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South Africa’s Sailing News Website and Sailing Portal
For more of our latest articles, look in our 2012/2013 News/Articles section here.
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Theewaters Sports Club to host Mirror Worlds 2015!
14 May - The Mirror Class Committee of SA received 4 bids to host the 2015 worlds and based on their assessment of the bids, Theewater Sports Club was selected to host the 2015 Worlds in SA. This international sailing event will take place in January 2015 andTSC is expecting sailors from more than 9 different countries to attend. Exciting stuff! We'll keep you posted!
President's Race, 4 May at DYC
13 May - DAC hosted the President’s Race on 4 May 2013. Racing was due to start at 1pm and even though the wind gods played along, providing a nice steady breeze over the water, there were only four boats at the start and Race Officer Austin Daly decided to wait for a fifth boat, whose crew was still fixing her traveller. Read more of Yolanda van der Vyver's report here...
RIP Andrew "Bart" Thompson
10 May - Tragic news for the sailing world was the death of British Olympic gold medallist sailor Andrew 'Bart' Simpson, killed on America's Cup challenger Artemis in San Francisco Bay after she capsized.
Here's the article from The Independent
Also well worth the read is this great tribute on the RYA website
We also love this article which puts into perspective what incredible athletes sailors are..
Colorpress Vasco da Gama Race 2013
05 May - This year's Vasco Race was a huge success with 15 boats sailing a great race from Maputo to Durban. The Vasco da Gama Race is a tough 300-nautical mile race with many options open to skippers and navigators. Not only are there the prevailing North Easterly and South Westerly winds to contend with, but there are also currents and even a land breeze to be factored into each boat’s tactics and choice of course. Follow the fleet on the tracker, here.
There is a great report, worth reading, on Show Me Durban here
Results:
IRC
1 Bellatrix - Gregg Hurter
2 Aquavit - Ross McGill
3 Skitzo - Nigel Milln
4 Sticky Fingers - Rob Samways
5 Southern Storm - Chris Frost
6 choose Life Pacer - Luke Wagner
7 Pallucci - Warren Clark
8 Zap - Graham Rose
9 Flyer - Brad Rayson
PHRF division
1 Spindrift - John Banfield
DNF Majimoto - Jon Banfield
Catamaran division
DNF Nomad
Rally Class
1 Southern Cruiser - Rhett Butler
Retired - Alkistis - Christo Moller
Hobie Tiger & Dragoon Nationals and Hobie 16 Provincials, 26-28 April in Langebaan
29 April - another great Hobie Nationals and Provincials was held in the last weekend in April in Langebaan, with a fleet of 20 Tiger, 17 Hobie 16s and 7 Dragoons.
Huge Congrats to the Medalists!
Hobie Tigers:
1st - William Edwards and Josh Selig
2nd - Alan and Daniel Lawrence
3rd - Blaine and Peter Dodds
Dragoons:
1st - Brandon Wijtenberg and Todd Fisher
Hobie 16:
1st - Belinda and Grant Hayward
2nd - Caroline Hutchinson and Annie Lomax
3rd - Mark and Sarah Obree
Also great to see the lady sailors at the top of the Hobie 16 fleet!
There are some brilliant pics of the event, taken by Louise du Plessis, Check them out here:
Album 1
Album 2
Pics by Louise du Plessis
Lipton Cup 2013 - all race docs are out!
This year's L26 National Champs will be held from Sun 29 June - Wed 3 July at MSC Week at RNYC in Durban - NOR and SI out imminently. Lipton Cup will be held from Wed 3 July - Friday 12 July at Royal Natal Yacht Club, Durban (with sailing from Sun 7 - Friday 12 July).
