Durban Harbour
The first of the dinghy series in Point Yacht Club’s 2016 / 2017 summer sailing series wrapped up on Saturday.
For the second weekend in a row, light conditions tested the sailors as they took on an easterly course. Race Officer for the day, Kevin Bingham set a short windward leeward course for the yachts at the end of the yacht mole.
Topping the log in the Flying Fifteen class, Rear Commodore for Dinghies, Myles White sailing with youngster, Iain Bowman had a splendid time on the water, judging the light conditions well. They finished the series with 9 points after the six races. Second behind them was Laser sailor Campbell Alexander who swopped his usually smaller boat for the Flying Fifteen. Alexander finished just four points behind. Teaming up for this series, Hemraj Gokal and Jeremy Kriek did well finishing off in third overall with 19points.
Another newcomer to the Flying Fifteen fleet was Isipingo’s Zamani Mda who is a more familiar face on the larger keelboats, he crewed for the good doctor, Craig Campbell gliding in to fourth position.
A small fleet of Lasers joined in on the sailing and stalwart Robbie Goulden took the honours with wins in all the races. School-goer, Hannah Fokkens took second place having sailed well on the full rig ahead of Youth Nationals next month. Denmar Nel took the final podium position securing the third place.
In the Finn class, which has been slowly gaining momentum in its revival this year, Sean Keogh in a very relaxed manner cruised to victory winning all of his races. Just behind him, Keith Gregory took second place and another Laser sailor who has jumped class, Simon Musgrove took third.
Rudi Fokkens dominated in the Hobie 14 section, triumphing in the light conditions. He managed to stay ahead of Justin Butler and Wayne Smith, who had a few disappointments along the way with equipment failure.
In the youth category, James Butler sailed one day on the Terra but opted to stick to Hobie sailing realising he has somewhat outgrown the Terra. The two young Bowman boys also opted to sail in a different class for the final day. Baby Bowman, Scott placed second while his brother came third both sailing Optimists. Scott sailed with Trevor Gibb on the Mirror on Saturday and won that class in the Open section. Young Iain got some experience at the sharp end of the boat sailing with White on the Flying Fifteen where they won two of the races and finished second in the last race.
This weekend sees the Keelers hopefully heading offshore if the weather is good to take part in the Jonesy Sprints on Sunday.
For more info visit www.pyc.co.za or contact Amanda on 031 301 4787 to book your tickets.
Flying Fifteens
1 Myles White / Estelle Buys / Iain Bowman 9pts, 2 Campbell Alexander / Andrew Walford / Kees 13pts, 3 Hemraj Gokal / Jeremy Kriek 19pts, 4 Patrick Harris / Liam Harris 21pts, 5 Craig Campbell / John Oldfield / Zamani Mda 25pts, 6 Gregg Hurter / Jeff Rose 26pts, 7 Antony MacMillan / Lorna Daniel28pts, 8 Clinton Hendrie43pts
Laser
1 Rob Goulden 6pts, 2 Hannah Fokkens 12pts, 3 Denmar Nel 16pts
Finn
1 Sean Keogh 6pts, 2 Keith Gregory 8pts, 3 Simon Musgrove 13pts
Hobie 14
1 Rudi Fokkens 6pts, 2 Justin Butler 8pts, 3 Wayne Smith 14pts
Youth
1 James Butler (Terra) 11pts, 2 Scott Bowman (Optimist) 17pts, 3 Iain Bowman (Optimist) 18pts
Open
Hobie Tiger
1 Struan Campbell / Murray May 7pts
Hunter
1 CJ Milln / Charles Humphries / Iggy Terblance 5pts
Dabchick
1 Sean Hurter 7pts
Mirror
1 Trevor Gibb / Scott Bowman 9pts
