Royal Natal Yacht Club members Ricky and Brennan Robinson sailing with younger siblings Ryan and Michaela respectively represented South Africa in the Mirror World Championships sailed in Albany, Western Australia at the beginning of January 2011.

Ryan and Ricky sailed extremely well to finish fourth overall winning two races in the process. an excellent result in this highly competitive class of dinghy. In the process earning themselves the nickname of pocket rockets. Michaela and Brennan finished a commendable 16th in the 65 boat fleet, this after capsizing whilst lying third in the final race. All the siblings represented their country with pride and showed that they can compete at the highest level.

Three Royal Natal yachts are preparing to start the cape to Rio race on Saturday the 15th January. Hot favourite to take line honours is 'Prodigy" a high tech canting keel yacht owned and skippered by past RNYC Commodore Chris Frost. Chris has assembled a highly experienced and competitive crew for the race and they have been meticulous in the preparation for the race. After the race the boat is sailing to the Carribean to take part in the famous Antigua Week against the best crewed round the cans maxi yachts in the world.

Another Royal entry 'Ciao Bella' is a Simonis 35 sailed by the well known Robinson family. It is expected that this boat will be very competitive on handicap and the champion sailing family will no doubt drive the boat hard.

The third boat 'Leyna" sailed by owner Solly Heyns with Gerrie Boshoff on board with 5 previous races under his belt will be competeing in the cruising class.

With Ille de Trinidad being removed as a mark of the course this year all the navigators will be weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of sailing either north or south of the South atlantic high pressure system an area of notoriously light fickle winds. The race is set to test navigational skills to the utmost.

Follow the race on www.CapetoRio2011

Regional Play-offs: 12, 19 and 26 March
Finals: 23 – 24 July

SPAR KZN is delighted to be involved in the upcoming SPAR KZN U18 Regional Hockey Tournament that will take place at ten venues over the month of March at selected regional schools around KwaZulu Natal, with the finals be battled out in July at St Marys DSG.

95 Schools will be participating in the inaugural SPAR KZN Under 18 Regional Hockey Tournament taking place in ten regions around the province over three weekends of action packed field hockey. "It is fantastic for the growth of hockey that the tournament incorporates all standards of the game. The budding, up-and-coming players have the opportunity to play against the more accomplished players. We hope that the new tournament on the hockey calendar boosts the talent that we have in Kwa Zulu Natal to a far superior quality. Development in sport ties in with SPAR's promotion of a healthier living lifestyle!" enthused Neil Westerhof, SPAR KZN Marketing Director.

The ten finalists from each region will all go through to the finals. The finals will have two pools with the winner of each going through to grand finale that will be played on Sunday 24 July at St Mary's DSG.

"The concept is based on the successful tournament that has been held in Pietermaritzburg for the past nine years and sponsored by Parklane SuperSPAR, since 2006. " explained KZN School Girls' Chairperson Charmaine Koekemoer, "We are very pleased that the SPAR KZN Under 18 Regional Hockey Tournament is now reaching all the areas in our province, creating an awareness of the talent in the outlying areas. It is a first team tournament so we look forward to a fast paced competitive competition."

Under 18 hockey at its finest will be displayed at the SPAR KZN Under 18 Regional Hockey Tournament in March with the overall winners being crowned the KZN SPAR Team in this brand new hockey tournament.

Regional Areas Play offs and Dates

26 February: Northern KZN
12 March: North Coast, South Coast & E Griqualand
19 March: Midlands (x3); Durban & Kloof (4)

Regional Teams Participating
Tournament 1 (Unvoti & Othukela): Wartburg, Greytown, Hermansburg, Domino Servite; Estcourt, Esctourt CS, Ladysmith, Wembley College (8)
Tournament 2 (Hilton & Pmb North): St Anne's, TWC, Voortrekker, Carter, Howick, Grace College, Heritage Academy, Linpark. (8)
Tournament 3 (Pmb Central): Epworth, GHS, St John's, Alexandra, MCS, Eastwood; Russel & Treverton (8)
Tournament 4 (Northern KZN): St Dominics, Vryheid, Vryheid Landbou, Pionier, Pongola; Newcastle, Ferrum, Amajuba, Utrechet, Dundee, Sarel Cilliers (11)
Tournament 5 (North Coastals): Grantleigh, Eshowe, Mandini, Empangeni, St Chatherines, Felixton, Richardsbaai, John Ross, Christiaan School (9)
Tournament 6 (Sisonke & Ugu): Port Shepstone, Creston, Suid-Natal, South City, Scottburgh; Ixopo, Little Flower, Kokstad Coll, St Patricks, King Edward (10)
Tournament 7 (Dbn North): Our Lady of Fatima, Durban North, Stanger, Park Hill, Danville, Northlands; Crawford NC, Crawford La Lucia, Ashton, Hillview (10)
Tournament 8 (Dbn South): Durban Girls High, Eden College, Brettonwood, Queensburgh, Queensburgh Girls, Werda, Grosvenor, Mowat, Umlazi, Amanzimtoti; Kingsway, Dbn Academy, Kuswag, New Forest (14)
Tournament 9 (Dbn Central): Durban Girls College, George Campbell, Maris Stella, Ridge Park, St Henry's, Port Natal, Holy Family, Embury (8)
Tournament 10 (Pinetown/Kloof): St Mary's, St Benedicts, Gelofte, Hillcrest, His Church, Kloof, Pinetown, Thomas Moore, Westville (9)

For more info contact Les Galloway on 083 783 7425.

