Two to sail in black vests to honour fallen friends
COMPETING in the SAP 505 World Championships will be of special significance for two sailors when the global event starts tomorrow.
Sigi Bailes and Dudley Isaacs will don black vests as a mark of respect for two of their best friends who died tragically earlier this month.
Glynis Baer and Joy Finn died in a car accident outside Swellendam on March 9.
Baer was a member of the Algoa Bay Yacht Club (ABYC) and one of the main organisers of the 505 World Championships.
Finn was the wife of Andrew Finn, head of SA Sailing in the Eastern Cape.
Bailes, of ABYC, and Isaacs, from the Knysna Yacht Club, applied to the race committee to sail in black vests instead of the gold bibs all the other competitors will wear.
“Glynis Baer was very involved in organising this event. I think it’s only fair to pay tribute to all the hard work she put into sailing for years and years,” Bailes said.
Isaacs said: “We are wearing black to show respect in remembrance of both of them.
“We are out there to enjoy ourselves. I don’t think we will be that competitive. We have used the pre-worlds this week to slowly improve on our racing,” he said.
“Maybe we can have one or two good races during the world championships.”
Bailes is an accomplished sailor and recently finished 18th in the Mirror World Championships.
Her husband, Tony, owns a Fast 42, which will be sailing in the Vasco Da Gama Race from Durban to Port Elizabeth starting on April 25.
ABYC, together with the 505 sailing association, placed a bid in 2010 to host the world championships.
ABYC Commodore Alan Straton said it had been in the planning since 2012.
“We formed a committee, which basically put down all the logistics of the event. We worked on a budget and submitted it to the international 505 association. It was approved,” Straton said.
“In terms of exposure to the wider sailing community, this is incredible, as we will be touching so many international sailors and showing them what the Bay actually has to offer in terms of sailing.
“The Bay is probably representative of the best sailing conditions along the entire African coastline.
“One because it’s sheltered and, secondly, even though everyone says we are the windy city, we are actually the third windiest but we have prevailing winds almost every single day,” he said.
Transnet port manager Rajesh Dana said it was an honour to be part of the event.
“This event can be used as an opportunity to showcase not only what the city has to offer but also what the port has to offer,” Dana said.
“It will go a long way in exposing the opportunities that will present themselves as we develop the area which is used to host this event into a mariner recreational front.”
With many people from all over the world taking part, and it being screened live on television, the city’s tourism will receive a major boost.