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If you have not checked out the progress BMWO Racing have made on their giant 115ft long 90ft wide "Deed of Gift" or DOG trimaran then you are missing out on a seriously cool machine.

Last week after breaking their 200ft mast they revealed a monster new hard wing sail - the biggest ever built! It was revealed, stepped and sailing the same day!

The whole 33rd AC is wrapped up in some prettey serious litigation at the moment but the chance of seeing the 2 teams race in ther 100ft plus multihulls will surely rank as one of the coolest events of next year - maybe the decade?

Check out the BMWO Team Blog here

Some great videos of the AC32 class cup boats in Nice, France. Click here...

Hi all IRC members, racing sailors and interested parties, Compliments for the season to you all, may this year be a good one for you.

We’ve all heard about the retirement of both Vineta and Gumption yachts from the IRC fleet in the South Atlantic Race! If you haven’t, consider yourself informed! Both had issues with masts. The good news is that everyone has returned safe and sound and a certain SA IRC Vice Chairman has failed in his escape plan!! (Along with a couple of others I know of!)

I have yet to be informed of the Western Cape IRC Fleets intentions for the sailing of the WP IRC Provincials. Our WP Rep and IRC VC is languishing in Walvis Bay looking at broken/missing masts, so I’m still assuming they will be held as part of Table Bay Week?

News from Durban……we have had a problem in the weighing of 5000kg + boats for the past 3 months. The Navy has always assisted us with their 50 ton crane, but this crane has been sent to Simons Town. Durban Navy has been left with a 15ton crane that will only lift 5000kg at the lift angle required. This did present us with a challenge for weighing heavier displacement yachts, but all is not doom and gloom. Both Sandy and I bumped into members of SAS Council at RNYC this past Saturday morning prior to one of their meetings. I “subtly” raised the Durban IRC weighing dilemma. I am pleased to announce that the SAS Council members present indicated that they would favourably consider assisting the IRC Class in the cause of promoting sailing. It was felt that the keelboat fraternity typically gets disproportionately less put back into keelboat racing in contrast to what we actually contribute.

Another possible solution mentioned by one of the SAS Councilors, is that he knows a fellow sailor who is involved with Crane Hire nearby Durban harbour. Introductions will be facilitated, and I shall keep you all informed of developments to this end.

Other than the above, our Class Association presently stands at 70 members (and that is only accounting for the owner of each IRC rated yacht. If we were to assume an average of 5 crew per yacht…we’re accounting for 350+ active sailors with a further 30 yachts that have not revalidated as yet this season. Another 150 odd sailors? Further to IRC Class membership, I am of the opinion (and this was discussed at the AGM) that we should consider amending the SA IRC Constitution to state that the helmsman/skipper (if not the owner) should also be an IRC Class member for entry into IRC provincial and national events. This is the norm in most class associations and the extra cost is not prohibitive to major campaigns, and this action will actually strengthen our membership data/input base into this rating system by “sucking in” more of our top sailors.

Derek Wilkes, Rear Commodore of the RNYC and myself made a lightning trip to Maputo last week to finalise dates and other issue for this years Vasco da Gama Race from Maputo to Durban.

The race start is Thursday 31 July 2008. The start time will be at approximately 15h00 - about one hour prior to high tide. I am also pleased to announce that Mozambique's cellular network, mcel has confirmed their sponsorship of the race for another year. With a fixed start date now things will move swiftly from here - so please have a look at the info provided. Below is a very general overview of how things stand at this point in time.

The Race
For those new to the race, it´s a 300 nautical coastal race with Richard´s Bay as a possible bolt-hole in adverse weather. The race has a big collection of magnificent trophies, with Clube Navale adding a new one this year. As an incentive for the Cape boats, this trophy will be presented to the winning Cape boat on handicap.

Anniversaries & Organising Clubs
The race this year is a very special one as is forms part of the Royal Natal Yacht Club´s 150th anniversary celebrations - and the 95th anniversary of Clube Naval. A special medallion is being struck to mark this occasion, and will be presented to all crew.

Royal Cape Yacht Club is pleased to announce that the VDO Viewline Table Bay Week 2008 regatta will take place between the 14th and 18th of May 2008. Please visit www.rcyc.co.za for more information, entry forms and notice of race.

South African organisation to overhaul Cape Town BoatBuilding Academy 

The Provincial Government of the Western Cape is providing the Cape Town Boatbuilding and Technology Initiative (CTBi) with grants and expertise to overhaul its boat training infrastructure, according to CTBi's February newsletter. CTBi is an associatin of boatbuilders in the Western Cape region.

