Youth Nationals at Wiggleswade Dam, Eastern Cape

Point Yacht Club

Youth Nationals

Wiggleswade Dam: 13 – 18 December

The Festive holidays are about to get off to an enthusiastic start for Point Yacht Club’s youth sailors as they head down to the Eastern Cape to Wiggleswade Dam for the Youth Nationals.

The six day event that starts this Sunday will have a strong contingent from Durban participating. The fleet of youngsters includes 29er sailors, Benji Daniel (Thomas More College) and Chad Stevenson (uMhlanga College) who should be heading to Langkawi at the end of the month for the ISAF World Youth Championships. The 29er team have been pushed to their limits in their training by fellow 29er sailors, Michael Dickenson and Rob Tarboton, who have been instrumental in preparing the team.

Joining them will be the Oppie gang, with four optimist sailors representing the club. Lead by Callum Gaughran (Kearsney College) and Liam Fennessy (Northwood) who competed in Poland recently. The South African sailors will be joined by the two Bowman lads, the experienced and talented Iain and his younger brother, Scott who will be racing in the novice fleet both from Hillcrest Christian Academy.

The two Hannahs will add a bit of flair to the team, with Hannah Fokkens (Danville) taking on the Laser 4.7 sailors and Hannah Tiedt (Kloof High School) racing in the Laser Radial fleet. Joining Tiedt in the Radial class are Ross Gaughran (Kearsney College) and Sam Lombaard (Michaelhouse).

Sean Hurter (Clifton College) will be sailing in his favourite class and taking to the water on his Dabchick. Rounding up the team are Dylan Albert (uMhlanga College) and James Butler (Westville), regular faces in the catamaran fleet. They will be taking down the only multihull from Durban racing on their Hobie 16, armed with a spinnaker.

Rear Commodore for Youth Sailing, Nik Albert stated, “We have an incredible bunch of kids heading down to the Eastern Cape. We have almost every class covered with our team. It is exciting times for our team as this is one of the strongest teams we are sending down. Our youth are doing remarkable things on the water, with a number of them travelling to Poland, Wales, Langkawi to name but a few places that we have been fortunate enough to participate at.”

Continuing, Albert said, “Good luck to the guys and girls, we hope they fly the PYC flag high and sincerely do the best that they can do! We are very fortunate as a club to have a host of fantastic, dynamic sailors who have been willing to pay it forward. I would like to thank Michael Dickenson for his awesome and fun training, and to the McNeill brothers who have kindly imparted their valuable experience from their experience of their Olympic campaign onto our youngsters.”

Concluding, the Rear Commodore mentioned, “Watch out sailing world, here come the Point Yacht Club’s team!”

Working hard behind the scenes, Trevor Gibb, the stalwart of youth sailing is down every Saturday, come rain or shine, to take and mould new youngsters wanting to join the Point Yacht Club junior programme. Gibb’s relentless in his persistence to get these little ones to learn to sail. If you would like to discover more info about this, contact Amanda at the club.

For more info, visit www.pyc.co.za or contact Amanda at the club on 031 301 5425.

So, Whose Line is it anyway?

Point Yacht Club

Whose Line is it Anyway

Harbour: Saturday 5 December

A small group of sailors ventured out in overcast conditions on Saturday to compete in the fun So, Whose Line is it Anyway? hosted by Point Yacht Club that took place in the bay.

Getting three races in, race officer Lucy de Freitas set a short windward / leeward course with the start and finish line midway down the sausage course. Four classes participated in the racing, with 6 Lasers and two Finns making up the first fleet, five Flying Fifteens and a 29er that swopped and shared crew made up the second fleet, and two multi-hulls and two Oppies completed the fleets on the water.

Having recently returned from work in Madagascar, Laser sailor Gregg Dobson dominated the Laser fleet, showing his prowess in the class with wins in all three races.  The long-time partners, Patrick Harris and Jeremy Kriek enjoyed topping the log in the Flying Fifteen class, with a tussle between husband and wife team, Michael and Heidi Kavanagh and Myles White and Estelle Buys for second place. One point separated them, with the Kavanaghs settling into second. Sneaking into fourth, only one point off of third place was Howick’s Anthony McMillan sailing with young Cameron Booth.

Getting in training ahead of the youth world champs, 29er sailors Benji Daniel and Chad Stevenson enjoyed themselves on the water, mixing it up with Daniel jumping onto Sam Lombaard’s Laser Radial and sailing single handed for a bit while Stevenson paired up with Lombaard on the 29er. The Michaelhouse school lad took the challenge of driving the fast dinghy and Stevenson taking up his usual role at the sharp end of the boat.

Having just returned from the NKA Hobie Tiger Spinnaker Provincials up at the Vaal Dam, Hillcrest’s Murray May teamed up with adrenaline junkie, Michael Dickenson to power their Hobie Tiger around the course. They snuck ahead of Bill Ellens sailing on his Halcat, having taken the win in the first race, Ellens retired after the second, giving the young Tiger team the edge to get ahead on the scoreboard.

The juniors of the fleets, the Optimists had two sailors heading around the course getting in training ahead of the Youth Nationals that will be taking place this weekend at Wiggleswade Dam. Callum Gaughran showed what he had learnt in Poland, taking the win ahead of versatile sailor, Iain Bowman.

