Offshore Durban: 16 - 18 December
Three days of adverse conditions tested two small,
competitive fleets of sailors competing in the Flying Fifteen Nationals and
Hobie 16 Provincials hosted by Point Yacht Club.
In the Flying Fifteen Nationals - No strangers to being
at the front of the pack in the magnificent Flying Fifteen class, Patrick
Harris and Jeremy Kriek led throughout the regatta, impressively taking top
honours in seven out of the nine races, finding it heavy going in the light
winds on the final day and finishing second behind Anthony McMillan and Danish
sailor, Lauritz Walsøe. Pushing Harris and Kriek throughout the regatta,
Campbell Alexander sailing with visiting crew, Dr Stephanie Brown from the UK
who scored six seconds, a third and a fourth notching up a second behind Harris
and Kriek.
In the Hobie 16 Provincials, the father and son team of
Peter and Matthew Hall dominated on the water. The Hall team won all but two
races in their eight race regatta. They were chased by inland sailors, brothers
Kyle and Justin Lambie.
The Flying Fifteens had the biggest fleet on the water in
recent memory, with 11 boats on the water. For the regatta to constitute as a
South African Sailing event, they needed 10 boats to start and finish two
races. The class was agonisingly close, but it wasn’t meant to be. On day one
newcomers to the fleet, Father and son team of Dominic and Marco Collett
thought they had enough clearance but hit the sand bank. On the second day
offshore, the heavy weather took its toll with Campbell Alexander taking a bite
out of Greg Hurters boat, and Hurter and his crew, Michael Surgeson had to limp
home. Collett squared took to the ocean for the first time, bravely flying
their spinnaker but as luck would have it, a rogue Hobie 16 pitch-poled
directly in-front of them, with the mast crashing down onto them, knocking
Dominic on the head and into the water, earning him five stitches and sadly
destroying their chances of completing a race.
Brown, who sails for Rutland Sailing Club in the British
Midlands said, “The sailing was great fun and we were
lucky to have lots of wind Saturday and Sunday. Campbell was a fantastic helm
to crew for and the fleet was a high level of competition but very welcoming.
It was lovely to see such strong support for the newer sailors. The warm waters
and big waves were a wonderful change. Thanks to you all for a great trip!”
“Sailing was amazing, a tough race since I had close to
no prior experience with FF15 and symmetrical spinnakers. Since I usually sail
Lasers the whole event was one big learning curve. The fleet is strong but we
had some good races!” enthused Danish sailor, Lauritz Walsøe.
The first day of racing was held in the bay, with conditions
being hazardous offshore, with a short, sharp swell and high winds deterring
Race Officer extraordinaire, Kevin Bingham. Four races were run in a blustery
North Easter course. The second day, racing went offshore with the winds
consistently around 15knots and over adding into the mix a bit of a running
swell. Bingham got in another four races on Sunday. The entire fleet of Flying
Fifteens however, disappeared early from the race track, leaving only the
Hobies to sail in the final race on Sunday. On Monday, keeping an eye on the
inclement weather enroute, the Hobies didn’t venture onto the water with a
depleted fleet of Flying Fifteens gathering ahead of the spectacular midday
storm. A strict Bingham gave both fleets a wounding results for not being on
the start line, but fortunately with discards, the top sailors results didn’t
take a huge knock.
Hobie hero, Garth Loudon only sailed the one race, with
his brand-new crew member, his daughter Kristin. A delighted dad said, “Kristin
finally showed interest in sailing, so we had a quick lesson on Sunday morning
and entered one of the races. It was great to be back on the water again! We
managed a second place in good winds. Peter and Matthew were sailing very well,
was good to see!”
The next event for the enthusiastic fleet is the upcoming
Bar Anniversary Pursuit Race that will be sailed in the harbour at the end of
the month.
Results
Flying Fifteen
Nationals
1 Patrick Harris / Jeremy Kriek 9pts, 2 Campbell
Alexander / Steph Brown 19pts, 3 Anthony McMillan / Lauritz Walsøe 32pts. 4
Craig Campbell / Nhlanhla Phakathi 36pts, 5 Myles White / Estelle Buys 38pts, 6
Thomas Funke / Peter Funke 51pts, 7 Hannah Fokkens / Rudi Fokkens 64pts, 8 Greg
Hurter / Mike Surgeson 65pts, 9 Iain Bowman / Jan Larkens 80pts, 10 Chris Coxen
/ Michael Boorman 82pts, 11 Dominic Collett / Marco Collett 96pts
Hobie 16
Provincials
1 Peter Hall / Matthew Hall 8pts, 2 Kyle Lambie / Justin
Lambie 26pts, 3 Andrew Heathcote / Blake Davidson 26pts, 4 Mike Goodyer /
Jennifer Goodyer 36pts, 5 Jethro Brophy Tintinger / Stephanie Goodyer 36pts, 6
Dylan Albert / Chad Stevenson 49pts, 7 Justin Butler / James Butler 49pts, 8
Wayne Smith / Kate Bain 59pts, 9 Dylan Lambie / Cameron Booth 64pts, 10 Garth
Loudon / Kristin Loudon 68pts, 11Ruddi Rogge / Sven Paton 81pts
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