"The Boatbuilding Academy at False Bay College is undergoing a true overhaul, and we look forward to offering you a new facility in July," read the newsletter. "We are doing everything in our power to address the previous shortfalls. The Academy will be run in a different management style, with CTBi as a partner in the daily running and strategic planning of the Academy." The newsletter noted that two new "skills managers," Glynis Taylor and Keith Davies, have been hired to reestablish the Academy within CTBi's framework.

The organisation is also recruiting lecturers and a manager to run the new Boatbuilding Academy from within the marine industry. (25 February 2008 - IBI Magazine)

This humerous personal account of the J/22 worlds written by Rob Watson. Enjoy!

For sailing pictures of the event click here. For general pictures click here.

The 2007 J22 World Championships, sponsored by Eikos, were held at Point Yacht Club between the 14th and the 21st of December. In reality, preparations started more than five years earlier when South Africa was successful in its aim of becoming the host country for the event.

For Steve Thysse and myself (respectively the skipper and midships on board J22 185, Windgat), the first thoughts of entering came to the fore during the 2006 J22 Nationals as we pulled our hapless foredeck, John Brownhill, from the water after he tried to make yet another unsuccessful bid for freedom during the challenging conditions. Little did we know at the time that the event we were working towards would be such an incredible experience and the comprehensive sailing lesson it turned out to be.

Thursday 13th December

Following a year of entering a variety of regattas across the country, our crew (now including the boy BJ Smit as foredeck) convened at Transvaal Yacht Club on the morning of Thursday 13th December at 4am. Being a fine and upstanding member of society, I was unaware that there was actually a four o’clock in the morning as well as the afternoon and was subconsciously paraphrasing Robin Williams from Good Morning Vietnam (what does the “o” stand for? O, my God it’s early) as I drove through the gate.

Windgat was standing ready to go on her trailer, looking particularly resplendent in her new livery courtesy of sponsors RSA, The Security Division of EMC, Tipping Point and Adaptive Mobile. Despite some less-than-helpful chuntering from the skipper (he’s clearly not a morning person), we got the boat hooked to the car and began the eight hour journey to Durban.

In spite of arriving at PYC with just three wheels on our wagon due to a Thysse-baiting bearing failure, the crew were in good spirits as we checked in with the organisers. As the boats were due to be put in the water at the Naval dockyard on the other side of the harbour the following day, a fateful decision was made to find the location that evening.

Finding the Ark of the Covenant may have been easier. As we proceeded to explore previously undiscovered parts of KwaZulu-Natal, desperation and dehydration began to set in. Finally, just as BJ and Steve were drawing lots to see who would be eaten first, we were lucky enough to be spotted by Dominique Provoyeur from the all-girl team of MACS. Not only is she Sailing magazine’s “Sailor of the Year”, she also possesses a directional acumen that would make Tenzing Norgay proud. This was shown by the ease with which she led us straight to the comprehensively hidden and clearly top secret Naval base...

Yet another Crocs sponsored event! The guys in Cape Town must be doing something right! The focus of the "ex" Table Bay Week regatta has shifted. Below is an outline of the new concept:

With the primary racing week shifting to May, the idea is to make the December regatta focus on fun and family sailing, based loosely on Antigua Race week in the Caribbean. We aim to make this attractive to racing as well as cruising boats and will include both IRC and Club Handicap. The main ideas which we would like to include in this new format are set out below:

• There will be no windward/leeward courses; instead we will sail to interesting places around Table Bay, much like the Bay Race at Club Mykonos.
• We will set courses in response to the wind direction on the day; the fleet will end up in locations such as Clifton Beach, Bok Point, Robben Island or Granger Bay. The fleet will raft up in these anchorages for lunch, swims ashore and a general demonstration of seamanship. In a south west wind, for example, we will finish off the beach at Clifton, anchor there for lunch then re-start there after lunch.
• We will set a course for the cruising boats and catamarans which is shorter and includes more reaching. The racing boats will do a longer course with some serious upwind work. Starting and finishing will be generally be done by the "Butt Cat" and the "Sea Princess" will be set as a distance mark.
• We will use both IRC and Club handicap and share the silverware equally. There will be a fun prize giving each day after sailing at the Club.

Social events will include a welcome party on Friday evening, a braai on Saturday evening and the prize giving on Monday evening. Crocs will provide their footwear product as prizes and sub sponsors will provide food and beverage.

Rob Meek
Event Organizing Committee Chairman
Regatta website for NOR, Entry form etc