South African Sailing Youth Nationals Championships

Point Yacht Club / Royal Natal Yacht Club

SAS Youth Nationals

Aeolians Yacht Club Vaal Dam – 13 – 19 December

The start to school holidays will be exciting as 13 of Durban’s promising youth sailors head to Gauteng to compete in the South African Sailing Youth Nationals from 13 – 19 December.

 The event hosted at Aeolians Yacht Club on the Vaal Dam promises to be highly competitive with a number of classes being sailed over the six days. The 031 representatives will be participating in five classes, Point Yacht Club has 11 sailors flying their burgee, and two will be representing Royal Natal Yacht Club.

Brothers in ‘class’, Jethro and Eli Brophy Tintinger (Glenwood High School) will be taking to the water in the 420 class while Euan and Sean Hurter (Clifton College) will be competing on their hardy Dabchicks.

The Fennessy siblings Liam and Jessica (Chelsea Prep) will be racing in the Optimist class. Another young lady to be taking on the boys is highly decorated upcountry sailor Michaela Robinson representing Royal Natal Yacht Club. Coming from a highly successful sailing family, Robinson has taken part in two Cape to Rios and a number of international events. She will be sailing with Benji Daniel (Thomas More College) in the 420 class.

Another family with a keen interest in sailing is the Gaughrans. The eldest brother Matthew (Kearsney College) is taking on the fleet on his full rig Laser while his younger brother Ross (Kearsney College) will be sailing on a Laser 4.7. Youngest Gaughran, Calum (Highbury) will be competing in the Oppie Class. 

The only sailor to be racing in an RSTera Sport is Cameron Parle (Durban Preparatory High School). Sven Paton (Durban Preparatory High School) and Royal Natal Yacht Club’s Chad Stevenson (Umhlanga College) will both be racing in the sturdy RSTera Pros.

Thalia Naidoo (Eden College) will be back on the water having been concentrating on horse riding, she will be participating on her Tera Pro after having done extremely well in the Tera Worlds. She finished fourth overall and was the second lady in the recent World Championships. 

Dylan Albert (Umhlanga College) who has been getting loads of water time on his preferred Hobie 14 will be racing in the Dabchick class along with the Hurter brothers.

One disappointment is that Sam Lombard (Michael House) who was due to race in the Dabchick class will be unable to make the trip due to breaking his shoulder blade. Lombard has had the honour of being a part of the Lipton Challenge Cup for Point Yacht Club.

The Rear Commodore for Youth at the Point Yacht Club, Nik Albert stated, “We have a strong contingent of youth coming through our ranks and it is great to see that they are heading to major competitions. Every Saturday the guys have been getting training in, taking on the more experienced sailors and their hard work is showing.”

Soon-to-be-top-notch sailors, Durban’s up-and-coming water rats will be taking on the crème de la crème at the South African Sailing Youth Nationals up at the Vaal Dam this holiday.

For more info visit www.pyc.co.za or www.rnyc.org.za or like their Facebook pages.