The latest news from Dyllan in Panama:

What a crazy time the last while and where to start. We are still in Bocas del Toro in Panama. We have made such great friends here and we are constantly being asked to stay and offered jobs. Between working on the sale of the yacht we have both been doing odd jobs and keeping ourselves busy. We took another trip to Panama City to do some official documents down there and had a great trip.

Last week we had a huge tropical storm that hit the islands hard. The wind was blowing us around at 160km/h and the rain was pelting down. At 1am on Tuesday morning we got hit by a 6.8 earthquake! The ground shook violently, people were running down the main street in the storm in their pyjamas. The next morning it was chaos and to top it all we started getting super tides that were flooding the islands.

We lost power, cell phones and internet for 5 days and the storm continued. The roads that come from the mainland that supply all the food and fuel to the islands got damaged in the earthquake and then washed away in the floods. The tiny airport had damage to the runway so no flights. The town is now running out of food and drinking water. Power locally comes from a diesel generator that only has a day left then its in the dark. Lucky we are self sufficient as far as power so we are ok but we are also running out of food fast and there is nothing to buy in town. The ATM's has all been emptied so you cant get cash either. We cant drive or fly out of here and the storm is still raging so we cant sail out of here either! Not quite what we imagined for Caribbean sailing!

But we are fine and ok, there is still the odd tin of bully beef on the yacht that we have been avoiding but will dig into if we have to. We are sick and tired of the never ending rain and wind, everything is wet and you cant get it dry, but we will survive. We are missing home like crazy especially at times like this.

Send us all your news so we have something to read while we are stuck on the yacht. Hope you are all well and happy.

Sorry about all the moaning, we are still fine and happy and have loads of stories to tell when we see you. Its Thanksgiving here this week, it was supposed to be turkey and pumpkin pie, we will see what the Americans can do to celebrate their holiday with us. Attached a picture of our friends in the Cantina at the yacht club, you will see we hanged the SA flag proudly in the prime spot!

Miss you stacks

Dyllan

Two of Port Elizabeth's most popular bands from the 60's and 70's, Tank and the Tomboys, will join forces to appear at the next Stomp to be held on 29 November at the Algoa Bay Yacht Club. The band to be known as Tankboys or Tomtank will comprise of Geoff Good on vocal and percussion, Roy Pretorius on guitar, Cliffy Francis on bass, Cedric Lewis on keyboards and Jeff Siddel on drums. They will play nostalgic music from the 60's, 70's and 80's era.

The music starts at 7:30 at an entrance fee of R30. For more information call Cliffy on 0828811155 or Anton on 0825677404.

With all this financial talk buzzing around of how poor we are as a result of the worldwide financial crisis and how tight money is, one has got to stop and think that people will be cutting back on non-essentials and luxuries. Which normally means no more eating out and if push comes to shove, sell the yacht and resign from the yacht club.

Wouldn't it be great if we at ABYC had a rare sailing related artifact lying around that we could sell for heaps of money and with the proceeds give every member a holiday on their membership fees?

The only item of indeterminate historical value left over at ABYC from the fire, that I know of, is a Blue Ensign that came off of Scott's Discovery II, that took him to the Antarctic in 1910.

The Blue Ensign was first presented to the Zwartkops Yacht Club on May 12, 1934 by Admiral E.R. Evans, Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy in Africa Station.

Browsing the net and looking for some indication off what value we could place on the Ensign I came across a listing for a set of wall maps by the greatest Italian ancient Cartographer, Giacomo Castaldi, being sold by a New York Gallery for $850 000.00 - that's R8 540 386.56 at today's exchange rate.

Methinks that 8 MILLION bucks would buy us free membership for at least 10 years.

Anyone got a spare set of Giacomo Gastaldi wall maps lying around?

Original Giacomo Gastaldi Wall Maps Post

ABYC presents a talk and slide show by Colin Urquhart. Colin will be showcasing his book Algoa Bay in the Age of Sail.

Date: Monday 17th November 2008
Time: 6 for 6.30PM in The Chartroom

Booking essential at reception: 041 585 4058

Twenty Bucks

Share some Champagne, Coffee & Cake WIFF US

Comments

Find out more by clicking HERE.

Sign up to the forum and promote sailing by posting your comments after each Wednesday Social Racing Sail that we have. Let's show Port Elizabeth that we know how to operate a forum in addition to possessing the ability to sail around the world and navigate from beer to beer!

Your presence at a Special General Meeting of the Algoa Bay Yacht Club is requested.

Please download and VIEW the ELECTRONICALLY signed notification of Special General Meeting here.

The SGM will be held on Monday the 24th of November 2008 at 17h30.

The next Waterfront Stomp takes place this Saturday the 1st of November.

The Waterfront Stomp will feature the BAYSIDE BLUES BAND and TOMBOYS withy special guests Dave Bowler, Bruce Baldwin and Johan Harmse doing a Shadows and Cliff Richard tribute.

A special guest appearance by Gene Smith.

No table bookings so get to the Algoa Bay Yacht Club early for the 8:00 pm start.

Entrance is THIRTY BUCKS

Contact Cliffy on 082 881 1155 or Anton on 082 567 7404

Don't forget that the Summer Regatta is also on the weekend of the 1st and 2nd of November.

Enter for the Regatta on Friday Night.

After a successful meeting at the club on Saturday to discuss the photos for the 2009 club calendar, please note the following arrangement:

Each boat or group who wish to take part in the calendar must please contact Mike Jones independently and directly to arrange their photo shoot.

His contact number is 0832062656

He is available during the week and during the day.

We have approximately 2 weeks to complete the photo shoots.

Glynis Baer

2009 is ABYC's 50th birthday.

We are putting together a photographic club calendar.

This will be a fun calendar with a difference!!!

Gather your crew together and come to the photo shoot at 1300hrs on Saturday 25th October.

For those of you whom I have not spoken to as yet, please come and hear what its all about.

Mike Jones will be our friendly photographer.

If you have any queries, please contact Glynis Baer: 082 893 7905

The South African Ocean Racing Trust is again offering bursaries to promising young sailors to assist them in obtaining RYA (or SAS) skipper's tickets.

The Bursary Scheme

The South African Ocean Racing Trust wishes to invite applications for a limited number of scholarships to deserving individuals in order to assist them in obtaining SAS (South African Sailing) or RYA (Royal Yachting Association) approved Certificates of Competence ("skippers tickets"). The SAORT has allocated certain funds for this financial year for scholarships and intends to obtain the maximum number and quality of qualified individuals from this allocation.

Applications, in writing, should be addressed to The SA Ocean Racing Trust, 2 Guinea Fowl Close, Silverhurst Estate, Constantia, 7806 and must be received by the 31st October 2008. Applications must include the following details:

* Name
* Postal Address (and e-mail if available)
* Telephone number
* Date of Birth
* Details of course (name of establishment, approximate dates, description of course) and type of skipper's ticket to be obtained.
* Details of sailing experience and qualifications to date
* The future intended use of the Certificate of Competence
* Any other background that may be pertinent.
* A letter of support from the individual's club commodore, school principal or person of similar stature who is able to vouch for the individuals "bona fides" in applying for this scholarship

The SAORT will grant scholarships to individuals who in the Trustee's sole opinion are best suited to benefit from the scholarship and who hold the best prospects for supporting the SAORT's objectives of "the promotion and fostering of ocean and off-shore racing and sailing in any part of the world."

The SAORT is registered as a Public Benefit Organisation with the registered activity of "Sport" which is defined as "The administration, development, co-ordination or promotion of sport or recreation in which the participants take part on a non-professional basis as a pastime." Therefore bursaries may not be granted to individuals intending to use the bursary to further a profession or career.

Successful applicants will be required to complete the course and obtain the Certificate of Competence applied for within a 12 month period of the scholarship being granted. Failure to obtain the Certificate applied for may render the applicant liable to refund the scholarship in full. Payment of the scholarship by the SAORT will only be made directly to an established and recognised sailing school or testing facility.

The Good Hope Sailing Academy, Ocean Sailing Academy, Sunsail and Yachtmaster Ocean Services have all indicated their intentions to make special offers available to SAORT bursary holders.

The SAORT would therefore tend to support applications through these academies, or any other academy that is prepared make a similar offer, in order to achieve the Trust's goals of maximising the number and quality of individuals obtaining their Certificates of Competency

DA Ward 2 Councillor, Dean Biddulph has organised an online petition, Go to Petition Online to voice your opinion.

Or read more about his concerns about the Manganese Ore Dumps.

On Tuesday the 14th of October Russ, a cheesemaker from Jeffreys Bay and Kerry, a gorgeous wine connoisseur will be presenting a cheese and wine evening in the ABYC Chartroom.

SIXTY bucks gets you in from 6:00 p.m.

Kerry promises ovely reds and whites with sparkling wine to start and Russ will present soft creamies and smelly blues to taste with lots more to come.

Included in your sixty bucks is a meal of chicken schnitzels with trimmings courtesy of Mandy and Jan.

Booking is essential - contact Dee 041 585 4058

To attend the launching of Jellybaby at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday the 5th of October.

Kerry, Sean, Dion and Mike are champing at the bit to give Richard, Tony and Rob the hiding of their lives when they finally work out just where the pointy bit is.

Reverend Bob will be officiating at the launching ceremony and you can be assured that the FINES meeting will be interesting.

Received a couple of images from the SASEC East Cape Sailing Championships in Mossel Bay from young Andrew Finn:

Ronnie Baer and his merry men prepare for another hard day's work - raising flags, blowing whistles, sounding horns and other such mundane but essential tasks that ensure a GOOD Regatta

Part of the Mirror Fleet at the SASEC East Cape Dinghy Championships, in the Boat Park in Mossel Bay

The South African Sailing Eastern Cape Championships are being sailed out of Mossel Bay Yacht Club in Mossel Bay.

The championships started on Saturday the 27th of September and finish on Monday the 29th of September.

A record fleet of 120 entrants plus 14 novices are enjoying great sailing in Mossel Bay.

Three races were sailed yesterday in a variety of conditions.

The first race was in a West South West of 12 to 15 knots.

Then the rain made an appearance for the second race which was sailed in 20 knots.

A wind shift to the South meant that Race Officer Ronnie Baer had to shift the course for the third race of the day which was sailed in 16 knots of breeze.

Today looks like a hurry up and wait day with wind predictions of around 6 knots.

There are 85 boats sailing in the Open Fleet with 20 boats contesting in the Mirror Class and 12 each in the Laser and Laser 4.7 Class. The rest of the Open Fleet consists of Dachicks,420's, Sonnets, Laser Radial, GP14's, Fireballs and single entries in the 29'er, Dolphin and Finn Classes.

The largest fleet is the Optimist Class at 35 entries.

PROVISIONAL RESULTS AS AT 27 September 2008:

1. Optimist Class
2. Open Class

Glynnis received a whole series of photographs from a Wezandla client showing the destruction wrought by Hurricane Ike. More photo's on the Boston Globe site.

The image below is just begging for a witty caption so put your thinking caps on and leave your caption in the comments section:

After chatting to ABYC country member, Justin Dent, who is based in Chichester at the moment I had a look at the cost of Marina Berths in the United Kingdom recently, using a 32 foot boat as a yardstick.

The most expensive quote was for R6 890.00 per month on a twelve month contract in Swanwick Marina.

The least expensive quote was for R3 625.00 per month on a twelve month contract in Brighton Marina.

Whilst Chichester Marina works out at R4 365.00 per month.

There are close to two thousands boats moored on the Chichester Marina - do the math and you will get a monthly turnover figure of R8 728 275.00 - not too shabby for the marina owners methinks!

In the good old tradition of "flattery will get you everywhere" I felt moved to post this plea, despite knowing that our J27 Sailors are a competitive bunch who love their ride of choice to bits and would be hard pressed to part with them.

