Light wind, exams cramp racing day's style

GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - With school exams once again in progress, as well as a forecast light wind, there was only a small turnout of 10 boats for the sailing races at George Lakes Yacht Club (GLYC) on Sunday 18 March.

It was only John Paul Buys on his Optimist in the junior fleet who took part, and the bulk of the senior fleet were the five Lasers present.

A light southerly wind prevailed, but it did improve a bit for the second race of the day. However, once that race finished, it died and a planned third race was called off.

In the first race, it was Henry Paine having the initial lead, chased by David Laing and Bill Turner. In the variable conditions, the lead changed among these three at different times, while a bit further back, Charles Norman was trying to keep the Sonnet of Dave Jones behind him.

Hans Delport found that the wind was too light for his Dart 18 to build up enough speed to overtake the Lasers. It was Laing who had the lead at the end, just three seconds ahead of Paine, with Turner a scant second adrift for third place.

In race two, there was once again a close bunch of four Lasers contending for the lead. Going up the second beat, Paine and Turner chose the right side of the course, while Laing and Norman chose the left.

This time, the right side paid, with Turner establishing the lead ahead of Paine. Then Norman succeeded in getting ahead of Laing.

At stake for the senior fleet was the Chris Thomas Trophy. Scoring for this series is done on the basis of skipper handicaps as opposed to the normal boat handicap scoring.

On this basis, Jones was the winner of the first race of the day, with Turner winning the second race. However, including results from the first series of races for this trophy, the overall win went to Laing, who sailed Fireball with Chris du Toit last time.

Paine got second place, ahead of Jones.

GLYC is hosting the 2018 SA Sailing Eden District Interschools Regatta next weekend, on Saturday and Sunday 24 and 25 March. All schools are invited, particularly from Knysna, Mossel Bay and George. Details are on the GLYC website.

The Lasers racing on Sunday 18 March, with Bill Turner in the lead (far right), followed by David Laing, Charles Norman and Maurits Lammers. Photos: Supplied