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Four, or
maybe five times a year, there are weekends like the last weekend of September,
where there are well-attended regattas in all corners of the county. Over the
long weekend of the 24th to the 26th of September
instance, Laser Nationals, Finn Nationals, Windhoek Regatta, Eastern Cape
Dinghy Champs, False Bay Spring Regatta, Hobie 16 Ladies and 14 Nationals all
took place! There might have been other regattas that I left out or smaller
club events in places too. However you look at it though that’s a lot of
sailors participating on one weekend.
For the
sport to be sustaining that many big events at one time it can’t be as unhealthily
as many think it is.
I often
have people telling me that they think that the sport is dying in SA. I
strongly disagree with this and think that in the time that I have been sailing
it has probably never been stronger. I do however think that there has been a
major change in the way people go sailing and as a result, depending on how you
look at the sport; it could appear that it is in trouble.
What I
think we are seeing is a change in sailors habits where, for whatever reason,
people no longer seem to have the time to go yacht racing each and every
weekend. Instead it appears that they do their sailing only at regattas like we
saw last weekend. Probably this is because by going to a regatta they get three
or four days of racing and social packaged together. For the duration they can
focus on their sailing and talking sailing in the pub with their mates without
having to worry about dropping kids at school sports or being home in time for
the wife’s dinner party. Maybe it’s also easier to dedicate one weekend every
two months to going sailing than it is one afternoon every weekend! Perhaps its
also just easier to get a group of people to focus on an event on a long
predetermined date that they know will be well attended rather than pitching up
on the club every Saturday afternoon in a row to find 20 boats this weekend and
only 5 next weekend.
Whatever
the reasons though this is hurting club sailing, which is, I think, in dire
straights in several parts of the country. In fact I would venture to suggest
that the Western Cape is possibly the only place where club sailing is
completely healthy and even then it is limited to a few of the clubs in the
region.
Whether
all this is good or bad remains to be seen. I certainly cant see how it can be
bad to have so many people sailing regattas on any given weekend though. On the
other hand if it causes a decline in active sailing clubs then it is definitely
not such a good thing.
As
always your comments are welcome, e-mail them to me at andrew@smoothsailing.co.za.
KZN Optimist & Dabchick Champs
The Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 2 Regatta ended in
Valencia, Spain on Tuesday after 8 days of often very interesting match-racing.
Unlike last months regatta in Marseilles this regatta featured only
match-racing, with a fleet racing event set to start on Thursday, running
through to Sunday. In addition to the 6 teams that we saw in action in
Marseilles, a further two took part in Valencia. Luna Rossa, the former Prada
team now with a number of sailors from the old One World team. Also being seen
in competition for the first time was the Italian +39 team. This is an
interesting set-up headed by internationally renowned Finn builder and Sydney
2000 medallist Luca Devotti. In fact it seems that one of the major criteria
for being on this crew is being an Olympic Finn sailor and the boat is just
littered with them. Like Shosholoza and K-Challenge they too were sailing a
2000-generation boat, albeit a heavily modified one, and along with Le Defi
these four formed an effective B section in the regatta. Of these 4 only Le
Defi are sailing a 2003 generation boat however theirs appears to be a real dog
and has never been on the pace with the top boats. The results amongst the top
four were interesting to say the least. Many were surprised to see defender
Alinghi finishing 4th in this regatta. They certainly don’t look
like the class act that they did a year or so ago with Russell Coutts still on
board and there are some rumblings on the dockside that things aren’t as sweet
as they should be in this team. While they have an exceptionally strong sailing
teams word is that there was no cash for new equipment for this round of
regattas and that they have done little to no practice beforehand. Another
strong theory though is that they are happy to remain off the pace for the
interim as it means that they don’t show their full hand to the challengers too
early. The thought there being that the faster the pace they set now the faster
they are going to have to go to stay ahead in the future. Whether there is any
truth to this or not remains to be seen though. Emirates Team New Zealand
surprised many by winning this regatta. Of all the teams theirs was the biggest
effort to be on the start line in Valencia. The boat that they sailed in
Marseilles was written off in the storm the night after the regatta leaving
them with the mammoth task of flying out their unprepared second boat which was
in New Zealand at the time and getting her prepped for racing with little time
to spare. There is certainly a new determination in this team with Grant Dalton
in charge and I for one would not be surprised if they continue to go from
strength to strength in the next few years. They have a lot of talent on board
and with Ben Ainslie, arguably the worlds best dinghy sailor on board but not
at the helm the pressure is really on Dean Barker to perform. Some say it is
only a matter of time before Ainslie takes over the helming role. Again this is pure speculation that may or
may not prove to be true in time but one thing is for sure, Ainslie’s presence
is certainly going to help ETNZ raise their game. Luna Rossa surprised many by
finishing 2nd in Valencia but those in the know weren’t that
surprised at all. The team have been training hard in Valencia since April and
with two pretty quick 2003-generation boats they were always going to be on the
pace. Their young Australian helmsman, James Spithill certainly seems to be on
form as far as match-racing goes at the moment and by all accounts Luna Rossa
managed to get the best of most teams in the all important pre-start sequences.
