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By Roger Bartholomew Once in a while there is a truly traditional Championship that has that something extra and has most of the Competitors excited and wanting to come back again. It was big, 211 boats in the SAS Western Cape Dinghy and Multihull recognised Classes including for the first time the Flying Fifteen Class who took part in their first ever Western Cape Championship. Two courses were used one for the Multihulls and the other for the Dinghies with an inner one for the Optimists, and there were 35 of them buzzing all over. The arrangement worked well although it was a little crowded at times. The weather was the only one that did not co-operate all that well as it was a bit light most of the time and a little foggy early in the mornings, but racing usually got away at 1130 or so. The initiative of South African Sailing, Western Cape in bringing the Multihulls and the Dinghies together was a real success, there was much inter action off the water. This can only be good for sailing in the long run and the idea must be pursued to keep the momentum going. The most pleasing aspect, and one that will really have benefits for sailing was the excellent attendance of the Youngsters, 35 Optimists and 27 Dabchicks. This was no doubt due to the strong Development action of some Clubs who made sterling efforts in this direction and the results of their efforts were very visible. Little Taariq Jacobs won the Optimists easily and this earned him the special sponsors prize from Manex and Power Marine of a super Suunto watch that had a lot of bells and whistled. The expression on his face when he came up to receive this super prize for Outstanding Performance was a picture and will live in the minds of those who were there for a long time. It made the Organising Committee feel real proud. One of the most pleasing sights at the Championships was the large Flying Fifteen fleet. They are so graceful and took to their first Western Cape Championship very well attracting some KZN entries, Peter Morgenrood and Hemraj Gokal and two stalwarts from the Cape, Gerhard Koper and Charles Nankin. It looks like a rosy future for this Class. Peter Vowles and crew Denzil Ulyate won and this looks like a first Provincial Title for Saldanha Bay YC, the home of the Class. Great stuff. !!! There were quite a few in the "O" class, some Fireballs, Enterprise, 505, Another pleasing feature was the number of up Entries from up country Clubs, East Rand YC, Bonamanzi SC, Boskop YC Wits YC, RNYC, point YC, and a bit closer to home, Knysna YC, George Lakes YC, and Redhouse YC, If there was a disappointment in respect of a Class it was the Lasers with 26, (15 full rigs and 11 Radials). Otherwise the other fleets were good. The Race Officers, Viv James on the dinghy Course and Jannie Uys on the Multihulls did a really sterling job and made use of absolutely every bit of sailing time. The stars of the show were the backroom guys and girls, the Organising Committee under Roger Bartholomew. There was a good spread from the 3 host Clubs, Vogelvlei YC, Milnerton AC, and Imperial YC who all worked very hard for 9 months putting the event together and can be well satisfied with their efforts. It was a superb Championship with very few hiccups. They had some extremely welcome help form the local Navy Base, SAS Saldanha under Capt Shelley, who made some jetty space and rescue boat parking available. The Saldanha Port Captain, Ravi Naicker was most co-operative, and sent out a good April 1 challenge. He must be on his toes next year. Saldanha Bay we will be back!
1. Geoffrey Rhodes (IYC) 2. Warren Wilson (IYC) 3. Sean Heydenrych (ZVYC) 4. Pierre Bekker (HYC)
Laser (15 entries)
Optimists (35)
Novice Optimist (5)
Dabchick (24)
GP 14 (National Champs) (11)
Flying Fifteen (10)
Extra (23)
Sprog (6)
Finn (5)
Sonnet (13)
Mirror (16)
Mosquito One Design (5)
Mosquito F16 (5)
Hobie Tiger (6)
Hobie 16 (23)
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© 2002 :::
design >>> mike hatcher :::
content >>> andrew heathcote |
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