Club |
Dave
Hudson |
35 |
|
3rd
|
Orion
Challenger |
Royal
Natal Yacht Club |
Mike
Joubert |
38 |
|
4th
|
Dynamic
ID Systems |
Hottentots
Holland Beach Sailing Club |
Paul
Lagesse |
43 |
|
5th
|
Quiver
Outdoor Gear |
Traditional
Boat Association |
Andrea
Giovannini |
46 |
With
the Radio Controlled Laser class being one of the biggest and
most competitive classes in South African it was only a matter of time before
our sailors ventured overseas to test themselves against some international
competition. That’s exactly what’s
happening this week with three sailors, Terry Flynn, Doug Geekie and Des
Fairbank taking part in the British National Championships. With 41 boats
taking part in the regatta the competition cant be easy but the good news is
that SA National Champion Des Fairbank was leading the regatta after the first
two days racing. Terry Flynn was lying in 11th position with Doug
Geekie in 13th. It will be interesting to see how they fair during
the rest of the regatta and will certainly provide and good measure of just how
good our local competition is. For more
information on the RC Laser class in SA go to www.rclaser.co.za and
keep an eye on the Smooth Sailing web site for the
final results later in the week.
The Shosholoza Team
relocated to Marseilles, France, last week, where they will contest their first
AC regatta next week. The Marseilles Louis Vuitton Act 1 takes
place from the 5th to the 11th of September and will see
the Shosholoza team pitting their skills against defenders Alinghi as well as
challengers Oracle BMW, Emirates Team New Zealand and the French Le Defi and
K-Challenge teams. This regatta, the first of three in the next two months,
will see the teams competing in both match and fleet racing. Of the six teams
taking part the Shosholoza boat is by far the oldest and in that arena oldest
translates directly into slowest, boat in the fleet. Don’t expect to see the
guys winning any races here, in fact they will be lucky not to be last in all
the fleet races although they may fancy their chances in one or two of the
match races. What they will be getting though is invaluable experience,
something that they are desperately short of. Not only will this be the team’s
first opportunity to race against other AC boats but also they will be able to
observe and learn from their more experienced counterparts. There will also be
a lot to learn in terms of match racing these huge boats. The Marseilles Louis
Vuitton Act 1 will be followed by the by the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 2, a
purely match racing regatta, from the 5th to the 12th of
October and the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 3, a fleet racing regatta, from the
14th to the 17th of October. For more information or to
follow these regattas online go to www.americascup.com.
From: Pete Shaw
RE: 2004 Optimist World Championships
In response to
your column on the 2004 Optimist World Championships. This will no doubt not be
the last debate on Optimist sailors and world championships. To assume that the
results of the SA sailors was "fairly predictable" is however a bold
statement particularly as the skills level of the team is not really known to
those who have not been actively involved in the Opti scene for the last few
years. I associate this statement to a strong wave of the
mentality that too many South Africans carry when we see our compatriots
participate in international sporting events. Its about time we start to
believe in ourselves as participants and that as supporters we give our
support to those out there flying our flag, not only when they bring home the
gold.
I think what
needs to be understood is that despite the fact that the 2004 SA Worlds
Opti teams results don't appear good on paper, the difference between
where they finished and a sub 50 finish in terms on the ability and skills
in minimal. In fleets this competitive the race is won and lost in the first 5
minutes and minor speed or height deficits are penalised severely. Do what is
necessary to get the sailors to be in good shape in this sector of the
race and the rest almost becomes a formality.
How do we bridge
this gap from our current positions to the sub 50 results? It is
imperative that we crit our existing sailing programs and philosophy
so that we can expose our weaknesses to establish a more efficient
training program. There also needs to be close co-operation between the
regional coaches so that we are working toward common goals. This is
especially important due to the size of our country limiting common
training sessions for national teams. The programmes will also derive maximum
benefit from coaches who are committed to the Opti training over a period of
years as opposed to short-term head coaches.
There are
definite merits in getting International coaches to train our sailors at
local clinics. From what I have seen I believe that we have as good and better
coaching personnel right here in this country. We just need to believe
it! The one area where we struggle is in big competitive fleet racing.
This no coach can teach. The sailors have to experience it for themselves and
the only way to do it is to get out there and sail the international regattas.
