SAIL Magazine Vol 3 by Ingrid Hale

SAIL ROYAL CAPE YACHT CLUB CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2011/12 Racing Season

W W W. R C YC . C O. Z A

SAIL WELCOME RCYC

his past year has seen many prestigious international events, sailors and regatta officials visiting Royal Cape and providing us with a taste of racing at the highest level. RCYC put on a superior show when the sailing committee was asked by the Volvo Ocean Race to organise the on-the-water activities and co-ordinate marshal boats and mark-laying for the Pro-am, in-port races and the start of Leg 2 to China. VOR race director, Jack Lloyd, and VOR CEO, Knut Frostad, applauded the club for their outstanding service. We were also treated to lessons from top international race officer Peter Craig who led the racing committee of the Midsummer Fling regatta, kindly arranged by Lord Irvine Laidlaw. Ultimately these experiences add to the knowledge pool, raise the bar and remind us that we are capable of hosting events at a world-class level. Our members have also been proudly taking their places on the world stage, flying our RCYC flag high and encouraging us all to sail better. Sail is in its third year as the official publication of RCYC. We have enjoyed support from the Commodore, committee, RCYC members, visitors to the club and of course our loyal advertisers. I feel honoured to have been able to launch this magazine with the support of John Martin, RCYC Commodore, as well as the general committee members. The objective was always to showcase RCYC as a club that matches the top international sailing clubs and to give exposure to the sailing talent of our members. Many thanks for your solid leadership John. We wish you the best for the future.

Ingrid Hale Publishing Editor-in-Chief

To view the digital version, go to www.issuu.com/sailrcyc.

Contents 3 Letter from the Commodore 5 Welcome to Cape Town 6 News and views All the Royal Cape Yacht Club’s news

13 Local and international sailing round-up 14 Mykonos Offshore Race

SAIL

17 Pacer Nationals 18 Crocs Summer Regatta

T H E O F F I C I A L P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E

ROYAL CAPE YACHT CLUB

20 Midsummer Fling Regatta

PUBLISHING EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ingrid Hale MANAGING EDITOR Kim Richter ART DIRECTOR Piers Buckle (Fresh Identity) ADVERTISING SALES Jeanne van Rooyen, Shirley Roos (Jeanne van Rooyen PR and Special Events)

22 Division 3 racing 24 Lipton Cup 26 Puma Twilight Series

CONTRIBUTORS Trevor Wilkins (cover photopgraph), Penny Alison, James Beaumont, William Crockett, Nick Dana, Adrian Denn, Oliver Dewar, Brenton Geach, Mike Giles, Andrea Giovannini, Hylton Hale, Patrick Holloway, Dave Hudson, Di Hutton-Squire, Dale Kushner, Koos Louw, Toni Mainprize, John Martin, Ray Matthews, Di Meek, Rob Meek, Alexandre Monat, Charles Nankin, Rick Nankin, Mike Peper, Alex Petersen, Jannie Reuvers, Trygve Roberts, Ian Roman, Amory Ross, Ainhoa Sanchez, Luke Scott, Tony Strutt, Kirsten Veenstra, Vitor Medina, Charmaine Warburton. SPECIAL THANKS Riaan Bezuidenhout, Barry Heath, Toni Mainprize, Ian Meggy, Marcus Reuter, Harriet Symons, Bridgette Walker, all the marina, bar and catering staff, and Garmin for the use of their rubber duck (which is always available to the photographers during regattas). CONTACT RCYC Tel: +27 21 421 1354 | Fax: +27 21 421 6028 Email: info@rcyc.co.za | www.rcyc.co.za FOR LETTERS AND ENQUIRIES, CONTACT: Ingrid Hale Tel: +27 83 309 3895 | Email: sailrcyc@live.co.za PRINTING Paarl Media Paarl ©Royal Cape Yacht Club. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission from the publisher.

28 IRC racing 32 The Cape boat-building industry 36 Volvo Ocean Race 42 Global Ocean Race 46 New York Yacht Club Invitational Regatta 50 Sail blazing Keep track of our Royal Capers abroad

52 RCYC events calendar All the fixtures from July 2012 to June 2013

Seen at sea Royal Capers in action on and off the water

RCYC announcement Cape to Rio 2014 dates are confirmed W W W. R C Y C . C O . Z A

SAIL RCYC

Letter from the Commodore

PHOTOGRaPH adrian denn

fter four years as Commodore – and a total of seven consecutive years on the Royal Cape Yacht Club’s committee – this is my final sign-off. My reason for volunteering all those years ago was to give something back to the sport that had given me so many opportunities. I wanted our youth, truly representative of South Africa, to have the same chances in their lives. During my term I have seen the nurturing of relations with local government, the City of Cape Town, the SA Navy and members of the International Diplomatic Corps. I enjoyed this aspect and the club made good friends who all made important contributions. The various committees have also played significant roles in contributing to steering the club to where it is today. Thank you to all who

participated. I would also like to thank many of the members outside of the committee for their contributions and support when times were tough and decisions made needed backing. Some of the memorable moments of my term are: • The incredible turnaround of the financial status of the club, thanks hugely due to Mike Peper, our treasurer for most of the time and now Vice Commodore and finicial adviser to me. • Overhauling the club’s restaurants and significantly improving member participation and satisfaction as a result. Vitor Medina and I took on the task of taking the catering in-house. We hired management staff and a top chef, and we have not looked back since – with happy customers and an even happier treasurer! • The enormous switch in the media perception of sailing at RCYC, largely through Jeanne van Rooyen Martin’s perseverance. • The successful international relations we have built with visiting yachting events and our own Cape to Rio and Salvador yacht races. • RCYC’s extremely successful local yachting calendar, which is our core business and has been really well

“I trust I have honoured my pledge to make the wonderful sport of sailing more accessible” lead by Hylton Hale, our Rear Commodore Sailing. • The yacht club’s contribution to development sailing (see page 10 for more information on this). • Participating in the New York Yacht Club Invitational Regatta in Newport, Rhode Island, where we were sponsored by black empowerment company African Access Holdings, who demonstrated their support for transformation of the sport. • The many committee members, like-minded RCYC members and the staff’s support for me, without which I would not have been able to successfully discharge my duties. When I accepted the position of Commodore, I pledged to uphold the standards and traditions of the club, including making the wonderful sport of sailing more accessible. For this, we needed a solid club, an

environment appealing to sponsors, nurturing of youth and that could, vitally, host world-class sailing events. I trust I have honoured my pledge during the interesting times had by myself and my long-suffering, incredibly supportive wife, Jeanne. This being my last contribution to Sail as Commodore, I would like to congratulate Ingrid Hale, and the people who have supported her, on starting this wonderful magazine and on the quality that makes it one of RCYC’s showpieces. I wish all well in sailing and any other initiatives to promote the sport that has given so many such great pleasure.

John Martin Commodore RCYC 2011/12 w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

SAIL RCYC

Welcome to Cape Town

Mining & Aggregates

Patricia de Lille Executive Mayor of Cape Town

Industrial Minerals

Readymix

Concrete Products

Contracting International

Telephone: +27 21 917 8840 Facsimile: +27 21 914 1174

Collin Ramukhubathi

www.afrimat.co.za

Western Cape Aggregates Division

Area Quarry Manager

Growth from diversification Black empowered, JSE-listed Afrimat is one of the largest suppliers of a broad range of construction and industrial materials

Maxx Corporate Communications©

ape Town boasts a host of recreational facilities that cater to the general public and enthusiasts with specific tastes, such as sailing. Not only are we proud to play host to the Royal Cape Yacht Club, but also of the excellent facilities provided by the Cape Town harbour as it serves as a stopover during international sailing events. It is therefore a great honour for me as Executive Mayor of this city to welcome both sailors and passengers from all over South Africa and around the globe to the shores of Cape Town. The Royal Cape Yacht Club offers top class vessel moorings, security and entertainment facilities, as well as exceptional boat repair options. RCYC also provides the perfect welcome to our beautiful city, encouraging the exploration of the many tourist attractions and ensuring that the well-run harbour is a meeting point for people from all over the world. The City of Cape Town recognises the opportunities of economic growth that sailing creates, especially when our port is used as a stopover. We welcome the impact of the sailing industry on Cape Town’s tourism, and we encourage and support the growth of sailing, which affords life-enhancing recreational activities for our citizens and visitors.

SET SAIL

All the Royal Cape Yacht Club’s news

CLear green COnSCienCe

GREEN TIPS

n a first for South Africa, Cape Town has taken up the challenge of achieving the highly respected Blue Flag status for its marinas. RCYC, False Bay Yacht Club and Granger Bay Water Club have joined forces with the City of Cape Town to ensure cleaner water and greener facilities. The Blue Flag programme works towards sustainable development of beaches and marinas. It’s a voluntary eco-label awarded internationally and seeks to bring together the environmental, economic and tourism sectors. Indeed, being awarded Blue Flag status is a tourism drawcard as it signifies an unpolluted area with high standards of water quality, safety and environmental management. “Royal Cape believes in what the Blue Flag programme is striving to do, we are committed to minimising our impact on the environment,” says RCYC club manager Marcus Reuter. “However, with the uncertain tenure at our premises, there are a few requirements that demand substantial financial investment and will consequently hamper our efforts in achieving all Blue Flag criteria in the immediate future.” There are some surprising financial benefits to meeting the Blue Flag criteria though. “The club has recently had its energy consumption audited and has been advised that, with Eskom’s incentives, a R90 000

Refill your water bottles at the club’s watering points. Even better, get your crew some stainless steel water bottles branded with your boat’s name.

w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

investment will give a full return as well as saving two-thirds of its electricity costs within two years,” says Marcus. Some of the achievable requirements include decreasing the club’s carbon footprint through steps such as swapping incandescent bulbs for light-emitting diodes, or LEDs; waste separation and recycling; and waterwise ablution facilities. But even these seemingly simple changes are not without their challenges and RCYC will be working closely with various authorities to ensure these changes happen. Ultimately, club members will also need to pledge their support to the Blue Flag ethos. With continued support from the city, and their members, these three marinas will now work toward complying with the criteria set by Blue Flag International and then apply for full status. RCYC looks forward to being able to proudly fly this flag. The second green project RCYC has become part of is the Sustainable Seas Trust, or SST. This international programme was initiated by a South African, and aims to protect the marine environment and the people who use and enjoy the oceans. Ensuring our sea is vibrant, healthy and productive is non-negotiable. The club will share news on these initiatives via the noticeboards, website and newsletters.

Look for solar powered lights and batteries to use on board. The Green Shop stocks a range of eco-friendly batteries, lights, inverters and panels. www.thegreenshop.co.za

PHOTOGRaPH trevor wilkins

Royal Cape has joined two eco initiatives in a move to keep our sailing waters as inviting as ever

SaIL NEwS & VIEwS rcyc

eCO CreDenTiaLS

RCYC committee members share their environmentally conscious sailing moments and ideas:

FAST FACT

South Africa was the first country outside Europe to win Blue Flag accreditation for its beaches. We currently have 27 Blue Flag beaches, with six of these being in Cape Town.

Use green cleaning products on your boat to avoid adding pollutants to the sea. Pick n Pay and Woolworths’ green ranges are internationally certified eco-friendly, affordable and easy to find.

John Martin, Commodore “During my solo-sailing days, I always kept the plastic for disposal onshore, so on one such race, it was just me and 47 day’s worth of plastic rubbish onboard!” Mike Peper, Vice Commodore “I play my part in preserving our sailing waters by doing all the normal things like eco-friendly anti-fouling paint and taking rubbish ashore. I also have a solar panel on my boat to charge batteries. But the most important thing is ensuring that we don’t collide with other boats while out racing as this leaves a tangled mess of glass fibre, paint and stainless steel on the ocean bed.” Vitor Medina, Rear Commodore Inside House “It was during the 96 Cape to Rio race aboard my Miura Far Med that we noticed vast amounts of debris and rubbish floating in the water for as far as the eye could see. Having completed well over 3 000nm in beautiful crystal clear ocean water, this proved to be the saddest sight of our journey. Although already being eco-minded, this vision had a big impact on me and nothing is ever thrown in the sea, whether it’s bio-degradable or not.” Tony Blackwell, Rear Commodore Outside House “Two things: the wind is free, so why start your engine; and never put anything down the heads that you haven’t eaten.” Hylton Hale, Rear Commodore sailing “The fact that we sail and do not use petrol guzzling power boats is already making an environmentally friendly statement; however the way I would improve on this is, most yacht engines run on diesel and are generally quite robust, so I would use biodiesel to run the engine.” Ray Matthews, Treasurer “For all those nasty smells emanating from your bilge or diesel spills, sprinkle a bottle of vanilla essence in the bilge or over the spill and soon it will be fresh as a daisy.” Brian Gardener, General Committee “Obviously we bring our rubbish ashore and recycle it. But otherwise we avoid using the heads at all and generally only use a high-pressure hose when cleaning the boat, so no nasty chemicals washing into the sea.” Derek shuttleworth, General Committee “I run a biodiesel refinery, guess what fuel I use in my boat?” Gary sindler, General Committee “In the early Nineties when we raced the Transpac Race from Los Angeles to Hawaii, we were educated about recycling – you were only given an official result on handing in your separated garbage bags at the finish. From there we went to race in Asia and it was immediately clear why recycling was such an important issue.” Trevor spilhaus, General Committee “My tip: Avoid using the heads (which contain chemicals), but if you must, use recycled toilet paper.” Kirsten Veenstra, General Committee “For me, it’s about basics. Always take your rubbish ashore – throwing plastic, tin, glass, and anything besides plant and vegetable matter in the water is a real no-no. As are chemicals or pollutants in our seas.” Polla Wasserfall, General Committee “We bring all our rubbish ashore, and separate and recycle it.” w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

TrUe COLOUrS

Royal Cape Yacht Club members Asenathi Jim, 20, and skipper Roger Hudson, 34, have secured a spot for South Africa in the 2012 Olympic Games with some exceptionally tough racing at the recent World Championships in Barcelona. This performance by the team from RaceAhead team, added to their four-year run at the top of the international Laser SB3 fleet, shows a steady stream of world-class performances and dedication in the face of insurmountable odds, not the least of which being the huge financial layout, which for many other teams is covered by their governments, corporate sponsors or the national lottery. On hearing their much-anticipated results, Asenathi said: “I would like to thank RaceAhead for the great light that it has brought to my life; my teammate Roger Hudson for coaching me all the way, and for what he has done to make this campaign possible; and Dave Hudson, our ‘Old Man’, who has been with us through all the storms and sunny days.” Skipper Roger Hudson will follow his father Dave’s example by competing in the Olympics exactly 20 years after he helmed a Flying Dutchman in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Asenathi will become the second black African ever to compete at the Olympics in the sport of yachting. He is also the first Xhosa person to compete in the yachting discipline, and only the fourth Xhosa to compete in the Olympics fullstop. Probably even more impressive than this is the fact that Asenathi did not come from a background that showed any relation to the sport. This qualification may also have the record of being the shortest 470 campaign ever – the boys only having stepped foot on a 470 well into the second half of the Olympic cycle!

JOin UP!

Want to become a member of RCYC, or need to renew you membership? Simply download the membership form on our website www.rcyc.co.za. Fees range from R172 to R3 694 annually, depending on your membership type.

w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

anCienT Mariner

This year’s senior’s Race attracted the attention of the Guinness Book of Records. By alex Petersen Centenarian Hein Schipper started a whole new class in the 2012 Senior’s Race – the 100-plus age-group category – and possibly earned himself a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s oldest active sailor. Previously sailors have raced in classes according to decades, starting from 60-plus and going up to 90-plus. But this year the fleet of 60 yachts included a 100-year-old competitor helming Carousel. Hein, who emigrated to South Africa from Holland before World War II, said: “We had a great sail. It was fantastic to see such a strong fleet, and to have such a good breeze.

Results 60 to 70 Geoff Grylls Corum 70 to 80 (and overall winner) Phil Gutsche Windpower 80 to 90 Bill O’ Reilly Windhover 90 to 100 Gijs van Harten Lobelia 100 and over Hein Schipper Carousel The oldest average crew, with an average age of 78 years was Ted Kuttel and the Spilhaus III crew.

SLeeKer naVigaTiOn

Here’s a sneak peek of RCYC’s new website, which promises easier access to all the news and information you’re after. Keep your eyes on the site for event and club announcements, weather updates, member profiles and restaurant specials.

