Q&A With Flying Fifteen sailor, Estelle Buys

Point Yacht Club

Q&A with Flying Fifteen Sailor – Estelle Buys

One of only a handful of experienced women sailors, Estelle Buys makes a welcome return to the water after taking a year’s sabbatical where she took up studying Nature Conservationism. Her first appearances of many this year was at the Opening Cruise hosted by Point Yacht Club. Every time the gorgeous young lady competes, you hear her joyful laughter and gleeful shouts a mile off, her bountiful passion evident both on and off the water.

My name is Estelle Buys

I was born on the pavement! Seriously.

I completed my schooling at the Afrikaans Hoërskool Kroonstad

I am a qualified Physiotherapist specialising in the treatment and rehabilitation of people with disabilities.

I got into sailing in 2006 when I was treating a principal sailing instructor from a sailing school and we had to figure out what he needed to be able to get back onto yachts. Afterwards he asked if I wanted to sail on dinghies, my answer was, “Why not?”. And a few years later I was having a beer on the lawn at the yacht club with the guys and I was asked if I wanted to buy a boat and my answer was,  “Why not!” and the rest is like they say - history.

Currently I live in Pinetown.

I am afraid of, actually I am yet to find something that I am afraid of.

My character is very interesting.

I have a weakness for nice tight bums and red wine.

My goal is to put a smile on people’s faces.

I am driven by my passion.

The one word I used the most: You have to ask Myles that!! I sail with him, and he hears it all.

If I could give one piece of advice to a large group of people, it would be to do something that scares you every day.

My favourite jokes is probably one where everybody is laughing at me being my silly self again.

What do you most enjoy about sailing Every moment out there! Even on a bad day it beats a good day indoors.

The best moment on the water was when I was sailing with Rick on my old classic lady Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum who is roughly 30 years old and we beat the hotshots, Patrick Harris and Jeremy Kriek on their new Foxxof!

Footnote from Myles White - I guess that there are several things that Stel says often, and some of those are unprintable! But, she loves to greet all and sundry, even on the water, with an enthusiastic ‘Hello hello hello!!’

Bart's Bash Durban

Point Yacht Club

Bart’s Bash

Harbour: Sunday 20 September

The second epic Bart’s Bash, Bart’s Bash 2 – ‘The Second Sail’ will be held in the Durban port on Sunday 20 September to open up the 2015/2016 sailing season.

The largest international sailing event coincides with the colourful formalities of Point Yacht Club’s annual Opening Cruise where all the yachts parade past the dignitary’s boat, donning their caps and saluting to all on-board. The boats will then head down to the start line in preparation of attempting to break the Guinness World Record set last year.

The global event invites sailing boats of all shapes and sizes to embrace the idea of getting on the water, racing, having fun and celebrating everything Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson stood for. The event, held in honour of Simpson recorded a phenomenal 30,734 sailors participating in the 2014 event and 16,870 boats. Over 500 venues hosted the 2014 worldwide race, with a total of 87,228,403 meters being sailed, which roughly equates to sailing twice around the world. In January this year, the inaugural Bart’s Bash entered the Guinness World Record books for the Largest Sailing Race in 24 Hours (multiple venues).

Simpson, an Olympic sailor, tragically died in a training accident for the America’s Cup in 2013. Bart’s Bash was created both as a fundraiser for various sailing academies around the world and of course to remember the inspirational sailor.

Initially Bart’s Bash organisers had hoped for 50 clubs to sign up for the inaugural day, with possibly 2,000 participants in the United Kingdom. The 2015 event appears to be gathering momentum as race day approaches.

Commodore for the Point Yacht Club, Craig Millar considers, “Entries are already over 320 yacht clubs and 45 countries participating and we are delighted to be one of those clubs. Last year we had 96 boats and over 200 sailors participating, the most we have had on the water in sometime. It was a phenomenal start to our busy season and was heartening to see so many sailors dusting off their kit and join in on this amazing event.”

Each race venue sets the course with the only specifications to be part of the Guinness World Record set by the race organisers, Bart’s Bash is for the course needing to be over 1km and sailed for more than 15minutes.

This exciting international event coincides with the opening of Durban’s summer sailing season, where Point Yacht Club will be hosting the Opening Cruise in the Durban Harbour on Sunday 20 September.

For more info visit www.pyc.co.za or http://www.bartsbash.com/

Wrap up for Bart's Bash 2015

Point Yacht Club

Bart’s Bash and Opening Season

Harbour: Sunday 20 September

The rain gods were kind to the Durban sailing community offering clear blue skies for the opening of the Summer Sailing Season and Bart’s Bash – ‘The Second Sail’ that took place on Sunday (20 September) in the harbour.

