KNYSNA NEWS - George Lakes yacht club (GLYC) was a hive of activity when it hosted its annual New Year Regatta. From the first day, a team from Knysna had established themselves a force to be reckoned with.
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The number of competitors was boosted as the Fireball and GP14 classes hosted their national championships as part of the event. Both of these classes mustered 10 boats each to contest for their national trophies, with contestants coming from Johannesburg, Cape Town, East London, Port Elizabeth, Knysna and Mossel Bay, in addition to the GLYC fleet.
Just three Lasers sailed for the senior regatta, as well as seven juniors – four Optimists and three Tera Pros.
Racing commenced on Saturday 30 December in a very light, patchy southwesterly breeze. Four races were completed in those conditions. At the day’s end, Georgou Divaris and Ferdinand Holm had the lead in the Fireball class, ahead of Ant and Di Parker. In third place was the team of Theo Yon and Jay D’Engle, doing well with an old (leaky) wooden, narrow boat.
In the GP14 class, stringing up a succession of first places, was the Knysna team of David Shilton and Dudley Isaac.
Improved conditions
The next day conditions improved, with a more steady southeaster of 8 to 15 knots setting in. Four more races were sailed on the day, with Divaris and Holm reeling in all the first places again.
David Laing and Chris du Toit could do better in these conditions and started moving up. Yon and D’Engle were still there to contest the top places, with Cundell Statt and Rory Laing also in the mix.
Knysna's Shilton and Isaac won the first two races, but then allowed a couple of others to make an appearance – Richard Parker and Robyn Hellstrom, and Tom Barry and Rowin Marais. Although not scoring any race wins, consistently near the front were the team of Pat Mitchell and Keith Spencer, and the teenage team of Amber de Decker and Matthew de Villiers.
On the final day, New Year's Day, a passing front brought in a strong westerly wind, with gusts of over 25 knots. While the GP14 and club fleets opted to stay ashore in these conditions, six of the Fireballs went out to sail two more races.
Day of reckoning
In the first race, Ant Parker, sailing with David Shilton, had the initial lead until a capsize let Divaris and Holm through. Parker and Shilton avoided such mistakes to win the final race. Divaris and Holm had to settle for a second place, but they discarded it anyway.
Ten races were sailed, permitting two discards. This left the team of Divaris and Holm with a straight series of wins, which allowed them to retain the SA Sailing national championship title for the Fireball class which they won last year at Mossel Bay. Second place went to Laing and Du Toit, a scant point ahead of Yon and D’Engle in third place.
The new national champions in the GP14 class is the Knysna pairing of Shilton and Isaac, with Mitchell and Spencer in second place, ahead of De Decker and De Villiers.
In the junior fleet, James Vonk was consistently ahead in all the races of the other Tera Pros, sailed by Cameron Hills and Ashley Layland. However Sean Vonk and Conrad Holm were also doing well on their Optimists. Sean won most of the race wins on class handicap to score the series win, ahead of Conrad. James Vonk was the leading Tera Pro in third place overall.
The following Sunday, 7 December, had a small turnout for the club racing. Ten boats participated.
Initially, the wind was a light, patchy south to southeaster, but it veered to the southwest later, filling in and more consistently. The first race was a one-race competition for the Bell Langvlei trophy. The winner of this was Jonathan Rees, sailing a Laser.
The following two races were scored for the Israelson trophy. John Marc Olivier on a GP14 was the winner of the first race, ahead of Rees. He then changed to a Laser for the last race of the day, to win that race as well. Olivier is thus the winner of the Israelson trophy for the 2017/2018 season.
The grateful thanks of GLYC goes to its sponsors of the New Year Regatta – Lew Geffen Sothebys International Realty (George) and Raubenheimers Attorneys.
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