PHOTOGRaPH trevor wilkins

In a courageous Olympic campaign, two Capetonians emerge victorious. By Charles Nankin

SaIL NEwS & VIEwS rcyc

WHere TO neXT? Our pick of navigation apps. By William Crockett

World Tides 2012

Windguru

Windspeed

iRegatta

Navionics

This app is fantastic for any serious cruiser or racer. World Tides allows the user to view global tides, as well as the moon phase, moon rise and set, and sun rise and set.

The popular wind website now has an app. This allows you access to seven-day forecasts for free, and to select your favourites for quick access to these locations.

This exciting app turns your iPhone into an anemometer. Using vibrations on the microphone, you can read the windspeed in multiple different measures.

iRegatta turns your iPad into a super-handy tactical navigation programme. It can read instrument data broadcast over Wi-Fi, which is then input into your iPad.

Navionics is the well known electronic chart company. An iPad “app” has been released where you can download these charts and use your iPad as a chartplotter.

girL POWer

The Lion of africa Ladies Day Race is the only ladies regatta on the south african sailing calendar. By Kirsten Veenstra Hosted by Royal Cape Yacht Club, the ninth annual Lion of Africa Ladies Day Race boasted 18 entries, bringing together most of the Cape’s top women sailors. IRC racing at RCYC boasts some well-known women skippers who skipper their own boats and give the guys at the club a run for their money on the racecourse. There are also a number of very experienced women sailors who own their own keelboats and often do not skipper, many of whom are very active on the dinghy and Hobie Cat sailing circuits. It was great to see so many of these women competing – including Olympic sailor Dominique Provoyeur, fellow Olympian Penny Alison, and former-ISAF Hobie Cat World champ Inge Schabort; as well as all the women who sail extensively, who have a wealth of sailing and seamanship knowledge. Racing for the day was close, but in the end it was Dominique and her crew on Docksafe who took the trophy in the spinnaker division and Heidi Kavanagh and her team on Ray of Light in the non-spinnaker division. Lion of Africa have promised to be back next season to sponsor their tenth Ladies Day Race in a row. The challenge, it seems, is to get all these women out on the water as teams more often at our regattas – that would be first prize!

Results Spinnaker Class 1st Docksafe 2nd Lapwing 3rd Lobelia 4th Puma Unleashed 5th Hillbilly 6th Impact 7th Majimoto II

Dominique Provoyeur Jennifer Burger Judy Provoyeur Penny Alison & Inge Schabort Diana Hutton-Squire Jackie Brand Trish Monagan

Non-Spinnaker Class 1st Ray of Light 2nd Necessity 3rd Thunderchild 4th Iechyd Da 5th Carousel 6th Tui Marine 7th Gremlin 8th FTI Flyer 9th Isla 10th Storm 11th JML 1

Heidi Kavanagh Carol Booth Janet Cotton Betty Brown Margaret Jones Tracy Whitehead Eva Versveld Martina Schmidt Elske Hendersen Wendy Gridleston TBA w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

The Royal Cape Yacht Club is actively involved in taking sailing to the people through three highly successful development initiatives IZIVUNGUVUNGU by Koos Louw Last year Izivunguvungu Sailing School suffered a traumatic start with the loss of their entry on its return from Rio de Janeiro after the Cape to Rio Race. Fortunately the rest of the year was a success. Asenathi Jim is doing incredibly well under the wing of RCYC’s Dave Hudson and RaceAhead in their overseas campaigns. He has just made the Olympic team and was nominated for the Sportsman of the Year award for Western Province. Wandisile “Wadi” Xayimpi excelled as an ambassador for Izivunguvungu as part of RCYC’s team at the New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup. He is now a junior coach at the school. Izivungu teams participated in all major dinghy events throughout the country. There are now 130 young people being trained on a regular basis at the school’s facilities in Simon’s Town. MSC has returned to being the backbone sponsor of the project. This and other developments mean Izivunguvungu is well placed financially for its eleventh year of developing 600 underprivileged children. Without the support of sponsors MSC, SA Navy, RCYC, Pirelli and others, these children would not be able to reach the heights that they are achieving. www.izivungu.co.za 10

w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

RACEAHEAD by Dave Hudson Over the past year RaceAhead has continued pursuing their goal of seeing talented young South African sailors realise their potential on the world stage. Locally, skills development clinics were run in Laser SB3s, 420s and a 470. On the international front, RaceAhead teams have represented South Africa and RCYC in over 20 major international events around the world since March 2011. These include the Laser SB3 World Championships in the UK, where Asenathi Jim, Wadi Xayimpi, Marlon Jones and Roger Hudson finished seventh in a fleet of 103, having convincingly won the Torquay Open, the “curtain raiser” to the Worlds. A most interesting and unusual event for RaceAhead was an invitation to the 11 Meter International Championships in Norway. Gerry Hegie and KwaZulu-Natal’s Rudy McNeill teamed up with Asenathi, Wadi and Roger, achieving sixth place overall. They finished strongly with a second and first on the last day, to loud cheers from Beryl Sisulu, South Africa’s ambassador in Oslo. A major focus has been on building the RaceAhead Olympic 470 campaign. And RaceAhead is thrilled to announce that the guys have made South Africa’s Olympic team. With Roger as mentor, coach and team-mate, the goal is to aid 20-year-old Asenathi up the incredibly steep learning curve from youth sailing into the professional and brutally competitive world of Olympic racing. (See page 50 for more details on what these sailors have been up to overseas.) Thanks to generous donations of time, money and resources, the RaceAhead Foundation has been able to provide talented young sailors, many from underprivileged backgrounds, with opportunities to train and race with some of South Africa’s most experienced yachtsmen, and against many of the best sailors in the world. www.raceahead.co.za

PHOTOGRaPHs trevor wilkins, lucia grundlingova

Learning THe rOPeS

SaIL NEwS & VIEwS rcyc

SAILPRO by Penny Alison and Nic Baigrie SailPro changed ownership in October 2011, with Markus Progli and Andrea Giovannini handing over the reigns to Penny Alison and Nic Baigrie. SailPro’s high school sailing programme is now running at full capacity, with over 70 students from five local schools – Bishops, SACS, Westerford, Wynberg and Plumstead. Graduates of the 2011 course have gone on to compete in the 420 dinghy nationals as well as the Mykonos Offshore Regatta and RCYC’s Wednesday night series. RCYC’s continued support of development sailing has allowed SailPro to include 21 previously disadvantaged students in the programme. SailPro’s 2011/2012 summer season was action-packed, with various well-attended initiatives, including weekly training sessions during the school term and additional events during the season. Bishops kicked off the season with their annual Grade 10 camp, where 120 pupils were taught basic seamanship and sailing skills. As part of the Volvo Ocean Race Cape Town stopover, SailPro ran the successful Volvo Try Sail initiative based at the V&A Waterfront. This was a drive to get school kids and members of the public out on the water on 18ft Ludic dinghies, giving them their first taste of sailing. The season continued with the 10-day International Laser Clinic, with South Africa’s most talented youth Laser sailors training alongside the top-ranked Swiss Laser youth, Cyrill Knecht. Finally, the season culminated with a highly competitive Interschools Team-Racing Regatta, with a record 11 teams from seven schools competing – a clear indication of the success of the SailPro programme. The final was nailbiting, and saw Bishops, the five-time champions, dethroned by a young and talented Westerford team. www.sailpro.org.za w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

SaIL L o c a L & I N T E r N aT I o N a L r c yc

Feel it, live it

With its thrilling sea and weather conditions, not to mention breath-taking scenery, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no surprise that Table Bay plays host to numerous international yacht races, and is the playground of choice for local sailors

Local 14 17 18 20 22 24 26 28 32

Mykonos Offshore Race Pacer Nationals Crocs Summer Regatta Midsummer Fling Regatta Division 3 racing Lipton Cup Puma Twilight Series IRC racing The Cape boat-building industry

PHOTOGRAPH NICK DANA

International 36 42 46 50

Volvo Ocean Race Global Ocean Race New York Yacht Club Invitational Regatta Royal Capers abroad w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

King of the coast

nown as the largest keelboat event in South Africa, the Mykonos Offshore regatta certainly lived up to expectations with a ﬂeet of 97 yachts assembling on the start line for the 2012 event. Now in its twenty-second year, the regatta is a favourite among the yachting fraternity and it’s fantastic that Club Mykonos and the other regular sponsors continue to support the event. The 2012 Mykonos Offshore had one major change in the format from last year – all four races counted and there was no discard. The start was divided into two starts with the smaller Division 2 and 3 yachts kicking off half an hour before the larger Division 1 yachts and sport multihulls. The first start went well for the smaller boats with a consistent wind on the start line to the first mark off Paarden Eiland. However the same could not be said for the larger yachts, who faced a frustrating start due to the southeaster backing off parts of the start line, leaving skippers and crews stranded in breathless conditions with a strong southeaster mere metres away. Eventually all the ﬂeet managed to round Paarden Eiland and head for the gate off Dassen Island and then onto the finish at Club Mykonos harbour. It was an interesting race for my crew and I. Having recently sold my racy Pacer 42, Unleashed, we had borrowed Bally Hoo Too. We were one of those yachts that managed to get stuck on the start line, sandwiched nicely between Corum and Ray of Light. Our tactician Andrea Giovannini called the position on the start line for middle to weather, unfortunately as we worked our way there, the wind died off and all the boats to lee of us still had the remains of the southeaster on the line. Unbelievably, once we had started, the spinnaker was needed and, heading in the same direction as us, were all the leeward starters beating upwind with all the crew on the rail.

w w w. R C Y C . C o . z A

Eventually we got through the convergence zone between the south west and south east and started our trek towards the Paarden Eiland mark, albeit in the bottom quarter of the ﬂeet. Once around Paarden Eiland, with the front runners in the distance, Andrea decided that our best chance to catch up was to sail as close as possible to the surf line, gybing out when we only had a few metres under the keel and then gybing in as soon as we felt the colder south-westerly or the wind clocked slightly right. We continued this tactic all the way down the West Coast until we were happy with our transit to the gate, which was about a mile off the northern part of Dassen Island. The crew’s gloom from the start quickly lifted: our tactics had taken us right around the whole ﬂeet, apart from the bigger yachts such as Cape Fling, Windpower, the trimaran and the lonely Division 2 yacht Freedom, who was sailing a superb race. We found ourselves in sixth position for line honours and top three on handicap. The sail from Dassen to South Head was an absolute jol, especially on the Mumm 36 – at a consistent 12 knots she surfed beautifully, reaching top speeds of 17 knots. Once through South Head, the timing on dropping the kite was critical, many yachtsmen have come short in the last sprint from Jutten Island to the finish line with some dramatic spinouts. Once around Elandspunt, just south east of Jutten Island, the wind more than often freshens and there is a wild ride for the last 3.5 miles to the finish. We had really recovered well after the mess of the start and were thrilled with the third in the IRC Division for the three races and sixth boat over the line. The line honours went to Irvine Laidlaw’s Cape Fling, which finished the 65 miles in just under six hours, with Kevin Webb’s Farrier Tri finishing second over the line in six-and-a-half hours. The Cape Town to Club Mykonos sprint was all done before 8.30pm with the last boat, Shandy, crossing the line at 8.23pm.

PHOTOGRAPHS TREVOR WILKINS, KIRSTEN VEENSTRA

There’s nothing better than ﬂying downwind in the invigorating Mykonos Offshore Regatta. By Hylton Hale

SAIL LoCAL RCYC

Top: Boats flying down to Club Mykonos for the finish. Left: Cape Fling setting the pace. Below: Sailors were welcomed into port by the Club Mykonos girls.

w w w. R C Y C . C o . z A

SAIL RCYC LoCAL

We were all greeted with bikini-clad girls carrying bottles of champagne for the battle weary, thirsty crews. What an end to a fantastic day under the West Coast sun doing what we like best: sailing downwind. Saturday dawned bright and windless for the pursuit race, with the promise of a southeaster. The course was a race around the Langebaan lagoon and Saldahna Bay. The lowest handicapped yacht (slowest) set off first and then as the handicaps went up so the boats started, with the highest handicapped yacht, Cape Fling, leaving last. On cue, the southeaster picked up, providing the sailors with a memorable day on the water with the multihull Isla claiming the honours for the race with competitive A-L in second place. The excitement of the races was enhanced by the helicopter swooping in low to get TV shots for the Mnet Supersport production featured on their various channels. The Mykonos Offshore ended with a prizegiving ceremony and party at the Mykonos Terrace, the winners received some fantastic prizes from a free Moorings Holiday in the Seychelles to a Garmin GPS. This year the Mykonos Offshore was dominated by the sports boats with five of them taking podium finishes. These yachts are normally heavily handicapped in normal round-the-cans racing and this time got their opportunity to shine in the downhill sprint this race normally produces.

Results IRC – 16 entries 1st Cape Fling (Corby 49) Irvine Laidlaw 2nd A-L (Farr 38) Robbie van Rooyen 3rd Windpower (Landmark 43) Phil Gutsche/Rick Nankin Division 1 Club Handicap – 24 Entries 1st Felix the Cat (Pacer 27) Allan Lawrence 2nd Unruly (Pacer 27) Richard Tanner 3rd Sebago Music (Pacer 27) Rob de Vlieg Division 2 Club Handicap – 25 Entries 1st Always Well (First 7.5) Ralph Thomas 2nd Numero Uno (Lutra 22) Leo Davis 3rd Freedom (Farr 38) CP van der Merwe Division 3 Club Handicap – 21 Entries 1st Far Med (Miura) Vitor Medina 2nd Reaction (RCOD) Marthinus Groenewald 3rd Team Escape – EKO Energy (L26) Rodney Tanner Multihull – 5 Entries 1st Isla Ian Henderson

w w w. R C Y C . C o . z A

Top: Corum sailing towards Saldanha. Above: The start proved tricky as the southeaster hadn’t filled in yet. Below: Windpower leads the fleet to the Milnerton mark.

SAIL LOCAL RCYC

LEADING THE WAY Understanding why Pacer 27s are taking the ailing out of sailing. By Trygve Roberts

PHOTOGRAPHS TREVOR WILKINS

y now most people know about the Pacer 27 Sport. It’s that small, lightweight boat that goes tearing through the fleet at breakneck speeds downwind; the boat where the crew seems to have a perpetual grin from ear to ear; the boat that represents the epitome of fun on the water. By definition a sports boat will typically be under 32ft in length; have a flat triangular hull shape; be lightweight; have slender foils; have a tall, powerful rig and boast large masthead asymmetrical spinnakers and roller furling headsails for ease of handling and safety. But in spite of the many obvious advantages of having a boat that can handle the heavy coastal breeze; costs a fraction of a 40-footer, but does the same speed and more; is trailerable and easy to rig without a crane – there has still not been an explosion in sales with approximately fifteen boats currently actively racing. While the class seems to attract top-end sailors, a sports boat has the reputation of being a thoroughbred racehorse that requires an experienced crew to tame it. This may have put potential owners off. However, nothing could be further from the truth as the boats are beautiful to helm with a featherlight helm in all conditions. Several boats sailing in and around Cape Town in very heavy weather conditions, have demonstrated that the boat is strong and robust. The Pacer’s real thrill comes when the asymmetric goes up at the weather mark and the boat jumps onto the plane, usually generating speeds between 12 and 20 knots. The highest known speed achieved to date was set by Rick Nankin at 24.5 knots. And therein lies the buzz. Rule makers worldwide have been scratching heads for the past decade, unable to come up with an equitable rating. When the Pacer 27 was first registered with the IRC office in London as a one-design class, a rating of 1.032 was generated. Over the past three years, the IRC office has recalculated the rating each year and it now stands at a staggering 1.054 – the equivalent of a 40ft modern IRC racer. No explanation for the rating increase was offered by the IRC office. Sports boats are so designed to sail downwind at optimal VMG angles. For those who are unfamiliar with the terminology, it basically means a sports boat cannot sail dead down wind (DDW), so one would typically see a sports boat sailing tighter reaching angles on a windward/leeward course and having to put several gybes in. While they will be sailing faster than a conventionally rigged boat with a symmetrical spinnaker, they will be sailing a greater distance. These factors equal things out and one would typically see a 27ft sports boat and a 40ft IRC boat covering a downwind leg on equal terms. Upwind the 40-footer with a big keel and greater waterline length will have the sports boat for breakfast. In short, a sports boat cannot beat its rating equivalent 40-footer on a conventional windward/leeward course. Typically, even the best sailed sporties will end up, at best, mid fleet in the results table. But as soon as a triangular component is introduced to the course, the sports boats will typically perform much better. Give them a reaching or mainly downwind course, like the Mykonos Offshore, and suddenly they perform well beyond their rating. In the 2012 Mykonos Offshore, the seven Pacer 27s entered took up the first seven positions in the Club Division 1 fleet, and have done so

Trygve Roberts and crew on Regent Express.

