KNYSNA NEWS - It was a great weekend for Knysna sailors, going off in different directions to fly the Knysna Yacht Club colours at annual events in different parts of the country.
Some went west to sail in the Port Owen River Race, the juniors east to Redhouse Yacht Club on the Swartkops River just outside Port Elizabeth to sail in the interclub, while the local guys took to the water to sail the MacKinac Upriver Race from Belvidere.
This annual event and trophy are sponsored by Jock McConnachie of Timber Village, with Mike and Sue Mills of Belvidere Manor providing steak rolls and refreshments on Saturday after sailing, which were enjoyed by the sailors and supporters.
One can never rely totally on the weather forecast, which had indicated rain. However Saturday dawned a little misty but by mid-morning the sun was shining through with a fairly strong southeasterly blowing. A number of sailors set off from the club sailing up to Belvidere, which set the scene for the afternoon racing.
High tide was at 15:56 and improved sailing conditions. The winds for the afternoon at about 16 knots required some hard work but produced exhilarating sailing. Two races were sailed by the 11 boats that took to the water, including an Enterprise from Belvidere, which was great to see.
The first race was relatively short at 3.9km, but the second at some 7.9km involved sailing from the jetty at Belvidere across to the railway bridge at Brenton-on-Lake (fondly known as the Donkey Bridge) and then up to Salt River, before returning to Belvidere. The winds were excellent and some of the best sailing was enjoyed by all participants.
Sunday morning the skies were overcast and not much wind to talk about. However by 14:45, when the first race of the day got under way the winds had picked up a little and a short race of about 2km was sailed just off the Belvidere jetty.
This was followed by a 5km course, taking the fleet close to the White Bridge before returning to Belvidere.
The light winds on Sunday again tested the fleet and at the end of the day Georgou Divaris took the honours in the senior fleet sailing a Laser 4.7, with his brother Marcos taking honours in the much-depleted junior fleet on a Tera Sport. Second and third in the senior fleet were Andrew Finn (Laser Radial) and Peter Unite (Laser 4.7) respectively.
In the east at Redhouse the KYC junior sailors, Sanele Magqaza sailing a Laser 4.7, JP Kriel a Tera Pro and Wanga Mbabe with John Fowler as crew, did us proud taking third place in the Laser, Tera and Gypsy fleets. A well done to them and thanks to John for stepping in to crew for Wanga.
Role-players in the MacKinac Upriver Race are pictured together, sailors and sponsors together, left to right Peter Unite, Jock McConnachie, Georgou Divaris, Helen McConnachie, Marcos Divaris and Andrew Finn. Photo: Steve Eriksen
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