Over 50 boats gathered near the T-Jetty in the bay for the colourful formal procession hosted by Point Yacht Club. First in line and leading the sail past was the Life President of Point Yacht Club, Vernon Goss, he was followed by a magnificent fleet of all different shapes and sizes of boats. Gliding alongside the dignitaries’ boat in single file, every member of the crew donned their hats and gave three cheers to the Commodores with the greeting and well wishes being returned in the traditional opening for the sailing season.

After the last boat tipped their hat, the majority of yachts moved across to the race track to participate in the fun Bart’s Bash – ‘The Second Sail’. As the Rear Commodore of Keelers, Ron Pet, placed the last mark down, the predicted big winds picked up and quickly levelled out at 22knots. With the arrival of the Beasterly Easterly; the chop picked up making it a rather splashy affair. The anemometer reflected numbers in the low 30s as the gusts challenged a few of the helmsman, with some boats heeling over rather dramatically.

Overall numbers of boats and participants were down from the massive turn out last year, but the brave yachtsmen and women who came out had a blast as they whizzed around the bay in the fun opening cruise. “I think everyone who came out for the opening cruise had a blast on the water. A few boats got into the spirit of things and started water fights with each other.” said the new Commodore for the Point Yacht Club, Craig Millar.

Continuing, Millar said, “If the race reaches the same numbers as last year, it will be magnificent and cementing the fact that it is the biggest sailing event in the world. It takes the organisers in the UK a few months to tally all the numbers so we won’t know for a while if we got anywhere near the Guinness World Record. I know that when I left the club yesterday (Sunday) the total meters sailed so far around the world was currently standing at 460,333 across 62 countries.”

Taking line honours on the day was young Berea’s Jethro Tintinger-Brophy who was sailing solo on his Hobie 14. He finished the 2.2NM race in a time of 24.37, just ahead of Hilton’s Luke Wagner sailing the Pacer 375, Southern Storm. Only 24 boats finished the short course in the bay, the gusty conditions making it unfavourable and dangerous for the smaller boats and younger sailors that all participated last year.

Happening simultaneously, a handful of kitesurfers also took to the water offshore, as they couldn’t sail in the harbour due to port restrictions. They opted for a 12km course that was a direct line. The crew of kitesurfers recorded a maximum gust of 34knots, James Lea handled the blustery conditions perfectly and was the overall winner with a time of 1hour and 20minutes.

The next event for the Point Yacht Club is the Transnet Port to Port race that starts on World Maritime Day on Wednesday 23 September.  R35,000 is up for grabs in this inaugural race from Durban to Richard’s Bay.

For more info visit www.pyc.co.za

Results

Point Yacht Club

Bart’s Bash and Opening Season

Harbour: Sunday 20 September

Provisional Results

1 Catalyst (Jethro Brophy Tintinger - Hobie 14), 2 Therapy (Gavin Wadsworth), 3 Zing (Gavin Smith), 4 Southern Storm (Luke Wagner), 5 So Basic (Stuart Ritchie), 6 Skitzo (Nigel Milln), 7 Caversham Caprice (Jimmy Melville), 8 Bandit (Sean Jones), 9 Neptune’s Nymph (Phil Downing), 10 Bellissima (Vernon Goss), 11 Container World (Brenden Humphreys), 12 Alkistis (Greg Donkin), 13 PYC Challenger (Florence Marshall), 14 Crazy Diamond (Wayne Smith), 15 Shiloh (Tracy Bowman), 16 Deo Volente (Neville Bransbury), 17 Ithebe (Tim Wickham), 18 Mafuta (Robin Hulley), 19 Big Blue (Rory Simpson), 20 Vent de Cap (Andrew Pavid), 21 Hobbit (Sean Koegh) 22 Sea Witch (Vikus), 23 Magenta (Ricky Piper), 24 PGMT Clipper (Bernard Bussy)

Offshore: Sunday 20 September

Kitesurfers

1 James Lea, 2 Byron Watt, 3 Rossco Walters, 4 Alec Lanham-Love, 5 Bruce Gayham, 6 Craig Allsopp,

7 Leighton Moody

ENDS

Point Yacht Club elects their Flag Officers

Point Yacht Club

Flag Officers

Durban: Tuesday 7 September

The Point Yacht Club has a new helmsman, Round the World sailor; Craig Millar has been elected as the new Commodore for the Durban based yacht club.

With an extensive competitive sailing CV; Millar has numerous awards, both in South Africa and internationally competing in Hunters, J22 and Solings. His most triumphant sailing achievement would be when he was the skipper for the Durban entry in the 2005/2006 Clipper Round the World yacht race, where together with his crew they came second overall.

“It is a great honour to be bestowed with the title of Commodore. I sincerely hope to share and grow the phenomenal sport of sailing, and encourage more people to come and be a part of it.” encouraged, Millar.

Second in Command, Kevin Bingham will fill the role of Vice Commodore, Millar’s right hand man. Bingham has earned his stripes being a frequent Race Officer for dinghy racing most Saturday afternoons either in the bay or offshore. His CV boasts SASCOC Protea Colours for Sailing Management, Optimist World Champs team manager when they travelled to New Zealand in 2011; Past Chairman for SAS KZN and Past President for the SA Optimist Sailing Class and to round it off; he is a recognised SAS Provincial Race Officer as well.