Results 1st Felix the Cat 2nd Unruly 3rd Regent Express

Allan Lawrence Richard Tanner Trygve Roberts

for the last three years. This causes some frustration among the other Division 1 boats, as they deem the Pacer 27 to have an unfair advantage and there is presently a move to have the Pacers in their own sports boat class to even things out – similar to the multi-hulls. Three years ago, the Pacer 27 Class Association decided to run their National Championships within the organisational structure of the Mykonos Offshore, by adding two days of round-the-cans racing in Table Bay ahead of the main event. The inaugural event proved so popular with owners that it has remained in the Cape since then, providing crews from around the country with the prospect of a scintillating six-hour downwind blast from Table Bay to Saldanha Bay – an annual opportunity for the Pacers to shine. When the IRC office in London moved the boat’s rating literally off the scale, it left owners with no option but to abandon the IRC rating system in favour of the existing club rating. This effectively means that the boats still have a reasonable chance of attaining podium finishes. Sports boats are unique and the only truly viable option in terms of rating them is to have a dedicated sports boat class. Until sports boats catch on sufficiently to reach critical mass in this country, the dilemma will remain. In the USA, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the sports boat phenomenon has caught on, with huge one-design fleets competing. Some classes like the Melges 24 and the Melges 32 regularly attract fleets in excess of 100 boats. When the South African economy improves, this trend will follow locally too. www.pacer27.co.za

W W W. R C Y C . C O . Z A

Riding the wave Fair winds, summer holidays and festive season celebrations set the scene for Table Bay’s midDecember Crocs Summer Regatta. By Rob Meek

w w w. R C Y C . C o . z A

Top: Windpower looking formidable. Below: The crew of A-L celebrate their IRC 2 win with the impressive trophy.

The final day of racing arrived with beautiful moderate westerlies – with the course set for just one beat and a run for each of the two races. The resulting drag races saw Rick Nankin on Windpower finishing the first race ninth after hooking kelp on her keel but still managing to trump Reuvers on Corum overall by nailing a win in the final race. Prizegiving was a lavish affair with Crocs merchandise for all prizewinners. And to crown three fantastic days of sailing, the sponsors announced that they’ll be back in December 2012 for a bigger and better premier summer event.

Results IRC 1 – 9 entries 1st Windpower (Landmark 43) 2nd Corum (Briand 43) 3rd Puma Unleashed (Pacer 42) IRC 2 – 8 entries 1st A-L (Farr 38) 2nd DockSafe (Archambault 35) 3rd Lobelia (IMX 40) Division 1 – 9 entries 1st Rockstar (Farr 38) 2nd Numero Uno (K22) 3rd Regent Express (Pacer 27) Division 2 – 18 entries 1st Far Med (Miura) 2nd Iechyd Da (Miura) 3rd Cabaray (Van der Stadt 34)

Phil Gutsche/Rick Nankin Jan Reuvers Hylton Hale Robbie van Rooyen Alex Monat/Gerry Hegie Gordon Kling/Rob Meek Brian Gardener Greg Davis Trygve Roberts Vitor Medina Stefan Hundt Ray Mathews

PHOTOGRAPHS TREVOR WILKINS

t the Crocs Summer Regatta prizegiving, Commodore John Martin said the event naturally recalled the glory days of the premier regattas given this time slot during the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties. Learning from successful international events in other parts of the world – such as Key West, Antigua and Cowes Week – the Crocs Summer Regatta would feature top-class professional racing on the water and a full entertainment programme for competitors to let rip ashore. Post-race rafting up for fun events in the nearby V&A Waterfront, parties at the club and even offshore anchoring for lunch breaks would remain part of the package. Designed to incorporate the 16 December “Day of Reconciliation” public holiday, the event features a compact format for three days of non-stop racing. And conditions in December 2011 couldn’t have been more perfect, with successive hot, sunny days and moderate winds from the west. A strong 42-boat fleet was on the start line for these champagne sailing conditions and enjoying the competition were crews peppered by former America’s Cup Team Shosholoza sailors, Olympic champions and international competitors. Lord Irvine Laidlaw who campaigns the Corby 49 Cape Fling locally, flew in Shosholoza skipper Mark Sadler from Palma as tactician. The bridge team run by John and Erica Spilhaus (themselves members of Team Shosholoza’s shore crew in Valencia) also made sure there were a range of different courses for the four classes: IRC Class 1, IRC Class 2, Club Division Class 1 and Club Division 2. The first race day saw light south-westerly winds around Robben Island. The course was a beat up to a weather mark with the island as a wing mark. The IRC 1 boats stayed well clear of the island but the smaller boats cut the corner to rock hop past the island’s Murray Harbour and political prison (where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 27 years), displaying much skill to avoid hitting rocks, reefs, wrecks, sandbanks and hooking kelp. The second day of racing came with exhilarating winds of 22 knots for fast and furious round-the-buoy races. Things got a bit hectic when the fleet converged on Channel Marker Number One but it was a great day on the water. After two days of sailing and four races, Corum and Windpower were tied on points and a shoot-out was on the cards for the two leading skippers Jannie Reuvers and Rick Nankin respectively for the final day of racing. Post-race festivities were a highlight with the fleet motoring in the historic V&A Waterfront for a sunset party spiced up with an inter-class dragon boat contest. Yachts rafted up at the shore base only just vacated by New Zealand’s Volvo Ocean Race Team Camper and crews enthusiastically manned or supported their respective class teams amid much revelry. IRC 1 were the eventual Dragon Boat winners – but only after IRC 2’s Cape to Rio Race champion Gerry Heggie bowed out after breaking his paddle.

SAIL LoCAL RCYC

The fleet heads up to Granger Bay.

Regatta highlights IRC 1 By Windpower’s skipper Rick Nankin Crocs was an interesting regatta for the IRC 1 boats as both Corum and Windpower had just undergone a few alterations. Corum had been cleverly optimised by adding weight, making her a faster boat with a better IRC rating. She looked quick in the flat seas and medium strong wind conditions. On Windpower, we had also done some minor changes – increasing sail area with a large, roached mainsail, which pushed the light air potential up but also ramped up the rating. We were concerned about our ability to sail up to the new rating. But by Day 2 of the regatta, it was obvious it would indeed be between Corum and Windpower. We had a southwesterly down the shore off the Green Point/Granger Bay area – classic Table Bay conditions that have always made this date in mid-December some of the best regatta sailing ever. It was a close call right until the last race where, with a bit of luck and a lovely gust of wind, we managed to win the race by a few seconds. Phil Gutsche and the Windpower crew were relieved and elated!

IRC2 By DockSafe’s owner Alexandre Monat Because the big IRC 1 boats manage to retain most of the experienced sailors, it’s difficult in IRC2 to find a faithful, worthy core crew, or even better, to try regrouping some magic mates just for a few days. But for the Crocs Summer Regatta we did. Eight boats competed fairly and all appreciated having their own class. Out at sea, within IRC2, it was a pleasure racing. The start line was definitively more suitable to our size of boat and feeling like a normal dimension, without mega main sails or hulls closing some doors. The courses were for our size; avoiding the need for our mates to stay out on the rails for hours without any manoeuvres

and action. The boats almost finished together and not behind the clock. The rating and the chrono were forgotten for a while, as were the fast boats. The DockSafe team enjoyed the event, particularly to stay in the top three. We had plenty of fun, especially with Lobelia, as no positions were finalised right up to the last race.

DIVISION 2 By owner and skipper of Far Med, Vitor Medina In Class 2 the fleet for Crocs comprised of 18 entries – by far the biggest division. There were seven Miura entries, allowing the Miuras to have their own class competition within Division 2. Friday’s race was a medium-distance race around Robben Island and a gentle westerly allowed the race committee to set a perfect start line. Rounding the island, spinnakers popped and it was a colourful and beautiful rounding with the wind freshening. There seemed to be confusion as to where the finish was and a longer course was sailed by the front of the fleet, allowing the backmarkers to close in. The race was well sailed by Cabaray who took first place on handicap followed by Far Med and JML who took line honours. The next two days of racing saw gentle, steady westerlies, making for excellent keelboat racing. The strength of the wind and the flat sea favoured the Miuras, a highlight for us.

Club Division 1 By crewmember of Rockstar, Charmaine Warburton The Crocs Summer Regatta is always fun, with a great goodie bag and sponsorship from Crocs. But for the crew of Rockstar, the highlight was without a doubt beating Greg Davis who has been the Lipton Cup reigning champion (for the last five years). This is what we set out to do and we were thrilled when we achieved our goal. The cherry on the top was the lone dolphin that swam with the boat for the entire last leg of the last race. w w w. R C Y C . C o . z A

PITCH PERFECT The innovative concepts around the Midsummer Fling Regatta ensure it is a ﬁrm favourite on our sailing calendar. By Rick Nankin

w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

As for the racing concept for the 2012 event, we felt the ownerdriver rule should only be used if the breeze was below 15 knots as many people do not steer their own boats regularly. Friday was to be simplified and the aim was to get in one really good race anywhere in the bay. For Saturday, we imagined having an early start with a short windward/leeward race followed by either two more quality windward/ leeward races (or a medium distance race that should give some solid windward and leeward sailing with some interesting reaching legs if necessary). The notice of race allowed IRC boats to carry an extra spinnaker so Code Zeroes and reaching sails would be at the ready. The pursuit race for Sunday was very difficult to work out and keep all boats racing without hanging about so we felt that we may drop this from the schedule. We decided that if the wind played ball we would try to get it out of the way first thing Sunday morning. A 50-minute to one-hour race for the fastest craft is all you really need. However if the weather was not conducive to an easily run pursuit then a short windward/ leeward with owner-driver would be a great option too. As we know in Cape Town, the weather is somewhat unreliable so unfortunately with the wind howling at 45 knots, no races were sailed on Friday. Saturday and Sunday were more promising with sweltering temperatures and great wind conditions. We managed to get five races in, including an owners/ladies helm race and a medium distance race. We look forward to continuing the growth of numbers and quality in 2013’s Midsummer Fling regatta. Irvine has confirmed Peter Craig will be invited again. With the RCYC sailing team doing such a great job on the race organisation side, we can expect another excellent event.

Results Club Division 1 – 14 entries 1st Necessity (Benetau 34.7) 2nd Maestro (Fast 42) 3rd Lapwind (L34)

D Booth A Roux/P van Ass J Burger/A Keen

Club Division 2 – 9 entries 1st Team Escape (L26) 2nd Esmeralda (L26) 3rd Cabaray (Van Der Stadt)

R Matthews/R Tanner B Farmer R Matthews

IRC – 10 entries 1st Lobelia (IMX 40) 2nd Cape Fling (Corby 49) 3rd Speed of Yellow (J133)

G Kling/R Meek I Laidlaw D Munro/S Meek

PHOTOGRAPHS KIRSTEN VEENSTRA, TREVOR WILKINS

he idea of the Midsummer Fling Regatta was hatched in mid-2010 when Lord Irvine Laidlaw, having decided to bring a boat to race in Cape Town, spoke to me about the number of quality local regattas he could compete in over the four-month summer period. Irvine had been living in the Cape for the summer months for a number of years and, although he is a prodigious racing sailor and prominent boat owner, he had never shown much interest in sailing here over this annual sojourn to the south. This changed in 2010 and he began a search for a suitable racing boat for Table Bay. It did not take long to decide it should be a fast machine to thoroughly enjoy the solid wind conditions. The Corby 49 Flirt was sourced in Melbourne and shipped to Cape Town where she was cleaned up and launched as Cape Fling in November ready for Royal Cape Yacht Club’s summer regattas. Irvine was still concerned that during his annual visit he would not be able to experience sufficient regatta sailing to warrant the effort of bringing in a serious racing yacht like Cape Fling. We approached RCYC to find out if they would be interested in laying on an extra event to the regattas already scheduled. Irvine was keen to make it possible financially. And so the first Midsummer Fling Regatta was born in early February 2011. Irvine proposed some innovative ideas. He expressed interest in an event that started on a Friday afternoon and used the full weekend for racing. He had some unusual ideas for us to make the event very unique, including: • some “medium length races” along the coast, if it was suitable, or around Robben Island. • a pursuit race • a “round the houses” race on the Friday evening – up and down in front of the hotels and waterfront close to shore. • one owner-driver race each day, or the owner could be replaced by a lady driver. Irvine’s concept worked well and for 2012 he suggested a similar programme, although now we would aim to fit in one or two longer legged bay races at some stage, as well as a few other enhancements. Firstly, he proposed bringing in international race officer Peter Craig for the event. Peter is a professional yachtsman who has specialises in running sailing events and has made a name for his open and very verbal manner of running regattas. He keeps competitors informed constantly of the thoughts, plans and actions of the race committee as the day progresses, as well as during racing. There is constant reporting from Peter on the lay of the marks, the weather expected and the reasons for any proposed action from his team. The sailors respond to and enjoy this interaction. Irvine’s second innovation was to host an owner’s regatta dinner at his beautiful residence and estate in Noordhoek where owner’s were acknowledged for their support. The dinner was a huge hit. Limited to just the owners and partners, it was meant to be something special and certainly was. The beautiful gardens and views from the manor house were matched only by the attention and service the guests received.

SaIL LocaL rcyc

Opposite: Lord Irwin Laidlaw at the helm of Cape Fling. Left: The fleet led by the pacey DHL Speed of Yellow. Below: Peter Craig and Di Hutton-Squire during starting procedures on the bridge.

Lessons learnt By Di Hutton-Squire & Hylton Hale From international race officer Peter Craig Generous sponsor of the RCYC Midsummer Fling Regatta Lord Irvine Laidlaw invited veteran US yachtsman Peter Craig to be race officer for the event. Peter provided thoughtprovoking input. He did not tolerate latecomers, and gave himself more than adequate time to familiarise himself with the conditions by going out to the race area well before the fleet. He communicated with the fleet on VHF at periodical intervals and even went as far as indicating how he was thinking at the time concerning the wind and course-laying. The fleet really appreciated this. His accent on the radio also meant some very careful listening on the part of those being instructed. But his pronunciation of the word buoy as B-you-ey, rather than buoy I think is preferable and would stop any misnomer of having laid the buoys! Peter ran some excellent courses, with good beats and well-laid start lines – as someone at the top of his game should. He had excellent coms with the mark-layers who were fast, efficient and pre-emptive so that when a change of course was necessary mid-race it was all done very swiftly. This is a sign of a well-managed race. I believe a good race officer will always pre-plan his course of action, and go on the water early to familiarise himself with conditions so that courses are true, good and safe, timeously laid and communicated, and results are verified as speedily as possible – meaning we can all have good racing and fun, safely, on the water.

