Royal Natal Yacht Club Memorial Weekend

Royal Natal Yacht Club 

Memorial Weekend

Durban: Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 February

Durban sailors came on mass to support the Memorial Weekend hosted by the Royal Natal Yacht Club over the weekend.

The weekend of sailing is a tribute to sailors who have passed on, the two days regatta an honour in remembering them.

On Saturday 28 dinghy sailors took to the waters on an overcast day in the harbour. The fleet enjoyed cool conditions. One of the fabulous surprises of the weekend was when sailing stalwart Trevor Gibb came first sailing his mirror. He sailed a superb race. Finishing second were Patrick Harris and Jeremy Kriek sailing their Flying Fifteen Foxxoff. The next surprise was dished up by young Liam Fennessy crossing the line in third position. The determined young sailor also competed on Sunday, sailing with his dad Sean, on their Hobie 16.

A number of sailors competed both in the dinghy race and then on the bigger boats in the keel race on Sunday.

On Sunday, 22 keel boats took to calm conditions offshore of Durban. The yachts all were counted down to their individual start for the Pursuit race beating up to the mark that was set off Virginia Beach, then surfed back flying their kites, turning around the bottom mark and then a short beat to the finish line. The fleet started off in a pleasant 8knots with the winds picking up to 13knots.

Gregg Hurter sailing on Bellatrix flew around the course, taking the honours with a fantastic performance by him and his crew. Following behind him was Leo Kroone sailing his yacht Phezulu. Kroone managed to make it interesting with a gybe gone bad about 400m from the buoy, stalling his progress. Struan Campbell sailing his smaller yacht Stoked caught up to him, sailing on the inside of Kroone.

Kroone managed to get his beast of a boat moving, cutting the kite and raising the jib, rounding the buoy slightly ahead of Stoked and opening up on the final beat up to the line finishing second. Campbell earned a well placed third in a highly competitive fleet.

“The sailing fraternity in Durban and at the Royal Natal Yacht Club are a big extended family.” Rear Commodore, Rob Samways stated, “our friends and family who are no longer with us are sorely missed, dearly loved and never forgotten. The Royal Natal Yacht Club Memorial Weekend honours them and we remember them and commemorate their lives by enjoying in the sport that they loved!”

The next event for the club’s sailors is the Henley Midmar Yacht Club’s 9-Hour Enduarance Race at Midmar this coming weekend.

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

Results

Dinghies

1 Mirror (Trevor Gibb), 2 Foxxoff FF (Patrick Harris / Jeremy Kriek), 3 Optimist (Liam Fennessy), 4 Freya FF (Gregg Hurger / Jeff Rose), 5  Serendipity 29er (Euan Hurter / B Daniel), 6 Soggy Bottom Rebel (David Curtiss), 7 Laser (Anthony McMillan), 8 Pussy Riot Halcat (Steve Hegerstrom), 9 F³ FF (Carl Zimmerman / Neil Yelland), 10 Laser (Andrew Walford), 11 Halcat (Rob Samways), 12 Laser (Denny Moffatt), 13 Halcat (Richard Potgieter), 13 TerraSport (Dylan Albert), 14 Laser 4.7 (Hannah Tiedt), 16 Financial Fling FF (Simon Musgrove), 17 Laser (Reg Arburrow), 18 Pussy Cat Halcat (Coert Grobbelaar), 19 Laser (Denmar Nel), 20 Laser (Patricia Kilburn), 21 Spectrum Halcat (Graham / Jennifer Weyer), 22 29er (Sam Lombaard / Sean Hurter), 23 Terra Sport (Sven Paton), 24 Terra Sport (Cameron Parle), 25 Terra (Ian Modola), 26 505 (Thomas Funke), 27 Hobie 16 (Sean Keogh), 28 Hobie 14 Turbo (Paul Ridsdale)

Keel Boats

1 Bellatrix (Gregg Hurter), 2 Phezulu (Leo Kroone), 3 Stoked (Struan Campbell), 4 Crazy Diamond (Wayne Smith), 5 Donna Mia (Richard Winn), 6 Bandit (Sean Jones), 7 Flyer (Brad Rayson), 8 So Basic (Roy Dunster), 9 Sticky Fingers (Rob Samways), 10 Paulluchi (Warren Clark), 11 Bellisssima (James Goss), 12 Zap (Graham Rose), 13 PYC Challenger (Denmar Nel), 14 Hobie 16 (Sean Fennessy), 15 Therapy (Gavin / Neil Wadsworth), 16 Trinity (Greg de Beyer), 17  Container World (Eli Brophy-Tintinger), 18 Hobie 16 (Andrew Donkin / Grey Guye), 19 Jedi (Willy Vandeverre), DNF Misty (Roy Close), DNF Hobbit (Sean Keogh), DNF Candi (Theuns Nel)