On the schedule were the first races for the Realty Homenet Trophy (senior fleet) and the Tom's Tavern Trophy (junior fleet). A light South-Easter of about 10 knots picked up and the fleet of five juniors and 12 seniors set sail to the racing area. The juniors comprised four Optimists and a Tera Sport. The seniors comprised three Fireballs, two Sonnets, a GP14 and six Lasers.
For the first race, the Fireballs of David Laing and Mark Dee, and Anthony Parker and Ferdinand Holm soon pulled a gap on the rest of the fleet and had close competition between themselves.
The lead changed several times during the race, but it was the Fireball of Laing and Dee that had the lead at the end, 30 seconds ahead of Parker and Holm. The Lasers were headed by John Marc Olivier and Malcolm Osborne, with Henry Paine threatening to overtake at times. When the wind lightened Olivier, sailing Laser Radial, was disadvantaged with his smaller sail, and Osborne and Paine were able to finish ahead. Dabchick sailor Chris Kennedy hijacked dad's GP14 and sailed it well, with Matthew von Miele as crew. He was able to finish just ahead of the Sonnet of Dave and Fay Jones.
In the junior fleet, Marcos Divaris was able to extend a lead over the Optimists of James and Sean Vonk from the start and finished first in this fleet. However, the Optimists were not far behind and the younger Vonk, Sean was able to get ahead of his brother. Trailing were the novices Eurius Horn and Ethan Alberts.
Towards the end of that race, the wind lightened and swung to the South. This necessitated the course to be reset for the new wind direction, resulting in a delay in the start of the second race. This time, the Fireballs of Parker and Holm, and Laing and Dee were not able to get away from the fleet as fast as in the first race, but the two still enjoyed close competition. Once again, it was Laing crossing the finish line just nine seconds ahead of Parker. In the light wind, Osborne and Paine were able to stay ahead of Olivier. Maurits Lammers (Laser) was next to finish. In the junior fleet, Divaris was not able to get away from the leading Optimists due to the light wind. He just managed to finish ahead of Sean Vonk, leading the Optimists once more.
When the results were calculated, taking class handicaps into consideration, the Fireballs of Laing and Parker were first and second in the first race in the senior fleet, ahead of John Marc Olivier. However, in the light wind of the second race, the Fireballs did not fare so well. The race win went to Malcolm Osborne, with Henry Paine in second place and Laing and Dee third. Overall, Laing led by one point over Osborne, with Parker another point behind. In the junior fleet, Sean Vonk got both race wins, to lead the series. James Vonk was second in both races.
Next Sunday, September 21 is open day at the George Lakes Yacht Club (GLYC). All are welcome to visit the club to find out what the sport of sailing is all about. This day is also Bart's Bash, a worldwide sailing day, with a race to commemorate Andrew `Bart' Simpson who died in an accident in the America's Cup regatta in the USA last year. It is hoped to establish a Guiness world record for the number of boats sailing across the globe on the day. To qualify, at least 25 boats need to on the water at GLYC and the club urges all sailors' support to make this happen.
The Fireball of Anthony Parker and Ferdinand Holm ahead of the similar boat of Rory Laing and Jenna Lammers.
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