From champion tactician Peter Holmberg I was invited to sail on Cape Fling for the Midsummer Fling Regatta and was especially keen to sail with this team because one of the world’s top sailors, Peter Holmberg, was their tactician. For those who don’t know Peter, his CV is impressive: silver medallist in the Finn class, ranked number one on the world match-racing tour and victory in the America’s Cup (Alinghi). What I found impressive on Cape Fling was how quiet the boat was while racing – talk was kept to a minimum with Peter clearly running the show. There was a systematic approach to every race, from “pinging” the start line; doing a practice start; the navigator, skipper and tactician having a discussion on where on the start line we should start and on the course and sail selection, using input from prenominated experts in their selected fields. There were no interruptions. The bowman and various trimmers all knew what was expected of them. I might be going on a bit about the quietness on the boat, but some of us “weekend warriors” sometimes seem to think that a booming voice hurling instructions is the way to handle your crew. This is probably a result of poor preparation before we go out racing. Getting the boat ready is often rushed; crew are placed in unfamiliar positions; there is no pre-race brief; the skipper is tactician, navigator, crew boss, helmsman all in one. No wonder he becomes this schizophrenic maniac, because people (especially men) battle to do more than one thing at a time! The professional era of yacht racing has brought with it the formula of shared responsibility, where sailors become absolute experts in their respective field; for example trimmers became experts in sail shape and design. There is no reason why we can’t bring this shared responsibility formula to our club racing; we will definitely see an improvement in our fleet. Some of our racing boats are already adopting this approach and some have been doing so for years – you can see it in their results. Another interesting thing I noticed on Cape Fling (and this is probably from the responsibility/accountability formula) is that no one blamed anyone when things went wrong. The focus was on a solution and discussing a strategy to make sure it didn’t happen again. Any incident was handled with quiet efficiency and with the aim of getting back any lost time. Issues were discussed at the debrief, or during the break between races. This is something we should all aspire to. If you would like to find out a bit more about Peter go to www.peterholmberg.com. w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

SHOOTING THE BREEZE

ailing at the southern tip of Africa, in Table Bay, is really about two seasons – summer with the traditional southeaster wind and flat seas, and winter with its moderate westerlies and large swells. Within these two sailing seasons the Division 3 fleet of the Royal Cape Yacht Club hone their skills against each other. Division 3 caters for boats below .950 club handicap, this excludes the larger, newer, faster, racing (or cruising) yachts. The 30-plus boats in the division are mainly in the 28- to 34-foot range, older boats of mainly cruising design. The 31-foot Miura (which means fighting bull in Spanish) has 10 boats in this fleet and, judging from the results of the last decade, this craft is ideally suited to our conditions. There is a feeling of optimism for this division’s future, which is not always supported by the prevailing economic gloom. Club membership may be under pressure from generally increasing cost, yet this division has an increasing participation level. One challenge Division 3 faces is to encourage the boats in our division that remain on their moorings into the bay to compete. 22

w w w. R C Y C . C o . z A

Competitive sailing takes place at least once a week, and in summer includes a Wednesday night twilight race. The rest of the racing comprises of the summer, winter and double-handed series, as well as longer pursuit races and the major sponsored multi-day regattas. The profile of the sailors and owners comprise the whole spectrum – from new entrants to wily old sea dogs, but mainly tending to the older member. As such, no race is ever a walkover. With the changing conditions suiting different designs, a new frontrunner is always emerging, causing consternation behind. With the ongoing use of our boats and the harsh climatic conditions down south, it’s hardly surprising that Division 3 owners are constantly improving their boats, equipment and crew handling skills – which results in consistent enhancement of the competition. One of the highlights of this year must be the Midsummer Fling Regatta, when Lord Irvine Laidlaw brought out an international bridge crew to run the event. This gave all entrants exposure to the way these regattas are run overseas. The other high point was the annual race to

PHOTOGRAPHS TREVOR WILKINS

Division 3 sailing is riding a wave of success with increased participation levels and spirited competition. By Ray Matthews

SAIL LoCAL RCYC

Club Mykonos in Langebaan (a casino resort close to Saldanha Bay). Landfall at a different port is always exciting but in the company of a fleet of 80 boats with crews all bent on having a good time, this is a race not to be missed. At some time or other in their youth, most of the sailors in this class would have tried their hand at dinghy sailing – keelboats being a natural progression as the confines and vigours of dinghy sailing take their toll. This stands most of us in good stead for competitive sailing, which is about good boat handling, knowledge of local sea and wind conditions, tactical use of sailing rules and effective race management. However, during the year some podium positions were lost as a result of lack of understanding course cards or sailing notices – it is worth taking the time to ensure the crew grasps these. Those that have consistently good results manage to maintain and attract regular crew. It is not uncommon for new crew to move to some of the top racing boats. It’s not always easy to vary the content of the races or regattas; however a challenge may be to partake in an overnight event or a longer

starter event such as the Governor’s Cup to Saint Helena island. This year, a novel and successful innovation by Keith Mattison has been level racing where Division 3 race against each other without handicaps. It gives the more highly rated boats a bit of a chance and is easy to organise with one start – the results are simply the order that you finish. Setting the course is in rotation, by a competitor who, using GPS time, controls the start sequence from his radio. Some stars have risen this year, and some have maintained their dominance. Mike Paddick on Spirit of Victory (Astove 30), Vitor Medina on Far Med (Miura), Stefan Hundt on Iechyd da (Miura) have all excelled consistently. Special mention must be made of the crew of Ava (Miura) whose average age is over 70 years. While Division 3 may seem dominated by Miuras, it has to be said these boats are strong all-rounders and are exciting to race against. To those who have not reached the podium this year, it’s time to prepare for next season when our wonderful and diverse fleet take to the waters of Table Bay again. w w w. R C Y C . C o . z A

SaIL rcyc LocaL

AN ENDURING LEGACY

he Lipton Challenge Cup is arguably the most hotly contested keelboat sailing regatta on the South African sailing calendar. The magnificent 103-year-old trophy presented to the winner each year is celebrated in a fashion similar to that which one sees portrayed by the winner of any World Cup challenge. The Lipton Challenge Cup was presented by Sir Thomas Lipton to the then Table Bay Yacht Club in 1909 “for the purpose of encouraging yachting in South Africa, and especially in the way of friendly contests in sailing and seamanship in deep see yacht racing.” The conditions and rules governing this event are in the Deed of Gift signed by Sir Thomas. The Royal Cape Yacht Club appoint a board of trustees to ensure that the spirit of the agreement is followed at each staging of the challenge. The current trustees are Hylton Hale, David Abromowitz, Peter Bazlinton and myself, Michael Peper. The 2011 chapter of this regatta was managed by the 2010 winners, Knysna Yacht Club, who nominated Mossel Bay as their sailing waters for the event. Despite having no major title sponsor, the organising committee hosted an event that many have described as the best Lipton yet. Mossel Bay produced a mixture of sailing conditions that tested all the competitors’ sailing skills. The light conditions experienced on the Monday resulted in the rectangular race finishing in the dark. The on-water scrutineers decided to check navigation lights that evening with some interesting findings. Many of the boats had no lights, some only had partly working lights, with one boat having red on starboard and green to port! Club That said, the racing was extremely 1st False Bay Yacht Club competitive with five different winners 2nd Knysna Yacht Club over six races (even Transvaal Yacht Club 3rd Transvaal Yacht Club managed to win a race). The last race

started in cold and rainy conditions with Team Intasure having to beat the defending champion, Team Colorpress, by two positions. Despite crossing the line in second position they achieved the desired distance from Team Colorpress. Who can describe the emotions on the Team Intasure L26 as they anxiously watched the TYC boat and then the Navy boat cross the line ahead of Colorpress. It was close – a few boat lengths to be exact! Well done to Andrea Giovannini, Markus Progli and crew on finally dethroning Greg Davis and crew who have won this event for the last five years. The prizegiving was hosted in the magnificent Maritime Museum alongside the replica of the caravel – a light Portuguese sailing ship developed in the fifteenth-century. In 1987, this replica boat commemorated the original voyage of Bartholomeu Dias in 1488 by sailing the same route from Portugal to Mossel Bay. This awesome setting is going to take a lot of beating as a venue for a yachting event prizegiving. (Many thanks to the museum for making this iconic venue available for the closing ceremony.) Nobody wanted to leave the venue and eventually had to be coerced out to attend the after party at Mossel Bay Yacht Club. The mayoress of Mossel Bay enthusiastically invited everyone to return in 2012 but this, unfortunately, is not going to happen. The trustees have taken cognisance of comments made by many of the competing teams regarding the class of boat to be used for this

Results

w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

Boat Intasure Marine Insurance Colorpress TYC Lipton Cup Challenge

Skipper Andrea Giovannini/Markus Progli Greg Davis Ewald Sternagel

PHOTOGRAPHS TREVOR WILKINS

Born from a desire to encourage competition 103 years ago, the Lipton Challenge Cup remains the most prestigious race in South Africa. By Mike Peper

Opposite page: The fleet of L26s with the majestic Outeniqua mountain range in the background. Top: Intasure leading the fleet, including defending champions Colorpress, to the bottom mark. Above, right: Winning team Intasure: (clockwise from left) Andrea Giovannini, Penny Alison, Ian MacRobert, Nic Baigrie, Markus Progli and Oliver van der Pitte.

event in the future. After canvassing eligible clubs around the country, it has been decided to confirm the L26 as the boat of choice for the 2013 and 2014 events. This will hopefully encourage more L26 owners to invest in their boats and compete in the event. Having done this, the trustees also recognise that a new boat is required to elevate this event to the next level and will be approaching boat manufactures and sponsors to achieve this goal. The trustees believe that this regatta should be ranked alongside the most prestigious one-class keelboat events staged around the world. A more competitive and exciting boat is expected to attract a younger sector of the yachting fraternity, and hopefully a significant sponsor. The formula for this challenge cup is clearly defined in the Deed of Gift and will be followed as decreed by Sir Thomas Lipton. A trophy is awarded each year to the crew with the youngest average age below 21. The number of teams qualifying for this award will be a measure of the success of any new initiative adopted. The next event will be hosted by False Bay Yacht Club – the winners of the 2011 challenge. The organising committee, under the leadership of John Leslie, are excited about hosting the regatta and have the planning well in hand. The close proximity and involvement of the Navy allows any competitor unlimited and free access to the sailing waters, craning and boat storage facilities until the first race on Sunday 19 August 2012 to prepare and train. The Royal Cape Yacht Club will, as usual, enter a team to challenge for the cup. Several potential skippers and crews have approached the club to be considered as potential entrants. RCYC’s top team will be selected by means of a sail-off. The Lipton Challenge Cup is here to stay and, as long as that magnificent trophy is around, there will be teams of yachties from around the country competing to bring it back to their clubs.

Pay it forward The importance of giving young sailors a chance. By Andrea Giovannini, co-skipper of 2011 Lipton Cup winning boat I started sailing when I was 12, doing one of those learn to sail programmes at Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club on an old rented Optimist. At the end of the season you needed to buy your own boat, and back then Optimists came from Europe and were very expensive. Coming from a non-sailing family, my folks were not that keen on buying one. On the last day of the learn-to-sail programme, there was a notice up for a crewing position for a Mirror – if you weighed less than 30kg. I phoned up the helm who was Trygve Roberts (who now sails a Pacer 27 competitively at RCYC). He was known as Mr Mirror because he used to win races by a couple of legs. I sailed with Trygve for two years and he taught me all the basics that I use every time I step on a sailboat. After crewing with Tryg, I bought my own boat and ended up sailing Mirrors for two years, finally doing a world championship before joining the rest of my mates on the Dabchick class. After Dabbies, I bought an Extra and sailed every dinghy I could beg borrow or steal from Sonnets to Fireballs and everything in between. I had my Matric dance near RCYC, and ended up going there after the party, where we witnessed Ian Ainslie win the Lipton Cup! From that day on I wanted to win that event. I was friends with Duncan Mathews and I begged his dad to lend me his L26. We did our first ever Lipton when we were 18 and finished fifth. After that I started helming Sensation, the L34 owned by Rigard Munnik – we had some amazingly competitive years in this caravan of a boat. It is intriguing that so many of South Africa’s top sailors came from sailing that boat – Mark Sadler, David Rae, Seraaj Jacobs, Davie James. Pretty unbelievable that all this talent came from a locally designed and produced L34! I went overseas for a couple of years, and when I returned the super-talented Markus Progli and I started SailPro, to encourage participation in sailing, particularly at school level. The Lipton Cup was always in the back of my mind, and we teamed up to do a campaign to win the event. We were given a three-year sponsorship deal by Intasure Marine Insurers and a boat by Chris Lee, the former commodore of False Bay Yacht Club. The first year we finished third, then second and, finally, last year we became the Lipton Cup winners, a dream that has spanned 10 years. And we will certainly attempt to defend it this year. w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

SUNSET SAILING

The Puma Twilight Series offers a cool cocktail for sailors looking for some fun racing. ByÂ Toni Mainprize

w w w. R c Y c . c o . z a

SaIl local RcYc

PHOTOGRaPHS luke scott, kirsten veenstra

hether it’s a sunset cruise or a highly competitive round-the-cans race, the Twilight Series offers something for everyone. With their substantial new sponsorship, Puma has come on board for the 2011/2012 Twilight Series, bringing with them an exciting, bold, new branded look for the club, and the promise of great prizes each week after racing. There is huge anticipation for the start of this different and unpredictable two-part, 18-race summer sailing series. Mid-week twilight racing has become a worldwide sailing phenomenon and is as popular as ever at Royal Cape Yacht Club. From 4pm every Wednesday, the RCYC team work hard to welcome visitors to the club, aiming to place each one as a guest on a yacht for that evening’s race. The visitors are typically hoping to get a taste of what it’s like to sail in Table Bay. Generally they have very little to no experience. The club and the marina come alive with sporty-looking men and women, and talk of the direction and strength of the wind that they may be going out in. Of course summer is the season for infamously strong south-easterly winds, which leads to one of the most controversial decisions of the day: to sail or not to sail. The race officer and the sailing office must make the call – normally met with rolling eyes from the hardy racers if racing is cancelled, and glazed eyes from the conservative cruisers if they’re sent out in strong winds. This is the one time the club has an open door policy, allowing non-members to experience the thrill of sailing in Table Bay and to enjoy the camaraderie of the bar post-race. If visitors discover it’s their thing, RCYC has a unique, affordable Twilight-only membership. For the past season, in addition to Puma as a new sponsor, owner/ skipper Irvine Laidlaw of Cape Fling donated new racing marks (Milnerton, Woodbridge and Paarden Eiland), and there was a new starting line up for the beginning of the October to December series. Briefly, the very mixed fleet of 65 boats was divided into five divisions, with Division 1 and 2 being split into spinnaker and non-spinnaker. This led to a new start line up of four separate start times, five minutes apart, reducing the number of boats crossing the line in each division. Another new addition was a small finishing buoy, lying inside the normal Number 10 finishing mark, bringing the yachts closer to the bridge and easing the job of the bridge team to correctly identify and record as many as 60 yachts crossing the line in the space of 30 minutes! Each member of the sailing committee takes a turn to serve as race officer. With the support and advice of RCYC resident race officer and sailing administrator, Ron Keytel, the aim here is to give the fleet a good hour or more of varied, well planned courses. The main challenge is course-setting for a fleet of five divisions, which are dramatically varied in speed and competitiveness. At RCYC, the race officer sets the course on arriving at the club in the afternoon, but only once the bridge team reach the bridge hut can the conditions be determined – often demanding a last minute course change. As a result, the courses are only read out from the bridge hut VHF radio some 20 minutes before the first start. The first part of the Twilight Series consisted of nine races, with only two cancelled races due to the strong south-easterly. Basically a very good season and we couldn’t have asked for a better finale to the first half of this Puma Twilight Series. Part Two, from January to March, saw the vicious south-easterly winds cancel three of the nine races. This didn’t seem to dampen enthusiasm, as we recorded approximately 700 sailors participating over the series. Confidence grew among some teams, seeing bold moves and expensive damages to on board equipment. Although this is a fun series, the only way to keep it safe is to sail by the rules, meaning the odd “cowboy” on the water still needs to read the rules.

Winners – Part one Division 1 Spinnaker – 12 boats Southern Storm Division 1 Non Spinnaker – 18 boats A-L Division 2 Spinnaker – 8 boats Lapwing Division 2 Non Spinnaker – 11 boats Celine 4 Division 3 – 16 boats Far Med

Harry Brehm Robert van Rooyen Alan Keen/Jennifer Burger Volker Vierhaus Vitor Medina

Winners – Part two Division 1 Spinnaker – 14 boats Windpower Division 1 Non Spinnaker – 17 boats A-L Division 2 Spinnaker – 9 boats Lapwing Division 2 Non Spinnaker – 10 boats Spectrum Division 3 – 18 boats Spirit of Victory

Rick Nankin/Phil Gutsche Robert van Rooyen Alan Keen/Jennifer Burger Andy James Michael Paddick

The second Puma prizegiving brought the highly successful Twilight Series to a close, with a large number of smiling winners sporting their new Puma sports bags and clothing around the club. Big thanks to Puma for the generous prizes for the first three teams in all divisions. One of the more humble benefits that come out of a well sponsored event likes this, is the pleasure in being able to hand over a cheque to chosen fundraising communities. Community Chest and the National Sea Rescue Institute were our worthy chosen recipients of R15 000 each from the boat owners’ entry fees. The dramatic range of ages, professions and sailing experience that is brought together for the Twilight Series is a unique and intoxicating mix that can only be found at RCYC on a Wednesday evening. w w w. R c Y c . c o . z a

TIDES OF CHANGE

With new boats, new owners and some major refurbs making waves in the IRC arena, we bring you some inside info from key players.

optImIsIng cape flIng and BeYond

By Mike Giles Having been with the Cape Fling programme since its arrival in Cape Town in 2010, it’s been a steep learning curve for all onboard. She proved to be a difficult boat to sail to her rating in 2011. Upwind, she battled to hold any lane with a boat to leeward, and could not extend on the target True Wind Angles (TWA) downwind, making it nearly impossible to win races. Even after near perfect races, the overall result was minutes off the pace. The team had to go back to the think tank. Some major changes were needed. After performance analysis, the fundamental problems were upwind. It was apparent the boat did not have a high VMG upwind mode, and down speed after tacks she tended to lose leeway. In addition, there was scope to refine deck systems, making gear changes quicker, saving seconds that add up to minutes around the race course. It was felt the B&G package was under-utilised and skills transfer from a top navigator was needed. Get that right and the boat had a good chance to do very well. With North Sails 3Di technology more advanced, the upwind inventory was improved and new spinnakers added to cover the key angles. The main sail luff curve was redone and the mast retuned to match. A new keel was designed, built and shipped to Cape Town while the hull underwent modifications at Jaz Marine for top side fairing. Deck system modifications (which included a new main sheet system), new main traveler system, new Genoa sheeting position (to sheet closer to the five degree sheeting – similar to new generation TP 52 style boats) and some other minor changes were also done. One of the bigger changes included a new front hatch to aid the powered spinnaker takedown system. The boat has powered winches, so harnessing the ability to hoist and lower spinnakers quickly would be key to gaining additional seconds. The new keel was fitted and later moved to a forward position, which meant a more bow down trim that favoured the IRC rating. 28

w w w. R C Y C . C o . z A

Role out 2012, and Cape Fling was ready for the season. International sailors including America’s Cup Alinghi helmsman Peter Holmberg, Mike Toppa of North Sails Florida and US navigator Matt Wachowicz were flown in to set the benchmark for local crew. The net result? The boat finished off the 2012 season with easy wins on both handicap and line honours in the Mykonos Offshore Regatta. However, it was felt Cape Fling had been optimised to her full potential. It was time to look at getting a newer, lighter version in the 46 to 52-foot mark. The challenge here being: to find a boat faster than Cape Fling around the race course; have a proven track record; sound construction and an improved IRC rating. The chosen design was a Ker 46, being built at McConaghy’s in China. It seemed to tick all the boxes. The boat is modelled on the 46-foot Tonnerre, designed by Jason Ker for Dutchman Piet Vroon, and is sailed extensively in the UK. McConaghy’s have been building top-end race boats for the past 20 odd years and were competitive in the bid. Jason Ker was the designer of Shosholoza, South Africa’s America’s Cup entry. The new boat is expected to arrive in October and be ready for the latter part of 2012. If she is as good as the numbers predict, she should be a very competitive boat to sail around Table Bay. The crew is still mostly locally based, yet there may be guest appearances by key players to impact and raise the local level.