All Race Docs for Lipton are now avialable and downloadable on the L26 Class Website Homepage - www.l26.co.za
South Africans at the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Hyeres
22 April - Good luck to South Africans Roger Hudson/Asenathi Jim and Ricky and Brennan Robinson who started racing 470s today at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres -In fleet of 63 of the worlds best 470 sailors the SA boys are holding their own Asenathi & Roger 43 with 18,18,21 Robinson 59 with 25,29,27
Two qualification days, followed by three days of finals and then the Medal Race deciders. Follow the action at the official regatta website
Hobie KZN Provincials
The 2013 KZN Hobie 16 and Hobie 14 provincials are set for 15-17 June at Point Yacht Club’s beachsite in Durban. Hobie parties are part of the deal, plus warm Durban weather, and plenty for non-sailors to do on the beach. This will be the first KZN Hobie 14 provincials in many years – 3 months after the PE nationals, 2 months before the Zululand Cat Regatta, so your budgets and livers will have time to recover! Cheap camping will be available at the main clubhouse on the Esplanade. NoR to follow soon. Enquiries: Sean Fennessy
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DAC 50th Anniversary Regatta
21 April - Deneysville Aquatic Club turns 50 - and what better way to celebrate than with a regatta? So, pull in from 21-24 September for the DAC Inland Keelboat Regatta. More info, here.
RIP Magnus Olsson
20 April - the sailing community and beyond are mourning the death of Margnus Olsson. One of the most popular and recognisable sailors in the world, he maintained links with the round-the-world race to the end, and was working as a coach with the all-female Team SCA in Lanzarote when he suffered a stroke. He was surrounded by his family as he died on Saturday, aged 64.
Well worth a read is the blog on Magnus' passing by an international sailor well-known to many South Africans, Brian Hancock. Read Brian's blog here
Read more on the Volvo Ocean Race Website here
RNYC Lighthouse to Lighthouse Offshore Challenge Report
16 April - A perfect middle distance race, the Lighthouse to Lighthouse Race organised by the Royal Natal Yacht Club saw Sticky Fingers skippered by Rob Samways, and Ladybird skippered by Andrew Dolloway win the double on Sunday.
The Royal Natal Yacht Club’s Lipton Challenge Cup team Orion B2G2 skippered by Patrick Harris were crowned winners in the cruising class, edging out Choose Life Bellisima skippered by Vernon Goss on handicap. Bellisima was the first yacht across the finish line for the day, three minutes ahead of the smaller L26 yacht.
Read more of Sophie Thompson's Report and see more of her pics here
Vogelvlei Yacht Club Solo Challenge, 13-14 April 2013
16 April - Another event which is growing every year is an event purely for single-handers, which this year saw excellent turn out from the sonnet and mosquito fleet. VYC is a picturesquely beautiful sailing venue as well as a beautiful place to spend the weekend, even if one does not sail - a perfect family weekend away in an unspoilt and very private piece of paradise (no public or powerboaters!). It included an EXCELLENT dinner which made the entry fee well worth it!
Mercury Rising, Continued
16 April - Mark Orpen at helm with Dorrien Keown evaluating SV Mercury’s new engine installation performance in Knysna last week. Read more.
Announcement For Homebuilt Boat Owners
10 April - Some good news for homebuilt boat owners - especially if you'd like to do the RTIR.
15
7 April - 15. That's how many points Mike Bartholomew and crew on Tokoloshe, finished in front of the next boat in Class 2 in the RORC Easter Challenge.
Sailing in sub-zero conditions, with ice on the deck in the mornings, they managed podium positions in each race to take the win with a comfortable margin in the end.
Photo Credit: Paul Wyeth pwpictures.com
RNYC Inhaca Island to Richards Bay
7 April - Royal Natal Yacht Club's, Chris Frost sailing on his nifty Pacer 37, Southern Storm took the double in the Inhaca Island to Richard’s Bay Yacht Race.
Frost took line honours and corrected time win in a record fleet of 27 entries in the race organised by the Zululand Yacht Club. “This year’s race was a super event! The start was in very light conditions and it took us 2 hours to get around Inhaca point and just in time before the tide turned. After that it was champagne sailing down the scenic coastline of Mozambique in a gentle 8 to 10 knot easterly.” Frost enthused after having caught up on some sleep.