Tanzanian sailor, Paul Smithson is looking to purchase a J27 in reasonable good nick, should you know anyone wanting to part with their pride and joy tell them to contact Paul in one of the following ways:

p.smithson[at]bol.co.tz
+255 754 334455 (Tanzania)

Just how did Paul get me to move off of my fat ass and post his plea?

I am based in Tanzania and looking for a J27 or J35. I saw (from your excellent website) that there seems to be a number of active J27s in ABYC. I wonder if you would be kind enough to post this notice in case any of them are interested in selling?

28 September Follow Up: Received a note from Paul proving that little old ABYC in Port Elizabeth really does have the power to reach people in different parts of the world and put them together:

Many thanks for posting my advert. I have already had a response from Trygve Roberts, proud skipper of Smackwater Jack in Cape Town who has put his boat on the market.

This report from Kerry Bonnage:

On Sunday the Flamenca 26, Duette, with Kerry Bonnage, Sean Wiseman, Dion Millson and Mike Van Wyk, set out into the bay to do some training for Spring Regatta. The wind was 18 to 25 knots South West swinging to West South West.

As we got just beyond the harbour entrance we gybed and headed out into the bay. Just then Sean suggested we do the Bell buoy dash. Without hesitation we hardened up, got the weight out and trimmed on just in time to make the transit start line, stop watch set and we're off.

Tight reach all the way to the Bell with Russell's "chaser" doing what it does best, chasing but sailing a lot higher. After spinning out a few times, wrong head sail, we do not have a number 2 and I was not going for the number 3, we rounded in under 30 minutes (28:04).

A good tight rounding saw us fetching back for the finish. Playing the swells as much as possible we managed to get a good couple of surfs in.

As we watched the "Chaser" trying to harpoon the whales with his mast we crossed the line beating our personal best of 62 minutes and some seconds by 7 minutes and a lot of seconds.

Duette's elapsed time was 55 minutes and 45 seconds.

Corrected time 46 minutes and 36 seconds (handicap of 0.841).

A new club record set by Duette (unofficial)

More news from Dylan and Darion

Hi everybody

Well there is not so much news this time, we are still in Bocas del Toro in Panama. There has been so much bad weather north of us with all the hurricanes slamming into Jamaica, Cuba and the US. The marina we were on in Montego Bay was completely destroyed in one of the storms. We are so glad we moved south and are safe and sound.

We have been working hard on the yacht and selling her. She is looking 100% better than when we got her. Life here is great and we have settled into our daily routines. The marina we are on is all American, which has its up and downs but we have made great friends. There is much social activity with pot lucks, dominoes, dances etc. We went sailing round the islands here for a weekend with friends who have a beautiful catamaran. We anchored in bays, swam with the dolphins and manta rays, met the local Kuna Indians and hung out on deserted islands for the weekend. Life is so hard on the islands...

We did a fire show for fun and it was such a hit we have done many shows now on various resorts and restaurants. We earn some pocket money and we get to see new places, eat great food (loads of crayfish and crab here which is great) and meet new people.

Its still very hot here and the average daily temp is 38! When we got here it was the rainy season but that seems to be over and its sunny and hot, hot, hot!

Thats about all the news for now, send us your news from home, we would love to hear.

Sweet 49 and about to hit FIFTY.

Sunday the 14th of September is the Algoa Bay Yacht Club's 49'th birthday.

Happy Birthday to us,
Happy Birthday to us,
Happy Birthday dear A...B....Y....C,
Happy Birthday to YOU!

Also sharing this auspicious occasion is none other than Derek Bouwer - sometime pointy bit boy on Struan and ABYC Stalwart of note - Happy Birthday DB, may you have many more sea miles.

The next Waterfront Stomp takes place this Saturday the 6th of September.

Last month's Waterfront Stomp was a revelation with hundreds of revelers and SEVEN barmen including myself, the Longhair, Wayne, Jason and Phil.

The Waterfront Stomp promises Nostalgic music from the 60's and 70's in a great venue on the "Dock of the Bay".

Pull those old "peace and love clothes" on and come and have a bash

Lucky Draw Tickets, Great Prizes, Braai Fires and a Cash Bar are all available.

Entrance is THIRTY BUCKS

Contact Cliffy on 082 881 1155 or Anton on 082 567 7404

August Waterfront Stomp photographs.

Hit the comments to let us know if you are going.

The Gitana 13 sheltered in Algoa Bay for 48 hours from the major storm that swept South Africa recently.

ABYC member, Andrew Ward, took the photographs of Gitana 13 as she strained at the leash in Algoa Bay yesterday.

Full Gitana 13 Story, All Photographs of Gitana 13 in Port Elizabeth

The Youth All Class National Championship 2008 will be sailed at Mossel Bay Boat and Yacht Club from 12th December to 19th December 2008.

Junior Nationals Notice of Race and Junior Nationals Entry Form

Received the following from ABYC Commodore Ian Littlejohn:

What a tremendous experience last Friday in Cape Town was. Ronnie Baer, Jim Foot and I went to see the Lipton Team and attend the Lipton Prize Giving.

It was cold, it was wet, and there was a biting wind as we watched the boats come in – our team a very creditable sixth place on the day.

In the wind and the rain, the mast was dropped, the L26 lifted onto its trailer and packed away. The same with the Rubber Duck.

It was brilliant to see the guys all working together to get everything sorted before a quick beer, and home to change for the prize giving.

Prize giving was held at the Civic Centre; our team came in, white shirts, ties, black trousers and Lipton jackets. They looked a team; they are a team and a huge credit to the Algoa Bay Yacht Club.

After prize giving it was back to the Royal Cape Yacht Club, where Kerry ran a “fines” evening. The elderly members – Jim, Ronnie and I – beat a hasty retreat and left them to enjoy it.

Some thoughts on Lipton Cup:
- We use a Rubber Duck to tow and service the L26, the winners used a R14 million Power Launch.
- Money is a major factor in winning Lipton Cup.
- We have requested the Commodore of TYC, the winners, to consider ABYC when they make the decision where to hold Lipton next year. He is obviously under huge pressure from RCYC and Durban to hold the cup there.
- Prize giving at the Feather Market would be ten times better than the Cape Town Civic Centre.
- ABYC could handle the on the water side of Lipton.

Finally, a big big thank you to the team, for the effort and time put in.

The guys from Aquabrat are sailing the wild blue yonder on Jackaroo, a Beneteau which was owned by Jerome Putter's brother, Willie who hails from Knysna. Jackaroo was bought by a friend of Dyllan & Darion from Aquabrat, who flew over to Caracao to take possession of the yacht with the intention of sailing it to Dubhai and sell her there.

They sailed to Jamaica and now to Panama (to avoid the hurricane season). As you can see in the report from Dyllan below, it looks like the boat can be sold in the Carribean. If this happens they will sell and return to SA.

They are having a wonderful time full of new experiences. Dyllan is the skipper and the experience he is gaining is invaluable.

Hi Everybody

I am sorry its been so long since I could send an update on our adventure but my laptop just packed up and I was stranded without e-mail. Got a new one now and so here we go....

I think last time I sent a mail we were in Jamaica. We spent 3 weeks there first in Kingston Towm then in Port Antonio and lastly in Montego Bay. I don't know where to start with Jamaica because its such a crazy mixed up place. There is such great natural beauty, we went to the blue lagoon where the movie Blue Lagoon was filmed, we saw beautifull coves and beaches and tall mountains. The Jamaicans are full of life, loads of reggae and Bob Marley and the smell of "ganja" fills the air. However we deceided that centuries ago the slaves that were sent to Jamaica were all from Nigeria! They are the most "skelm" people I have ever met! They have big smiles and "Yo Jamaica Mon" but underneath it's all "how much can I get from you one way or another". Eventually we were on the dinghy looking for any deserted spot where there were no Jamaicans. Sad really cause its such an amazing place. Then while we were on the dock in Montego Bay were we hit by hurricane Dolly. Luckily she was still just working herself up and was only a category 1 but she came through at 2am and we had 3 anchors out and the engine running at full speed just to stop us from being broken away and forced onto the shore. This was quite and experience being "donnered by Dolly" and this made our minds up to sail south and get out of the hurricane belt.

Michael had left the yacht and it was now just Darion and myself left to sail which makes for many hours on watch. We had a good look at the Central American coast and there were so many places that looked amazing but with countries like Honduras and Niciguarua your safety cannot be guaranteed with pirates and the drug running from Columbia so we deceided to do the long haul and head for Panama. We had a great sail and the 2 of us worked very well together. It was many many long hours on watch which got pretty tiring but the wind was OK and we made good progress. 180 miles out of Panama the wind died completly and left the sea smooth, silent and calm. Its quite freaky and feels like you in the twilight zone, we put the old faithful motor on for the rest of the way to Panama.

It took us 5 days to do the 715 miles form Jamaica to the northern most point of Panama, just off the border with Costa Rica. We arrived in an archipeligo called Bocas del Torro. Its a series of about 2000 islands and islets in a huge bay just off the mainland. Everybody lives on their own islands with a village on the main island. It has a Venice kind of feel. Everybody has "panga's", small carved boats and there are many water taxi's that fly around like mini busses and you cris cross the water to where you want to be. Its totally amazing. The water is full of coral, fish and manta rays. The people are beautiful, gentle and really kind and friendly. The children are really cute and the best behaved I have ever seen. At 9pm a siren blows in the village and all kids have to be home or their parents get fined, not a bad idea for SA...

The Panamainians welcome "gringo's" (thats us) and even though they use the US$, prices are less than in SA. The US ran the canal and the country till 2000 and then left taking the 20 billion per year, so the tourism industry has just started here, its still so cheap and a great place to get in early and watch your money grow! In fact if you were ever to think about leaving SA this would be the ideal place to come. We looked at a 2000m2 island in Dolphin Bay overlooking an amazing bay full of dolphins, coral, fish, parrots, etc etc which is on the market for $30 000, you could not buy anything like this for this price in SA, anybody interested in a partnership??? The only mission we have had is that in most places they only speak Spanish, but we are picking up bits and pieces and starting to klap the taal like old gringo's.

We have just come back from a weekend in Panama City. Its huge like New York, fast and stylish, quite a culture shock when you have been on islands for months. Its divided up into the old quarter which dates back 700 years with amazing cathredals, cobble stone streets and trendy restaurants. On the other side of the bay are huge skyskrapers with names like Ocean 1 and Trump Towers Panama. Chrome and glass penthouses with views forever. This is where I got a new laptop cause our island is a little too small for real shoping. We had a great weekend but good to get back to the islands and our little home on the water.

We have done tons of work on the yacht and she is looking amazing and it looks like we have a buyer on the hook so hopefully we can come home soon. As great as all this has been we miss home, our family and friends and our animals.

As you can see we are fine, well and happy, send us some news from home!!

Miss you all

Dyllan

The Picture below is of the marina where we are staying overlooking the village.

Thanks to Molly Clements for keeping me in the loop.

Mandy and Jan Faber move into the Chartroom as from today (Tuesday, 19th August), lunchtime.