SAIL LoCAL RCYC

PHOTOGRaPHS Nick DaNa – volvo oceaN race, supplieD

IntroducIng a whole new class

By Nigel Clack About a year ago, RCYC club member and good friend of mine, Joe van der Westhuizen, suggested I buy his Beneteau 35 so I could introduce my grandchildren to sailing. I tentatively agreed. However, before we could put pen to paper, Joe had swapped the Beneteau for a set of tooling (moulds) for the Reichel Pugh 37. He “advised” me I was now going to own 50 percent of this tooling set-up and that we were going to build a boat each and attempt to start a one-design class. This has now come to pass and we are both very excited, and also very much poorer. These boats will be launched at RCYC as this magazine comes out. We hope this will be the beginning of a seriously fun one-design class. The rating rule is encouraging good upwind and relatively heavy displacement boats. This boat is an off-the-wind flyer with scant respect for the rating rule. We both have little inclination to go around the course at seven knots and win on handicap. We want to go 25 knots – whether it’s to Mykonos or Rio! It’s the same boat that Rob Meek won the Rio race on a few years back. It has been reworked in as much as the underwater foils were radical and are now more conservative to suit old codgers like ourselves. We have built in a permanent bow prod and the boat will use asymmetrical kites, so no spinnaker pole gybes. The entire construction is carbon, as are the mast and boom. The total displacement is 3 400kg, of which the keel weighs 2 040kg, so a

ratio of 60 percent will make this boat stiff upwind and very fast downwind with the new foil design giving us good control. The sails are also carbon, so we’re all black above the decks. It looks pretty cool.

w w w. R C Y C . C o . z A

“Extensive experimenting has resulted in a much larger suit of sails, but the results speak for themselves” – Patrick Holloway

unveIlIng vulcan

w w w. R C Y C . C o . z A

earnIng her racIng strIpes

By Patrick Holloway A new British boat on the start line, DHL Speed of Yellow, owned by David Munro and skippered by Patrick Holloway, is causing a lot of talk and predictions in the IRC Division. She is a standard production J133 cruiser-racer built in France, but is heavier than the standard boat due to having had an unfortunate grounding soon after launching that required her to be shipped back to France and rebuilt. The 43-foot yacht had been shipped to Cape Town from the UK for the Cape to Rio Race – but instead of returning her to the UK from Rio, the decision was taken to bring her back to South Africa. Jacana, as she is registered, was in need of some work and, in particular, racing sails. DHL came to the rescue by way of a branding agreement for the boat. The boat was re-named Speed of Yellow and launched in October 2011. She’s difficult to miss in her bright yellow livery out in Table Bay. A great deal of research and experimenting has resulted in the yacht having a suit of much larger sails than she had when she first arrived in South Africa, but her results speak for themselves: fourth in the Spring Regatta; line honours and first overall on IRC and PHRF in the Double Cape Race; first in the Harken Round Robben Island; fourth in the Crocs Summer Regatta; and third in the IRC division in the Midsummer Fling Regatta. The core crew of Patrick, Erik Potgieter, Gary Dix, Jan Clavaux and John and Tim Jones have been sailing together for the last 10 years on numerous boats. From successfully winning major events on Six Pack, an L34 (later called Webber Wentzel Bowens), the J-122 Naledi, to very successfully campaigning the 40-foot racing yacht Gumption (later branded Crocs), and Vineta (the RP49), Patrick and his team have won just about every regatta and offshore event in South Africa multiple times.

PHOTOGRaPHS trevor wilkiNs

By Hylton Hale IRC racing in the past has tended to favour the heavier displaced boats in the 40-foot range. This starts to even out towards the grand prix racers as you get over 50 feet, especially in the case of the TP52s, which have enjoyed particular success under IRC. However, recently some out-and-out racers in the 40-foot range have started showing better form when converted or designed around IRC. For example, the all-new Carkeek 40, McConaghy 38, Farr 400 and the Ker 40 (not quite an out-and-out racer but still worthy of mention here) are all competitive under IRC – but they are also very pricey to import. This prompted my partner and me to look around for a 40-foot racer that we could convert to IRC and, hopefully, be competitive. The brief for us was simple: we are both Hobie Tiger sailors who enjoy the thrills and spills of F18 racing and we wanted to bring this fun element to our keelboat racing. With the demise of the GP42 as the Med Cup boat in 2010, coupled with the GP42’s Association not really transiting itself into a measurement fleet (mainly due to the owners focusing on the SOTO 40 as the replacement boat in the Med Cup), we considered this boat a viable option. With the help of Rob Sharp (of David Abromowitz and Associates), we started our search for a suitable GP42 that suited our budget. After hundreds of emails and thorough research, we finally narrowed our search down to two boats, both successful with overall wins in the Med Cup circuit, and both having been packed away at the end of their campaigns. In the end it was the shipping costs that decided the boat for us – the boat we chose was the most convenient one to ship to Cape Town, ex Valencia instead of Lanzerote in the Canaries. In South Africa, the GP42 is relatively unknown, but the interesting fact about the little sister of the TP52 is that all the successful GPs were designed by Cape Town yacht designer, Shaun Carkeek and his former partner Marcelino Botin. Shaun was also responsible for the designs of the successful TP52s in the Med Cup circuit as well as two Volvo Ocean race campaigns in Puma’s Il Mostro (2009/10 edition) and Team Emirates New Zealand’s Camper. At the time of writing this piece, our GP42, now renamed Vulcan has just been launched and we are about to go on sea trials. The only modification we have made for now is the addition of a 1.6 metre bowsprit and we will drop the use of spi poles. Some interesting facts about Vulcan: LOA 12.8 metres DSPW 4.2 tons Spinnaker sail area 185 square metres

SAIL LoCAL RCYC

future offshore champ

By Dale Kushner A brand new Jeanneau Sunfast 3200 was launched at Royal Cape Yacht Club in January 2012. The boat’s name is YOLO, which stands for You Only Live Once, reflecting the philosophy of my crew and I when it comes to our yachting. Why the Sunfast 3200? I was looking for a boat that could be sailed short-handed or fully crewed; was capable of good daily runs, with good accommodation below; that offered a nice, easy sail and that was fun to cruise; but was still competitive and easy to maintain. All of this within 32 feet, a size that I felt was appropriate for the sailing and crew availability here. In the end, there were various options, but none fitted the requirements better then the Sunfast 3200, a proven offshore boat overseas. The boat was designed with short-handed trans-ocean races in mind. Since the boat’s arrival, she has been fully commissioned, with proper sea trials and testing of equipment. YOLO has been fitted with sails built with the most advanced sail technology in South Africa. She is ideal for local and offshore racing, with a focus on medium- and long-distance racing. It is the intention to enter YOLO in all of South Africa’s premier offshore events. She is crewed by enthusiastic regulars.

gettIng to grIps wIth unleashed

by James Beaumont Since taking over Unleashed at the end of a very successful campaign, we have undergone a complete electronic and cosmetic refit and embarked on an incredibly steep learning curve. Given that Unleashed is crewed by a completely amateur crew with only a couple of us with any experience, this has been an interesting ride. Our primary objective is always to have fun, but at the same time to conduct the campaign as professionally as possible and to improve every time we sail. Needless to say we also aim to keep the boat and sails in one piece and managed the whole of last season without any breakages. Unleashed was essentially built as an offshore boat and so we will be optimising her for offshore and not for cans racing. All who have

the ongoIng corum “refIt”

By Jannie Reuvers and Tony Strutt Corum was originally a top Philippe Briand IOR design built by Beneteau for the French Admiral’s Cup team in collaboration with Chris O’Nial, an international expert in making boats out of composite materials. Launched in 1987, she was way ahead of her time and garnered top international race results. In 1989 Andrew Louw bought her, and Jan Reuvers skippered her until 1992. During this time, she continued to add to her wins locally. But in 1995, the boat was mothballed and spent 13 years in a shed in Blackheath, Cape Town. In 2008, the boat was given to a team of former Corum sailors (Jan Reuvers, Geoff Grylls and Tony Strutt) who planned to repaint and touch up soft spots, fit a new engine and go sailing. However, as time went by, the project grew into a full on rebuild. Eventually only the hull and rudder remained the same – Corum had a new carbon mast and carbon boom, a new keel transverse floor and girders, and a new keel. The mast was moved aft to increase the J measurement, and a new engine and instruments were installed.

sailed her will testify to the fact that she takes everything (and more) to sail her to her rating, and then you still need favourable conditions. Basically she loves to reach in medium to strong air and then she can sail to (and away) from her rating – not so much in all other conditions. She is easy to sail competently but tricky to sail fast, but no matter how you sail her she is always fun. We are planning to do as many offshore events as possible so we are installing a full interior to aid our long-distance rating. We are planning to enter the next Rio race but the trades don’t quite get up to the strengths where Unleashed revels on the point of optimal sail for a South Atlantic crossing so we are going to have to play around with the sail configurations and rating to try to get the boat into a reasonably competitive state for that race – it’s going to be tough.

A full set of state-of-the-art racing sails were made by Quantum Sails in collaboration with its international design team. All the headsails and the main sail are Quantum Fusion M Membrane sails built in Quantum Cape Town’s high-tech manufacturing plant. The fibre layout is carbon, Technora and Twaron laminated into a Mylar skin. Quantum sails in Cape Town is the only membrane manufacturing facility in Africa and exports these sails to all racing syndicates worldwide. Du Toit Yacht Design was commissioned to do all the naval architectural designs and modifications. This rebuild project lasted about two years. A new basic interior was fitted, but it appears that this has not favoured the hull factor much and, going forward, more interior modules may need to be added. Incredibly, with this 20-year-old ex-grand prix boat, the rating has hardly been affected. It would be in the interests of IRC management to look at these calculations closely to encourage more people to undertake the conversion from old IOR boats to competitive IRC boats. At present the boat is being sailed by a bunch of mates and former Wizard crew who are finally starting to get the hang of her. w w w. R C Y C . C o . z A

The Open Ocean 550 Sailing Catamaran, designed by Anton du Toit and built by Two Oceans Marine.

BOOM TIME

Despite tough economic times, the South African boat-building industry is alive and well, especially in the Cape. By Alex Petersen

pectacular as it may be, the Cape of Storms is probably more famed for its wrecks than for its inviting sailing venues. Against the fierce winds that can make sailing challenging in any season, the diversity and strength of the Cape’s marine industry comes as some surprise. Scattered through Cape Town’s industrial zones, the industry is vibrant, reflecting determination, vision and a passion for sailing yachts. Certainly for delegates of the International Council of Marine Industries Association meeting recently in Cape Town, it was an eye-opener. After visits to some of the local boatyards and lofts building sails and masts, delegates from countries around the globe were clearly impressed. “You don’t expect to find facilities as excellent as this at the foot of Africa,” said Finnish delegate Kim Orthen. “That is leading-edge technology,” said Orthen of mast-builders Southern Spars. Indeed, the spar-builders have invested considerably in both their plant and the advanced carbon equipment over the last decade, says director Nigel Clack. The firm builds masts for the 40to 50-foot race-boat market in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Now part of the Auckland-based international group, they build both alloy and the increasingly high-tech carbon spars – the latter growing to over 60 percent of production. Clack concedes that the market has been difficult of late. “The mid-market sector has been tough, but we are seeing small signs of growth in Asia and the US.” 32

w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

For the sail-makers, demand has been relatively stable: “We export over 70 percent of our production – mainly to Europe and the West Indies,” say Geoff Meek of North Sails, an affiliate of a leading north American loft. A substantial component of their exports is racing sails. Even in the current tough economic times, demand is firm. Although Meek says “things are not as hectic as they were during those crazy years a while back”. Rival sail loft Quantum Sail Design explores a slightly different market, with an emphasis on catamaran sails and sails for megayachts. Owner Jan Reuvers took the loft into the US-based Quantum stable after a visit there in 1998, and has since invested strongly in the group’s technology for the construction of filament-reinforced laminated cloth. All but a minor percentage of production is for export, and the loft scored a coveted Best Exporter Award in 2011. For boat builders, the mainstay of the export drive has been the extraordinary rise of popularity of cruising catamarans in the last two decades, and has been led by the production yard of Robertson and Caine. Starting in 1991, the yard initially focused on custom race yachts but switched to cruising catamarans to supply leading US charter company The Moorings. Gaining reputation for quality, and a number of design awards in the process, they were soon also supplying Sunsail, and forged a close relationship with Tui Marine, now the holding company for both charter operations. Their success has been

SaIL LocaL rcyc

The Leopard 44 built by Robertson and Caine in Cape Town. Almagores II, the brand new Southern Wind 102 DS – a Farr/Nauta design.

