RNYC Dinghy Bay Series

Royal Natal Yacht Club

Dinghy Bay Series

Durban Harbour: Saturday 11 January

A fleet of 25 yachts of all shapes and sizes ventured out to participate in Saturdays Royal Natal Yacht Club Dinghy Bay Series.

Race Officer, Lucy De Freitas managed to get in four races during the course of the afternoon with the faster dinghies sailing a triangle, sausage, triangle course in a gentle but very twitchy 8knot Southerly breeze and the smaller dinghies sailing a single lap around the triangular course.

De Freitas, a very professional and efficient Race Officer, kept the fleet busy with the afternoon’s racing starting promptly at 14h00 and each new race being started no sooner than the last boat finished so there was little time between races for the sailors to relax and catch their breath. The races were hotly contested with the Race Officer having to fly the X Flag in the first race to signal an individual recall due to some overzealous starters. There were 2 separate start sequences for each race with the bigger boats being followed by the smaller dinghies at a 5 minute interval. By the end of each race an despite sailing different courses both fleets converged on the finish line on mass making for some frenetic activity on the Committee Boat as recorders Kaylee Gregory and Melissa De Freitas diligently recorded the finishing positions and times for each boat while Patricia Kilburn sounded the air-horn as each boat crossed the finish line with only a few seconds separating each boat.  

For the final race of the day, the “no nonsense” De Freitas hoisted all the class flags simultaneously signalling a mass start for the entire fleet and to make sure there were no premature starters De Freitas pulled out the “Black Flag” signalling to the fleet that any premature starters over the start line before the starting signal would be disqualified. 

The larger boats consisted of a J22 helmed by the club’s Rear Commodore Rob Samways and a competitive field of eight Flying Fifteens. Samways with his ace crew of Jarred Quinn and DJ Latha stuck to the front of the field as they paced their way eagerly around the Olympic course.

The top end of the Flying Fifteens jostled for positions with Patrick Harris and Jeremy Kriek assuming victory with three firsts and a second. The father and son combo of Martin and Carl Zimmerman scraped in at second place, two points ahead of Myles White and Estelle Buys. Team Zimmerman claiming victory in the final race gave them the edge and placed them second overall. The father and son combo punched the air and cheered as they drove their classic design Flying Fifteen to a marginal win over the National champions of Harris and Kriek.

The fast flying 505 was joined by two lightening quick 29ers. Thomas Funke continued his great form after the last offshore regatta, sailing with Clayton Beviss the two enjoyed working their way through the Flying Fifteen fleet. Having just returned from Germany, Michael Dickinson enjoyed the warmer conditions as he sailed with Rob Tarboton from Pietermaritzburg on their 29er. After a wobbly start, Tarboton and Dickinson showed their prowess in the class with three wins ahead of the brother team of Euan and Sean Hurter.

In the laser fleet, three designs were represented. After missing the first race, Campbell Alexander stormed to victory on his standard rig laser with Denmar Nel from Pinetown taking second overall. Durban North’s Trent Bingham showed his class taking the win in the Radial fleet, ahead of Queensburgh’s Anna Tiet and Eli Brophy-Tintinger placing third. The young Matthew Gaughran took the honours on the smaller 4.7 laser.

Chad Stevenson, having sailed recently in the UK took the honours in the RS Terra class and Liam Fennessy won the Oppies class.

 Sailors had to contend with variable wind direction as the breeze swirled around the big ships in the harbour, causing a few spots were the boats stalled in their progress. All in all a good day’s racing was enjoyed by all.

The next issue of the Royal Natal Yacht Club Dinghy Series takes place this Saturday in the harbour.

For more info go to www.rnyc.org.za or contact the club on 031 301 5425.

For the full gallery of Saturday's racing - go to https://plus.google.com/photos/107043250900195445911/albums/5939749307263917089

Results

J22

1 Running with Scissors (Rob Samways)

Flying Fifteens

1 Foxxoff (P Harris and J Kriek), 2 Ffrigate (Martin and Carl Zimmerman), 3 Ffothermucker (Myles White and Estelle Buys), 4 Freya (Gregg Hurter and Jeff Rose), 5 Gisella (Clinton Henrie and Mike Prior), 6 Finanical Fling (Simon Musgrave and Craig Howie), 7 Fflight (Jeremy Beckett), 8 Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum (Michael Boorman and Keli Bell)

505

1 Thomas Funke and Clayton Beviss

29er

1Rob Tarboton and Michael Dickinson, 2 Euan and Sean Hurter

Laser

1 Campbell Alexander, 2 Denmar Nel

Laser Radial

1 Trent Bingham, 2 Anna Tiet, 3 Eli Bropy-Tintinger

Laser 4.7

1 Matthew Gaughran

Oppi

1 Liam Fennesy

RS Terra

1 Chad Stevenson, 2 Dylan Alberts, 3 Jethro Brophy-Tintinger, 4 James Butler

Mirror

1 Trevor Gibb