Theirs is looking like another strong challenge in the long run.
As for Shosholoza, well after
their almost fairy tale performances in Marseilles the bubble might have been
burst a little here in Valencia. The highlight of their Valencia match-racing
performance was a near win against BMW Oracle however to be fair to the US team
conditions at the time were light and fluckey to say the least. Still, it takes
a great deal of determination to keep trying when you know your opposition is
just faster than you so its good to know that the guys were pushing all the way
even though they lost out in the end. In their final match against +39
Shosholoza were behind at the first weather mark but came back strongly on the run
to roll over the top of the Italian team. Again conditions were light a fluckey
but sadly this time too fluckey and the race officer was forced to abandon the
race. The shared points from this match were the only ones that Shosholoza
scored in this regatta. No one expected them to be winning too many races yet
but we did expect them to be fighting hard and that they have been doing. Its
also fair to say that there is a huge difference between fleet and match-racing
and it could be that the more intense nature of the match-racing in Valencia
made it harder to stay in front of some of the boats, K-Challenge in
particular, that they were beating in Marseilles. Overall its hard to judge
just how good or bad this performance was. They didn’t cover themselves in
glory but they didn’t shower themselves in shame either. The overall impression
that I have got is that Shosholoza is seen in AC circles as being something
completely new. They are underdogs of the highest order with their mere
presence in Europe something of a victory in itself. They have shown that they
have potential and the desire to succeed and I am sure that come next season
with a new boat and more experience under their belts they will improve
immeasurably and start to compete with the more established teams. I also
expect that in the fleet racing regatta that starts on Thursday, the Valencia
Louis Vuitton Act 3, we will see a few more positive results from Shosholoza,
and possibly even a few surprises. Locally I have been very pleased to see that
their efforts have received plenty of mileage in the press with articles
appearing regularly in newspapers and on web sites. This can only be good for
the sport on the whole. For more information visit the excellent America’s Cup
web site at www.americascup.com or the
Shosholoza site at www.sachallenge.com.
Coming up at the
end of October is a regatta that should attract a lot of interest from around
the country, the Redhouse Centenary Regatta.