Southern Wind Shipyard in Epping Industria built the exquisite 110ft Thalima.

meteoric. Due to launch their thousandth boat this year, Robertson and Caine cats are now found at all of the world’s popular cruising grounds including the Med, the Caribbean, Australia, Asia, Tahiti and the Indian Ocean islands, with the Seychelles particularly attractive to South Africans. Advances in design and production techniques over the last 15 years have made cats both safer and faster, says Peter Robertson, the yard’s liaison director in Florida. The yard launches two or three catamarans a week, and is currently the leading catamaran exporter to the US market. May saw the launch their latest model, a sleek 48-footer, the design from naval architects Simonis and Voogd. A plethora of smaller local yards are also producing fine catamarans. The South African boats, says Craig Middleton of Quantum Sails, tend to be of more rugged construction, a view endorsed by designer Alex Simonis. “It’s more labour-intensive. There’s more lamination by hand, an aspect that gets lost when production is more automated.” Boat builders here are clearly aware of the seas their boats may encounter just on their home shores. Tough boats are the speciality of perhaps the Cape’s most unique yard, Jacobs Brothers in Grassy Park. Fuad Jacobs has been in the business for 30 years since he and his artisan brothers first built a steel, then an alloy, 45-footer for family use. It soon led to outside orders. Producing tough alloy cruising yachts, the yard has built

a steady stream of rugged boats for clients around the world. All the business, says Fuad, has been by word of mouth. He is currently finishing off a 49-foot Simonis-Voogd design that includes a bowthruster for Dutch clients. Success in the niche industry is tough, even precarious, and a number of firms have folded in recent years. Two Oceans Marine CEO Mark Delaney notes that with a volatile rand, boatbuilding requires stringent financial management. “Yachts are a big-ticket item, and capital-intensive, so inherently there is risk,” he says. Over two decades the yard has built a strong market for custom sport-fishing and sailing yachts locally and in Angola and Mozambique. But the real surprise of the industry, producing Fabergé quality, is Southern Wind Shipyard, tucked away in a quiet corner in Athlone Industria. The brainchild of Italian entrepeneur Willie Persico, the yard has produced some of the leading contenders in the world of luxury super-yachts for two decades. These boats are works of elegance and craftsmanship that turn heads in the most exclusive marinas of the Med and the Caribbean. A keen sailor, Persico takes an intense interest in the yard’s products. A recent offering is Cape Arrow, a 100-footer designed by world leaders Farr Yacht Design, with interiors by renowned Italian stylists Nauta. The yacht, incidentally, is a finalist in the prestigious Showboat Design Awards to be held in Monaco. Better than this is hard to find. w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

SaIL rcyc LocaL

Designs of the times If South African boatbuilders are still healthy in these tough times, it is also due to those eccentric characters the designers, who bring so much panache to projects. Essentially idea people, they are invariably full of enthusiasm. It was Angelo Lavranos, fresh from the New York office of Olin Stephens, the doyen of America’s Cup designers, who introduced “modern” designs to South Africa in the Seventies. First with the L26, of which a staggering 90 boats were built, followed by the L34 and Holiday 34, with 45 of each produced, putting one-class fleet racing firmly on our map. By virtue of numbers, the L26 is still the class in which the Lipton Cup is contended. Among Lavranos’s many race designs attracting international attention was Allied Bank, the boat in which renowned South Africa yachtsman John Martin contended the BOC race. Now living in New Zealand, many of his cat designs are built by Cape yards. Also producing striking yachts is Phil Southwell, whose designs included the Sovereign 54. With a centre-cockpit and cabins for guests and aft berths and cockpit for the working crew, his designs offered a new approach to owner-chartering. His catamaran designs include the popular Island Spirit, and the Maverick 40. Phil is based in Cape Town. A further impetus to racing came when Alex Simonis from Holland set up office in 1989. Joined by compatriot Maarten Voogd the pair have designed some stunning racing designs, including Broomstick a 70-foot IMS design that won the Cape to Rio Race in 1993. They have since produced a number of international award-winning catamaran designs for Robertson and Caine, and, in the race arena, the winning Nicorette designs in the Sydney-Hobart Race in 2000 and 2004. Innovation is key in their designs, including lifting keels, numerous design features on catamarans, foils on power cats, and, more recently, the use of a wing-sail on a 60-foot all carbon monohull, increasing sail efficiency by 20 percent. While Simonis remains Cape-based, Voogd is now based in the Netherlands to liase with production yards in Europe. In 2007 their 34

w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

44-foot design for Dehler Yachts won the European Boat of the Year award. More recently Simonis-Voogd have designed for Far Eastern Boats in Shanghai, and at the Shanghai boatshow in April launched a 36-catamaran for the local Chinese market. Also earning accolades in the catamaran design arena is Cape Town-based Anton Du Toit, whose initial skills were, incredibly, self-taught. An experienced and passionate sailor, when extended cruising as a teenager hampered his chances of university, Du Toit relied on libraries. “If you can read, you can learn anything,” he says. He worked with Angelo Lavranos for three years, later moving to the in-house design team at Southern Wind. He established Du Toit Yacht Design in 2001, and in 2007 was awarded the Disa South African Design Excellence Award. The latest arrival is Shaun Carkeek, who is currently opening an office here in addition to his Barcelona practice. After matriculating at Rondebosch, Carkeek dallied with architecture at UCT before deciding yacht design would be more exciting. Phil Southwell suggested Southampton, where Carkeek met Marcellino Botin, with whom he later formed a design partnership in Santander when they graduated in 1994. The Botin-Carkeek partnership has included some considerable success on the hot European TP52 circuit, including a TP52 design for Spain’s Prince Felipe, and also their first Volvo 70, the Puma entry in the last Volvo Race. “Designing a Volvo 70 was a huge learning curve,” says Carkeek, who notes that computers now enable an incredible synthesis of information from tank and wind-tunnel tests, so skilled programmers are essential to his practice. E The South African Boatbuilders Export Council www.sabbex.co.za E The Marine Industry Association of South Africa info@miasa.co.za

The Cape has a concentration of yacht designers – essentially ideas people, they bring panache and excitement to projects

This picture: Designed by Anton du Toit and built by Scape Yachts, the Scape 51 Day Sailing Catamaran, Quality Time, is used as a charter boat in the Caribbean and in the Med. Below: Angelo Lavranos’s designs have won races around the world, including records in the BOC Round the World Race with Allied Bank sailed by John Martin.

ONLY SAILing IS CLEANER We have taken smoke and smell out of our new D1 and D2 marine diesels. Particle emissions are down 50% and overall emissions comply with the world’s most stringent regulations. And the redesigned combustion chambers also contributes to lower noise. To get it cleaner and quieter, you need to hoist sails.

D1/D2-SERIES: 12-75 HP. ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE VOLVO PENTA GREEN COMMITMENT.

Prevailing spirit T

aking approximately nine months to complete, and crossing six of the seven oceans, we knew that when the world’s premier offshore sailing race came to town there would be a big show – but not without considerable input and assistance from the yachties at the Royal Cape Yacht Club. Some of you may recall an incredibly windy In-Port Race in the 2005 Volvo Ocean Race. You may also remember that there was no In-Port Race in Cape Town in 2008. So it was with a great deal of anticipation that RCYC was approached to assist with the 2011/12 race. Rear Commodore of Sailing, Hylton Hale, had already done most of the groundwork but invited me to assist with the marshalling. It was an opportunity I could not refuse.

PREPARING OURSELVES Regarding that In-Port Race, a member of the 2005 organising committee, RCYC’s Tony Fox (now immigrated to Sydney) commented: “On the start boat, approaching the first warning signal, there was two to three knots abeam Robben Island. We called the mark boat at 36

w w w. R C Y C . C o . z A

Paarden Eiland to propose a postponement, having unrolled the AP. Their reply was that they couldn’t talk, they had 35 knots and were trying to rescue someone!” That day saw lots of action, breakages, and even running aground at the wing mark off Milnerton, as the firstgeneration VO70’s struggled to manoeuvre their canting keels on the short course gybe. Ironically, a number of the marshalling rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RIBs) in that event also ran into trouble and needed to be rescued. It was a difficult event. Tony recalls that the detailed information and instructions – like the need to lay 55 anchored marks to define the racetrack (but only after the race officer had decided the exact course axis) – only filtered down very late. There were not enough mark-laying boats available, and too many ill-prepared marshal boats. Other issues like who was paying for what, and how was the money going to be reimbursed lingered, even after the show had left town – potentially exposing the club to unwanted expenses. To this end we needed a proper start yacht and umpire RIBs; marshals who understand sailing; and to involve the Navy’s resources if possible. We needed strong support from the sailing flag officer and sailing office.

PHOTOGRaPHS Amory ross – volvo oceAn rAce, trevor wilkins

Now in its eleventh edition, the Volvo Ocean Race came to Cape Town for the eighth time in its history. By Luke Scott

SAIL I n t e R n At I o n A L R C YC

Main pic: Wet conditions in the Southern Ocean aboard Puma’s Mar Mostro. Top: Groupama round one of the massive marks during the Pro-Am Race. Above: Telefonica ploughs through swell in Table Bay. Below: VOR crew prepare to leave the V&A Waterfront and their Cape Town stopover for the start of Leg 2.

THE BUILD-UP The first leg of the 2011/12 race had its fair share of drama. Yachts Azzam and Sanya were forced out on the opening night, with the fleet beating into a Mediterranean storm. Groupama 4 made a brave but costly move out of Gibraltar in separating from the remaining fleet to hug the West African shore, and became terribly unstuck in light airs. Camper had hesitated momentarily in following them, and backtracked to chase the others. This effectively left Puma’s Mar Mostro and Telefonica to battle it out for line honours, until Mar Mostro lost her rig in the middle of the South Atlantic. It took only five more days for Telefonica to reach Cape Town, but Mar Mostro was in for an amazing logistical race for time to make it to Cape Town in time for the In-Port Race and the start of Leg 2. The hype was growing in the build-up to the 2011-12 V&A In-Port Race. The three injured yachts were in a race against time to be ready…

THE BUSINESS END Both the In-Port Race and the Leg 2 send-off inshore course are design to take 45 to 60 minutes, to suit international media coverage. Providing w w w. R C Y C . C o . z A

Unmatched performance...

Composite Spars & Rigging / Components / Global Service To learn more, visit www.southernspars.com or contact Cape Town: +27 21 555 3470 ABOVE: Next generation Carkeek 40 and Farr 400 featuring Southern Spars high performance spars. Photo by Ingrid Aubrey

New ZealaNd deNMaRK palMa SoUth aFRica

FRaNce USa aUStRalia

Good Hope

Sailing Academy Established 1993

Competent Crew . Day Skipper . Day Skipper Theory Local Waters Skipper . Coastal Skipper Coastal Skipper Theory . Yacht Master Offshore Yacht Master Ocean

ghsa@iafrica.com www.goodhopesailingacademy.co.za Phone: +27 83 443 0706; +27 21 424 4665 at the Royal Cape Yacht Club, Cape Town

Get an international SA Sailing certificate and an ICC (International Certificate of Competence)

Our students sail the world

PHOTOGRaPHS Amory ross – volvo oceAn rAce

SAIL I n t e R n At I o n A L R C YC

an excellent platform for participation, it’s the closest that spectators can get to the action without actually being on board one of the race boats. Many members of the yacht club were identified or came forward to assist with the marshalling, volunteering their time, expertise and motorcraft. The volunteer marshal fleet consisted of mostly 18 to 20ft RIBS, with a couple of slightly larger rigid-hulled ski boats. There were 18 volunteer marshal craft in total. Race control had the use of a 45ft Leopard Cat from TUI Marine. With a giant time clock mounted to the deck, this was an impressive addition to the host port’s offering. The motorised cat provided an excellent platform for the race committee. In support, a high-powered “Pin Boat” followed the racing yachts around the course, with the Garmin and Hylton’s Ballistic RIB as the umpire boats. The NSRI were also involved with eight vessels on duty for medical and rescue support. RCYC provided Royal Cape One as the chief marshal vessel. We had the assistance of the SA Navy, who provided four fully crewed 30-foot Namakura class harbour patrol vessels. This formed the backbone of the marshalling structure, with the volunteer marshals falling in under the navy vessels, in four groups, namely Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta. Each group had a designated role and area in which to operate, lay marks and patrol. The chief marshal was free to roam between the zones to control the spectator fleet as the race unfolded. Armed and dangerous, well briefed, and with the fleet of four Namakuras, Royal Cape One, a Leopard Cat and an assortment of rubber ducks and ski boats, we went boldly forth to set up exclusion zones, marshal the spectators and to enjoy the racing. The chief marshal covered three radio channels simultaneously: race control, marshal control, and spectator fleet control. I ran the

spectator fleet channel, and was amazed by how effective it was having the spectator fleet keep a listening watch on this channel.

WRAPPING UP Was our involvement a success? I think the answer lies with all those who went out to enjoy the spectacle of these amazing boats.

Mar Mostro adopted by RCYC The competitors’ sponsors pump a massive amount into marketing, and none were more conspicuous than Puma, who took over town for their visit. Despite their nightmarish and well documented dismasting towards the end of Leg 1, they sponsored a big party at the club, with a Q&A session with Mar Mostro skipper Ken Read, and a lucky draw to step aboard the boat. Club Vice Commodore Mike Peper was one of the lucky ones. On his experience aboard Mar Mostro, Mike recalls: “Winning the trip on Mar Mostro was one of those wow moments in my life. I cancelled significant arrangements to be there. Once on board and beating at 14 knots you stand in awe of the ease at which you are moving. Then the command to hoist the big red monster with the jumping kitty cat emblazoned in the middle is given and Mar Mostro is suddenly flying off the wind at speeds in excess of 25 knots. That feeling of living on the edge, and possibly falling off, is suddenly all around and you don’t want it to stop. My respect (and envy) for the yachties who crew these wind machines around the world was lifted to new levels through this experience.”

Puma’s Mar Mostro enjoys perfect conditions with big winds, blue oceans and warm water.

w w w. R C Y C . C o . z A

SAIL R C YC I n t e R n At I o n A L

Team Abhu Dhabi back in the race in Table Bay.

When asked for comment, the Waterfront harbourmaster, Stephen Bentley, quipped: “Best behaved spectator fleet for many years”. Stephen counted the spectator fleet at 136 for the In-Port Race and 154 for the Leg 2 start, excluding the race management and marshal

boats. Stephen commented that RCYC did a sterling job on the marshalling, with strong leadership and good briefing to volunteer crew on marshalling boats. He also commended the port control staff as outstanding, by working with the race officials and keeping shipping out of the VOR race area, despite heavy traffic, while also providing 20-minute weather and wind updates to assist the race officer. The person responsible for marshalling the same subsequent event in Abu Dhabi was present aboard Royal Cape One to observe and experience our hosting, and the organisers requested our management template to emulate in the future. Assistant race manager, Simon Cardona, said: “The Cape Town stopover was a great experience. The local team demonstrated their skills in organising an event like this. The racecourse area got the best out of the sailing, as each race day was different in the sense of wind conditions. The marshal team showed how to work as one body and did a great job keeping the race area clear for the regatta. The people of Cape Town really showed their passion for sailing in welcoming the Volvo Ocean Race to their country.” Further than that, the race director, Jack Lloyd, was glowing in his praise of the event. Race CEO, Knut Frostad, was extremely pleased with the viewer ratings on the various media channels, and with the overall marshalling and general behaviour of the spectator fleet. RCYC Rear Commodore of Sailing Hylton Hale concluded: “This shows that with the members of our club, RCYC has the capacity to host and marshal a major international sailing event. Congratulations and thanks to everyone who was involved.” E www.volvooceanrace.com

Highs and lows as we go to print, RCYC’s Paul Willcox is sailing the Volvo Ocean Race with Team abhu Dhabi who have just won little late. When you get woken up you have to get out of your bunk no matter what because if you don’t you will be letting the team down. Plus there is someone waiting to climb into your bunk to get his rest.

What has been the toughest part of being a participant in the VOR? Getting used to looking after your body... Small things that happen to you when you are day sailing, for example a scratch on your finger, can become a big problem when you’re not going to be on land for a few weeks. Something like that can become infected very quickly and cause a lot of discomfort. Also the watch system can be hard at times. You don’t have a choice to have a quick 10-minute lie-in or to run a 40

w w w. R C Y C . C o . z A

What are the daily challenges that you face? The main area of concern for everyone on the boat is to make sure that we are all safe. A win will never be worth someone’s safety. Other than that, there are so many racing challenges – from trying to get the most out of the limited weather reports we get on the boat and finding the fastest route to the finish, to making it through a rain cloud without breaking the boat. These boats are powerful and it doesn’t take a lot to get caught out with the wrong sail combination up, even though it does happen from time to time. Then it comes down to limiting the damage and just getting through the situation.

What have you been surprised by on this race? The number of people who follow the race astounds me. It’s not uncommon to be walking to the base and people recognise and stop you to wish you luck. No matter the country.

Tell us something hard-core that we don’t already know about VOR. When we were in the middle of the Southern Ocean, the closest thing to us other than the other boats was a satellite – pretty humbling stuff!

What has been the lowest and the highest point on the race for you so far? The highlight for me was getting the call to take over from Junior (Andrew Lewis). It has always been a goal of mine to be a Volvo Ocean Race sailor and that day it all fell into place. The low point so far was not being able to sail around Cape Horn. But, as I said earlier, safety must always be the number one priority. The boat wasn’t fit to do the rest of the leg with the weather forecast we had and we had to make the call. There will be other races, and I will do my utmost to make it around the Horn one day. This much I swear!

Which of your crew mates do you most admire and why? I admire the whole crew. Everyone has a different role on the boat. They are not only working in their sailing positions but they also have expertise in other areas like sails, engineering, deck gear and the rig, to name just a few. We put these boats through a hell of a lot and so these areas of the boat need to be in top condition to be able to get us to the finish line. The guys on the boat are very clued up about keeping their areas in good shape and that takes a lot of hard work and a lot of sailing time and knowledge. They really are professionals.

PHOTOGRaPHS AinhoA sAnchez, trevor wilkins, iAn romAn

Leg 7 from Miami to Lisbon. Sail caught up with him en route.

Camper goes full tilt in the In-Port Race during the Cape Town stopover.

