Shifty winds challenge sailors
The Point yacht Club's Dinghy Class Champs ended on a high note over the weekend amidst mild conditions.
YACHTS big and small came out to participate in light winds for two events over the weekend.
The conclusion to the Point Yacht Club’s Dinghy Class Champs day six had a fleet of 25 yachts working hard to find the winds in the harbour on Saturday.
Overall winners were Dylan Alberts in the Hobie Fleet, Myles White and Charlotte Marshall in the Flying Fifteens, Trevor Gibb sailing on his Mirror in the Open Class, Richard Bates in the Laser class, Rob Samways and Jared Quinn in the Dart division and young Sven Paton racing on his RS Tera Pro.
It was contradicting weather for day six of the race, after racing was abandoned two weeks ago due to heavy winds. The race got underway with a slight breeze but as the afternoon drew on, the winds completely disappeared at times. Shifty winds made it relatively tough for sailors. During the three races, Kevin Bingham adjusted the course three times to accommodate the change in wind direction.
On Sunday nine big keelers made their way offshore to compete in the Royal Natal Yacht Club’s North South Race with Gregg Hurter helming Bellatrix took the line and handicap honours.
Race Officer, Rob Samways got the boats underway directly off of Addington Beach, the small fleet had a short beat up to a buoy set off the north breakwater of the harbour. The boats had a port rounding before heading out to the fairway marker. Here, the yachts had a starboard rounding and made their way to another buoy set off the old Whaling Station on the Bluff before returning to the finish line.
Bellatrix finished the 11 Nautical Mile race in just under two hours, finishing ten minutes ahead of second placed Majimoto skippered by Jon Marshall. Having rounded first, Bellatrix turned on the gas and opened the gap as they made their way out to the Fairway Mark.
Gavin Wadsworth on Therapy was placed third. The tail end of the fleet had a momentous tussle between the only two L26s racing. Brendan Humphries on the stick of Container World managed to edge out Denmar Nel helming PYC Challenger with one second separating the two.
