The official sailing season for George Lakes Yacht Club has come to an end. It was marked by the Closing Cruise, preceded by a fun race. There was good support for the days activities, with over 30 sailing boats on the water.
The Fun Race took the form of a pursuit race, where the slowest boats go off first and the fastest goes last, at intervals calculated that (in theory) all should finish simultaneously. Race Officer Jeremy Dee set the Optimists off first on a course around the whole lake, but in very light, patchy wind. They had got almost all the way around well ahead of the rest of the fleet, but were then becalmed. A south easter then filled in, bringing up the faster boats. The GP14 of Jayan Smart and Evelyn Osborne took the lead, followed by the Lasers. The increased wind brought the Fireball of David Laing & Mark Dee into contention, but the GP14 was able to hold the lead to finish first, ahead of the Fireball. Ashleigh Hellstrom sailing a RS Feva single handed was third over the line, with Henry Paine first Laser in 4th place.
The fleet then assembled at the eastern end of the lake for the sail past. Lead by Rear Commodore Henry Paine, first the Optimists ran down to the committee boat to salute the Commodore Malcolm Osborne, followed by the Dabchicks, Lasers, GP14s and the Fireball.
At a function held in the club house, Malcolm Osborne thanked the members for their excellent support of the club and congratulated those who had done well in local and away events.
Then Evelyn Osborne, chairman of S.A. Sailing Southern Cape, explained the new South West Districts Sailing Colours scheme, being launched for the first time. With this scheme, points could be gained at the inter club regattas sailed at Kynsna and George Lakes Yacht Clubs and at the district championships sailed at Mossel Bay. To get the scheme under way, colours would be awarded to those who had achieved at the the recent Youth National Championships held in December at Swartvlei. These Youth Colours were then awarded. For the SWD Sailing Colours criteria document, click here
2012 SWD Youth Sailing Colours were awarded to:The team of Ruben Heard and Georgou Divaris emerged undefeated at the end of the knock out series for the GLYC match racing event. In the run-up, they successively defeated Malcolm Osborne & Sean Vonk and John Marc Olivier & Kirstie Gehrung to reach the best of three finals against Jayan Smart & James Vonk. Jayan, as title holder, had a bye into the finals. Ruben gave Jayan a penalty in the first race pre-start tussles, then proceeded to sail away to an easy win. In the next race, itwas Jayan who got off to a good start, but Ruben was able to catch up and overtook at the leeward mark to win this race as well, to cheers from the shore.
Ruben Heard and Georgou Divaris are the winners of the Clive Davy match racing trophy.
The event was sailed in the sailing school Gypsys. The racing started on Saturday in very light wind and only a few races could be completed. Fortunately slighty better wind on Sunday to be able to complete the event. Twelve teams started with a round robin before going into the knock out series.
Thanks to Jeremy Dee and Rodger Beazley for running the committee boat on both days, also to Mike Vonk for helping with the scheduling from Rescue1 and to Evelyn Osborne for providing the Gypsies.
Despite it being a long weekend, a good fleet participated in Sunday's racing at George Lakes Yacht Club. Three races were completed in a light southerly wind.
No less than 12 Lasers were racing - making for one of the largest such fleets in the country. The seniors were sailing the final races for the Presidents Trophy, while the juniors sailed an Easter Egg regatta. The junior fleet comprised Optimists and Dabchicks.
John Marc Olivier had a good start and first beat to establish a lead in the first race, despite having a smaller sail on his Laser Radial. He was chased by Ruben Heard (also on Laser Radial), then the Lasers of Henry Paine, Malcolm and Evelyn Osborne.
John Marc didn't have such a good race in race two - Malcolm, Evelyn and Henry were first over the finish line in that order, but application of class handicaps gave the race win to John Marc - he was close enough to the leaders. Mark Dee established the race lead in race three and held it for half the race, but was then passed by Henry Paine, who then extended the lead sufficiently to also beat the Radials on handicap. John Marc was third over the line, but comes up to second overall in that race, pushing Mark Dee down to 3rd.
The front of the junior fleet was contested between the Dabchicks of Leah Sammon and Kirstie Gehrung and the Optimist of James Vonk. Kirstie was in front in races one and two (didn't sail race three), but wasn't far enough ahead to overcome class handicaps - James Vonk got the the races wins in all three races to win the Easter Egg regatta overall.
The GANDALFS had two Mirrors (Di & Joan), and two Lasers (Hans and Ralph). Di was overall winner. After 4ths in the first two races, Ralph did better to get 2nd in race 3.
For the senior fleet, the overall winner for the Presidents Trophy is John Marc Olivier, a scant one point ahead of Malcolm Osborne. Henry Paine gets third place.
Three races were sailed last Sunday for the conclusion of the Kim Cup series. Once again, the sailors had to contend with a light southerly wind. The Fireball of David Laing and Mark Dee struggled to extend a lead on the Lasers sufficient to overcome their handicap. The front of the Lasers (with nine boats sailing) was contested between Evelyn & Malcolm Osborne, John Marc Olivier (on Radial) and Henry Paine. But it was Henry who established the lead in races one and three to win these on handicap, with the Fireball in second place in both of these races. But he started a bit late in race two - this allowed John Marc to take this race win, with Malcolm second.
The GANDOLF fleet had four boats sailing - Nicholas Beech on Hobie 16, Tracey Statt on Laser 4.7, Ralph Jones on Laser and Di Turner on Mirror. Ralph did well in the first race to win this one on handicap. But then Di got it together to win the next two. Tracey got a 2nd in race two, ahead of Ralph.