Lessons learnt By Di Hutton-Squire, VOR bridge Cape Town stopover The huge machine that is the Volvo Ocean Race arrived at the end of November 2011 to sail inshore races and a restart for Leg 2 at the beginning of December. Before the race officials even arrived, communication with race director Jack Lloyd and Steven Bentley of the Cape Town Waterfront Marina was established. The actual race officer on the start boat was Bill O’Riley with whom we had most contact. Doug Alison was the race officer from South Africa selected to help, with myself, Shereen Smith and Jimmy Melville to assist. The race committee boat was a large motorised cat, owned by TUI Marine with a suitable flying bridge from which we could operate. This made a huge difference to operations. Volvo also brought a timekeeper who co-ordinated communications with the fleet by VHF. On the bridge we could not see the huge IWC digital clocks placed at right angles for everyone else to see, so clocks had to be co-ordinated with these exactly, at GPS time. Everything had to be done to the second because of television time. This was not flexible so there was no time for any glitches in proceedings. The courses had been pre-discussed, measured, plotted and evaluated in the prevailing wind. The southeaster blew as forecast so the buoys were laid as planned. The Pro-Am courses were set reaching up and down the shore so that the boats could be easily seen from the land and the Pro-Am race courses were set in a V-shape to get maximum press photo opportunity. The practice day before went well and I was told to shout the time louder so that all could hear! The difficulty was shouting against the radio message going out to the fleet at the same time. Radio messages were sent to the fleet at certain pre-arranged times exactly so that everyone knew what was happening. Everything was very precise and done according to a prescribed schedule. The second leg start was carried out in the same manner with a short hitch around a buoy before they set to sea. What did we learn from all of this? Proper, professional organisation so that there is no doubt in anyone’s mind who is responsible is critical. Effective communications prior to regattas are essential, starting months beforehand. Getting the best personnel available for the job can only be done with adequate notice for jobs such as mark-laying, or timekeeping, so that efficiency is paramount – the person understands the importance and fundamentals of the job. Proper training is essential too. Lessons learnt should be documented and this information used for improvement. Equipment should be well maintained in between regattas to avoid last-minute rushes like deflating buoys. But communicating better – both on and off the water, particularly with the fleets – is paramount, so that everyone understands what is expected.

TOUGH

TANKS!

SUPER DECK TANKS From 150lt to 1000lt INT PH/FAX 617 5598 1959 www.turtlepac.com

Australian Made

GUTS AND GLORY

After two years of preparation and over 28 000 miles of competition, the South African team on Phesheya-Racing have crossed the ﬁnish line of the Global Ocean Race. By Nick Leggatt

w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

SaIL I n t e r n at I o n a L r c yc

PHOTOGRaPHS Oliver Dewar – GlObal Ocean race

he Global Ocean Race developed out of the Portimão Global Ocean Race, but this second edition started in Palma de Mallorca in September 2011, and then continued to Cape Town, Wellington, Punta del Este and Charleston, USA. The final leg of the race took us from Charleston to Les Sables D’Olonne, France. The fast-growing Class 40 fleet was selected as the class to be used in the race and all boats were to be sailed double-handed, although crews could be changed at stopovers. Something we’re most proud of is being the only team in the race to have remained intact for the entire circumnavigation. Notwithstanding our two seasons of experience, racing in the highly competitive European fleet, the Global Ocean Race has been a steep development curve for us and pointed out many features of modern short-handed sailing techniques that we have needed to work on and study carefully. The circumnavigation started with six entries. Phillippa and I were sailing aboard the oldest boat in the fleet, the proto-type Marc Lombard designed first-generation Akilaria Phesheya-Racing. Ranged against us were two near sisterships: Marco Naninni’s Financial Crisis and Nico Budel’s Sec.Hayai. Conrad Colman was sailing the updated second generation Akilaria RC2 design, Cessna Citation; while Ross and Campbell Field entered the Verdier designed Tyker 40, Buckley Systems; and Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron raced the Finot designed Pogo 40S2, Campagne de France. Leg 1, from Palma to Cape Town was been the longest in terms of time, if not miles, and included a wide variety of conditions, from the variable winds of the Mediterranean, to the Doldrums, to the westerlies

Opposite page: Cessna Citation with RCYC member Adrian Kuttel co-skippering during Leg 3 of the Global Ocean Race. Top: Nick Leggat and Phillippa Hutton-Squire sail into Cape Town on Phesheya-Racing. Above: Nick and Phillippa minutes after crossing the finish line. w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

SaIL r c yc I n t e r n at I o n a L

“Hours of working in the heaving stern of the boat in pitch darkness eventually resulted in one working autopilot being developed from the two broken ones and we continued racing” – Nick Leggatt south of Tristan da Cunha. In these conditions we suffered a few gear failures, including a broken prodder (bowsprit) and a destroyed masthead A2 spinnaker, which, together, provided us with a challenge to maintain boat speed and we arrived in Cape Town in fifth place. Leg 2 was the first full Southern Ocean leg of the race and the infamous Roaring Forties certainly lived up to their reputation. The start of the leg was delayed due to the southeaster putting on a stronger than usual display in Cape Town, and even once we got going it was not long before Sec.Hayai was forced to turn back with a broken mast, leaving five boats to continue on towards New Zealand. The Class 40 design really proved itself on this leg as we battled a couple of fierce gales in the high latitudes and it became clear that the level of competition had gone up a notch as we pushed the boats to their limits. The Class 40s are capable of speeds well in excess of 20 knots under spinnaker while on autopilot, even in the most trying downwind conditions, but the boats need to be very finely balanced and trimmed in order to achieve this performance and techniques for reefing and changing headsails need to be carefully developed and managed. We finished Leg 2 in fourth place. 44

w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

Leg 3, from Wellington to Punta del Este, started at the end of January with a 10-day beat into a fierce easterly wind. Once again the yachts proved themselves to be excellent sea boats but gradually the conditions took their toll on the crews and soon Buckley Systems retired when Ross Field injured his back as the boat crashed violently over a steep wave. Campagne de France followed suit shortly afterwards as there was no let-up in the extreme conditions. Aboard Phesheya-Racing we were forced to heave-to as first one, and then the other, autopilot stopped working in the huge seas thrown up by the remnants of a tropical cyclone that had spun out of the South Pacific and into the Southern Ocean. Hours of working in the heaving stern of the boat in pitch darkness eventually resulted in one working autopilot being developed from the two broken ones and we continued racing behind Cessna Citation and Financial Crisis. Rounding Cape Horn was a highlight in our circumnavigation with Phillippa becoming the first South African woman to skipper a round-the-world racing yacht past the famous landmark. In the end we took third place in Leg 3. Leg 4 was similar in some ways to the first leg, going from the Variables, through the south-east trade winds, the Doldrums and the north-east trade winds before crossing the Gulf Stream to finish in Charleston. For this leg we were rejoined by Sec.Hayai with her new Southern Spars rig. The completion on this leg was the closest of the race with all the boats finishing within 72 hours of each other, and the three first-generation Akilarias barely a day apart. We crossed the finish line in fourth place but scored third after Sec.Hayai was penalised for a crew change in the middle of the leg. The final leg was back across the North Atlantic with its springtime depressions and fast downwind sailing for the fleet before we return to Europe. We crossed the finish line off Les Sables d’Olonne on 9 June, securing third position overall, after 30 000 miles and 168 days of racing. The race has been a fantastic experience for us and we would like to thank the members of Royal Cape Yacht Club for all the support that we’ve received, helping to make this possible. We hope that our exploits have not only been entertaining but that they will inspire future roundthe-world short-handed campaigns. E www.globaloceanrace.com

Left: South African duo and RCYC members Nick and Phillippa on their four-year-old Akilaria Class 40, Phesheya-Racing. Above: Cessna Citation in the Southern Ocean during Leg 3, with RCYC’s Adrian Kuttel co-skippering with Kiwi Conrad Colman. Cessna Citation finished in first position in the Global Ocean Race.

Highs and lows Cape Town’s Adrian Kuttel, 41, won Leg 3 of the Global Ocean Race as co-skipper to 28-year-old Kiwi Conrad Colman on Cessna Citation. Below are his best and worst experiences of their gruelling Southern Ocean passage from Wellington, New Zealand to Punta del Este in Uruguay. By Di Meek

WORST The unnerving and

BEST My first ever rounding

totally surreal experience of being becalmed 18 days into the leg at 54S in uncharacteristically mirror-like seas for the Furious Fifties. We were helpless as our nearest opponents, Financial Crisis, bore down and stole our lead. Even worse, my fingertips had become quite badly infected from mopping up diesel. In desperation and with clenched jaw, I lanced each nail with the sharp knife blade of my trusy, but rusty, Leatherman and squeezed out the gunk – it was a doubly painful time for me.

of legendary Cape Horn at 56S. We were neck and neck with Financial Crisis with 70-knot winds and conditions just shy of cataclysmic forecast. We gambled on gunning it to outpace the storm. I had five hours at the helm topping boat speeds of 20 knots in breaking waves and 60-knot gales. Soaked and almost hypothermic, I only went below after a wall of water washed me clear across the cockpit. We rounded in pitch darkness on 22 February as the worst of the storm blasted in. It was a lifetime highlight for me.

BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN SHIP AND SAFETY THE SALVOR’S COMMITMENT As global salvage specialists, we work hard to help you anticipate and avoid the risk of incidents. But if an emergency occurs, we are even more determined to help you out. That is our commitment as a salvor. Bridging the gap between ship and safety, sometimes literally. Which is why we are on standby around the world, to act quickly and effectively and provide safety and support at sea. For further information please visit www.svitzer.com

SVITZER Salvage Africa (Pty) Ltd 2nd floor, Safmarine Quay, Clocktower Precinct, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town 8001. Telephone: 021-4086710, Fax: 021-4086138.

TAKING ON THE WORLD Royal Cape Yacht Club was honoured to be invited to the prestigious New York Yacht Club Invitational Regatta. ByÂ John Martin & Dave Hudson

w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

SaIL I N T E r N aT I o N a L r c yc

PHOTOGRAPHS INGRID HALE, ONNE VAN DER WAL, KURT ARRIGO

wenty-two clubs from 16 countries were represented at the New York Yacht Club Invitational Regatta, with each team sailing a Swan 42, designed to the NYYC specifications as their one design for the coming years. The RCYC team was extremely well received and cared for by the NYYC, initially in the written communication, as well as on arrival. The team was selected by publicised criteria – primarily based on being able to pay their own way, as well as on their sailing experience. The only exception, at my insistence was the inclusion of Wadi Xayimpi from Izivunguvungu as bowman. A trip to the NYYC in Newport, USA, including the charter of a Swan 42, is an expensive exercise. RCYC donated some funds and African Access Holdings, a wholly black-owned empowerment company, was the naming right sponsor, with Puma South Africa supplying all the team apparel. The vital main sponsorship was in recognition of our contribution to development sailing. African Access Holdings strive to give all South African’s the opportunity to participate at the highest levels in sport. And of the highest level this regatta certainly was. It’s not often that you get to a regatta that’s been thoroughly hyped up in advance, to find that the reality by far exceeds the promise. But the NYYC and their event organising committee achieved just that. The quality of the boats, the standard of race management, and the shoreside facilities and entertainment were superb. And in spite of its reputation as a yacht club with strong traditions of formality, the NYYC Flag Officers, members and staff could not have made us more welcome and at home in their club (although once or twice we were asked to change out of jeans or slip-slops, these being too casual attire for the formal and traditional clubhouse). As far as the actual sailing went, the crew had to work hard to get to know the Swan 42, and what it takes to sail it fast. Before the first race we had three days of practice racing to get to grips with the ‘42, and this was invaluable. However, most of the fleet had far more experience with the boats and initially we were well off pace.

Opposite page: RCYC’s entry in the NYYC Invitational Regatta. This page, top to bottom: The majestic New York Yacht Club seen from the water; the fleet does a sail past to the NYYC Commodore; the fleet runs down to the bottom mark.

w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

SaIL r c yc I N T E r N aT I o N a L

Apart from a disastrous OCS in Race 1 and a serious collision with an out of control port tack boat in Race 4 (they were disqualified by the jury and handed a rather nasty invoice by the organisers), we had a tidy series, becoming more competitive day by day. The RCYC team came together well – the mood on board was calm and businesslike, and the guys were highly motivated and a pleasure to race with. When the weather changed, with temperatures plummeting overnight, the race committee decided to send the fleet racing offshore for the first time. We headed out to sea extremely grateful for our Puma foul weather gear (although the Italians looked slick on shore in their Pradasponsored outfits, we doubt they had the technical kit to enjoy the icy offshore conditions). Although the wrong RCYC (the Royal Canadian Yacht Club) won the Cup this time, we represented our club well and were complimented by both the race officials and the jury for our good sportsmanship. We finished seventeenth overall. I feel desperately sorry for Nic Baigrie, our Lipton Cup winning bowman, who spent a lonely eight days in a NY hospital with a very serious knee infection, and, having had the considerable expense of getting to the USA, was unable to race with us. As unlucky as it was for Nic, his misfortune gave young Wadi, our team reserve, yet another great opportunity when we asked him to take Nic’s place on the bow. While Wadi doesn’t have Nic’s experience on boats of this size, he did a great job. It was the thirteenth major international event I have sailed with Wadi in my crew and, as always, he was a hit with everyone – the organisers, the media and our competitors – and a great young ambassador for Izivunguvungu, RaceAhead, RCYC and South Africa. We learnt so much from the event – NYYC was exceptionally well prepared and professional, and we are thrilled to say that RCYC has been invited back for the next NYYC Invitational Regatta.

Above: The RCYC team, kitted out in Puma technical wear and sponsored by African Access, sail to the finish. Below: The RCYC team from left to right – Hylton Hale, Martin Lamprecht, Gary Sindler, Carl Richter, Dave Hudson, Nic Baigrie, Wadi Xayimpi, boat rep Yahoo, Gui Verhoevert, Nicholas Mace and Colin Whitehead.

Lessons learnt By Ingrid Hale Communication is key From the day RCYC entered the NYYC Invitational Cup, the club and the team members received formal and detailed communication, which set the tone for the regatta. Invitations and letters were sent to us traditionally via the post on distinctive, elegant stationery. The high standards and professionalism of the event were immediately clear and the team knew what was expected of them at all times.

Organisation to a T The levels of organisation at this event were exceptional. NYYC’s seemingly effortless hospitality, for example, included two huge marquees on the lower grounds of the club. One was used solely for events – the welcoming and lobster dinners, various cocktail functions and prizegiving. The other marquee was our daily base-camp, which included a fanwear store, shoe store for sponsor Sperry Docksiders, and endless cups of real cappuccinos and espressos were available on tap gratis-vry. After sailing, cups of hot soup and toasted cheese sandwiches were served. 48

w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

Comfy outdoor furniture was set up for teams’ relaxation purposes. It was also our-after sailing watering hole. On the RCYC team’s side, organisation also had to be fine tuned. This included organising a house big enough for a crew of 12 plus a few partners (we stayed in what was originally a carriage house, built in 1876); organising transport for the group (two big Chrysler Voyagers); grocery shopping and laundry for the team; plus planning meals and making sandwiches with the correct filling daily for each crew member. To this end, the team was extremely thankful for the efficient skills of Deidre Mace.

Prepare for all eventualities When RCYC put a team together, the club knew we had a group of top sailors for our team but we also knew that we needed a reliable and capable reserve. On the flight over to New York, Nic Baigrie, our bowman, picked up an airborne virus that settled in his kneecap. Besides the pain, this landed him in hospital for a few surgeries and he

was put on strong antibiotics. Sadly, his dream to compete in this regatta came to an abrupt end. In stepped Wadi Xayimpi, our willing reserve. With his capabilities, charm and sense of humour, he soon won over the organisers and many of the competitors too.

Upholding tradition The team felt privileged to be part of the club’s traditions. Every day at the same time the American flag was raised on the tall mast on the main jetty. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing, took off their caps and remained silent for the time it took to raise the flag, at which time a cannon was fired to mark the occasion. Every evening at sunset the same routine was followed to take the flag down.

Dress the part When the NYYC says smart, they mean smart. Cocktail dresses with heels were de rigueur for the ladies and jacket and tie for the men. And when they say no jeans in the clubhouse this means in the regatta marquees’ too (as I found out soon enough).

Don’t let moisture problems get you down! Meaco DD8L Junior Desiccant\Dehumidiﬁers The Next Generation of Intelligent Desiccant Dehumidiﬁers

From Beginners to Yachtmaster Ocean, Start your Sailing Career or Upgrade your Qualifications. Sailing from Club Mykonos, Langebaan & Theory at Royal Cape Yacht Club.

