Harbour: Saturday 3 February
One race was completed in the first day of the Holburn Class Champs hosted by Point Yacht Club in the bay on Saturday 3 February.
Race Officer for the day, Kevin Bingham started the second race but had to abandon it due to the wind dying off completely with the sailors having to paddle home.
After a hugely successful Nationals held recently, 10 Lasers made the effort to be on the water in the light weather. Jerome McLoughlin took the win, with South Coaster, Rowen Clark gliding into second followed by Jan Larkens. Larkens was a regular feature in the Laser lineup a number of years ago, but moved to the Middle East for work. Since retiring and moving back home he is making the most of his sailing opportunities. Fourth was the ever keen sailor, Gregg Dodson who resides in Madagascar and is back home on holiday, spending as much of his free time on the water as possible.
Two Flying Fifteens were on the water with Rear Commodore of Dinghies, Myles White and his partner Estelle Buys staying ahead of the father and son team of Dominic and Marco Collett. This is the first time since the Flying Fifteen Nationals that the Collett duo have been on the water, Dominic sporting an almost healed head wound from his incident offshore where he encountered a pitch-poling Hobie 16.
In the multihulls, Justin Butler and Bill Ellens dueled on the water. Butler on his Hobie 14 and Ellens on his Halcat, Ellens just had the edge and took first place across the line.
White stated after racing, “We had a large contingent of our dinghy sailors head up to the Vaal to compete in the Guinness World Record attempt at the annual Round The Island Event. A number of sailors still in town were put off by the intermittent rain throughout the day but we are looking forward to this weekend were we hope for some glorious weather and inviting winds for one and all to be back on the water.”
This coming weekend sees day two of the Holburn Class Championships being sailed, with rounds three and four taking place in March. The Keelers will be wrapping up the Sigma Series which will be sailed offshore on Sunday. The big boats are looking to continue their spirited tussle in open ocean conditions, while the slower cruising boats will be simply enjoying their time on the water.
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