25 October 2004

The Redhouse Yacht Club's Centenary Regatta took place on the weekend of their centenary, the 23rd and 24th of October.

It is rare for any institution to reach a centenary especially in light of the pressures faced by clubs in the modern age. Changing social, financial and political climates all play a part in making the survival of clubs such as RYC more difficult than the founding father might have anticipated 100 years ago.

Located on the Swartkops river just outside of Port Elizabeth, in what can best be described as the village or Redhouse, RYC is very much a community sailing club. The club is, for the most part, run by those who live in the village and has more of a traditional club feel than any other yacht club I have been to in SA. Certainly it maintains some unique habits, probably formed 100 years ago. Top of the list of these has to be the serving of tea and cake between races during regular Sunday afternoon club racing. In fact it seems that there is a meal and drinks break between every race that takes place at RYC.

Not that this is a bad thing of course, that is unless you are as unfit as I am at the moment and in danger of throwing up your cake on the upwind leg of the following race! For that reason I chose to avoid the half-time cake!

Part of what makes the tea and cake break between races possible is the close proximity of the racing area to the clubhouse. In fact RYC has without doubt the shortest distance to sail from the slipway to the start line. Of course the start line covers the entire width of the river and isn't always at 90 degrees to the wind. In fact the closest I saw to an upwind start at RYC was a tight reach. This certainly makes it interesting getting off the line cleanly.

Which brings me to the next oddity of sailing on the river, judging the line. The start line falls between the bridge flagpole, which is mounted on the second floor of the wooded facaded clubhouse. My long trusted method of taking a transit simply didn't work here; you just can't get outside the line. Just going with the locals seemed to work most of the time but not always. Even they got it wrong though and the black flag did make an appearance after two general recalls in one race of the regatta.

With the start line occupying the full width of the river it means that those on the bank are so close that they are almost in the action. That can only be a good thing and means certainly goes a long way to involving those who are watching from the sidelines in the action.

That all changes shortly after the start though as the fleet sails off around the corner in the river and heads off up through the village of Redhouse. This is where it gets interesting. I know why the Notice of Race for this regatta called it the River Champs! Sailing on the river is certainly unique. It involves an interesting mix of shifts, often unpredictable, currents, banks, other boats and of course navigating the course. It's not like any other sailing I have ever done. At times more shifty and unpredictable than the Vaal Dam the upwind legs are a constant battle for clean air, the right side of the river and not being too close to the side of the river. It's certainly good for ones tacking ability!

Ultimately though this regatta was perhaps more about the occasion than the sailing. Personally, I was a little disappointed with the turnout and am sure that the organisers, who put a monumental effort into making this regatta happen, would have been too. That's not to say that it wasn't a success though and as well as the sailing there were plenty of former sailors, mostly those for whom age is the biggest barrier to active participation around the club during the weekend. On the water there was a good fleet of Lasers and Laser Radials, 3 Extras, 2 Sprogs, 2 Fireballs, 2 Mirrors, a Laser 2, Sonnet and a very old, Tempo. Also taking part was a lively little group of Optimists and 09ers. It was particularly good to see the enthusiastic fleet of 09er sailors racing up and down. These mostly novice sailors really seemed to enjoy their time on the water. Never being far from the bank this is certainly one of the safest environments to learn in.

This was particularly so during the RYC Centenary Dinner which took place on the evening of the 23rd at the nearby Zwartkops Rowing Club. This was a special event. It's not often that one gets to attend the centenary dinner of a club not just steeped in its own history but that of the sport in SA. The dinner itself was a good mix of the traditions and old ways of the club with jackets and ties all round while the club's junior sailors, some of them very junior, performed the duties of waiters and waitresses. This may sound a bit odd to some but probably the highlight of the evening was the tablemats!

Each tablemat had on it an image from the old days of sailing on the river. These had been painstakingly sourced from numerous cupboards and cardboard boxes and doubtless beneath plenty of dust. Digital images of each of these pics were then taken and the result is an incredible record of the sailing that took place on the river over the last century. While this exercise was without doubt a labour of love that must have taken many hours its value is immeasurable. While it was a privilege for all of us there to be able to look over these fantastic images it is probably only in another 100 years time that their true value will be appreciated.

By comparison to the dinghies that we sail today the old Tempos, Sharpies, Sprogs and Extras, the last two of which originated at RYC, are worlds away. Definitely slower and less seaworthy I understand after looking over the images of them why sailing on the river was deemed preferable to sailing on the nearby ocean. It also probably meant that the action was a little less hectic than when I arrived at a leeward mark faced with the prospect of a tight gybe in fresh breeze along with one other Extra and about 12 Lasers all in a very tight bunch! Of course with the bigger fleets, and boats, that they had then it was probably equally entertaining not to mention stressful.

As for the racing, well things started on Saturday with a sail past at which the present RYC Commodore, Frank Collier, took the salute. The fleet then proceeded to sail two races in a moderate easterly breeze that certainly required some stretching of the legs going upwind. The river course has plenty of reaching on it and some with some of these being very lively. The tide came in as the afternoon progressed which meant that there was more and more water room to manoeuvre towards the end of the day. All things considered the conditions were outstanding! In the end it was all over early enough for those who wished to watch the Currie Cup final while others prepared for the evening's dinner.

Sunday was another fantastic day. The first race took place on a very low river in a light easterly breeze. There was some evidence of the night before with a few sailors failing to make the start of the first race on time. After two good races in the easterly wind the breeze suddenly switched to the west. Some sat out the last race fearing that it would be a seriously windy one. As it turned out it wasn't with the breeze only occasionally getting much above 12 knots. Of course it did make things interesting that this had to happen while the bunch was approaching the gybe mark! It made for a good end to the regatta.

The final race was followed by tea and cake, or beer depending on your preference. The prize giving took place in front of the clubhouse a short while later and was followed by a dinner for all the participants, once again catered by the members and Redhouse residents. It was certainly a fitting end to a fine weekend.