A blockage at the mouth of the Umgeni River caused water levels in the pond to rise continuously throughout the weekend. When racing started on Saturday the edges of the pond were underwater and the level was rising fast. Water was flowing in over the top of the causeway and by late afternoon over the bank at the beach end of the pond. There were wet feet all round as sailors waded through the water to launch and retrieve their boats not to mention during the racing too when they were either trying to get as close a view of the mark roundings as possible or clean weed off their foils.

A light northeasterly on Saturday morning faded just after lunchtime to nothing with only three races having been sailed. After much waiting for something to happen racing was eventually abandoned at around 15:00 with the sailors retiring to the club for much beer and a fine piece of fillet prepared on the braai by class Supremo, Terry Flynn. Well fed and water everyone headed home happy that conditions would be better the next day. Greg Hurter went home as the overnight leader after a constant performance in all three race with Craig Millar not far behind.

As it turned out the wind was perfect on Sunday morning, a moderate north easter of fairly constant strength. The water level had risen further overnight with the result that it was very hard to differentiate between the pond and the river. In this state the pond was close to twice it's normal size and the wind undisturbed by the bank. Had it not been for the weed and other muck, which was blown in from the river this would have been the best day of sailing in the history of the pond. Sadly racing on the large expanse of water and in perfect wind conditions was diminished by the fact that at any given time your race could come to a sudden end at the hands of a piece of weed or kelp! The random and indiscriminate kelpings frustrated many sailors with no one immune to the problem. It got to the point where bringing your boat to the side of the pond midway though the race to clean the foils was by far the fastest way of getting around the course.

Despite the frustration the racing was good and if you could get past the kelping frustration the pleasure of sailing in such perfect wind on such a large piece of water was something worth enjoying. Many races were sailed on Sunday, to be fair I lost count, though this was probably also due to the fact that I flittered between the A and B fleets with alarming regularity.

Craig Millar put in another good day of constant sailing to finally win the regatta with a comfortable lead over defending champion Des Fairbank who finished in second place. In third place was Richard Weddell, also the youngest competitor in the fleet. The prize giving was followed by more drinking and snacking, in these RC Laser regattas the quality of the racing is sometimes nearly overshadowed by the quality of the catering! Once again lots of fun was had by all and it was another great RCL regatta with race officer Mike Surgeson again doing a very efficient job aided by a number of recorders and judges.