Ciao Bella crewed by the Robinson family is pictured here setting her course for Rio in the Heineken Cape to Rio yacht race currently taking place. The winds are proving to be trickier as they head towards Rio. The Robinsons are country members of the Royal Natal Yacht Club and are representing the Durban club in the magnificent ocean crossing event. The family is made up of Mom and Dad, Gillian and Mike with their children Ricky, Brennan, Ryan and Michaela-Mae and cousin Bradley. Ryan has recently competed in the Mirror Dinghy World Championships in Australia and after achieving two first places claimed fourth overall. Ten year old Michaela-Mae is the youngest member in this year's fleet in the Heineken Cape to Rio race. Brennan and Ricky both represented Royal Natal Yacht Club in the recent Lipton Challenge down in Cape Town.

Pic by Brian Plumpton

Robinson Family Tames the South Atlantic
By Rob Taylor
Inland sailor Mike Robinson is taming the South Atlantic in the 2011 Cape to Rio yacht race.The 35ft Ciao Bella has made steady progress on its westerly course to Rio and now lies in third place on handicap behind Dale Kushner's Xtra-Link and current leader City of Cape Town , skippered by Gerry Hegie. Robinson, who has his entire family on board, normally does his sailing from the Boskop Dam in the North-West province and entered the race after numerous requests from his three teenage sons Ricky, Brennan and Ryan. The Simonis 35 completed 210 nautical miles after yesterday's 24 hour run.

But it was Yachtport SA, skippered by Dave Herman, which had the best run (224,6nm), followed by City of Cape Town (219,7nm) and Xtra-Link (216,8nm).The 54ft Prodigy, skippered by Durban yachtsman Chris Frost, still leads the race for line honours but could only manage 215,9nm, while the other maxi in the race, the 63ft Grand Filou II, clocked 205nm.Prodigy is now 2,072nm away from the finish at the Rio Yacht club, City of Cape Town 2,144nm and Grand Filou 2,161nm.

Despite having a spinnaker torn to shreds in only 17 knots of wind, Prodigy still managed a 24-hour run of 221 nautical miles yesterday, which extended her lead for line honours in the 2011 Heineken Cape to Rio yacht race. Despite that effort the 54-foot hi-tech maxi, skippered by Durban's Chris Frost, is still languishing in eighth place overall. Gerry Hegie's City of Cape Town still leads the race on handicap and clocked 213nm yesterday. Prodigy and City of Cape Town were the only boats to exceed 200nm, with Grand Filou II reporting 187,5nm, Xtra-Link 179,2nm, Yachtport SA 177,1 and Ciao Bella 174,4nm. Cape Storm had a disappointing run of only 150,5nm, which also saw her drop back to fifth place. Mile Robinson's Ciao Bella remains in second place on handicap, followed by surprise mover Perie Banou II, Xtra-Link, Cape Storm, Spirit of Izivunguvungu and Yachtport SA.

Perie Banou II, skippered by Australians Jon and Andrew Sanders, briefly led the race last week and with her shrewd choice of sails has again capitalised on her low handicap rating. Sanders, 71, currently on his eighth circumnavigation of the world, has seen some remarkable things in his time. Always diligently recording his voyages in his log books, he has onboard during this Cape to Rio race his log book from 1976, when he first navigated the world and competed in the 1976 Cape to Rio race in his previous yacht Perie Banou 1. Onboard with Jon this time is his nephew and co-skipper Andrew, navigator Brian Caldwell and Cape Town resident Hannes Scheepers. Says Jon: "In 1976 we had no electronics, we relied solely on taking fixes on the sun and stars twice a day. We reported every day to Cape Town via HF radio. These days we do have GPS for positioning but I always like to have the backup of being able to navigate by sun and stars should the systems go down. I am also very pleased to again be reporting each day with Cape Town radio via the HF.

The other yachts have satellite e-mail these days but we are doing it the same as wedid in 1976." Caldwell, who was the youngest person at the time to sail solo around the world in 1996 as a 19-year-old, is plotting and planning Perie Banou II's course in this race.Says Jon: "It is remarkable reading the log from 76 and comparing it to now. Our course plotted by Brian is very similar and we are currently a little in front of where we were at the same time in the race in 76. The winds are similar too, ranging from light to moderate and at times up to 30 knots in squalls with moderate seas. We even saw whales in the same place as we did in '76!" Prodigy has cleared the halfway mark to Brazil and is 1,423nm from Rio, City of Cape Town 1,507nm, Grand Filou II 1,590nm, Cape Storm 1706nm, Xtra-Link 1719nm and Ciao Bella 1,740nm.