Read the rest, all kindly submitted by Sophie Thompson.
SAS Northern Region Champs
4 April - So! We just had a dinghy champs on the Vaaldam to coincide with the one in the Cape. Had a bunch of Finns, Lasers and Mirrors take part. Check out the results, here.
Rob Willcox in his new PATTA FINN, built by Greg Davis, takes first place in the 10-strong Finn fleet in the SAS Northern Regional Champs.
Photo by Shellee Nel.
Robtek Holiday 23 Fun Words, Easter at Port Owen
3 April - The Robtek Holiday 23 Fun Worlds were held over the Easter Weekend in Port Owen. The event, which takes place every two years, was a huge success as usual. St Helena Bay laid on her usual beautiful sailing with two windy days and one light wind day. Racing included both round the cans racing as well as a distant race, the rational Shelley Point Fish and Chips Race.
Pic: Frank Stuyck and his crew on Sea Mist sailing their way to 1st Place in the beautiful St Helena Bay
Roger and Squirrel off to a great start in Palma
3 April - Roger Hudson and Asenathi Jim have started the European Season on the 470 with a bang after six months of hard training in Cape Town.
Here's a great video of the guys here
And a great earticle on the international 470 class site...
Awesome stuff, guys!
Oppie Selections at Hermanus, Easter 2013
2 April - The venue for the Optimist Selections for 2013 was Hermanus Yacht Club in the Western Cape. It was decided this year to combine the selections regatta with the Grand Slam Final or Western Cape Championships to save parents on high cost of time and money travelling to various regatta’s all over the country. A last minute venue change from Saldanha to Hermanus by SAS meant that the selections regatta would be sailed there instead.
Read more and all the detail of those Oppie sailors selected for the World and African Champs in Andre Wollheim's report here! Congrats, guys and girls!
Southern Charter WC Dinghy Champs
01 April - The "Wolheim Train' heads to the Southern Charter WC Dinghy Champs which have just wrapped up in Hermanus. Some photos by Barbara Sher, here and here.
Results, here.
Hobie 16 Nationals
21 March - In the recent Boardwalk Hobie 16 Sailing championships held from 21 to 24 March 2013, a total of 8 races were sailed over three days (Saturday was blown out). Conditions were mostly below 12 knots with flat seas and the wind from the East, South and West to make for an interesting and complete regatta under the hand of bridge officer, Doug Allison. Read more.
The Sturrock Shipping Cape Point Challenge 2013
21 March - Fish Hoek Beach Sailing Club, as always, put on a brilliant event!
Saturday 16 March dawned grey and drizzly, and WindGURU looked positively anaemic.
Still, a determined bunch of sailors were to be found at Fish Hoek beach from early in the morning; tweaking, fiddling and fine-tuning their boats for the long-haul from Fish Hoek to Cape Point and back.
Read the rest of Carolyn Hane's article and who the winners were here
Pic by Bev Hurst
Good Start For Tokoloshe
20 March - Mike Bartholomew's Tokoloshe racing team is off to a good start to the season - check it out here, on the Daily Sail.
The New Extreme Sailing Series
09 March - Came across this on the Sailing Anarchy website and thought it rather apt - especially after seeing a race in the Extreme Sailing Series for the first time this morning... we don't have tv, ok... After the first mark rounding or two, the action settles down and the boats seem to finish in pretty much the same order as they round the first mark - well, unless Jimmy Spithill has a bad start... Although on second thought, maybe it's good for the non-sailing public who aren't really interested in the intricacies of a good roll gybe to gain half a boat length or setting up a penalty at the next mark. Maybe watching boats go fast and crash / almost crash has its merits - kinda like NASCAR. Cheers!
PSC Charity Regatta
07 March - Here's what's been happening in Pretoria - thanks to Yolanda van der Vyver
Team Of The Year
06 March - Another award for a deserving couple..!
More about it here, on the Raceahead website.
