A family affair as Halls sail home
FATHER and daughter pair Peter and Sarah-Ann Hall took the honours in the recent Point Yacht Club Easter Regatta featuring the KwaZulu-Natal Regional Hobie 16 championships sailed offshore Durban.
The Halls notched up five wins, a second, a third and a fourth place in the nine races completed during the three days of racing for a score of 14, their one race discard being a ninth position in the first race on the second day when they struggled with a faulty rudder.
Competition was fierce throughout the regatta with three of the entries in the small fleet of 12 coming from outside the province.
These were Ewald Erasmus and Brandon Wijtenburg (Vaal Dam), Mike Goodyer and daughter Jennifer (Vaal Dam) and Mark Gale and Chanelle Herselman (East London).
There was an almighty battle for second place between top international PYC Hobie sailor Garth Loudon of Durban, who was breaking in his new recruit Liam Fennessy, and up-country sailors Erasmus and Wijtenburg with both teams finishing four points behind the Halls for equal scores of 18 which led to a count-down resulting in Loudon and Fennessy being declared runners-up.
Loudon and Fennessy: two firsts, two seconds, four thirds and their discard race an OCS
Erasmus and Wijtenburg: one first, five seconds, a third and a fourth
The last time the Halls sailed together was in August last year at the Northern Vaal Provincials which they also won and they are hoping to make it three in a row at the Hobie Nationals to be held in Port Elizabeth at the end of this month.
Looking further ahead, Peter Peter has also signed up for the Hobie 14 inter-provincials and nationals with the whole family heading to Greece for a mid-year sailing holiday.
The Goodyers were sailing in the newest Hobie in the fleet, the one they used in Holland at last year’s World Championships.
But the stand-out performance would have to be that of Hugo Pelegrini (71) and Bill Ellens (76), the most experienced sailors on the water who even managed to get out on the trapeze in every single race!
This weekend sees the Keelers set off for a long haul race in the build-up to the Vasco da Gama ocean race with the fleet heading down to Port Elizabeth for the start on April 26. AMANZIMTOTI High School progressed to the Grand Finals of the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls Hockey Challenge with a single goal victory over Kuswag Hoërskool in the recent Durban South Regional tournament and joined Ferrum Hoërskool (KZN North), Epworth HS (PMB Central), St Anne’s DSG (PMB North) and St Mary’s DSG (DBN Central) who have also so far qualified as the popular event reached the halfway mark.
The sixth round, featuring schools in the Durban North region, is due to take place on April 15 hosted for the first time by Crawford College (North Coast) on their picturesque Astroturf venue in Tongaat.
In the seven years since the inaugural tournament in 2011 three schools have managed to take away the gold medals making it one of the most highly contested of the 10 regions.
These three include defending champions and two times winners, Our Lady of Fatima (winners in 2011 and 2017); Danville Park Girls High School (2012 and 2014); and Ashton International College (2013, 2015, 2016).
These previous winners will be challenged by Crawford College (La Lucia), Northlands High School, Reddam House (Umhlanga) and Durban North College and Crawford College (North Coast), all equally keen to have their names inscribed on the trophy for the first time.
The tournament format will see the schools divided into two pools for a preliminary round robin followed by two cross-pool semi-final play-offs which will determine which two schools will meet in the regional final.
The first 23-minute game begins at 8am with the final expected to be played around 3pm.