Local
:: 505 action at the Theewaterskloof Points Series :: (286 Reads)
Posted by
warwick
on Wednesday, December 05, 2007 - 07:34 PM
This past weekend, the western Province points regatta was held at Theewaterskloof Dam. We had all the 505’s in the Western Cape sailing, all 4 boats. (Come on NorthVaal, match the 100% attendance at your next regatta!).
Saturday started off with a moderate South Easter, Paul Willcox and Tony Norris got off to a flyer and took the first two races across the line, and 1 & 2 on handicap. Grant Ballantyne and Ruan De Hart made the trek from Voegelvlei and showed some good speed on the water. Sunday dawned and it was a beautiful still morning. With a few patches of breeze on the water, it looked like we would be waiting for a while before we went sailing. Race officer, Di Hutton-Squire, was out on the water in her normal prompt style and had a course set-up by 10:00, by this time a moderate SW had come through. The first race was in this wind, with some big switches and pressure changes. This proved to be good conditions for the 505 and made everyone think a little about how they were going to get around the course quickly, Paul was late for the start and was scored a DNS, while Grant and Ruan were enjoying the conditions with some really great offwind surfing in flat water. When Grant got to the final reach, up went the kite and the boat took off- a little bit of a flog of the kite and when it filled again, the chain plate pulled clean out of the boat and the mast came crashing down. This was a great disappointment for Grant as he has put a lot of time into the boat and has got her going really well. The second race of the day was started in the same breeze, Paul got around the weather mark first followed by Graeme and then Ruan. With a tight reach ahead and a bit of extra breeze, the decision to two sail reach for a while and get a bit higher above the line before hoisting was the call. As the point came to hoist, Paul was first, the wind knocked 90 degrees in one gust of 20 knots, this flattened Paul, allowing the rest of the fleet to pass. Who said the Vaal was switchy? The wind stayed like this for the rest of the race, making it a fetch most of the way around the course, in 20 knots. Lots of white water and dodging of Oppies made for some interesting sailing. The final race of the day was held after lunch, with a fair wind blowing at the start, the wind then died and started switching all over the place. This made for some frustrating racing, but at the end of the day, Graeme and Tiff emerged with three firsts on Sunday and this gave them the ‘O’ class win.
We will have two more boats coming down to join our fleet after Christmas, Dave Rae of Americas cup fame has bought a 505 and Dave Hudson has organised a boat for next season. This will grow our fleet to six. This will mean that we will be able to sail in our own class for the points series regattas and we will have an injection of experience, talent and enthusiasm which can only see our fleet grow over the next few years.
Cheers Graeme
| 505 action at the Theewaterskloof Points Series | Log-in or register a new user account | 0 Comments | |
|
| |
| Comments are statements made by the person that posted them. They do not necessarily represent the opinions of the site editor. |
