George Lakes sailing season gets underway
George Lakes Yacht Club's sailing season for 2018/2019 got underway last Sunday with the traditional Frost Bite Series of races.
Twenty boats turned out to brave the cold water on Island Lake. Two races were completed, though the second one had to be shortened when the breeze faded.
In the first race the Lasers headed the fleet. Henry Paine had the initial lead ahead of Malcolm Osborne, Maurits Lammers and James Hellstrom. James proceeded to overtake all and extend a good lead.
Hans Delport on his Dart had just sufficient speed in the conditions to pass most of the Lasers, but was still behind Hellstrom at the end.
The junior fleet comprised three Optimists. Here, Thomas Lawa was able to get the lead ahead of Kyle Koeries and Jean Paul Buys to show that he can perform in these conditions, based on his experience in China (see below).
In race two, James Hellstrom took the lead from the start and extended to finish over two minutes ahead. Behind, the Lasers of Charles Norman, Paine and Osborne had close competition, with Paine getting ahead to finish second, ahead of Norman and Osborne. Once again, Thomas Lawa was the first Optimist, ahead of Koeries and Buys.
Kyle Koeries and Thomas Lawa have just returned from an experience of a lifetime, being part of the Western Cape Optimist team that went to Qingdaoin in the Shandong Province in China. Here they did some training and sailed in an international regatta.
James Vonk sailed in the recent Tera World Championships in Weymouth in the United Kingdom, where he finished in 43rd place. There were 66 boats in this fleet.
The GLYC Commodore, Dr David Laing, has just left for France to compete in the 2018 Fireball World Championships. He will be sailing with his former crew, Mark Dee.