Overall for the Kim Cup, the overall winner is Malcolm Osborne, whose results from the previous event aided his overall score. Runner up is David and Mark, with John Marc in third place.
Eastern Cape Inter Schools Regatta
Glenwood House Preparatory was represented by Georgou Divaris and James Vonk, both sailing Optimist, at this event held last weekend. They were defending their school's possession of the Junior School trophy won last year.
Late on Sunday afternoon, Mike and James arrived back at GLYC and were able to inform the GLYC members still there that they had succeeded in their quest and Glenwood House Preparatory is still the holder of the Eastern Cape Inter Schools Junior School Trophy. This is in addition to the Southern Cape Inter Schools Junior School Trophy they won at GLYC last month.
A strong south easter prevailed for the final series for this trophy. But we are so used to light wind these days that we could only manage one race before returning exhausted to the shore! The wind was gusting to around 25 knots, with some tricky switches - the rescue were kept busy. Mike Vonk and Ralph Jones were on Rescue 1, then Mandy Lombard and Maurits Lammers went out on Rescue 2 to assist. Fifteen signed on to race, but only four seniors and two juniors managed to finish.
Dave Laing & Mark Dee on Fireball scorched around the course without too much problem (having had lots of practice at Hermanus). Newcomer to GLYC, Reuben Heard on Laser 4.7 left the other Lasers behind to finish first overall on handicap. Henry Paine was the only other Laser to finish, in 3rd place. Malcolm Osborne & Leah Sammon sailed this race on Sprog to be the 4th boat to finish. In the juniors, James Hellstrom on Tera Pro was untroubled to finish first, followed by James Vonk on Optimist.
Overall, for the Chris Thomas Trophy, the winners are Dave Laing & Mark Dee. Malcolm Osborne is the runner up, with John Marc Olivier in third. John Marc was absent today - he was cycling the Argus in Cape Town with Nathan and Anita Page.
GLYC was buzzing over the weekend with over 80 boats on the water
(Herb going for a cruise on his GP14 helped to tip in to the 80's!)
Visitors came from Knysna, Mossel Bay and Port Elizabeth (ABYC). The
fleet was divided in to a senior and high school division and a junior /
primary school fleet. 3 races were sailed on Saturday in a light, puffy
south wester and two on Sunday in a light SSE.
Congratulations to James Hellstrom for coming first overall on his Tera
Pro (even beating some Lasers over the line). He helped GLYC to win the
senior inter club trophy. This was scored on the basis of the top 5
boats per club. The other sailors in the top 5 for GLYC were John Marc
Olivier (3rd), myself (4th), David Laing & Mark Dee (7th) and Nathan
Page (9th). This put Thomas Lammers, Cundell & Tracy Statt, Henry
Paine and Cundell Statt & Rory Laing in as our team reserves GLYC
also won the junior inter club trophy - well done to Georgou Divaris,
James Vonk, Jedd Page, Matthew de Villiers, Robyn Hellstrom and Pia
Marriotti - they took the top 6 places.
In the Inter Schools divisions, Glenwood House College won in the High
School division and Glenwood House Preparatory won in the Primary School
division.
GLYC thanks all the visitors for coming, helping to make the event a
great success; also to our sailors and members for your support and
valued contributions.
The event was made possible by the generous sponsorship of Lew Geffen
Sothebys International Realty (George) and Raubenheimers Attorneys.
Please support these firms if you have dealings in these areas.
Straight after the Youth Nationals on Swartvlei, the Fireball Nationals
took place at the same venue (making use of the infrastructure already
in place). 12 Fireballs competed (15 were hoped for prior to the event).
The entry included the Joburg team of Alex & Warwick Ham sailing
Tiki Holm's Fireball and JJ Provoyeur & Ferdinand Holm sailing David
Laings second boat - and they came second! Also there was Georgou
Divaris & Rob Clarke of KYC sailing Anton Verhagen's Fireball.
10 races were sailed over three days, in strong and light winds.
Competition was tight at the front of the fleet, with scant points
between the first 5 places. After the 10th race, with the 2nd discard
coming into effect, the National Championship was decided - Anthony
& Diane Parker winning this for the first time as a team.,
with David Laing & Mark Dee 5th, Malcolm Osborne & Khaya Gould
7th, Divaris / Clarke 9th.
Thanks to a monumental effort by all concerned, the event held from
Pine Lake Marina on Swartvlei Lagoon came to a successful conclusion.
Well done to our sailors - apart from all who entered, sailed and had
fun, we also had several podium finishes. Tightest was in the Mirror
fleet, where Cundell Statt & Steven Nobre came from 3rd the previous
day to first place on the last day, wining on tiebreak.
Jonathan Rees had a comfortable win in the Laser 4.7 fleet, with Nathan
Page 3rd and Seth Young 4th.
Georgou Divaris got 2nd place in the big Optimist A fleet 55 (boats).
James Hellstrom won in the Tera Pro fleet, with Jedd Page 2nd in the
Tera Sport fleet.
Jayan Smart sailed well to finish 10th in the strong Dabchick fleet of
37 boats.
Over 200 boats - Pine Lake Marina was buzzing!
We had two new Optimist sailors, Chris Kennedy and James Vonk there, sailing their first big, away regatta - well done!
Only one race could be completed on Saturday in light, drizzly
conditions. Then four races were sailed on Sunday morning, the first
in about 8-10 knots from the west, then it picked up to round 20 knots
for two more races before fading a bit for the last race.
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Last updated:2013/04/25