The South African Race Ahead team sailing a 2004 J/109 charter boat, Jeroboam, have won the highly competitive J/109 class, adding to last year's impressive Laser SB3 class win, writes Sue Pelling/CWL.
J/109 Jeroboam (Photo:Rick Tomlinson)
This super-hot team from the Royal Cape YC, is part of the South African yacht racing and human development initiative team founded by father and son team, David and Roger Hudson a couple of years ago. Race Ahead's objective to help young people with talent recognise their potential has really proved successful with now two impressive class wins, in different classes two years running.
According to David Hudson, the aim of the week was to train for the Commodore's Cup and get used to the boat: "We are the small, third boat in the South African Commodores' Cup Team, and considering none of us have ever been on a J/109 before it was a really good opportunity to get to know the boat."
The other interesting fact was, up until now, the boat had been a fairly average performer and the owner of the boat was considering selling it. "The owner was surprised at the results, he said the boat was a pretty average performer until now. The mainsail is four years old, and used during the windy Fastnet in 2007. Also, one of the head sails we were using is the original 2004 sail."
Hudson said that initially the Foundation candidates, who are from townships in the Cape Peninsula, were brought to Cowes Week to learn and gain experience but they are now fully-fledged, comfortable sailors. Hudson continued: "It is a great experience for them and for me, it is great to sail with them. We are the ones who taught them initially but now we learn from them, which is brilliant.
SA Race Ahead Team (Photo: Julio Graham)
"They have improved leaps and bounds since last year, and shown really impressive improvement. Since last year they have been focusing on their dingy sailing back home, and doing a limited amount of sailing on bigger boats. They are key members of the team and they really are strong."
Chatting about the racing, Marlon Jones, who is a Race Ahead student, commented: "I learned a lot this year and will definitely be back next year. Wadi Xayimpi (bowman) added: "I joined the Foundation a few years ago after I was introduced to sailing in 2001. I was immediately hooked. I started at helm and them migrated to foredeck. It's quite a tough job so I have to keep fairly fit."
The team is now preparing for the Commodores' Cup and learning all they can about the Solent. They say competing at Cowes Week was the best Solent training they could have had but there's still plenty to learn.
Tactician Mark Saddler said: "The Solent is a tricky place to sail so it has been a steep learning curve this week. We are used to sailing in strong breezes and not much tide. We had to get use to the area, a lot of current, and sailing in shallow water. It's been quite interesting, especially sailing a one-design fleet where you have 30 boats tacking up a lee shore, trying to stay in two metres of water. It was all very interesting and good fun."
The idea to run the 2010 Nationals piggy backing onto a major Cape event was the brainchild of Phillip Rentschler, a long serving crew member on Regent Express. The idea was bounced around amongst the crews at DAC during the 2009 Nationals and seemed to find favour with everyone. The brief was to squeeze the nationals into a three day regatta by adding one day of cans racing ahead of the Mykonos Offshore allowing the tandem regattas to finish simultaneously on the Saturday afternoon. An additional emergency day was tagged on after the event, just in case more races were needed, but as things panned out, everything worked out to perfection.
The advantages of running the nationals within the Mykonos Offshore, were many – not least of which was that the Pacers could also compete for places and prizes in the Mykonos event. As things turned out, the competitive level amongst the Pacers was so high, that four of them went on to clean up the top places in the Mykonos event. Looking at the crew lists of the competing boats there were names like Dave Hudson, Davy James, Alan Lawrence, Andrea Giovaninni, Finn de Haan, Marcus Progli, and Rob de Vlieg – just in case anyone thought this would be an easy event to win.
Thursday 18th February started off flat calm and a one hour postponement, but by 11h00 a pleasant 8 knot westerly graced the bay allowing race officer, Ron Keytel, to set a windward/leeward course right next to the imposing new Cape Town Stadium. There was port bias on the short line, which resulted in a bit of a squeeze there. Felix had a good start, heading off for the left side of the course, whilst Regent Express went out on the right to find themselves rounding 5th at the weather mark and a lot of catching up to do. Felix opened a nice gap and pulled ahead, leaving the lesser spots to be fought for amongst the rest of the fleet. Regent Express made up some ground on the downwind legs to finish 2nd ahead of Pacer 3, but the competition was very, very close. Even the tiniest mistake would result in the immediate loss of a place or two. The boats were exceptionally evenly matched. Unmatched missed the first race.
We were scheduled for four back to back races and with Felix setting the pace for race 1, the rest of the fleet needed to look a bit sharper. For Race 2, which started promptly some 10 minutes later, the breeze picked up a notch to around 12 knots and clocked around towards the south west, putting even more port bias on the line. Again the left side of the course paid with the whole fleet heading over that way. This time Felix did not have things their own way, having to go back after being called OCS. Pacer 3 were getting the hang of the boat and rounded first followed by Unruly, Sebago and Regent Express, last named who took a different downwind line to the rest of the fleet, sailing higher angles. It paid off for them as they almost stole first place from Pacer 3, who had a spinnaker wrap after their gybe, but a broach right on the finish line caused Regent Express to marginally miss being first. The race was won by Pacer 3, followed by Regent Express with Music Sebago taking 3rd place. Felix finished 5th.