“I am extremely lucky to be supported by a man of Kevin’s calibre as well as the experienced and highly competent team of Rear Commodores.” concluded Millar.

Joining him will be Myles White, who is in charge of the smaller boats and takes the role of Dinghy Rear Commodore. White has over 4 decades experience sailing in Durban, preferring the exhilaration of racing in his Flying Fifteen. White has experience in all aspects of sailing, having competed in long distance racing, round the cans racing, and more recently favouring dinghy racing.

“After something like 40 years of membership I have now completed my first year on any Club Committee, and I am looking forward to applying some of the lessons I learned through Round Table and hopefully building on the recent success achieved in dinghy sailing at PYC. My objective is to get more boats on the water more regularly and for people to have so much fun doing it that they keep coming back for more.” enthused an optimistic White at the announcement.

Ron Pet will be looking after the larger yachts with his title of Keeler Rear Commodore; Pet’s love for the bigger yachts is evident with the amount of time he puts in as race officer on Wednesday night’s Twilight Racing and weekend offshore racing. Pet also is the hardworking man behind the scenes for the hugely popular MSC Week.

Retaining his position, Nik Albert stays on as the Youth Rear Commodore. Albert is a keen competitor himself in both the Hobie and Flying Fifteen classes. The keen Durban sailor has had a successful term with a number of youngsters coming up through the ranks, representing both Point Yacht Club and South Africa at a variety of events and Albert hopes to grow this.

Point Yacht Club has a fine team at the helm for the next cycle, with the recently elected Flag Officers starting to get into the groove of growing the sport of sailing in Durban.

For more info visit www.pyc.co.za

Chatting to budding new talent, Benji Daniel

Point Yacht Club

Interview with Benji Daniel

Durban has a budding new talent in the sailing fraternity, that of 14 year old Benji Daniel who hails from Hillcrest.

The youngster has just returned from the coastal town of Pwllheli in the north of Wales where he and his team mate Euan Hurter, competed in the Zhik 29er World Championships Regatta, finishing in an impressive and highly respectable fourth in the silver fleet.

Daniel was the youngest skipper competing out of 193 boats, “I enjoyed the challenge of being one of the younger skippers, a lot of the more experienced guys that were double or triple my age thought we were a joke and we managed to prove them wrong. But saying that, I learnt a tremendous amount being there, giving a gutsy performance and competing against the older guys!”

Asked how he would describe himself, the energetic water enthusiast claims it would be determined.  Currently finishing Grade 9 at Thomas More College, Daniel’s impressive international sailing CV continues to grow with each event he participates in.

“I think that Euan and I have both sailed enough in big fleets to get to grips a bit more on what to focus on. In a big fleet it is vital that you sail the fleet not a particular person, you also have to really focus the whole time because every mistake you make is punished which is good for gaining places but you lose out very quickly if you don't focus.”

Originally from Guildford in the south-east of London, the budding sailor compares, “Sailing in the UK is very structured, you learn to sail on an optimists, then you move up to RS Fevas and then on to 29ers where as in South Africa you do a bit of everything which in my opinion is just as good because you become a more rounded sailor capable of sailing anything.”

Having resided in South Africa for just over two years, he talks about the conditions when returning back to compete in his birth country, “Worlds was hard because of the venue, there were many land features that you had to know about but this was only for certain wind directions. Generally it was a pumping South-Wester which brought huge chop; that was the biggest challenge keeping the boat upright in those conditions.”

Chatting about a moment that stands out for him, he enthuses, “The moment that stands out for me most is when we got a second in the 8^th race. We had a good start but had lost out on the first upwind then came the downwind. We gybed off early and just sent it. We gained a lot of places, and on the next upwind we worked hard and sailed over the fleet followed by a consistent downwind led us to that result. Another moment would be the first day of the UK nationals coming off the water to find out we were eleventh overall. We didn't expect that!” reports the smiling lad.

At the recent Point Yacht Club’s Prize-Giving, Daniel cleaned up in both the youth and dinghy awards, raking in certificates, plaques, clocks and a trophy for PYC Youth Sailor of the Year that will take pride-and-place in his trophy cabinet at home.

His next challenge is that of training up his new team mate, Chad Stevenson. “I think in a year’s time Chad and I will be ready to take on the big names at the next worlds. It is in Long Beach, California in 2017; I would really like to go but for now the hard work starts so we can achieve this dream.”

But for now, the hard-working scholar returns to his books and concentrates on the final term of Grade 9, while getting as much sailing in on the weekends with his new sailing buddy. The next big event for him will be the start of the Point Yacht Club’s Dinghy Series at the end of October.

For more info visit www.pyc.co.za or join the Facebook group.