Short report on the Hobie &
Tornado National Championships
Registration of entries started at 08:00 on
Wednesday 24 September and closed at 17:00, although competitors
still wanted to registrer during supper. Further registration took place
on Thursday morning. This event had a decided National and International flavour
with entrants arriving from Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban,
Richards Bay, East London, Knysna and as far away as Maputo.
It was good to see so many youngsters sailing
Hobie 14's. East London YC was well represented by the Youth, as was Cape Town
entering two youth sailors, one a development sailor. Knysna also had one
youth sailor entered. Well done to the winners of this section. Oliver
Hobson from ELYC won the Youth regatta. This was the only class who qualified
for a SAS gold medal (13 entries) Lionel Hartly won the Veteran Trophy (ELYC).
The Hobie 16 Ladies managed to muster 10
entrants, of which one came from Maputo. (Unfortunately they had to leave
early) The winner's were Inge Schabort (a J22 sailor as well) teamed up with
Lindy McGillivray. Second was Caroline Hutchinson and Caroline Fulton.
Another J22 sailor Shellee Nel (Potts) and crew Toni Smith finished
third. Well done girls
The Hobie Tigers only managed to get 9
boats together. Blaine Dodds and Richard Ayres dominated this event with Alan
Lawrence and Gordon Mc Gillivray close on their heels. Shawn Ferry and
Jaco Colyn finished third.
The Tornados' also managed to muster 10 boats
together with an entry from Maputo in this fleet as well. The winner was Wayne
Bird and Clinton Wisserkerke from Zululand YC closely followed by Eric and
Janine Cook from TCC.
The wind was strong every day and it was a long
trek to the start where the Bridge Officer, Richard Purchase from Cape Town
was laying the course. Six races were sailed in total allowing one discard. On
Saturday only one race was sailed as the strength of the wind increased. A
meeting was held and the racing committee decided to call it a day and
have prize giving on Saturday night instead of Sunday as originally planned.
This also allowed competitors from far lying regions to travel early on Sunday
morning.
It was reassuring to have the NSRI
team from Richards Bay in attendance which was appreciated by all. No
serious incidents took place although a few boats lost their rig and plenty
of competitors capsized.
Prize giving was a tremendous success with each competitor
receiving a prize, followed by a party that lasted well into the
night. Which was just as well as a storm came through in the early hours of
Sunday morning damaging boats on the foreshore. Poor Chris (Costa)
and a few others had to go to the harbour to secure the boats for
the rest of the storm.
Qwantani Resort is situated on Sterkfontein Dam
opposite (across the dam) the Sterkfontein Nature Reserve. The resort
boasts 53 chalets all of which have 3 rooms (sleep 6), swimming
pools, bar, small shop, squash courts, Boma, horse riding, a trip on the barge
on the dam and many other facilities. All the chalets have a fantastic view of
the dam and surrounding mountains
A sincere thanks to Theresa Smith, the
co-ordinator of the event and her team for a well organised event.
And thank you to all the sailors who made the long
trek from all over the country.