In a big change of scenery for me I spent the weekend at the Vaal Dam, sailing in the Pick 'n Pay Hypermarket Big Boat Regatta hosted by the Seal Point Yacht Club. Really altering my view of the scenery though was the fact that I was sailing on an out and out cruising boat, something that I am really not used to!

The regatta consisted of two distance races, with the two courses both a bit of a navigational exercise for those like myself who don't know the dam too well. Being one of the slowest boats on the water though we were able to follow the others around which left us fairly unstressed. Saturday was not the best day for us with little to no wind. Even the fast boats seemed to struggle but they were at least moving which we weren't when we turned on the engine and headed back to the pub!

Sunday was however a good day with lots of wind and some great sailing. I was glad to be in the quiet end of the fleet where starting was a quiet and laid back affair.

The racing fleet on the other hand had one of the most chaotic starts I have seen in ages with some very interesting happenings at the committee boat end of the line! Then, while we were gently pottering towards the second mark of the course I was privileged enough to witness all manner of carnage as racing fleet boats tried desperately hard to carry their spinnakers on a reach that was definitely too tight for some. There was at least one collision that I saw! My only critism of an otherwise faultless race committee would be that the course allowed yachts going in opposite directions to cross each others paths.

Sundays race took us on a long sail around the dam after an alarmingly early 09:00 start. This was quite a tough call after a long night partying and I wasn't even at the club for that long. Those who were there tell me that it was very festive and certainly there were a few sore heads around. The atmosphere at the regatta venue, Manten Marina, was great throughout the weekend with plenty of activity including a climbing wall, jumping castle and a craft market.

All in all it was a very pleasant event. There were a good number of social sailors and families out in my end of the fleet which was good to see.

In total 54 boats took part in the regatta. most did not finish the first race in the ultra light conditions on Saturday but I am sure that nearly all finished Sunday's race which was sailed in perfect conditions.