Mandy sent me a sneak peak of her proposed and draft menu for the time going forward - reproduced below. Please note that, as always, this is not cast in stone and subject to change based on member and patron feedback:

Breakfasts from around the world - Served on Saturday and Sunday from 8:00 a.m. to 11:30am

French breakfast: Croissant served with butter and jam - R18.00
Dutch breakfast: Gouda cheese, boiled egg, butter and bread roll/toast - R24.00
American breakfast: Scrambled eggs, butter, jam, orange juice and bread roll/toast - R25.00
Algoa Bay Yacht Club breakfast: Cheese, ham, boiled egg, butter, jam and bread roll/toast - R30.00
Bavarian breakfast: German white sausage, sweet mustard, leberkaese, fried egg - R39.00
English breakfast: Sausage, egg, bacon, beans, tomato and toast - R39.00

Deck Menu - served all day Tuesday to Sunday and available from 11:30 am onwards

French onion soup with garlic croutons, gratinated - R30.00
German potato soup with leeks - R30.00

Toasted cheese & tomato, with chips - R19.00
Toasted ham &cheese, with chips - R21.00
Toasted ham, cheese & tomato, with chips - R23.00

Beef burger with chips - R34.00
Club sandwich, chicken with bacon, cheese, lettuce & tomato, with chips - R36.00

Spaghetti with sweet basil pesto and feta cheese - R38.00
Spaghetti Alfredo, a cream sauce with ham and mushrooms - R42.00
Spaghetti Bolognaise, mince and tomato sauce with parmesan - R43.00

Traditional Hake, grilled or fried, with chips and vegetables - R40.00
Calamari sticks, grilled or fried, with chips and vegetables - R58.00

Bangers & Mash, 2 sausages with mashed potato and gravy - R35.00
Chicken schnitzel with curry sauce, chips and vegetables - R40.00
Spare ribs, with chips and vegetables - R40.00

Dinner Menu

APPETISERS / SALADS
Beer-battered mushrooms, served with a trio of dip - R30.00
French onion soup with garlic croutons, gratinated - R30.00
German potato soup with leeks - R30.00
Provencal farmer’s salad with feta cheese and olives - R33.00
Salad Caprese, mozzarella with tomatoes and pesto - R36.00
Fried feta cheese wrapped in bacon, pesto croutons and salad - R37.00
Grilled chicken breast with curry, served on salad with fresh fruit and a spicy, fruity dip - R45.00

SEAFOOD

Traditional Hake, grilled or fried, with chips and vegetables - R42.00
Prawns "al ajillo", in garlic-olive oil with Mediterranean veg & herbs - R49.00
Calamari sticks, grilled or fried, with fried potatoes, vegetables & tartar sauce - R58.00
Grilled butterfish with lemon butter, chips & vegetables - R69.00
12 Prawns with herbed butter, chips & vegetables - R94.00

MEAT

Chicken Schnitzel on curry sauce with rice and vegetables - R55.00
"Coq au Vin rouge", chicken in red wine with bacon & veg, & noodles - R58.00
Spare ribs (400g) with chips and vegetables - R66.00
Rump steak (250g) with fried potatoes and vegetables - R69.00
T-bone (400g) with chips and vegetables - R76.00
Fillet steak (250g) with fried potatoes and vegetables - R79.00
Lamb Shank with fried potatoes and seasonal vegetables - R86.00
Pork fillet on mushroom sauce with grilled bread dumplings and vegetables - R86.00
Lamb on thyme sauce with grilled bread dumplings and vegetables - R86.00
Sauces - R11.00
Parisian pepper sauce
Garlic butter
Red wine and onion sauce
Creamy cheese sauce

COMBOS

Surf and Turf, steak and prawns, with fried potatoes and vegetables - R86.00
Steak and calamari, with fried potatoes and vegetables - R87.00

DESSERTS

Dom Pedro, with Amarula, Baileys, Frangelico, Kahlua or whiskey - R19.00
Coupe Denmark, vanilla ice-cream & homemade hot chocolate sauce - R19.00
Trio of Mousse au chocolat - R24.00
Crème brûlée - R25.00
Crêpes Suzette - R35.00

Open to club members and the general public. Phone Mandy at the Chartroom Restaurant on 041 585 2893 for meal and function bookings.

As always a members discount applies to the food and drink.

Not a member of ABYC yet? Shame, get with the program and join the club. ABYC Contact details.

We had another school from Motherwell attend the sailing school with 30 pupils today from 12:00 p.m to 2:30 p.m.

School teacher, Vusumzi Xayimpi said that he wanted to continue bringing pupis to the ABYC Sailing School as he could see great benefit for his pupils from exposure to sailing, the harbour and the self discipline demanded from sailing as a sport.

ABYC have been invited to do a presentation at Masiphathisane once Kabelo has returned from the Lipton Cup being sailed in Cape Town from the 23rd to the 29th of August.

For a while we had a cyber squatter who had control of the www.abyc.co.za domain name.

I presume that it was an opportunistic purchase after the phenomenal number of visitors that we had to the www.abyc.org.za web site during the Mirror Worlds. Initially when you went to www.abyc.co.za it showed some advertising related to growing an appendage (not barnacles!) with links to bare (not boat) models.

A polite request to the then owner to please rather not re-direct the www.abyc.co.za domain to sites that displayed the female in all her forms of glorious nudity was actually listened to and for a long time the www.abyc.org.za web site appeared within an iFrame on www.abyc.co.za.

To cut a long story short - the previous owner failed to renew the domain name and I bought it on behalf of the club the other day.

Of course the question will be asked why did we not go with the www.abyc.co.za domain in the first place?

ANSWER: The .org.za domain registration fee is FREE in perpetuity for all bona fide non-profit organisations whereas the .co.za registration fee is presently R50.00 per annum - please note that this is just to register the name, hosting and other costs are additional.

I have been looking for a little bit more sponsorship for the Lipton Cup 2008 and used a search facility that I seldom do to check just how many times a particular food retailing group had been mentioned on the MyPE web site.

Then I decided to do a search to see how many times ABYC had been mentioned, the result: ABYC received mentions on 5 470 pages.

Now, if only I had TEN bucks for each mention ............

The Lipton Cup Team leaves for Cape Town on Wednesday Evening from ABYC at around 6:30 p.m.

Diarise Wednesday the 20th August to pop down to the club for a beer and a wave to the team as they set off.

Your best wishes are appreciated and we will be reporting live from Cape Town during the regatta.

Our thanks go to all the Lipton Cup Team sponsors.

The Eastern Cape All Class Provincials incorporating the Mirror Class National Championship 2008 will be sailed at Mossel Bay Boat and Yacht Club from the 26th of September to the 29th of September 2008.

2008 East Cape Provincial Champs Regatta, Mossel Bay

Regatta details visit www.mbybc.co.za
Contact: Rob on 083 320 6362 for more info, or e-mail him at robholden[at]mweb.co.za

Information on accommodation available in Mossel Bay, Hartenbos, Little Brak, and Great Brak for the Eastern Cape Champs.

Camping available at Milkwood Primary School on the Point
Contact Denise at: 044 6911858, milk_dp[at]mweb.co.za

Greendoor B&B:
We have a beautiful 14 bedroom Guest House right in the centre of Mossel Bay, with great sea views overlooking the harbour and a fully licensed restaurant on the premises which serves the most delicious meals. I will most gladly offer a 10 % discount on my current rates to any of the participants. They must please quote the special booking code YCT when booking a room (which includes breakfast):

Double Rooms – Sea Facing (2 Guests sharing) R450 per room
Single Rooms - Sea Facing (1 Guest) R375 per room

Double Rooms – Standard (2 Guests Sharing) R400 per room
Single Rooms – Standard (1 Guest) R325 per room

Double Rooms – Skylight (Double Bed – 2 Guests sharing) R350 per room
Single Rooms – Skylight (Double Bed – 1 Guest) R275 per room

Family Room (1 Double Bed, 2 Single Beds) R450 + charge per child
Kiddies 2 – 12 years sharing R 80.00 per child
Children 12 years and older R100 per child
Children sleep in own room Full room rate

Amanda, 0729259641, email: greendoorbb[at]mweb.co.za

The Santos Express Train Lodge:
The Santos Express Train Lodge is a genuine train situated on the Santos Beach in Mossel Bay with all cabins facing the sea. With the ocean so close, you can’t really beat its unbelievable position and exquisite views.
RACK RATES 2008
Dorm R85.00 p.p.
R150.00 p.p.p.n. sharing
R160.00 p.p.p.n. single
R380.00 Caboose
R75.00 Children under 12

Tania Naudé, Tel. 044 6911995, Fax. 086 515 7779, Cell. 076 874 2234, E-Mail: admin[at]santosexpress.co.za, www.santosexpress.co.za

Blue Whale Lodge:
ROOM RATES:
Double room – R 300.00 (R 150.00 P.P.S) B&B per night
Single person – R 200.00 B&B per nigh

Mariki Zwiegers, Tel: 044 691 3147, Fax: 086 606 6772, Cell: 082 445 1972

b@Home Guest House:
b@Home guest house is centrally located and a five minute walk from the beach! Please feel free to log onto our website www.b-at-home.co.za and go on a virtual tour of b@Home.

Michelle Pretorius, b@Home guest house, 079 4977 679,

4 Bedroom House sleeps 8
Flats available that sleep 2, 4 or 10 people.

Contact: Gerda Heunis, 044-8791589, 0833039047

Dibiki – Hartenbos:
Martie Pretorius, 044 6950670, email: mpret[at]worldonline.co.za, www.dibiki.co.za

Corrie Vale Self-Catering:
Great Brak
Phone: +27 (0) 44 620-5124, Fax: + 27 (0) 44 620-2203, Cell Ph: + 27 (0) 83 378-1232, corrievale[at]mweb.co.za, www.tiscover.co.za/corrie-vale

Little Brak Beach house:
Philip Neethling, Tel: (044) 6966769, Cel:0721744537, pneethling[at]yahoo.com, www.littlebrakbeachhouse.co.za

Are YOU Going?

Let us know in the feedback section.

Meet the ABYC Lipton Cup Team:

Skipper / Trimmer - Kerry Bonnage, Kerry has been sailing for 24 years up and down the coast from Maputo to Saldanha Bay.

Helmsman - Wayne Watkins, Been sailing for 10 years including Optimist and Mirror World Championships.

Halyards - Theo Osterline, who has completed two trans Atlantic voyages.

Mast - Sithemble (Ocean) Solwandle, ex-coach at ABYC, only South African sailor invited to sail on the tall ship, Gothenborg. This is Ocean's fourth Lipton Cup campaign.

Bowman - Jason Schaefer, Has been sailing for 5 years, delivering yachtsalong the South African Coast and was recently selected to sail in the J22 Youths in Durnban.

Reserve - Kabelo Koyana, who is the present Sailing Coach at ABYC.

Kerry Bonnage	Wayne Watkins	Theo Osterline
Sithemble Solwandle	Jason Schaefer	Kabelo Koyana

Damager - Yours Truly

Well I Hummed and Hawed over whether I should post this feedback received after the AGM or not. So I decided to wait a bit to see if we got dissenting voices wading in as well, after all the old newspaper saying of "If it Bleeds, It Leads" certainly makes for increased sales........

Well it has been seven days now and still no dissenting voices so I present to you feedback received from two members, again I was not sure if they wanted to be named (and certainly not shamed, in my humble opinion) so anonymous will suffice for now. I am sure that they will read their letters and self elect to be named in the comments below if they so desire.

FAIR?

1st comment:

Well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..............................that was the most interesting AGM that I have ever attended...............and not only at ABYC!!. It was well prepared, well thought out, well handled.....a lot of hard work was done before it.............it dealt with the important stuff, and got the "kirk" excited...................................congratulations.

You guys have worked hard under difficult conditions.

I support the "no rent" for the caterers.

Well done on securing new caterers without scary contracts....................let's keep it simple.

Well done on the user friendly Auditor and the easy set of Accounts.

Well done on the proposed format for the Sailing Calendar...................that's the most important thing....the rest will follow.

Well done on the marketing idea.

To earn some income????...............hire out the Board Room and the Chart Room as often as possible. Maybe we can hire a "commission only" rep to do it.

Thank you all for your efforts. I really do appreciate them......................(even tho it may not seem like it!)