Now its not very often that a yacht club turns 100 years old, especially
in this day and age with the increased pressures that clubs find themselves
under just to survive. What makes this one even more interesting is that Redhouse
is one of very few sailing clubs in the country that is based on a river, the
Swartkops River, as opposed to a dam or the ocean. Despite its unique location
this club has a rich history with many of this country’s top sailors having
learnt their skills there. Not only that, and I stand to be corrected on this
one, but the Extra and Sprog classes both originated there. The organisers of
the RYC Centenary Regatta hope to attract a diverse fleet of boats including
examples of all those that have sailed on the river over the years including
Sharpies, Sprogs, Finns, Flying Dutchmen, Extras, Fireballs, Spearheads,
Mirrors, Gypseys, Optimists and Dabchicks and anything else that sails to this
event. The regatta takes place from the 22nd to the 24th
of October and features a good mix of sailing and social. The regatta starts with boat registration on Friday the 22nd
of October, followed by a Cocktail Party that night. There is racing on
Saturday 23rd, followed by the Centenary Banquet. More racing will
take place on Sunday 24th, which is the Centenary Day! This will be
followed by the Prize Giving. The Notice of Race can be downloaded from the Smooth Sailing Notices of Race web page or from the Redhouse Yacht Club
site at www.rcy.org.za. As sailing
regattas go this might not be the most important or prestigious regatta on the
calendar but it will certainly be one of the most unique and if for nothing
more than celebrating RYC’s achievement in reaching its 100th
birthday it has to be worth taking part!
The
KZN Dabchick and Optimist
Champs took place on the
2nd and 3rd of October although at separate venues for
the first time in as long as I can remember. Whether that is a good or bad
thing remains to be seen but it is something that I am not going to get into
the merits or demerits of here. I was however very interested to note that the
Dabchick KZN Champs were completely dominated by girls with three female sailors
from Gauteng taking home the medals. This is quite something in a class that
has long been dominated by the boys with only the odd girl breaking their
stranglehold to win a major regatta over the years. Its also quite interesting
in that one of the arguments for the Laser Radial being a more suitable youth
boat than the Dabchick was often how overpowering the Dabchick was and
unsuitable for smaller female sailors! The Dabchick KZN Champs took place at
the Henley Midmar Yacht Club where 19 boats contested the 8-race regatta. The
Optimist KZN Champs took place at the Zululand Yacht Club. They also got in 8
races and attracted an entry of 38 boats. The top three positions in each of
these regattas were as follows:
Dabchick
|
1st
|
Bridget
Clayton |
16
Points |
|
2nd
|
Bronwen
Klaas |
17 |
|
3rd
|
Megan
Clayton |
21 |
Optimist
|
1st
|
Rudy
McNeil |
9
Points |
|
2nd
|
Timothy
Gibbons |
19 |
|
3rd
|
Tim
Forson |
29 |
The Full Results of both regattas are posted on the Smooth Sailing Racing Reports web page.
Opinions
expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the
views of neither this publication nor its editor.
From: Peter Barnard
RE: Land Yachts In Botswana
Dear Andrew,
May I congratulate you on the
amount of time and effort that you funnel into "Smooth Sailing".
I recently spent time with my son
Llew Barnard at Shashi in Botswana. Llew is well known to many catamaran
sailors in South Africa particularly in the Dart and Hobie classes.
Llew has built two land yachts and
has become very involved with a group of 10 sailors who sail their craft at the
Sowa Pan near Shashi. Another 2 craft should be taking to the "land"
shortly and a great deal of interest by the locals may result in another 10
yachts being seen on the pans. Craig Harper is a most enthusiastic member of
the group and seems to be the driving force behind the growth in the sport.
The top speed attained to date is
55,5 kph. I could convert this to knots but kph seems more appropriate for this
craft. The sails being used by these enthusiasts are cast-offs from normal
yachts and sailboards and are too full in shape. The true speed potential of
land yachts requires a very flat sail. The speed record for this type of craft
is well over 150kph.
Llew sailed his Dart cat on the
Sowa pan after the summer rains in 2003.He also sails on the Shashi dam at
times.
The interest in the land yachts
may result in quite a few of these sailors becoming interested in more
conventional craft.
Regards and best wishes,
Peter Barnard.
I was pleased to receive the latest Dart Class Newsletter, Newswire, in my inbox earlier this week. While it
was admittedly a slightly bigger download than you average e-mail it was worth
the wait and made for a good read. It’s a well put together publication full of
interesting information and most importantly give and extremely positive vibe
about the class. The Darts are clearly one of the more active classes in the
country at the moment and I am sure that this quality of communication with the
members that helps to keep it that way. It seems like there are a lot of good
things on the go in this class with new boats being launched and their Worlds
in East London next year. I posted their newsletter on the web site and you can
read it by clicking HERE.