I do not believe
it is the regatta pressure that is the cause of most of the sailors lost to
sailing after Optimists. This phenomenon has been going on for years
and one of the greater causes may well be that the sailing road ahead is
not that clearly mapped. Dabbies have been doing a sound job at keeping some of
our aged out Opti sailors going but the route of international
competition has been non existent for those who wish to compete at that level.
Hopefully Laser 4.7 will fill the gap for the single-handed route, however the
double-handed route still needs some serious action. The battle for this slot
is between the 420 and the 29er.
In conclusion I
truly believe that it is well within our capability to produce an Optimist
World Champion.
Regards,
Pete Shaw
From: Derek Bouwer
RE: Opi Worlds
I understand that the views expressed in Smooth
Sailing are those of the editor and not the general sailing public.
Unfortunately we South Africans always fall into the trap of looking at the
results first and then assigning a value to the event.
No, our Optimist world sailor did not do so well.
However Taariq was good enough in the world to post a first and that feeling
and experience will never leave him! The experience of sailing in a World event
can never be reproduced on a National level. The experience that these sailors
bring back to South Africa is invaluable and that is where South African
Optimist sailing and sailing in general will benefit as others sail against
these more "experience" sailors.
Young Justin Onvlee would never have done so well in
Laser 4.7's if he not gained Worlds experience when in Oppies!!!!!!!!! The
likes of the Geoff Meeks (Skipper of Schosholoza) Rick Nankin etc all came up
through the breeding ground of Optimist sailing. We cannot and must not deny
our young sailor the chance of Competing on the world stage just because they
might not do so well. This would be ruinous to sailing in South Africa as the
optimist sailor of today are our Champs of tomorrow!!!!!!! So lets nurture
them. Yes it is expensive but the sailors, parent and Optimist Association work
tirelessly to raise the fund necessary It's well worth it as the experience
gained cannot be measured in rands and cents
Yours in sailing,
Derek Bouwer
Vice Commodore sailing
ABYC
More of our
Optimist sailors were in action at the Optimist European Championships that took place in Sandham, Sweden from the 7th to the 14th
of August. By all accounts, and judging from some of the pictures I saw,
Sandham was a stunning venue. The racing was however very tough with light and
shifty winds prevailing. The regatta was contested separately by the boys and
girls with 168 entries in the boy’s fleet and 100 in the girls. The boys fleet
got in 12 races while the girls sailed only 11. As with the recent worlds
effort the results for the SA team weren’t great at this regatta with all our
sailors finishing well below the halfway mark. However given that these sailors
were, until only a few weeks prior to the regatta, expecting to compete in the
far less intense and competitive African Champs that were cancelled at the last
minute, I wonder if they weren’t just a little under prepared for this event.
The Europeans is probably nearly as competitive as the worlds in this class
although the fleet size is a lot smaller but certainly the quality of the
competition was infinitely higher than would have been the case at the African
Champs. Nonetheless the experience will, as pointed out above, be vital for
these young sailors, most of whom will be looking to get themselves places in
the worlds team in the next year or two. Hopefully their experience at this
regatta will help them ease into a world championship more comfortably. The SA
team results were as follows:
Boys Fleet (168 Boats)
|
Matthew
Shaw |
135th
|
|
Vincenzo
De Gennaro |
147th
|
|
Tim
Gibbons |
148th
|
|
David
Eastman |
150th
|
|
Tim
Forson |
152nd
|
Girls Fleet (100 Boats)
|
Claire
Walker |
92nd
|
|
Emma
Walker |
100th
|
For the full results visit www.ksss.se/OptiEuropeans2004/.
Sailing KZN, the regional office of South African Sailing,
wishes to invite Nominations from CLUBS, Class Associations, and individuals
for deserving recipients of SPECIAL AWARDS and/or RECOGNITION for services to the Sport of
Sailing. Nominations must be
submitted on the form (below) and submitted before the 15th
September to the Sailing KZN Office. Recipients shall receive their Awards at
the Annual Sailing KZN Awards Dinner, at the PYC on 8th October
2004.