2nd comment:

I attended the ABYC AGM last week.

Sad to see the old hierarchy out to bite the bums of the new brigade!

There they sat like buzzards at a carcass, waiting to pick the top table apart.

Financial statements were being ripped apart like drumsticks, with stage-whispering comments flying up and down the row.

They also appear to have a new apprentice buzzard!

Thankfully we got rid of one of the 3 Wally’s, who had a temper tantrum, stamped his one leg and shuffled out.

Usually, huffy people walk out and go home to brood.

Not this flesh-eater, who bunkered up in the pub like a fool, and waited for a report back from fellow vultures.

He certainly did not earn any credibility from the rank and file.

Evidence shows that mismanagement by this crowd has led to us being in a pickle at the moment.

If I was them, I would shut up and help the new bunch find solutions..

There was so much positive spoken about, they should have concentrated on that!

Good luck to the present committee. Everything will come right with time.

The majority of club members are on your side!

We love our club!!

Your feedback and comments are welcomed below.

Saturday saw the first very successful edition of the Waterfront Stomp with nostalgic music from the 60's and 70's in a great venue on the "Dock of the Bay".

Featuring feature music by The Tomboys, Harry Lloyd (Taxi), Limey (Take Over Boyz), Hazy Shades and a Special Guest Artist the club was packed to the rafters with eager revelers.

The Waterfront Stomp will be held on the 1st Saturday of every month at the Algoa Bay Yacht Club.

The bar was literally 5 deep when I arrived and Blacky and Whitey were taking strain attempting to keep the eager patrons watered. Philip jumped behind the bar followed closely by Wayne and Jason. But, this was still not enough manpower so Glynnis and I also donned our best barkeep smiles and started serving whilst Blacky and Whitey made the tills talk.

Thanks Guys for helping out behind the bar and thanks too to Cliffy for bringing a unique event to ABYC and Port Elizabeth.

The Chartroom, deck and pub were chock-a-block with people enjoying the music and atmosphere.

For more information and to advance book your tickets for September's Waterfront Stomp contact Cliffy on 082 881 1155 or Anton on 082 567 7404.

Click here to see the (sanitised) photographs.

A long long time ago on a planet close to your coldest beer, ABYC had the pleasure of a car guard, Benny. Now Benny would sneak off every now and again on a holiday to 'Head Office' in Johannesburg, eventually he was offered the post of Managing Director of the Johannesburg based Car Guard Collective and flitted off with his Mother to eGoli.

Many members missed Benny's ability to inform them of the latest skinner from the club, the woes and travails of a 'sharp' car guard operative and I, especially (NOT) missed taking Benny home after executive meetings.

Of course Benny lives on in the minds of many of our members - quite scary isn't it?

The latest Benny sighting and update comes to you courtesy of ace Private Dick and sometime Pointy Bit Commander of Struan, Derek Bouwer:

Soon after Benny so sadly left the yacht club I started a new car game called "Where's Benny"?

1. On a Dark evening at the Atrium I heard the eery HAAALLOOOO, spun around and there was Benny, white shirt and khaki trouser and hat. I believed for a moment that Benny has joined the corporate world and there followed a long conversation of Bennies tendonitis and sore ankle. Soon Benny was a familiar sight at Atrium, then Benny was no longer there?.

"Where's Benny"?

2. Not long afterward I stopped at the Newton park P&P and who should wave me into the parking bay but Benny! And, once again the conversation turned to Bennies recurring medical condition!

"Where's Benny?"

3. Would you believe Newton Park Fruit and Veg! Getting into my car, having found the only place that stocks batteries for my Cannon AE programmable!!, someone held my door so it would not close. Fearing a Hijack I spun around to the beaming HAAAALOOO of Benny!! Remarkably lucky for him, as I was about to try out rather my dubious "Karate" on this would be hijacker! Relieved that it was only a smiling Benny the conversation naturally turned medical once more and you will be pleased to know that he now sports a very snazzy air brace on his ankle.

But Benny is branching out not only will he be the guarder of cars but soon the purveyor of fine Chicken Sosatie and/or Boerewors rolls as Benny is starting his own Boerewors & Chicken Sosatie Stand!

"Where's Benny?"

4. Soon in some car park I'll be assailed by a Boerewors toting Benny saying HAAALLOOOOO, the mind boggles?

Stay tuned for images of Benny, Boerewors Stand Managing Director and taste test judge in the nationwide "Boerewors of Course" contest.

What a great fleet of entries to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Lipton Challenge Cup. 31 entries, almost a record. The Cape Town Lipton Cup is going to be the best Lipton ever.

And the good news is that The City of Cape Town will once again be hosting the Lipton Cup Prize-Giving Event at The Civic Centre, so it’s time to dust off those jackets – everyone seemed to have enjoyed 'dressing' for the Event, so we’d like to do the same again for this Centennial Celebration. Smart jackets or blazers and ties will be the order of the day.

Opening Ceremony – Mixing of the Waters and Blessing of the Fleet

The Mixing of the Waters Ceremony, will be held on the Deck at R.C.Y.C. on Saturday 23rd August at 17h00.
All teams will be bringing water (approx 250 -500ml) from the vlei/sea that they sail on, in a small, preferably decorated, container. The Mixing of the Waters Ceremony may be televised. Teams will be wearing their Boat Uniform and carrying the Burgee of the club that they will be representing. All Burgees will displayed in front of the Clubhouse after the Blessing.

The ABYC team will be reporting live from the Regatta, Lipton Challenge 2008

Leave your words of encouragement and sage advice for the Lipton Team in the Comments Section:

Marketing and Communications Standing Committee

This Committee came under discussion at the Council Meeting in Johannesburg, Saturday, 2 August 2008 as it had not been as active as it should and this was having a negative effect on SAS.

Roger Bartholomew was asked to take this responsibility in addition to the Sailing management Standing Committee

The first and most important action is to set up a Committee structure to ensure broad coverage of all Clubs and Classes in South Africa. Roger would dearly like to have 1 Committee member from each Region to join him. The initial responsibility is to feed roger with all the News from the Regions for the SAS Newsletter that will now be published each month.

The second requirement of these representatives will be to look out for and strategy that could improve the SAS Communications to the Club Members.

Once we have achieved these goals we can look at Marketing.

Would the Regions please assist by distributing this Newsletter to ALL their Clubs and Classes ASAP with a request to send Roger suggested names of members for this Marketing and Communications Standing Committee, together with some brief details of each nomination and their contact details.

If you have suggestions or would like to volunteer then please place them in the comments box below:

Strong south westerly winds have hit the fleet of yachts competing in the annual 300 nautical mile mcel Vasco da Gama yacht race from Maputo to Durban.

The 20-boat fleet started in Maputo yesterday afternoon (Thursday 31 July) at 15h30, and had a fast ride overnight with good wind behind them. But by mid-morning on Friday the dreaded south wester hit the fleet, and Zeus (skipper Don Voysey) lost her rudder, while Nina (skipper Luke Wagner), lost her mast. Both boats have reported no injuries with the crew in good spirit. Initially Bellisima (Vernon Goss/Gavin Smith) went to the assistance of Zeus who is now under tow with the NSRI who will take her into her home port of Richards Bay, while Nina has reported that they are under power and will motor to Richards Bay. It is believed that Bellisima is back racing.

When the yachts reported in to race control at 07h00 this morning (Friday), they all sounded in good spirit after a fast night at sea.

Positions and More info

Starting on the 2nd August, the Waterfront Stomp is being held on the 1st Saturday of every month at the Algoa Bay Yacht Club.

The Waterfront Stomp promises Nostalgic music from the 60's and 70's in a great venue on the "Dock of the Bay".

The first one will feature music by The Tomboys, Harry Lloyd (Taxi), Limey (Take Over Boyz), Hazy Shades plus a Special Guest Artist.

Pull those old "peace and love clothes" on and come and have a bash

Lucky Draw Tickets, Great Prizes, Braai Fires and a Cash Bar are all available.

The beneficiary of the Waterfront Stomp is the Algoa Bay Yacht Club Sailing Fund.

Entrance is THIRTY BUCKS

Contact Cliffy on 082 881 1155 or Anton on 082 567 7404

A question and a heads up:

Would you follow the Lipton Cup Live?

Have a look at this page - Lipton Cup 2008 - and let me know your thoughts please.

A new member of ABYC, Ronny, has requested me to find out if any club member has a trailer to suit the transport of a 21 foot Kelkiewyn, from Saldanha Bay to Port Elizabeth.

Any bright ideas can be phoned through to Ronny on 082 864 1777 or left in the comments section below.

Last week on Thursday saw some of Port Elizabeth's artists at ABYC taking in the atmosphere and painting from the club. Duncan Stewart did a particularly nice painting of Mike Robinson painting his boat, Free Spirit and I though you may like to see a photograph of Duncan painting Mike who was painting his boat - yea a bit like looking in a mirror with another mirror behind you!

Another Port Elizabeth artist, Sue Hoppe, chose Rob Onvlee's J27 and the Police boat on the moorings as her subjects and sent this photograph of her canvas:

Visit Sue's web site - Arty Farty Musings

The minutes from the South African Sailing Eastern Cape Annual General Meeting held at the Algoa Bay Yacht Club on the 13th of July 2008 are available for your perusal and pleasure

CLICK HERE to get your very own copy to keep forever and ever.

If you have any feedback or comments on the minutes then please be so kind as to pop them into the comments section below (DUH!) and I will endeavour to get them to the correct procrastinator for studied perusal and eventual answer.

According to Web Site Outlook, on the 19th of July the www.abyc.org.za web site was worth $4 277.80.

Just for fun I plugged in the following local club sailing web sites to see what their worth is estimated to be as at 19 July 2008 -(clicking on the club will give you the latest estimated value):

Redhouse - $1 569.50
Royal Cape Yacht Club - $3 204.70
Knysna Yacht Club - $1 489.20
Point Yacht Club - $1 511.10
False Bay Yacht Club - $1 803.10
Zululand Yacht Club - $1 533.00
Sailing.org.za - $3 051.40

The most clicked on link in the Sail Search ($6 161.20) Directory and Search Engine is the Sailing Scuttlebutt web site and Websiteoutlook estimates the value of Scuttlebutt at $15 205.90.

Curiosity got the better of me and I plugged a couple of local, Port Elizabeth sites in to see what their estimated values are:

MyPE - $20 242.90
E.P. Herald - $10 986.50
Algoa FM - $6 394.80
Mandela Bay Metro - $5 277.90

Of course all the above numbers pale into insignificance when you check out the estimated worth of Google.com at $1.2 Billion. On the other hand, Google.co.za looks like a bargain at $15.96 million!

More Info about Websiteoutlook:

How it works?

Websiteoutlook contains a collection of the actual number of pageviews from other websites. The visitor data is combined with information about number of links that point towards the site, country, Alexa ranking and other data that is available on-line. All this information has been used to make a formula that uses the information that is available on-line to estimate the number of pageviews, its worth and possible daily income that the site has.

How accurate is WebsiteOutlook?

It is not an exact science, but it does give you a very good picture of how many pageview, daily ads revenue a website has. It can be used for numerous purposes especially when doing research. An Advertisers can get an estimate of how many pageview a site has before buying adverts. If you want to buy a website or domain Websiteoutlook can give you a pretty good idea about the number of pageviews and website worth the site has before contacting the owner. Websiteoutlook is good for any initial research or just because you're curious.

Occasionally the mere act of taking your boat out of the water for a bit of tender loving care has some hidden benefits.

Yesterday a group of Port Elizabeth artists got together at ABYC for a morning session in front of their canvas. One of the artists, Duncan Stewart sent this photograph of his painting of Mike Robinson's Spirit 28 up on the hard:

Duncan writes:

My name is Duncan Stewart, although I have been to the AB Yacht Club for wonderful beer-batter hake and chips (probably more often than I should have, yesterday a group of us, including Sue Hoppe, were there painting.