This weekend, competitors can expect a long distance race with Race Officer, Lucy de Freitas sending all the sailors off on one start, with the boats stretching their legs adventuring around a bay. Then next week sailors will be heading offshore to compete in the much anticipated Flying Fifteen Nationals that Point Yacht Club will be jointly hosting with Royal Natal Yacht Club.

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

Fleet B

1 Gregg Dobson (Laser Standard) 3pts, 2= Richard Bates (Laser Standard) 8pts, 2= Denny Moffatt (Laser Standard) 8pts, 4 Sam Lombaard (Laser Radial) 17pts, 5 Keith Gregory (Finn) 18pts, 6= Denmar Nel (Laser Standard) 19pts, 6= Dave Booth (Finn) 19pts, 8 Benji Daniel (Laser Radial) 21pts

Fleet C

1 Patrick Harris / Jeremy Kriek (Flying Fifteen) 3pts, 2 Heidi Kavanagh / Michael Kavanagh (Flying Fifteen) 8pts, 3 Myles White / Estelle Buys (Flying Fifteen) 9pts, 4 Antony McMillan / Cameron Booth (Flying Fifteen) 10pts, 5 Clinton Hendrie / Patricia Kilburn (Flying Fifteen) 18pts, 6= Benji Daniel / Chad Stevenson (29er) 22pts, 6= Sam Lombaard / Chad Stevenson (29er) 22pts

Fleet D

1 Murray May / Michael Dickenson (Hobie Tiger) 3pts, 2 Bill Ellens (Halcat) 4pts

Fleet E

1 Callum Gaughran (Oppie) 4pts, 2 Iain Bowman (Oppie) 5pts

Flying Fifteen Nationals

Point Yacht Club

Flying Fifteen Nationals

Durban: 16 – 20 December

As the festive season approaches, a fleet of Flying Fifteen sailors will be heading offshore to compete in the Flying Fifteen Nationals hosted jointly by Point Yacht Club and Royal Natal Yacht Club.

Back to defend their title, the industrious team of Paul Changuion from Ballito will be driving hard with team mate, Tim Duguid from Morningside on Ffoxxoff in the hopes of reclaiming the title. But the battle will be on as the kings of the class, Highway’s Patrick Harris and Jeremy Kriek will be keen to dethrone the Changuion / Duguid combo. 

The commanding team of Harris and Kriek launched their brand new boat Ffigjam at last year’s Nationals, after a delayed start to their regatta, the masters in the Flying Fifteen class also had to literally bail from the course during the regatta. Point’s Rear Commodore for Dinghies, Myles White recalls, “As I remember Patrick and Jeremy missed the first race whilst still rigging their new ff, and had to return to port on the heavy-weather day as they hadn’t had a chance to fit any self-bailers, and the boat was carrying a few hundred litres of water in the cockpit, which they had to hand-bail.”

“My prediction, Ffigjam and Ffoxxoff are going to be duking it out for first and second, and should be out in front for most races. My money is on Patrick & Jeremy to win.” White states.

Adding to the mix, brothers Thomas and Peter Funke, who have had a very successful year in the 505 class finishing eighth in the world in the World Championships earlier this year, will be swopping their 505 craft to compete in the more traditional styled yacht. 

Returning after a busy work year, Campbell Alexander teams up with David Curtiss. Alexander commented, “I am hoping for heavy weather because I have a great heavy weather crew in Dave. We both have been off the water a fair bit this year, so I know we both are looking forward to being back. Just in time, I guess as I am turning my focus to the Laser Worlds in Mexico next year, so needing to dust off the cobwebs.”

A maximum of ten races will test the competitors offshore of Durban with Race Officer Rob Bell from Hilton only needing four races needed to constitute a regatta. Bell has the option for racing to commence in the harbour if the weather gets to blustery.

Leading by example, White will be teaming up with sailing partner, Estelle Buys. The two Mikes join forces again, helmsman Mike Wright and Mike Surgeson aka Mango Pip both from Westville are looking forward to pushing the fleet. As will Midlands’s sailor, Anthony McMillan sailing with Lorna Daniel. Another possible podium candidate is Vince Tiedt who will be sailing with Jim Rushton and his daughter, Hannah who are going to be sharing the duties at the sharp end of the boat. Expected to make their first appearance in the class are husband and wife team, Rob and Tracey Bowman, who recently took ownership of their Flying Fifteen.

White reviews, “The bronze medal is a bit open, if the wind is strong all through the regatta, Campbell should have this all to himself. In lighter to moderate winds I believe that those featuring will be the Funkes, Mike Wright & Mango Pip; Anthony McMillan & Lorna, and of course Estelle and myself. If we can earn a fourth overall, I will be ecstatic.”

Joining the magnificent twenty foot dinghies will be a number of catamarans keen to get some racing in ahead of the down time over the holidays. Included in the catamaran fleet is father and son team, Martin and Carl Zimmerman who plan on joining the fleet on their Dart.

A competitive and colourful bunch of boats are anticipated to get a run in at the upcoming Flying Fifteen Nationals that starts on the Reconciliation Day and concludes next weekend.

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