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 |
|
Various KZN Clubs |
October 2004 to July 2005 |
|
|
Henley Midmar Yacht Club |
16 & 17 October |
|
|
Redhouse Yacht Club |
22 to 24 October |
|
|
Albert Falls Yacht Club |
23 & 24 October |
|
|
Boskop
Annual Regatta Incorporating Laser & Laser Radial Northvaal Champs |
Boskop Yacht Club |
30 & 31 October |
|
Durban Radio Boat Club |
6 & 7 November |
|
|
Hermanus Yacht Club |
11 to 18 December |
|
|
RNYC Xmas Regatta Incorporating the Hunter KZN
Champs & Flying Fifteen Nationals |
Royal Natal Yacht Club |
16 to 19 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
In good condition, serviced,
With road trailer
R14 000-00 onco
&
Like new condition
R5 000-00
&
Could be revived R 600
Contact: Leon
083 629-3166
Or
Anne 083- 561-9068
E-Mail: lizamorefam@mweb.co.za
Excellent Condition
R4 850-00 ono
Contact: Tony Strutt
Cell: 082 823 4388
Posted: 21/09/04
At LDYC Vaal
Dam
Good condition.
Antifouled DEC 2003.
Full sail
inventory, flares, life jackets, new covers on cushions, new rudder.
R30 000-00
Contact: Peter
James
E-Mail: peter@metago.co.za
Phone: 011-787
9876
Cell 0828293733
Posted:
21/09/04
Excellent condition
R3 000-00
&
White and
blue
Price
Negotiable
Contact:
Charles
Cell: 082 771
0719
Posted:
21/09/04
Good condition, cruiser racer
Lying RCYC. Built 1989
Full instrumentation, VHF, SSB Good cruising sails:
1,3,storm,msl,spin, Furler, Dodger, clutches, wheel, Fridge,
Recent respray
R400 000-00
Contact Wilhelm for full inventory
(011) 324 3850 or wherbst@nous.co.za
“Pipe Dreams"
Presently moored at Kosmos - Hartbeesport Dam
With full suit of sails incl lazy jacks
5hp Mariner outboard
R22 000-00 ONO.
Contact: Peter Gardner
Cell: 083 225 7934
Posted: 10/09/04
WANTED
In Eastern Cape
Contact: Andrew Heathcote
Cell: 083 783 8805
E-Mail: andrew@smoothsailing.co.za
1 X High Speed Trailer for Mirror Dinghy
1 X Set of Ooutboard Oars
Contact: Phillip
Cell: 083 265 8185
Posted: 11/10/04
Standard
Laser
Complete
Cash buyer.
Any area.
Contact: Neil Couling
Cell: 083 651
8310
Posted:
11/10/04
Extra or Laser
In Cape area
Contact: Leon 083 629-3166
Or
Anne 083- 561-9068
E-Mail: lizamorefam@mweb.co.za
Or similar
fixed or drop keel
Preferably
with trailer.
Phone 084 253
7927.
Posted:
11/10/04
Pirate Sailing Boat
With trailer,
in any condition but preferably good order.
Ideally in
Durban.
Contact Kevin
E-Mail: kevine@thebesec.co.za
Posted
11/10/04
TLC 19
With trailer,
in any condition but preferably good order.
Ideally in
Durban.
Contact Kevin
Cell: 082 603
9229
E-Mail: kevine@thebesec.co.za
Any condition
Price in line with
condition.
Contact: Dave Millard
Cell: 082 805 4504
Posted: 29/09/04
Will pay cash.
Cell: 083 308 5544
Posted: 29/09/04
Contact:
Peter Gardner
Posted:
10/09/04
E-Mail: vixend@iafrica.com
Posted:
10/09/04
Any condition
Contact: Rob
Attwell
E-Mail:
thut@iafrica.com
Posted: 10/09/04
Andrew Heathcote
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 783 8805
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