I wanted to introduce myself and send some work - the theme of which some of your members may be interested...not too sure where to take it from there but for now just wanted to say hi. The first two are from PE harbour, the yacht in dry docks is 'Free Spirit' which i did yesterday, I think the owner's name was Mike. The others are in part based on PE reference and personal expression. Two of these are on display at Blue Waters cafe at Hobbie Beach.

My love-affair with water and wind has persevered for years unabated despite being reduced to a surf-ski at present, in the future, I would like to build a collection of work - possibly an exhibition, related to sailing, wind and my experiences with the awesome ocean.

Thanks again for your time and for the use of ABYC's facilities....much appreciated, and enjoyed.

After the Optimist Dinghy Selections Regatta to select the top five South African sailors to represent South Africa at the Optimist World Championships in Cesme, Turkey, was held in Port Elizabeth this year, ABYC's, Glynis Baer was selected to manage South Africa's team.

The Selections Regatta saw SA's top 30 sailors, their parents, supporters and coaches spend the week from the 25th of March to the 1st of April sailing in our bay.

The South African Team, under the guidance and management of Glynis, who is also the South African Optimist Class President, are presently sailing against 250 other sailors in Cesme, Turkey. According to Glynis, the accommodation at the Altm Yunus Resort is comfortable and upmarket with the food being a particularly strong drawcard. The temperature is in the 30 to 40 degree celsius range, the sea a lovely blue and the prevailing North West wind is in the 20 knot range. It sounds like the holding of the Optimist Selections in Port Elizabeth and out of Algoa Bay Yacht Club, was a good one as we mimic the wind and sea conditions of Cesme, Turkey.

After the first day of racing yesterday the top South African sailor, Ed Lehtinen, is lying in 47th place.

Read More about the Optimist Worlds on the Optimist Web site and see the photographs from the Port Elizabeth selections regatta HERE.

From 1 February 2009 the Cospas-Sarsat system will no longer receive alerts from 121.5MHz Distress Beacons.

Only the 406MHz beacons will be detected. The 406MHz beacons are far superior, more accurate and can be located faster.

Why switch to the 406MHz Beacon?

406MHz Beacons transmit a much stronger signal and are verifiable and traceable. They can be accurately detected within a few minutes. Each 406MHz Beacon has a unique identifier encoded in its signal. As long as the Beacon has been registered, the rescue centers can quickly confirm if the distress is real. These beacons have a position accuracy of less than 5kms – reducing the Search and Rescue teams search area, saving time and lives.

Guidelines for the operation of the 406MHz Beacon:

1. Be aware of maintenance procedures for the beacon
2. Learn how to use the beacon in an emergency
3. Understand the self-test feature of their beacon
4. Manufacturers contact details for approved 406MHz beacons can be found on the Cospas-Sarsat website www.cospas-sarsat.org under the “Beacons” tab

How Distress Beacons work:

When a Distress Beacon is activated it transmits a signal that is detectable by passing aircraft and satellites. As the satellites orbit the earth they detect activated distress beacons and report their positions to the relevant rescue authority.

When to use Distress Beacons:

Distress Beacons are only to be used in life-threatening situations.
In the event of an emergency, first signal other vessels in the area by using radios or other methods.
Cell phones may be used, however, do not rely on them alone as they might be out of reception range, loose battery power or become water-damaged.

How to register a Distress Beacon after acquiring one:

Visit www.icasa.org.za or contact Eileen (ICASA) on 021 5951 640 or 021 5957 300

What to do if the Distress Beacon is set off accidentally:

Firstly – turn it off!
Then contact the proper authority in whose area you are.

South Africa have sent a Youth Team to the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship in Århus, Denmark. The South African sailors are amongst the 29 APP sailors who are helped each year to compete by ISAF and the programme. They get financial backing and an internationally renowned coach in the form of Jim Saltonstall (World Youth Sailing Trust coach) to help them throughout the week.

Hobie 16 Champion, Matthew Whitehead along with crew member, Michael Ovenstone are currently lying in FIRST place in the Multihull category, sailing on a Sirena SL16.

After four races they are two points ahead on 12.

The South African positions:

1. Rudi McNeill - Laser, 22nd after four races (climbed 3 places)
2. Claire Walker - Laser, 36th after four races.
3. Taariq Jacobs and Neil Malan - 29'er, 10th after five races (climbed 10 places)
4. Mathew Whitehead and Michael Ovenstone - Sirena SL16, 1st after four races (climbed 3 places).

The Volvo Youth Championships end on the 19th of July 2008.

CLICK HERE for the full report and photographs of Mathew and Michael on the Sirena SL16

I have heard all the stories from members who say that only a small percentage of us have access to the net and on the other side I hear from other members who faithfully have the ABYC web site as their home page and visit daily.

Throwing more confusion into the mix is the fact that many members have 3G, GPRS and HSDPA enabled cellphones but no internet connection from home.

So, in the interests of trying to make the ABYC web site and information available to as many members as possible you are now able to get the latest postings / stories on the ABYC web site in an easy to read format on your cellphone.

Of course if you want to use the real power of the site to search, view images and older content you will still have to access the ABYC site via your standard internet connection.

Type the following URL into your phone browser: http://abycpe.mofuse.mobi/ and bookmark it in order to access the "mobile enabled" content.

Why "mobile enabled" content:

You get the text and only the text that matters.
No huge image files.
No having to scroll left to right and back again.
Small page sizes.
All of this saves you money in terms of data fees.

If your cell phone is WAP compatible, phone your network customer care (Vodacom 082-111 or MTN 083-173 or Cell C 084 140) to activate data on your account.

Ever get asked to write about something, think it will be a total bore, not too mention the event and then, GET SUCKED in?

As Tom Waits said; "I confess, I am not weird about it or anything ......" Yup I got sucked in and found a few facts about Scrabble that should help you at 6:30 p.m. on the 12th of July at ABYC:

* A Scrabble board is 15 spaces high and 15 spaces wide, for a total of 225 squares.

* Scrabble was invented in 1938 by architect Alfred Mosher Butts. Butts created the game as a variation of another word game he invented, Lexiko.

* There is just one Q in a Scrabble game.

* The highest known score for a single word in competition Scrabble is 392. In 1982, Dr. Saladin Khoshnaw achieved this score for the word "caziques," which means "Indian chief."

* The highest possible score a player can get in Scrabble, on a first turn, is for the word MUZJIKS (128 points).

* The highest score obtainable by playing a seven-letter word is QUARTZY (164 points) across a triple-word-score square with the Z on a double-letter-score square.

* There are 10 two-letter words spelled with vowels only: AA, AE, AI, AY, OE, OI, OY, YA, YE, YO.

* The SOWPODS dictionary has a total of 267 751 words out of which 124 are two letter words.

* SOWPODS is an easily-pronounced anagram of OSW and OSPD. (See Below)
** OSW - In 1988 for the first time a single list of all the valid words, without the ambiguity of discussing conjugations, declensions and plurals was published under the title Official Scrabble Words from Chambers (this would come to be known as OSW).
** OSPD - Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (derived from the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary and four other college dictionaries).

FOR THE SCRABBLE PLAYER WHO WANTS TO GET AHEAD:

1. Two letter word combinations are often overlooked so the following list could help you on the 12th of July:

The Letter K is worth 5 points. Possible combinations are as follows:

* KA (5+1)
* KO (5+1)
* KY (5+4)

The Letter J is worth 8 points. Possible combinations are as follows:

* JO (8+1)

The Letter X is worth 8 points. Possible combinations are as follows:

* AX (1+ 8)
* EX (1+ 8)
* OX (1+ 8)
* XI (8+1)
* XU (8+1)

The Letter Q is worth 10 points. Possible combinations are as follows:

* QI (10+1)

The Letter Z is worth 10 points. Possible combinations are as follows:

* ZO (10+1)

2. CLICK HERE to download the entire SOWPODS word list (686 kilobytes).

3. And for the 3G phone enabled CHEATER, here is an online SCRABBLE HELPER.

The Scrabble Evening takes place at the Algoa Bay Yacht Club at 6:30 p.m. on the 12th of July.

Two to a team.

Please bring your own Scrabble board and your mates if you have any.

Join ABYC for a talk presented by Rainer Schimpf on Bait balls, Whales, Orca kill, & Dolphins in Algoa Bay

Friday 18th July 6.30 p.m. for 7.00 p.m. In Chartroom

*Pasta Supper included @ R50.00 per head for MEMBERS and R75.00 per head for NON MEMBERS

Please book with the Chartroom Restaurant or Office - 041 585 2893 or 041 585 4058

When: Sunday the 10th of August
Where: Chartroom - Algoa Bay Yacht Club
Why: In aid of funds for the Lipton Cup Team
Cost: Just FIFTY BUCKS for the BiG BREAKFAST
Bookings: Chartroom - 041 5852893, Reception - 041 5854058

Auction of a variety of goodies to follow.

Staunch Veranda Vikings might occasionally ponder and ask themselves, "what do country members do, 'cause lets face it, what is life without sailing or a beer in the hand talking to your mates at the club".

Well, we build boats.

After 4 and a half years of me being a backyard boatyard part time boatbuilder, Tanya had the dubious pleasure of cracking a bottle of genuine Moet, the real thing, on the bows of "Banjo" our Ian Farrier designed 9,5 meter trimaran.

The launch took place on the 21st of June in the canals in front of our home in St Francis Bay. Homeport will be Port St Francis, but we hope to come round to good old ABYC for a few races in the new season.

This was a "from scratch" project, ie I walked into an empty shed with a dream, a set of plans, sheets of high density foam, rolls of high tech fibreglass and drums of resin. And no previous experience in working with fibreglass. I learned fast. The biggest thing I learned was that boatbuilding is 95% sanding, 95% dreaming, 95% sweat.

Will I do it again, NO, NEVER AGAIN.
Can I recommend it, YES. Building a boat is the male equivalent of falling pregnant and giving birth to a child. It has been said by some famous person..I don't know who, that every man must build at least one boat in his life. So please give it a go.

Regards

Frans Loots
St Francis Bay

www.abyc.org.za: We are celebrating our Atlantic crossing Jacqui's second and my 5th one. Arrived on Monday 28 April 2008 at 21 Zulu time the last 31 hrs lots of very strong rain, visibility like zero quite exciting at night when it is pitch black and the boat is going at 6 to 7 knots, in the strong gust's, up to 9 kn. In all the crossing was a very easy one with blue sky and constant SE trade winds 8 to 16kn, used all the sails we had. All went well except once when we had the spy up and the wind increased to 20kn then the shackle of the sheet turning block broke and I needed 6 hands but Jax managed to ease the sheet which was now holding by one of the rigging shrouds and I managed to pull down the sock and we packed the bag away for the day!!! Had a few scotches to cool me down, I must say the asymmetrical is easier to fly but not as much fun.

St. Helena was the best stop. We anchored in 20m of water off the town of Jamestown. The anchorage is protected from the SE trade winds but a heavy anchor chain is needed as it can be a bit rolly at times. The top of the island is very green with cows like in Switzerland, people are very friendly every car greets you and you must say hallo. The Jacobs ladder is good for a work out (699 steps) I really enjoyed it and went up a few times and the beer was taken afterwards across the road at Ann's place. A real good person Madame Ann she even gave me a kiss but she smelt like a brewery and she told me a secret 'you know I like my hourly Windhoek draft 'nothing wrong with that I told her.