Loners
06 March - The Loners Challenge Race was held on the 2nd March 2013.
A very disappointing entry of only four boats. Maybe the weatherman had something to do with it as no wind was predicted. The good news is that these entrants’ asked for a race as they were very keen and didn’t come all the way for nothing. They sailed two legs from Muster mark to DAC mark and then to Hawaii Island mark.
They all deserve a medal for perseverance as the conditions were from 0-2knots. With time still in hand after the race the two Dragonfly’s challenged each other home to Stilbay, shows you that good sailors can make it in any condition.
This litle update brought to you by Joke Lenz.
Southern Charter IYC Interschools
04 March - The Southeaster joined a few Cape schools at this year's Southern Charter IYC Dinghy Interschools Regatta. Six races were sailed in some exciting conditions which provided great spectator value and photo opportunities as only IYC can. We will have the results posted as soon as we can (Results now posted - Edit) but if I recall correctly, SACS took the coveted trophy helped to victory with some good sailing by Luke Sher (the bit that we saw, anyway..!).
Notably absent were Isivungu (in detention...?!?) and the Zeekoeivlei Sailing Centre teams which had to make a choice between the IYC Interschools and RCYC's keelboat training weekend - bad planning by RCYC to schedule their weekend to clash with the Interschools... Anyway,
Thanks again to Barbara Sher who was busy taking photos - lank pics, here.
Enjoy!
Mykonos Offshore Yacht Race 22 & 23 Feb
25 Feb - This past weekend saw one of South Africa's biggest and most popular keelboat races take place - the Mykonos Offshore Race.
Friday did not see the great downwind dash that the competitors were hoping for - but then, the last drifter was a good 5 years ago so we were due for one! All in all, still the most fantastic, fun, and flawlessly organised regatta. Regatta Chairman Hylton Hale can be congratulated on a superb event and also congratulated on being the overall winner, skippering Vulcan to a well-deserved victory.
A must-read is Trygve Roberts' excellent article on the regatta from his perspective on a Pacer 27
Fantastic Photos by Trevor Wilkins here of Friday's Race Start and the Saturday Pursuit Race
Dinghy Grandslam 3
19 Feb - The 3rd Dinghy Grandslam just happened in Hermanus.
Click here for the happenings
and here for some pics
and here for the results (it's good to see Vasco and Captain Cook back on the water, mixing it up with some other "Notables" in the Sonnet class...I wonder if they've paid their SAS fees..?)
2013 Hobie 14 Nationals
18 Feb - Steve Eriksen fills us in on the happenings at the 2013 Hobie 14 Nationals, held in Knysna from 8-10 February.
Durban To Richards Bay Small Cat Regatta
10 Feb - A bunch of intrepid cat sailors took to the waters recently at Durban to sail to Richards Bay. By all accounts it seemed a little wild but they all reckon they'll do it again..! Read the following personal accounts:
Vernon Brown
Belinda Huse
Paul Murphy
Peter Hall
Oliver Burnett
Kyle Boman
They're quite entertaining.
Round The Island 2013
07 Jan - Of the 323-strong fleet that started on Sunday 3rd February in the 55th annual race hosted by Lake Deneys Yacht Club (LDYC), Vaal Dam, those on the village side of the line had a clean if very slow getaway in an extremely light easterly breeze but with more wind than boats on the south eastern end.
In the Ultra Class (limited to 50 first start entrants), Marc Hammick on Nacra F20 ‘Swamp Critter’ pulled away initially, hotly pursued by Ben Mienie’s Dragonfly ‘Krokodil’ on the north western shoreline end.
Skipper Wolf Seitz and son Marco on Nacra F20 ‘QE ll’ had an eastern start but quickly crossed right across the fleet onto the western side on the same tack. Seitz and Jonathan Crawford accompanied by Brian Lion-Cachet on Multi 23 ‘Faster’ stayed on the western side. Crawford and Wolf chose the western side to round the Island along its shoreline while Michael Vijverberg also sailing a Multi 23 and Hammick opted for the eastern peninsula shoreline.