For the third race, the breeze had cranked up 18 knots and a short delay had the course and start line being reset as the breeze had shifted another 15 degrees to the south. The fleet started cleanly - off a much squarer line, with Regent Express in a good position on the windward side of the fleet, but it was the wily Rob de Vlieg who found the right gears to sail Music Sebago into first place, with Unruly and Pacer 3 taking up the number 2 and 3 positions. Disaster struck for Felix just after the start when their headsail halyard broke giving them a DNF. Unmatched also suffered gear failure and retired from the race. It became evident that the heavier crews had an advantage in the fresher breeze. After three races we had three different boats all taking a bullet, making for a very tight set of results. Pacer 3 managed to sail over their spinnaker just after the finish of the race resulting in a full on dreging operation and nice tear for their troubles.
Another 10 minutes break and with a solid breeze of around 22 knots, race 4 was started. Again the fleet got away cleanly, with Pacer 3 showing good boat handling to round the top mark first. Downwind speeds were fabulous in the flat water around Green Point, with Regent Express exploiting their high/fast groove to make up places steadily and finish a close 2nd behind Pacer 3. Unruly crossed in 3rd place.
It was a tired and weary bunch of Pacer sailors who headed back into the harbour for a few cold beers and hot showers with the results being very close and no clear cut winner. Pacer 3, Regent Express and Unruly were each separated by only 2 points each.
The route for the 2011-12 race is now set and the first port of call will be Cape Town, South Africa, making its eighth appearance as a host.
This marks the beginning of the port announcement process with the rest of the course due to be revealed before the end of March. "We have received port bids from many different cities, each with their own cultures, specialities and challenges," said CEO Knut Frostad. "We have taken our time to evaluate carefully over 80 bids from ports around the world who wanted to host the event, before making our decisions.
"As we continue to improve and lift the bar for our stopovers, it is great to have Cape Town onboard sharing the same vision and ambitions."
Leg one from Alicante to Cape Town, a distance of 6,500 nautical miles, is one of the longest in the race and historically, the team that wins this leg has gone on to claim the overall trophy. In the 2008-09 race the eventual race winner Ericsson 4 took 21 days, 17 hours and 54 seconds to complete the passage.
“We are delighted that after a year of negotiations, Cape Town has once again been selected as the first port of call in this prestigious ocean race. As the past few stopovers have proved, the race is a superb platform to achieve business tourism and sporting objectives for Cape Town and the Western Cape” said Bruce Parker-Forsyth, CEO of The Volvo Ocean Race Cape Town Stopover and Worldsport, the project management company behind the last four stopovers.
For Cape Town, hosting the 11th Volvo Ocean Race/Whitbread will be the biggest event following its staging of the FIFA World Cup of football. Over two million tickets have been bought for the World Cup, which takes place throughout South Africa in June this year.
Pieter Cronjé, Director of Communication for the City of Cape Town said "Cape Town is proud to be the Host Port for the exciting and spectacular Volvo Ocean Race 2011 – 2012. Cape Town is a maritime city and growing events capital. This announcement will provide destination marketing and economic benefits beyond the staging of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
"The 2008 race stopover generated an estimated total economic impact of R308.15 million for Cape Town and the Western Cape. The tourism destination marketing exposure for Cape Town was estimated at R77.45 million. Local communities were also involved in the stopover through volunteer programmes, student internships, community days and a local craft exhibition." The V&A Waterfront will be a perfect place for shore crews to prepare the boats for the next test in the race, There will be a full schedule of sailing ahead of the start of leg two, including the in-port race series and pro-am racing.
The European ports of call for the Volvo Ocean Race in 2012, including the finish port will be the next to be announced and the entire route is set to be revealed before the end of March.
The Mauritius to Durban race 2010 edition is full steam ahead. The event will start in Grand Baie, Mauritius, leave the islands of Reunion and Madagascar to Starboard, and finish at the finish line off Durban, South Africa, a race distance of approximately 1690 miles.
The Warning Signal, for the start of the first class in the Race, will be made at 11h55 SAST on Saturday 4 September 2009.
The event will be under the management of the organising committee appointed by Royal Natal Yacht Club (RNYC), Point Yacht Club (PYC) and Grand Baie Yacht Club (GBYC).
The race will be open to IRC yachts eligible under Royal Ocean Racing Club’s IRC handicapping system or a Racer/Cruiser Fleet for mono-hull boats, which do not have IRC certificates, both of which may be divided into classes at the discretion of the Race Committee. The racer/cruiser fleet will utilise the South African Sailing KRS (Keelboat Rating system) for handicapping. All yachts are to have a minimum length of 10.0 metres.
The official website of the Mauritius to Durban yacht race is http://www.mauritiustodurban2010.co.za/ The following official race documents are available on the site for download: Notice of Race Entry Form Safety Requirements. In addition there are feature articles that appeared in SAILING and SA Yachting magazines for every race since its inception in 1895. These make fascinating reading as they not only cover the races in depth, but also bring back memories and mention the names of well-known yachties who may now have hung up their sea boots, while mentioning boats which could now be anywhere in the world and which were once household names.
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?
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.
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