The fees in March 2008 were as follows: the yacht was 25.00 pounds for 3 months and it cost 12.00 pounds per person for immigration. Water is for free and available at the pier. The water taxi, our driver's name was Reg, highly recommended as he knew exactly how to handle the waves and swell when landing at the island and getting you back on board your yacht including all your jerry cans. The price for this was 1.20 pound return trip and payable the day you leave. We definitely recommend hiring a car and driving all over the island. The booking of the car can be done through the Tourist office in the Main street, they will make the call for you and we paid 11.00 pounds per day. The scenery is awe-inspiring!! It took us 2 days of traveling and wandering down every little road to see everything. Napoleon's 2 homes are also well worth the visit and this must be booked at the tourist office as well, it is for free. At Anne's place she does the yachties washing, it cost us 12.00 pounds for about 10 kilos. Up in the Main street you will find Marlene's Tea Room. She hails from Cape Town and makes the best bread, rolls, scones, doughnuts! You can place your order with her for bread etc for the remainder of the crossing, she double bakes this and lasts the whole way!! All in all a stop at St Helena is well worth the visit!! Do yourself a favour and stop.

From St. Helena to Ascension island it was a 6 day sail with no problems. We didn't enjoy the island so much as there is nothing going on. The landing with the dingy was only for acrobats as the big Atlantic rollers were coming in, I think Hawaii would be jealous. We anchored in 12m of water but it was rough at times. There are millions of small black fish in the area they are a relative of the Piranha and these fish clean the bottom of the yacht of weed and barnacles within minutes.

Ascension is a 'working island' only 800 population mostly St. Helenians but with 150 United Kingdom and 50 US citizens visitors are most welcome. The island has moved a long way away from being a closed island. This island is a desert of mostly volcanic rock it is very barren, only up the green mountain it is green like Switzerland. We hired a car and visited every corner of this very small volcanic island. The car hire we booked through Fowlers at One Boat Village. It cost 15.00 pounds. We spent some time at the American base and the RAF and visited the British weather station where a friend of mine used to work, they were very happy that we came to talk to them. The water was very clear, I did some diving and the black fish were all over me, lucky they left me alone. The fees for this year 2008 were 11.00 pounds per person and legally you may stay for 4 days only. If you require to stay longer a permit is obtainable. A permanent webcam is on at the pier head so family and friends can see you 'trying to land and jump off you dingy before it plummets back down again'. Food stuffs are expensive and there is only 1 store. More info on www.ascension-island.gov.ac

After 5 day's we pulled up anchor and set course towards Brasil both wind and current on this downwind leg are in your favour. So we relaxed played cards every afternoon cooked good food with a desert every night and a scotch or two. Got Jax right on this leg she was asking for some boerewors and lamb chops and joined in with the sundowner's!!! Fishing was a must - always two lines out at the back but catches didn't come easy. I landed one Dorado which is a very good eating fish then I had a +- 1.8m sailfish on the line the plan was to let him go as he is to big and beautiful to be killed. I was amazed he managed to bite the hook in half and dived away to his freedom.

Our night watches were very relaxing. I trusted our navigation system completely and I would recommend that every boat has a A.I.S. (Automatic Identification System) fitted. AIS will pick up any ship over 300 T with the Name of ship, speed, it's heading and it's ID number. One can set the alarm at 16nm 8nm 4 nautical miles or less as soon as a ship enters this circle the alarm will go off, having the name of the ship you can call him up on channel 16 and I guarantee he will answer. (without a name he will not answer). Next to that we run the radar set on a 10 minute watch with a guard of 7.5 nm around you and every 10 minutes it will scan for for 1 minute looking for objects around you and if so a alarm will throw you out of the deepest sleep.

As we are sailing short handed I think this is the way to go I don't believe in a 20 minute sleep then get up and watch for a minute or two and go back for 20 minutes. Plus lots of sailors don't see so well anymore at our age and are half asleep when watching. If you have 4 on board a 3 hr shift watch is mostly used but in my experience I asked a few of my old crew did you ever watch behind you at night???

Sailing was good again when we left the island, with more wind we were doing 120 nm a day and Brasil was coming closer very quickly. After 11 days we arrived at the Rio Paraiba river mouth which is at Cabedelo (about 120nm south of Natal) we motored in idle speed up the river and after 18 km we tied up in the new marina which has pontoons for 40 boats, fresh water, power and free WIFI. The name of the marina is Jacare Yachting village. It is like paradise, the river is about 800m wide and along the river are about 10 small restaurants and good music till late at night. We will stay here for a while and Jacqui is busy planning a trip up the Amazon - a must if you are in Brasil. We may also fly to Belem or take a bus.

Our sailmail provider was blocked by to many messages that was the reason why we did not send any mail it is a very slow process as it is going via a SSB radio and having only 10 min transmitting and receiving time available it can only do 3 messages in 10 min, we had 31 in the inbox, I am looking at better options and busy at the moment with subscribing to Skype so soon hopefully we can phone from the boat via our lap top, anyway while we are here you must use our old email address jeanmarie117 [at] hotmail.com

It's 35C and I will go to look for a ice cold beer.

We are well, happy and looking forward to hear from you.

Regards

Walter & Jacqui

PS: in future if anyone uses sailmail please keep it to only 5-6 text lines nothing else, we get warned otherwise and lose our email till we have a new one. Thanks for understanding.

Andrew Stevens, NSRI Durban Deputy Station Commander said: At around midday today NSRI Shelley Beach were alerted to track the progress of the yacht Eggnog sailing from Port Edward to Durban and reportedly battling in heavy weather but the skipper had not called an emergency and they were trying to sail through the weather.

NSRI Shelley Beach were placed on full alert.

At 14h34 NSRI Durban were placed on full alert to be on stand-by as the yachts skipper, Yaron Padagio, and crew, Annelie Norris from East London and Neil van der Walt, from Pretoria, reported that they were battling to keep control of the yacht and were deciding whether or not to declare an emergency.

NSRI Durban’s rescue craft Eikos Rescuer II was prepared for a launch to go to their aid and at approximately 16h45 the crew aboard Eggnog declared an emergency and requested to be rescued off the yacht and stated that they were preparing to abandon ship.

Eikos Rescuer II launched and a National Ports Authority Augusta helicopter was activated from the Port of Durban with NSRI rescue swimmer Andre Fletcher, Pilot Rhys Mason, Co-Pilot Douglas Nichols and Flight Engineer Gerhard Coetzee on-board.

An NSRI Shelley Beach crew were activated to stand-by at the Mhlungwa River Mouth to assist if it was necessary to bring the casualty crew ashore immediately.

On arrival on-scene, approximately 1.6 nautical miles off-shore of the Mhlungwa River Mouth, South of Ifafa in the area of Hibberdene, in zero visibility conditions, a rain squall, 30 to 35 knot South Westerly winds and a confused sea state with 3 to 4 metre choppy, wind swept rough sea swells and breaking surf, NSRI rescue swimmer Andre Fletcher was winch-hoisted from the helicopter into the sea and Andre beckoned and shouted instructions to the first crew member to abandon ship by jumping into the water to be secured and hoisted into the helicopter but in the driving rain and against the noise of the helicopter the 3 casualty crew failed to understand the instructions so Andre was hoisted back into the helicopter which then hovered above the yacht while the flight engineer used hand signals to explain to the casualty crew what was expected of them.

On the second attempt Andre was again hoisted into the water and Neil jumped off the yacht into the sea and Andre secured him and they were hoisted into the helicopter. 2 more similar runs were made – on the second run Annelie was hoisted while being secured by Andre and then on the third run the skipper was hoisted while being secured by Andre.

Andre said that during the hoisting operation and each time he was lowered into the surf to receive the next victim breaking waves and extremely rough sea conditions were driving him back and forth putting his swimming skills to an extreme test.

None of the crew were injured and they were brought safely, aboard the Augusta helicopter, directly to the Port Heli-pad at the Port of Durban.

The unmanned yacht is reportedly at the back surf line off-shore of the Mhlungwa River Mouth and according to eye-witnesses she appears to be close to running aground.

Source: Craig Lambinon, NSRI
Related: Paddle to Shore for Fuel?
NSRI Stories

Mick Banks, NSRI Port Edward Station Commander said: “At approximately 11h30 our NSRI volunteer crew, standing-by on the Port Edward Beach, Natal, were alerted to a paddle-ski capsizing near the backline surf in 1½ to 2 metre surf.

We launched a Lifeguard rescue rubber-duck and rescued Neil van der Walt from the surf and recovered his paddle-ski.

Once safely on the beach and not injured Neil said he had been trying to come ashore aboard his paddle-ski to get fuel for the yacht Eggnog that he and Annelie Norris, both from East London, and Israeli skipper, Yaron Padagio, were sailing from East London to Durban and then on to the Seychelles but which had run out of fuel off Port Edward.

After jumping over-board and paddling his paddle-ski into the surf-line trying to get to shore Neil capsized before being rescued by NSRI.

Our NSRI crew assisted by taking Neil to a service station to get fuel.

Neil and his paddle-ski were then taken out to the yacht Eggnog, aboard our NSRI rescue craft Rescue 32 Alpha, and after assisting to get Neil and the fuel on-board the yacht we wished the crew well on their way.”

By: Craig Lambinon

Cape Point, 15 June, 2008. All 4 crew safely rescued from life-raft after yacht capsizes.

Darren Zimmerman, NSRI Simonstown Station Commander said: At 21h55 NSRI Simonstown and NSRI Gordon’s Bay were activated by the National Ports Authority following a request for urgent assistance from a female reporting that her husband, and daughter and 2 men, on a 37 foot Catamaran yacht, Genii II, had called her reporting to be taking water fast, sinking and drifting about 5 nautical miles off Cape Point and urgently needing rescue.

The Skipper’s wife, Roda Jelberts, said that her husband, Hans, had told her that electrical and VHF radio failure prevented him from calling a Mayday Distress and he asked her to urgently alert a rescue.

After giving his estimated position and a brief description of the emergency and the urgency of the situation the Skippers cell-phone went dead and no further communications with the skippers cell-phone could be reached.

NSRI Simonstown launched rescue craft Spirit of Safmarine III and Eddie Beaumont II, NSRI Gordon’s Bay launched Sanlam Rescuer, NSRI Hout Bay were activated and the Metro Ambulance and Rescue Services, a South African Air Force (SAAF) 35 Squadron Dakota fixed wing aircraft and the SAAF 22 Squadron NSRI Air Sea Rescue helicopters were placed on alert.

NSRI rescue vehicles were dispatched to Cape Point and Maritime Radio Services and Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) were informed.

Roda confirmed to us that the yacht has a life-raft and red distress flares on-board.

Attempts by NSRI to contact the crew aboard the yacht via VHF radio or on any 3 cell-phones belonging to the 3 men on-board were unsuccessful.

Shortly after launching the 3 NSRI rescue craft a 1000 foot parachute red distress flare was sighted 2 nautical miles East of Cape Point Lighthouse by coast watchers.

On arrival in the vicinity of the red distress flare sightings a search commenced and a second 1000 foot parachute red distress flare was sighted by NSRI rescue crew.

Further red distress hand-held flares were then sighted in the same direction and all 4 survivors were found safe and not injured aboard their life-raft and all 4 survivors, Hans Jelberts, 45, and his daughter Roda, 23, from Strand, Charles Hunting, 46, from Stellenbosch and Adrian van Reenen, 45, from Brackenfell, were rescued by Spirit of Safmarine III and brought to NSRI Simonstown’s rescue base where they were met by Roda.

The life-raft was recovered and brought to NSRI Gordon’s Bay aboard Sanlam Rescuer.

The casualty yacht is adrift semi-submerged in the capsize position and Maritime Radio Services are broadcasting a Navigational Warning to vessels in the area.

The cause of the yacht taking water is as yet unconfirmed.