Competent Crew Day Skipper Tidal Yachtmaster Coastal Tidal Yachtmaster Offshore Yachtmaster Ocean SRC VHF Radio Diesel Engine Maintenance Radar

www.yachtmaster.co.za skipper@yachtmaster.co.za Tel/Fax: +27 (0)21 788 1009 Mobile: +27 (0)82 088 7186

SAIL ROYAL CAPE YACHT CLUB

To view or download current and back issues, go to: www.issuu.com/sailrcyc PERFORMANCE

COMFORT

STYLE

INNOVATION

Leopard 44

VERSATILITY

SAIL

2010 Boat of the Year Best Multihull Cruiser Best Overall Import Leopard 38

ROYAL CAPE YACHT The latest addition to CLUB our award-winning family

SAIL ROYAL CAPE YACHT CLUB

2010 Asia Boating Awards Best Production Multihull Leopard 38

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2007 Boat of the Year Best Multihull Cruiser Leopard 46

2009/2010 Racing Season

T H E O F F I C I A L P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E R O YA L C A P E YA C H T C L U B

All the excitement from this season’s top regattas

Leopard 39

Improve your IRC rating

Leopard 46

Leopard 47 Powercat

Built by South Africa’s Robertson and Caine, Leopard Catamarans consistently delivers award winning yachts; making us the number 1 Selling Brand of Catamaran in Africa and North America, as well as number 3 globally. With the launch of the exciting new Leopard 44, we’re focused on our commitment to bringing you the best

catamarans in the world. Cruise Royal theLeopard Cape CapersLeopard 46 39 Leopard 44 abroad

W W W. R C YC . C O . Z A 00_Cover_RCYC.indd 1

Leopard 47 Powercat

Leopard 39 Powercat (July 2011)

+27 21 689 2704 | tracy.whitehead@leopardcatamarans.com | www.leopardcatamarans.com

VOL NO 2 | 2010/2011

Local & international sailing

2010/11 Racing Season

2005 Boat of the Year Best Multihull 40’ and Under Best Overall Import Leopard 40

W W W. R C YC . C O . Z A 7/6/11 1:17:02 PM

✓ Up to 80% reduction in running costs ✓ Energy saving intelligent controls ✓ 8 litres capacity at all temperatures ✓ Perfect for low temperature applications ✓ Ioniser to help clean the air ✓ Continuous drainage and auto-restart ✓ Simple Meaco style control panel ✓ Covered tank ✓ Just 39 decibels in low mode ✓ Warms the air by 10º - 12ºC as it dries you dream ...

C-Dynamics Corner of Elgin & Koeberg Rds Milnerton, Cape Town, South Africa Tel: +27 21 5553232 Fax: +27 21 5553230

... we supply

SAIL BLAZING Keep track of our Royal Capers abroad

Mike Bartholomew and his crew on Tokoloshe won Cowes Week Class 1 in 2011 and continued winning this year with the first series in UK, the Easter Red Funnel regatta. Skipper and owner Mike races with a well oiled and highly organised team which includes his son David, who is the “boat Captain” and prepares Tokoloshe faultlessly. He is the upwind trimmer and crew boss. Charles Nankin is the main trimmer. Both David and Charles grew up sailing at ZVYC and RCYC. Many of the young RSA sailors who spend time or live in the UK race on Tokoloshe so typically they will have a crew of 12 with about seven from South Africa. Hi-Fidelity, owned by Eddie de Villiers, represented RCYC at Les Voiles de St Tropez, first run 26 years ago as La Nioulargue. Every year, racing yachts get together in St Tropez in the south of France for the last big boat regatta of the season. This attracts the top boats from all over to race in five IRC classes, the Wally class and the Classic Boat Class. Hi-Fidelity was racing in class 3. Hi-Fidelity is a Hugh Welbourne designed yacht, 46-foot in length, that has recently undergone a major refit in South Africa with the intention to race in Europe. This regatta was her debut on the scene. The crew was made up mostly of RCYC members, with the balance being made up of a few Italian guys. RCYC’s Lord Irvine Laidlaw, the owner of Cape Fling in Cape Town, was also competing in the IRC one class aboard Highland Fling, and had South Africans Mike Giles and Jan Dekker as part of his crew. With over 300 boats competing, the parade of awesome racing machines was something quite incredible! Hi-Fidelity finished third in her class and Highland Fling won Class 1. The crew on Hi-Fidelity flew the RCYC Burgee as well as the South African flag high. asenathi Jim and Roger Hudson have been competing on ISAF’s Sailing World Cup circuit since May 2011, racing in Holland, Finland, Norway, Germany, UK, Australia, USA, Spain and France. Asenathi is the first African helmsman from southern Africa ever to have made an impact at this level. The duo have moved rapidly up the ISAF World Rankings, qualifying for a Gold Fleet final in the fourth leg of the World Cup circuit in France in April, and then earning themselves a place on the 50

w w w. R C Y C . C o . z A

South African Olympic team at the World Championships in Barcelona in May. Keep an eye on this duo at the London Olympics in July. adrian Kuttel and co-skipper Kiwi Conrad Coleman won the 6 000 nautical mile, third leg of the Global Ocean Race 2011/12 on Cessna Citation. For Adrian, getting there took months of physical and mental preparation: a rigorous gym programme and hours of working through various scenarios at sea to cope with the stress of exhaustion, lack of sleep, homesickness, and the physical discomfort of constantly being wet, icy cold, hungry and dehydrated. Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire completed the Global Ocean Race in June this year, finishing third overall and being the only team to stay intact for the entire 168 days of racing over 30 000 miles. Rick Nankin sailed the Scottish Series and the IRC Nationals overseas as trimmer on Mike Bartholomews’ King 40 Tokoloshe in 2011. They were first in IRC Class 1 in Scotland but “not as hot” in IRC’s – the standard was brilliant at that regatta and, although the result was short of expectations, it was still a good performance finishing fifth. Tony Norris was based in China at McConaghy Boats for eight months last year, training Chinese workers in composite boat building, including Pre-preg, Infusion and Vacuum bagging processes. With eight years of boat-building to his name, starting with the build of America’s Cup boat Shosholoza, he project managed the building of the moulds and the large components for the first two MC2 60 high-performance cruising catamarans. Made up of a port hull, port chine, bridge deck, starboard chine, starboard hull, port deck, starboard deck and coach roof, Tony and his team were required to make moulds for each of the components. Now back in Cape Town, Tony has just built a bow sprit for the GP42 Vulcan powered by Puma. Paul Willcox was selected for Volvo Ocean Race’s Abhu Dhabi team in 2011. He trained with the team in Abu Dhabi and Cascais, Portugal in 2011. This year he replaced Andrew Lewis on his first ever leg of the VOR from Sanya, China to Auckland, New Zealand and Auckland to Itajai, Brazil, then on to Miami, Florida. He is a permanent member of the team as helmsman/trimmer. The VOR ends in Galway, early July.

PHOTOGRaPHS Kurt Arrigo, Amory ross, oliver dewAr

SAIL I n t e R n At I o n A L R C YC

Ray van der Linde has been working at Chinese boatyard Hudson Yachts and Marine since February. He is running the painting programme for three gunboats (60ft high-performance cruisers), which includes everything from the faring and priming to set-up and then final painting. He is also doing all the cosmetic clear carbon work, from laminating the cosmetic layer through to clear coating the finished product. After painting he will be involved with the running rigging, ropework, and final sea trials. The boats are full carbon with a full interior using honeycomb core panels and veneer to save weight. The sails are all Quantum and the mast package comes from Marstrom. Previous high-tech gunboats have all been known to fly hulls. The boats in the Hudson boatyard are the first in the new series, with the first boat expected to launch in the next few months. The pre-decessor was the gunboat 66. The yardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plan is for Ray, and a fellow Kiwi, to train the local Chinese guys how to work with the materials, teach them the techniques and processes.

Clockwise from left: Mike Bartholomew and his crew on Tokoloshe; Team Abhu Dhabi; Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire did South Africa and RCYC proud at the Global Ocean Race; Adrian Kuttel on Cessna Citation; Asenathi and Roger celebrate their results at the Barcelona World Championships, which secured their place on the SA Olympic team.

w w w. R C Y C . C o . z A

RCYC RaCing CalendaR 2012/2013 Main regattas – Western Cape circuit

DAY

Offshore events

JULY

Club championships RCYC rating/IRC

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

MON

Fun PR events

OCTOBER

Short-handed series

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

2 Yachtport Overnight

SAT 1 MSC Week

4 IRC & Club Winter Series 5

MON

2 MSC Week

TUE

3 MSC Week

WED

4 MSC Week

10 Puma Twilight 1

7 Puma Twilight 5

5 Puma Twilight 9 – Prizegiving

THU

5 MSC Week

9 Women's Day

FRI

6 MSC Week

12 Cape Town Boat Show

SAT

13 Cape Town Boat Show

11 L26 Western Cape Champs FBYC 12 L26 Western Cape Champs FBYC 13

8 IRC & Club Winter Series

SUN

14 Cape Town Boat Show

SUN

Twilight Series

MON

TUE

6 Opening Cruise

3 Yachtport Overnight

1 Flag Officer's Team Race

10 Lion Of Africa Ladies Day Race 11

8 Dassen Island Rally 9 Dassen Island Rally

WED

17 Puma Twilight 2

14 Puma Twilight 6

THU

FRI

13 Winter Youth Regatta

SAT

14 Winter Youth Regatta

20 Harken Round Robben Island Pursuit 21

17 Kling Double Handed 4 – Prizegiving 18

15 Crocs Summer Regatta

SUN

15 Winter Youth Regatta

19 Lipton Cup FBYC

15 Double Cape Challenge RCYC – FBYC 16

MON

20 Lipton Cup FBYC

TUE

21 Lipton Cup FBYC

16 Crocs Summer Regatta Day of Reconciliation 17 Crocs Summer Regatta Public Holiday 18

WED

22 Lipton Cup FBYC

24 Puma Twilight 3

21 Puma Twilight 7

THU

23 Lipton Cup FBYC

FRI

24 Lipton Cup FBYC

SAT

21 Kling Double Handed 1

25 Kling Double Handed 2

22 Spring Regatta FBYC

27 Kling Double Handed 3

24 Legal Eagles Race

SUN

23 Spring Regatta FBYC

MON

25 Christmas Day

31 Puma Twilight 4

28 Puma Twilight 8

26 Boxing Day

TUE

24 Spring Regatta FBYC Heritage Day 25

WED

THU

FRI

SAT SUN

28 IRC & Club Winter Series 29

MON

TUE

w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

29 Double Cape Challenge FBYC – RCYC 30

29 30 31

SAIL CALendAR RCYC

DAY

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

PHOTOGRAPH ingrid hale

MON

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

1 Family Day

TUE

1 New Year’s Day

WED

THU

FRI

1 Workers’ Day

2 Champagne IRC & Club Bay Race

6 Seniors Race

4 Esprit d Corps - Simon’s Town 5

MON

1 Midsummer Fling Regatta 2 Midsummer Fling Regatta 3 Midsummer Fling Regatta 4

TUE

WED

6 Puma Twilight 5

6 Puma Twilight 9 – Prizegiving 7

THU

FRI

SAT

SUN

9 Double Handed 2

SAT

12 Club Bay Race

SUN

MON

TUE

WED

16 Puma Twilight 1

13 Puma Twilight 6

THU

9 Double Handed 3

1 2

10 Argus Cycle Tour

13 Double Handed 4

11 Champagne IRC & Club Bay Race

8 Portugal Day Bay Race

FRI

SAT

16 Club Bay Race

SUN

19 Harken Round Robben Island R 2 20

20 Champagne IRC & Club Bay Race 21

18 PPS Inter Professional Challenge 19

MON

TUE

15 Gordons Bay Gaul Regatta 16 Gordons Bay Gaul Regatta 17 Gordons Bay Gaul Regatta 18

WED

23 Puma Twilight 2

20 Puma Twilight 7

THU

21 Human Rights Day

FRI

22 Mykonos Offshore

SAT

26 Double Handed 1

23 Mykonos Offshore

27 Freedom Day

25 Double Handed 5

22 Double Handed 6

SUN

MON

TUE

WED

30 Puma Twilight 3

27 Puma Twilight 8

THU

31 Puma Twilight 4

FRI

29 Good Friday

SAT

SUN

MON TUES

Please note that this racing programme is provisional and was correct at time of going to print. This calendar is available to download from www.rcyc.co.za.

w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

1 2 6

seen at sea

Royal Capers know how to kick back and relax on and off the water 1. Team Docksafe. 2. Top right: Consul Leon Naidoo, Commodore John Martin with Consul General George Monyemangene at the New York Invitational Cup. 3. Gert Bam, Director Sports and Recreation, City of Cape Town, Mayor of Cape Town, Mrs Patricia de Lille and John Martin at the start of the Volvo Ocean Race. 4. Newly launched GP42, Vulcan, slips into the mooring on launch day. 5. Gerry Hegie celebrates his twenty-sixth birthday after a Wednesday night race. 6. Toni Mainprize, sailing events manager at RCYC, during the Volvo Ocean Race. 7. Oliver van der Pitte packing kites aboard Docksafe. 8. Crew aboard After You racing to the finish off Club Mykonos. 9. Alex Monat cruises past the fleet of Volvo 70’s at the V&A Waterfront. 10. Thunderchild anchored at Clifton fourth beach – a typical summer’s day outing in Cape Town. 11. Speed of Yellow working hard for a win. 12. Our sailing waters with Table Mountain as backdrop. 13. The RCYC pennant flying during the Midsummer Fling Regatta. 14. New York Invitational team mates Carl Richter and Wadi Xayimpi. 15. Gijs van Harten, 92, at the helm of yacht Lobelia. 16. View from the press boat during racing at the New York Invitational Cup, Newport, Rhode Island. 17. Girls racing during the Lion of Africa Ladies Day Race. 18. “Frenchie” sailed from Cape Town to Club Mykonos, Langebaan, in his custom-built craft. 19. CEO, Volvo Ocean Race, Knut Frostad, Rear Commodore Sailing, Hylton Hale and Publishing Editor-in-Chief of RCYC’s Sail, at the start of Leg 2 of the VOR in Cape Town. 20. Vice Commodore, Mike Peper, aboard his boat Storm.

9 14

10 15 17

w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

PHOTOGRaPHS trevor wilkins, kirsten veenstra, ingrid hale, adrian denn, di meek

sail social scene rcyc

3 4

7 8

11 18

w w w. r c y c . c o . z a

SAIL RCYC ANNOUNCEMENT

TALE OF TWO CITIES

Excitement is already mounting for the 2014 Cape to Rio Yacht Race – the longest continent-to-continent yacht race in the southern hemisphere. By John Martin

W W W. R C Y C . C O . Z A

Janeiro. For safety reasons there is limiting latitude of 37° 07’S. The title sponsor will be announced as soon as negotiations are concluded. We look forward to welcoming both local and international entrants to the Mother City and to RCYC, often referred to as “The Tavern of the Seas” for its warm hospitality. For further information and the notice of race, please go to the RCYC website www.rcyc.co.za.

PHOTOGRAPHS BRENTON GEACH

he Royal Cape Yacht Club is proud to announce the start date for the iconic Cape to Rio Yacht Race as 4 January 2014. This follows the re-establishment of the race in 2011 when there were 17 entries from six nations. Table Bay’s yachting boom was started by the first Trans-Atlantic Race from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro in 1971, which changed RCYC from a club with a small membership of around 300 to the present figure of 3 000. Largely due to the success of South African sailor Bruce Dalling in the 1968 South Atlantic Single-handed Yacht Race, the Springbok Ocean Racing Trust, together with Clube do Rio de Janeiro and in conjunction with the Cruising Association of South Africa, organised this first Cape to Rio. The organisers expected a fleet of 10 to 15 yachts but 69 entries were received! With Brazil as hosts of the World Cup later in the year and the extraordinary Rio Carnival taking place – the 2014 race promises to be a massive event. It will once again be hosted by the Iate Clube do Rio de Janeiro. As chairman of the organising committee, I expect a fleet of at least 50 yachts. To date interest has been shown from various quarters including Angola, Monaco, the Oyster Class Association, the navies of South Africa, India, Brazil and Britain, and obviously the RCYC’s IRC racing fleet, which has been notably bolstered in the last two to three years. Another big consideration for the organising committee is how to accommodate the highly successful Class 40 boats from Europe – discussions are ongoing in this regard. The race is open to monohulls in the IRC Division 1 and 2 fleets, as well as cruising multi-hull and monohull yachts. Yachts may either be double-handed entries or a crew of four or more. The course will be from the start line in Cape Town directly to the finish line in Rio de

Built by South Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Robertson and Caine

View the entire Leopard range online www.leopardcatamarans.com CAPE TOWN OFFICE: +2721 200 1825 | southafrica@leopardcatamarans.com Leopard 39

Leopard 44

Leopard 46

Leopard 39 power cat

Leopard 47 power cat