MOSSEL BAY NEWS - The Dart 18 Western Cape Championships were held in Mossel Bay on the weekend of 7 and 8 October.
The Dart is a catamaran.
Mossel Bay Yacht and Boat Club (MBYBC) spokesperson Elfie Holden said: "We were fortunate to be able to sail five races. The weather was good. However, there were some extreme capsizes and, unfortunately, boat breakages."
Six races had been scheduled for the Saturday.
Although the 10 boats the championships were mostly local, there were some from Gauteng and the Eastern Cape.
Regarding the first day's sailing on Saturday, 7 October, Holden said: "Even though the sailors had to wait for wind, the Bay sea breeze did not disappoint, with a wind of 15 to 18 knots from the south."
Click here to view a photo gallery.
By the end of Saturday, Tammy Holden and Gerhard van Niekerk (MBYBC) were leading with point score of six, Daleen Naude and Pieter de Villiers were in second place (MBYBC) and Chris van Zyl and Dewan van Niekerk (from Boskop Yacht Club on the Boskop dam, north of Potchefstroom) in third.
The Sunday racing was a long haul, during which the sailors raced to the PetroSA platform and back to the yacht club.
The race started in a light south-wester, which climbed to about 12 knots. The race ended in a tight finish.
In the end the leaders, Tammy Holden and Gerhard van Niekerk (MBYBC), pulled through to win, with Marc von Schütz and Joppie Naude (MBYBC) close in second place.
On the weekend of 13 to 14 October, an inter-club competition between Knysna, Mossel Bay and George Lakes yacht clubs took place at Island Lake near Wilderness.
The fleet was split into two: the over 1 200 handicap and the under 1 200 handicap (faster boats).
In the higher handicap competition, the MBYBC team came first. In this fleet there were 17 sailors from MBYBC and they sailed Toppers, RS Teras and RS Feva. Tammy, Holden, Ashley Leyland and Oliver Holden, with crew Johan Prinsloo, were on the top of the leader board for Mossel Bay.
In the lower handicap the MBYBC members came last.
They raced two 420s (double-handed dinghy) and finished 14th and 15th out of a fleet of 23 boats. That was not enough to get them second place.
Holden said: "The only disappointment is that our trailer wheels were stolen. We store our large trailer, which can carry a number of boats, in Midbrak and when I wanted to fetch the trailer to load up the boats, I was told it had no wheels, so we had to rush around, finding wheels at the last minute."
'We bring you the latest Mossel Bay, Garden Route news'