The skipper estimates that they capsized about 4 nautical miles off-shore of Cape Point Lighthouse after taking water on the port side from as yet unconfirmed causes. According to the skipper they abandoned ship and drifted about 2 nautical miles in their life-raft while setting off 1000 foot parachute red distress flares at intermittent intervals. Once they spotted the rescue craft in the area they ignited hand held red distress flares to guide the rescue craft to their position.

They had departed Hout Bay at 18h00 headed in the direction of Gordon’s Bay.

Hans said that after releasing their life raft from the yacht it initially failed to deploy and only deployed later after numerous attempts at pulling on the deployment chord.

By: Craig Lambinon

On Saturday the 7th June a television crew from the M-Net Channel's Studio 53 spent the day at the Algoa Bay Yacht Club filming our new Sailing Coach, Kabelo as he trained a group of schoolchildren from Motherwell.

After interviewing yours truly and getting background shots the crew accompanied me on the Rubber Duck as we filmed Kabelo training with the ABYC Lipton Cup Squad.

The day before they filmed sites in and around Port Elizabeth for another program to be aired on Studio 53 on Mnet Series Channel on Saturday 21 June 2008 at 18:00, and 00:00 as well as on Sunday 22 June 2008 at 06:00 and 12:00

CLICK HERE for more info.

To all SAS affiliated clubs

In terms of Clause 17.2 of the Constitution we wish to give preliminary Notice of the SAS AGM which will be held in the Northvaal region, at a venue to be announced, on Saturday, 2nd August 2008 at 14h00.

Clubs are invited to submit items for the inclusion on the Agenda, which must be received in writing/email to sandy[at]sailing.org.za or faxed to 031 3073902 by 16h00, on 27th June 2008.

Not signed as sent electronically.

Rob M’Crystal
President/Chairman
South African Sailing

Dave Jackson writes:

Our resident Otter has been hurt quite badly and has taken up residence on the hard standing. The guys got him a fresh fish to eat this morning. This is a picture of him having a drink of water from below the tap next to the gear shed.

First School at ABYC

On Thursday the 23rd May 65 Grade 7 pupils from the
Siyaphambili Primary School, Motherwell descended on the Algoa Bay Yacht Club for their first introduction to sailing. For many of these pupils it was there very first time in the harbour precincts and for all the very first time that they would see dinghies and yachts up close.

After an introduction to safety procedures and the art of tying a lifejacket on,
ABYC Sailing Coach Kabelo Koyana, demonstrated how to rig the two dinghies that 20 lucky pupils would get a chance to sail on. The introduction of the children to certain sailing terms was a riot as 65 pupils earnestly chanted words such as "starboard", "downhaul", "sprit" and "rudder". Most entertaining it was, to listen to these pupils hungry for knowledge earnestly trying to remember all the parts of the boat and the necessary theory to equip them for the very first time that they would sail by themselves.

Siyaphambili Primary School Geography teacher, Thobile Mkwelo, remarked that the exposure his pupils were receiving would assist in his Geography lessons as they would be able to apply real world experience to the Geography curriculum.

20 Eager pupils stripped off into 'sailing gear' and lined up to take their turns at sailing within the confined sail training area. Two at a time were sent out in the club supplied O9'er dinghies and given gentle instruction by Kabelo on the shore. I must say that the girls beat the boys with regards to concentration and the ability to follow instructions. Some of the boys were under the impression that hiding under the rudder was a 40 horsepower outboard motor and all they had to do to start it was violently wrench the tiller arm port and starboard...............

The pupils were then taken on a tour of the yachts in the marina. 15 Pupils were chosen to be the lucky scholars to attend an eight week sail training course which, if successfully completed, will equip them with an internationally recognised Level One Sailing Certificate.

A number of social events are planned by Phil Stunden:

Rugby: On the Big Screen on the 23rd, 24th and 31st of May 2008. If morning games, come along for some breakfast and a boerie roll or two for evening games.

Trivial Pursuit: 7th June at 6:30 p.m.

Talks: Friday 13th June at 6:00 p.m. A talk by Tony Wellington on his visit to Antarctica.

Saturday Nite Fever Dance: Saturday 14th July. Only 100 tickets available. Dress up in your Rock 'n Roll outfits and boogie the night away. Why don't you pop on down to the Alex Rock and Roll Musical on the 23rd or 24th of May for inspiration - ALEX DETAILS HERE

Planned talks: Flares by NSRI. Life on Marion Island by Miss Smit who spent a year there. Sushi Evening by yours truly.

What do we need to do to market the club?

Chris Grylls has graciously offered to help us with the marketing of the club and in order for us to get a handle on the direction, shape and form of the marketing / PR campaign we need you to tell us what YOU think.

Please stay on subject and highlight what you think should be marketed and HOW.

You can do this in one of TWO ways:

1. Drop Alan an e-mail (and I will re-publish the content here) or
2. Fill in the comments section below.

Well, with the Giza Challenge just a pleasant memory, sailing seems to have taken a bit of a sabbatical as we cruise into the colder months of the year.

I am still waiting for a promised light hearted story about the GIZA Challenge from The Ancient Mariner - looks like he is still looking for the on switch of his electric typewriter. God help us all if he actually has to sit down in front of a computer screen.

Not holding my breath, though!

As I said before, and then rudely interrupted myself, the CHARTROOM is now OPEN for BREAKFAST on SATURDAY and SUNDAY from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. (Excuse the SHOUTING but, that it is the only way to get through to some of you old farts!)

Mark is also calling for your suggestions and input into the new Chartroom Menu. I suggested to Mark that maybe I should write "meddling and stupid ideas" but saner heads prevailed and I was convinced to stick with "suggestions and input".

If you have any ideas or suggestions for the new menu, then please write it on the back of a R200.00 note, e-mail it to me and I will pass them on.

Better yet tell Mark in person over breakfast as the CHARTROOM is now OPEN for BREAKFAST on SATURDAY and SUNDAY from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. (Excuse the double posting, but it is the only way that I could MAYBE get a free breakfast from Mark for all this FREE ADVERTISING I do for him!)

Whilst speaking about things GIZA - CLICK HERE to see how many references there are in the internet world to the GIZA Challenge (Not 'alf bad, methinks)

ONE last thing - we are all so verskrik about Load Shedding and saving electricity. Have you ever considered that an all black background to your monitor will in some way help you save electricity, and Google's, Yahoo's, MSN's page backgrounds are white, which got me to to thinking that I will help you save electricity by recommending that you conduct your searches on these popular search engines using a little bit of magic - Don't be a dick, CLICK HERE to see.

The Giza Challenge 2008 was a great event, well worth the effort of sailing down in the feeder race (Intelegence Telecoms East London to Port Elizabeth Race), despite the light frustrating winds, lack of sleep, losing my prop, gearbox and all electrics.

Ian Williams
Moments

The Algoa Bay Yacht Club in Port Elizabeth has once again found it's sailing roots and hosted a successful four days of yacht racing in Algoa Bay from the 1st to the 4th of May 2008. After two years of dwindling competitors, with 27 yachts on the water in 2006 and 22 yachts in 2007, the Giza group of Companies stepped up as a late sponsor and injected much needed financial comfort into a regatta that was in serious danger of being renamed the ABYC Weak.

And the numbers show the difference that can be done by a committed sponsor and enthusiastic organising committee. In total there were 41 boats and 221 sailors on the water. The Pacer 27 class committed seven of their yachts to attending the Giza Challenge and held their East Cape Provincials, sponsored by Harveys Composites as part of the Giza Challenge Regatta as well, duking it out with the rest of the ABYC Class 1 fleet with a local PHRF handicap of 1.028.

The fleet were divided into three Classes; One, Two and Three. Seven Pacer 27 yachts sailed in Class One and contested their East Cape Provincials. Five IRC certified yachts sailed for IRC Honours in Class One. The Notice of Race also allowed for classes of four or more yachts to sail for class honours. In Class Three the Sadler 32 and Spirit 28's qualified for separate class status with four Sadlers and five Spirits taking part.

The Pacer 27's caused quite a stir and visual impact as they bobbed in the moorings closest to the club, with old cruising salts shaking their heads and looked for a stove, en-suite heads, teak finish and cruising comforts and came up empty handed, whilst young dinghy sailors looked upon the Pacer with naked lust in their eyes pleading with Dad to stump up the cash for one. Local Algoa Bay Yacht Club junior sailors, Philip Straton, Scott Stephens, Michael Collier, Thomas Ochabski and Luke Mann were the lucky sailors chosen to sail with Chris Frost from Durban on the Pacer factory boat, Pacer 3, managing a second as their highest race placing in the series and fifth overall in the Pacer Class.

MORE GIZA Challenge Photos Photo: Leon Hugo

Racing was scheduled to start midway through Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m. and all the yachts left the harbour just after 9:00 for the race area. A serious lack of wind resulted in the entire fleet bobbing whilst we waited for the North Easterly to settle, a wind shift to the South at 12:30 p.m. and Race Officer Brian Reynolds sent Ronnie Baer and his mark laying team haring across Algoa Bay to lay the top and bottom marks for the first race of the Giza Challenge 2008. The slightly port biased line was set, the Class One preparatory and Course One flags hoisted and the fleet set off in a 6 to 8 knot East for the top mark. Class One had to do four laps of the Windward Leeward Course, Class Two three laps and Class Three two laps. The long beats and runs were ideal for Phil Gutsche's 60 foot Simonis, Warrior as the tall 'block of flats' made it's purposeful way through the fleet and lapped every other Class One competitor to complete the course in an elapsed time of 1 hour 30 minutes and thirty six seconds. The last Class One yacht to complete the course took two hours thirty five minutes and forty two seconds.

Close racing was the order of the day as the J27's; Just in Time (Andrew WARD / Justin ONVLEE) and Jouster (Richard RATH) were out to accept the challenge to see just which yacht out of the J27 and Pacer 27 class is 'top dog', thrown down by Andrew Heathcote on Pacer 1. In Class Three, the Sadler 32's made a magnificent sight as they battled in close competition on the runs.

Race 1 Results:

Class One:
1st - Just In Time (Andrew WARD / Justin ONVLEE, J27)
2nd - Pacer 1 (Andrew HEATHCOTE, Pacer 27)
3rd - Chinook (Bill LEE, Farr 38)

Class Two:
1st - After Dark (Jessica LENZ, J22)
2nd - Duette (Kerry BONNAGE, Flamenca)
3rd - Adamo (Steve ARNOLD, Van Der Stadt 34)

Class Three:
1st - Skybird (Josef SCHABLE, Cape 28)
2nd - Sea Mole (Anton HAUTMANN, Sadler 32)
3rd - Take Six (Doug STANNARD, Holiday 34)

The wind was predicted to be light and fluky on Friday and not many sailors expected to have to sail at all and were seen to be tucking into the Old Brown and pasta, compliments of Giza with great gusto followed by large amounts of liquid refreshments disappearing rapidly down thirsty throats. Friday morning started with not even a cats paw on the surface of the bay and dire predictions of waiting around in vain for the wind to come up. Then the North East came up and seemed to be settling in. Normally the North East blows for around ninety minutes and then does a rapid swing to the West to blow really hard or back to the South for a strong steady blow. Brian Reynolds made the decision to start Race number two at 12:55 p.m. with the wind in the North East betting against the wind swinging significantly and was proven to have the right stuff as we set off on another windward leeward course with no significant wind shifts.

Warrior seemed a bit off the pace as elapsed time difference between her and the last yacht over the line was reduced to thirty five minutes on a much shorter course.

In Class Two Jessica Lenz on After Dark continued with her second first of the series completing the course in one hour twenty six minutes and twenty one seconds, followed four minutes and sixteen seconds later by Rob Smith on his 30 foot Muira, Tikalox II.

