Sailors gear up for Jonsson Cup

THE Point Yacht Club’s dinghy season will officially begin with its first major sailing event in the bay on Guy Fawkes Day on Saturday, 5 November.

The format for the race is set as a pursuit race. The start line will be abuzz with activity as each class of boat has a separate start time. In a pursuit race, the slower boats start ahead of the faster boats in the hope that the fleet finish en masse.

The annual race is a longer than normal race and the smaller boats will adventure to various parts of the bay, round the harbour markers and buoys and cross the finish line. Dinghies of all shapes and sizes will be on the water to participate, with the Laser and Hobie fleets expected to lead the numbers.

Rear Commodore for Dinghies and passionate Flying Fifteen competitor, Myles White, together with his partner, Estelle Buys, are the defending champions going into this year’s Jonsson Cup. Myles has had an impressive start to the season as he is the top PYC sailor on the international leader board for the Bart’s Bash but is also the top South African sailor on the Bashboard. Myles sailed with accomplished Flying Fifteen crew member, Jeremy Kriek, on the day.

“Banter among the sailors has been encouraging leading up to the Jonsson Cup. We are hoping for a decent sized fleet out on the bay. We decided to delay the start of the season by a month and open with the historic Jonsson Cup as October has, in recent times, been really miserable,” said Myles.

The man with the most important job leading up to the event is Hobie sailor, Justin Butler, from Cowies Hill. Justin will crunch numbers to perfect the handicap system ahead of the start. He will then assign start times to all of the competitors depending on the boat they will be competing on.