Students vie for yacht club’s inter-varsity title
Fifty avid sailors from across South Africa will descend on Durban's shores to compete for the coveted title.
PHOTO: Sophie Thompson
NINE varsity teams will take to the water to participate in the second Point Yacht Club’s Inter-Varsity Match Racing event this week.
On the back of the highly successful Americas Cup in Bermuda, Durban will see 50 sailors from various universities from around the country compete in the exciting and tactical format of yacht racing. The nine teams from UCT, Wits, TUKS, Rhodes, Durban University of Technology, Stellenbosch and University of KwaZulu-Natal will compete on L26s. Three teams will represent Wits in the race.
Race officer for the event, Edrich de Lange, will hold 49 quick fire there-and-back sprints for the varsity teams, with only two boats competing on the race track at any given time. The two top teams will then meet in a best of three final on Friday. Heading up the vital role of judging is Cape to Rio sailor, Ricky Robinson.
Also read: Local sailors kit up for international race
With Durban’s very own Siyanda Vato coordinating the shuttle service of the teams to the boats. Hot on the heels of MSC Week, a number of the sailors have been relishing the Durban winter conditions and competed in the week long regatta offshore of Durban last week.
The two teams from UKZN and DUT got in some fantastic training.
The conditions expected for the match racing promise to be light in the early stages with the wind gently building in the latter part of the week.
The next event for the Point Yacht Club on the water will be the SAS Grand Slam on the 22 and 23 July, with the postponed Band on the Bay celebrating the yacht club’s 125th birthday on the public holiday on Wednesday, 9 August.
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