Easter sailing at a rate of knots ...
FIFTY-EIGHT boats, with three championship fleets, and an Open Class comprising Hobie Tigers, 29ers, Flying Fifteens and Laser Radials took to the water in gnarly conditions over the long weekend for the Easter Regatta hosted by Point Yacht Club.
There were the 505 and Dart One Up Nationals, the Hobie 14 Provincials and an Open Class. And local sailors representing Point Yacht Club claimed victory in three of the four classes.
World class sailors, Peter and Thomas Funke (PYC), took the well-earned honours in the 505s, Stillbaai’s Ben Meine the Darts, Peter Hall (PYC) the Hobie 14 and Siyanda Vato (PYC) and Nhlanhla Phakathi (PYC) the Open Class.
Only five races were raced as a persistent south westerly blew for the majority of the weekend. Race Officer for the regatta, Jimmy Melville, had a testing time on the bridge boat as he sat watching the wind speeds that registered near 20 knots on most days, too dangerous for the small dinghy boats.
On the first day, the fleet only launched in the mid-afternoon, managing to get in one windward leeward race. The second day of racing was blown out. Sunday saw a diminished fleet venture off the beach early in a building breeze.
The morning started off with champagne sailing. The wind strength clocked in at an exciting 10 to 15 knots and then strengthened to the upper teens and as predicted, edged over 20 knots, concluding in racing being postponed for the day.
Two races were run on a sausage, triangle, sausage course with the final race of the day being a quick-fire windward leeward course.
On Monday the fleet ventured out with racing getting under way punctually, tackling another sausage, triangle, sausage course. The westerly initially settled at around 15-18knots, peaking at 22 and then started heading to 25 knots, resulting in Melville sending the fleet home early.
Leading man on the 505s, Thomas Funke said, “Yeah, it was tight racing all round, absolutely good fun. I think there was competition everywhere in the fleet and for a lot of the guys it was down to the wire with not much in it!
“Of course conditions were testing, but that being said, the Cape Town guys loved the strong winds. The Gauteng lads found it a bit challenging at times but they had enjoyed it, and sailing in the warm water.
“We were impressed by Euan Hurter who is out from the UK on holiday, and he joined up with top South African Laser sailor Rudy McNeill who was really keen. The two of them were leading the races twice; they then had some slight hiccups but did well to end up fourth.”
Leading Hobie sailor, Peter Hall said, “Overall, the regatta was great, I would say it was quite testy on the water. Conditions were quite blowy and in the only race held on the last day, first place changed about five times, testament to the concentration required out on the water.
“It was very competitive racing. I capsized on the start line and managed to score a second in the last race, so I only just managed to squeeze Garth out on points to claim the title.”
Hall, together with second placed Loudon, will be heading to Noordwijk aan Zee in the Netherlands in July to compete in the Hobie World Championships.
The next big sailing event for the Point Yacht Club is Vasco da Gama that starts off Durban at midday on Thursday.