Criteria for Nomination:
You may nominate any individual or body who you believe is deserving of recognition. It could be someone who is now out of the limelight but who gave years of service in the past to his club or sailing, it could be someone who drives sailing in your class or club to the benefit of sailing in general, it could be a Sponsor who has given to sailing year after year and is deserving of special recognition, it could be a Bridge Officer who has given years of service to sailing in Kzn, indeed it could be anyone who has given unselfishly to the sport of sailing in our region. Whilst race winners receive accolades in the way of Provincial and National Colours, it is very often others who actually promote, drive and keep sailing alive in our region. These people are deserving of special recognition. Your nomination will be investigated and you may be contacted in this regard. Please note that these awards should be viewed as being of a serious and deserving nature, carrying due importance and high regard within the Sailing community. The aim of these awards is to recognize effort and service in the interests of our pastime and sport, and in so doing give encouragement and appreciation to those deserving. Nominations should be e-mailed to the Sailing KZN office at sailsa@hit.co.za.
The Henley Midmar Yacht Club
opened their season with what was by all accounts a very successful opening
cruise and braai out on one of the peninsulas of Midmar Dam last weekend.
Certainly something a little different. By the sound of things the club is
gearing up for a bumper season and it sounds like there is some good early
season activity, especially in the Hunter fleet where two new boats have
recently been launched. This bodes well for the very competitive class which
although strong in numbers has at times been a touch weak in the quality of its
club racing on the dam. But with a couple of new boats on the water and a few
new talented skippers in the fleet the pace could be about to hot up. There is
racing at HMYC most Sundays throughout the summer. For their sailing calendar
and more information on the club visit the HMYC web site at www.geocities.com/hmyc_za/index.htm.
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 |
|
Seal Point Yacht Club |
11 & 12 September |
|
|
False Bay Yacht Club |
18 to 26 September |
|
|
Milnerton Aquatic Club |
18 to 25 September |
|
|
Denysville Aquatic Club |
22 to 26 September |
|
|
Denysville Aquatic Club |
22 to 26 September |
|
|
Royal Natal Yacht Club |
22 to 26 September |
|
|
Theewaters Sports Club |
23 to 26 September |
|
|
Eastern Cape Laser, Extra, Mirror & Dabchick
Champs & Fireball Nationals |
Swartvlei |
24 to 26 September |
|
Lake Denys Yacht Club |
24 to 26 September |
|
|
Stillbaai Yacht Club |
24 to 26 September |
|
|
Zululand Yacht Club |
1 to 3 October |
|
|
Henley Midmar Yacht Club |
2 & 3 October |
|
|
Henley Midmar Yacht Club |
16 & 17 October |
|
|
Redhouse Yacht Club |
22 to 24 October |
|
|
Hermanus Yacht Club |
11 to 18 December |
|
|
IRC KZN Champs |
Zululand Yacht Club |
14 to 16 January 2005 |
|
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.
FOR SALE
Good Condition
Cell No: 0845067874
Posted: 31/08/04
Excellent
Condition
Contact: Mike
Hawse
Cell: 083 648 0163
Posted:
30/07/04
80 litres/hour, 220v or mechanical drive
In kit form and extremely easy to install
R20 000-00 neg
&
Aries type complete unit
Brand new never installed
Brackets adaptable to any transom
R12 000-00
&
Diesel Generator
2,6 Kva, Yanmar engine
Brand new, incorrectly ordered
R9 000-00
&
2,5 Kva, petrol
Brand new, incorrectly ordered
R5 000--00
Contact: Peter Dearling
Cell: 083 653 8468
Posted: 30/07/04
Prout 26
(Sirroco)
Almost ready
to launch
Includes
Mast, Rigging, Mainsail & Genoa
Everything
Brand New
Chain Mooring
Included
R325 000-00
ONCO
Contact:
Alistair Easton
Cell: 083
7499166
WANTED
Contact:
Megan Thornton
Email: Thorntonfam@telkomsa.net
Posted: 31/08/04
Radial or Full Rig.
Contact: Sean Richards
Good
Condition
In Durban
area
Contact: John Armstrong
E-Mail: johna@royaluniongroup.co.za
Cell: 082 454
9952
On trailer
Will collect
in KZN
Contact:
Clynton
Cell: 084 515
4252
E-Mail: clynton@easyhold.co.za
Posted: 03/08/04
2.5 - 3.0 hp
Yamaha or similar
With twist
grip throttle
Contact Rob
Stenner
Cell: 082 323
6485
E-Mail: robstenner@mweb.co.za
Or
Des Fairbank
Cell: 083 289
0962
E-Mail: des@carpet.co.za
Posted: 30/07/04
Andrew Heathcote
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 783 8805
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