With time in hand Brian Reynolds, elected to start one more race and the third of the series at 3:57 p.m. Friday evening's results took longer than normal to be processed as the protest committee dealt with five protests from the day's racing

Race 2 Results:

Class One:
1st - Just In Time (Andrew WARD / Justin ONVLEE, J27)
2nd - Jouster (Richard RATH, J27)
3rd - Pacer 1 (Andrew HEATHCOTE, Pacer 27)

Class Two:
1st - After Dark (Jessica LENZ, J22)
2nd - Tikalox II (Rob SMITH, Muira)
3rd - Adamo (Steve ARNOLD, Van Der Stadt 34)

Class Three:
1st - Sea Mole (Anton HAUTMANN, Sadler 32)
2nd - Skybird (Josef SCHABLE, Cape 28)
3rd - Malgas (Pietro BOCCHI, L34)

Race 3 Results:

Class One:
1st - Just In Time (Andrew WARD / Justin ONVLEE, J27)
2nd - Jouster (Richard RATH, J27)
3rd - Chinook (Bill LEE, Farr 38)

Class Two:
1st - After Dark (Jessica LENZ, J22)
2nd - Tikalox II (Rob SMITH, Muira)
3rd - Adamo (Steve ARNOLD, Van Der Stadt 34)

Class Three:
1st - Sea Mole (Anton HAUTMANN, Sadler 32)
2nd - Skybird (Josef SCHABLE, Cape 28)
3rd - Lady (Eugene LOMBARD, Harry LAMPRECHT, Astove 30)

Saturday's racing only got underway at 1:06 p.m. after the fleet motor sailed out into the bay at 11:30 a.m. With the fleet sailing for Race number four to constitute the regatta Brian Reynolds elected to sail a windward leeward course in the light easterly wind.

Simon Baer on his newly acquired Benetau First Eight, La Chevalier, had his best result of the Giza Challenge and he sailed to third place in the flat sea and 8 knots of wind. We have seen in the past that La Chevalier is almost impossible to beat in such conditions.

Race 4 Results:

Class One:
1st - Just In Time (Andrew WARD / Justin ONVLEE, J27)
2nd - Jouster (Richard RATH, J27)
3rd - La Chevalier (Simon BAER, Benetau First Eight)

Class Two:
1st - Tikalox II (Rob SMITH, Muira)
2nd - Duette (Kerry BONNAGE, Flamenca)
3rd - Adamo (Steve ARNOLD, Van Der Stadt 34)

Class Three:
1st - Skybird (Josef SCHABLE, Cape 28)
2nd - Charisma (A. PSOAROUDAKES, Flamenca)
3rd - Starshine (Tony WELLINGTON, Holiday 34)

MORE GIZA Challenge Photos Photo: Leon Hugo

An early start on Sunday in a rising west which was predicted to go to 28 knots in the afternoon presented competitors with different conditions to the previous three days and the first of the triangular courses was laid with the windward mark close inshore between Happy Valley and Kings Beach, the tight reach mark off of Shark Rock Pier and the bottom mark well off to the east.

Most of the yachts in Class One opted for smaller jibs and no reef in the main and we set off in 14 knot rising westerly. The first reach was very tight with even the asymmetric Pacers struggling to hold their course. At the reach mark, Chris Frost and his young crew took the prize for the most successive broaches in the least time. Teak reef talk after racing put it at six broaches in a row. On the last of the triangle reaches Graham Wentworth on another Pacer, Unmatched, had a lesson in broaching as well, and then proceeded to entertain the passing sailors with many hand signals and a final clout to the tiller extension as his struggling crew forced his Pacer in circles over a submerged spinnaker. Not too many comments were passed, though, as most crews realised that they were also sailing on the edge and liable to the same form of treatment from a fast freshening westerly.

Harry Brehm, on Pacer Two, fresh from the experience of a dismasting and taming of the 28 knot Cape winds, revelled in the harder conditions and sailed to his first win on elapsed time in the Class One fleet, breaking Andrew Ward on Just In Time's row of bullets by finishing nine minutes ahead on elapsed time and seven minutes ahead over the line. Prize of the race had to go to Cooking who broached right after finishing.

Race 5 Results:

Class One:
1st - Pacer Two (Harry BREHM, Pacer 27)
2nd - Just In Time (Andrew WARD / Justin ONVLEE, J27)
3rd - Chinook (Bill LEE, Farr 38)

Class Two:
1st - After Dark (Jessica LENZ, J22)
2nd - Tikalox II (Rob SMITH, Muira)
3rd - Adamo (Steve ARNOLD, Van Der Stadt 34)

Class Three:
1st - Skybird (Josef SCHABLE, Cape 28)
2nd - Sea Mole (Anton HAUTMANN, Sadler 32)
3rd - Lady (Eugene LOMBARD, Harry LAMPRECHT, Astove 30)

The westerly increased to over 25 knots and Brian Reynolds kept the fleet out eventually choosing the sausage windward leeward course for the last race of the Giza Challenge and sent the first of the fleet off at 12:51 p.m. More fun and games with 20 of the 41 competitors deciding that discretion was the better part of valour and opting for a Did Not Compete (DNC) result rather than breaking more equipment.

Reported Breakages were; Cooking (Gavin Stephens) a main sheet block that went flying on the third lap, torn Number Two jib and lost batten, Warrior (Phil Gutsche) - a broken Spinnaker Pole, Chinook (Bill Lee) - a broken Spinnaker Pole. Chinook Bowman, Bevan Galloway said; "I was getting ready to get the spinnaker down and gather through the fore hatch when I heard an 'explosion' and, looking up saw the jagged end of the spinnaker pole pointing down at my head."

Race number Six proved to be the quickest race of the series with Phil Gutsche from Warrior remarking, "We were covering the downwind runs in around six minutes which certainly didn't give the six crewman in charge of bagging and wooling our spinnaker time to complete the job."

Race 6 Results:

Class One:
1st - Pacer Two (Harry BREHM, Pacer 27)
2nd - Just In Time (Andrew WARD / Justin ONVLEE, J27)
3rd - Chinook (Bill LEE, Farr 38)

Class Two:
1st - After Dark (Jessica LENZ, J22)
2nd - Tikalox II (Rob SMITH, Muira)
3rd - Adamo (Steve ARNOLD, Van Der Stadt 34)

Class Three:
1st - Sea Mole (Anton HAUTMANN, Sadler 32)
2nd - Skybird (Josef SCHABLE, Cape 28)
3rd - Lady (Eugene LOMBARD, Harry LAMPRECHT, Astove 30)

Weary crews made their way back to the Algoa Bay Yacht Club for prizegiving. At the prizegiving the Supersport Crew, who had been filming the entire regatta warmed the sailors up with a short first edit DVD of the last four days sailing, the normal thank yous were given to the race committee, Mark layers, organising committee and generous sponsors, Giza and the serious prizes handed out.

GIZA Challenge 2008 Final Results:

Class One:
1st - Just In Time (Andrew WARD / Justin ONVLEE, J27)
2nd - Jouster (Richard RATH, J27)
3rd - Chinook (Bill LEE, Farr 38)

Class Two:
1st - After Dark (Jessica LENZ, J22)
2nd - Tikalox II (Rob SMITH, Muira)
3rd - Adamo (Steve ARNOLD, Van Der Stadt 34)

Class Three:
1st - Sea Mole (Anton HAUTMANN, Sadler 32)
2nd - Skybird (Josef SCHABLE, Cape 28)
3rd - Lady (Eugene LOMBARD, Harry LAMPRECHT, Astove 30)

Harvey Composites Pacer 27 East Cape Provincials:
1st - Pacer Two (Harry BREHM)
2nd - Pacer One (Andrew HEATHCOTE)
3rd - Wild Thing (Russel MORGAN)

GIZA Challenge IRC Results: (Five yachts in total):
1st - Just In Time (Andrew WARD / Justin ONVLEE, J27)
2nd - Chinook (Bill LEE, Farr 38)
3rd - Pacer Two (Harry BREHM, Pacer 27)
4th - Warrior (Phil GUTSCHE, Simonis 60)
5th - Felix the Cat (Andrew WENTWORTH, Pacer 27)

Sadler Class:
1st - Sea Mole (Anton HAUTMANN)
2nd - Talisker (Iain BANCROFT)
3rd - Bee Haven (Kevin EVANS)

Spirit Class:
1st - Whisper (Tim LIPPSTREU)
2nd - Free Spirit (Mike ROBINSON)
3rd - High Spirit (Greg OCHABSKI)

Danny Tenner, CEO of the Giza group of companies showed what a committed sponsor can do to help raise the profile of sailing as well as gaining good exposure for his own business, promised to be back bigger and better next year with a target of 80 yachts on the start line.

The GIZA Challenge attracted some big names in sailing which included America's Cup Shosholoza team member David Rae, sailing on Warrior and Gary Sindler whose crewed with Mark Sadler in the J22 that won the 2008 J22 World Championships in Durban this year. Sailing with Simon Baer on La Chevalier was the Commodore of the Hoo Ness Yacht Club in England, Richard Cassem, who remarked; "I have sailed in many prestigious regattas, and the Giza Challenge and ABYC beat them all hands down for the friendliness of the sailors and sailing conditions." Also sailing on La Chevalier was the South African Sailing (SAS) president, Rob Mc Crystal who had a great time adding to the meat on the rail.

Dave Claxton, the builder of the Pacer 27 Yacht, said the following about Port Elizabeth and ABYC; "Their sailing waters have to be the best of all coastal venues, bar NONE."

One of the seminal moments of the Giza Challenge for me was watching Graham Wentworth on Ummatched, a Pacer 27, lose his spinnaker and then seeing his crew get it all wrong and force Unmatched to sail around the spinnaker under the boat.

The hand signals followed by a swing at the tiller extension by Graham were priceless.

Please read Graham's comments with that in mind:

Thanks to all for the regatta. My performance was somewhat entertaining and I am considering entering the non spinnaker class from now on. I thought I would share my thoughts about the regatta .

Thanks to all for a great regatta. Well done.

Received this note in the post from Struan:

Dear Alan

The crew of Struan would like to extend their thanks for a most enjoyable regatta.

The racing was great! and the fare ashore equally so. Although a little sore and weary this Monday.

I am sure that Struan will back next year.

Please pass out thanks onto the Sponsors, Giza, all involved in the organising and all who helped to put this regatta on the water.

Yours in sailing

STRUAN
1198

Any current members of ABYC who are members of the Fireball class are requested to contact Will Moody [sa.fireball[atgmail.com].

Will says: We are trying to update our records, relocate boats if they are not being used and get people out on the water sailing fireballs again. We have very good growth in Cape Town and George but would like ABYC to also be a venue when we have boats racing.

Today is Glynis Baer, Regatta Secretary of note and Mrs List's Birthday.

Happy Birthday Glynis.

If you would like to wish Glynis Happy Birthday pop down to the club, enter the GIZA Challenge and then you may squeeze the Secretary.

The following article by Natalie Leung was published in the Macau Daily Times. It looks like ABYC have exported our Sailing School to Macau as Old ABYC'er, Jon Gailbraith has started a similar initiative there:

Macau's only youth sailing academy has a "big dream" - to represent the SAR in the 2012 London Olympics. However, the goal could be challenged by a lack of sponsorship, which the principal said has hold back a lot of future sailors from developing the sport, and the small fact that Macau is not yet a member of the International Olympic Committee.

Finishing his morning training session with six teenagers off the port of the Macau Yacht Club, Jon Galbraith, founder of the Macau Youth Sailing Association, told the Macau Daily Times the fact that the city had no sail training facility was "very much to his surprise" when he moved to the SAR with his wife Suzie, who accepted a job offer from Taipa's Sheng Kung Hui Primary School in August of last year.
Currently giving the second training module to the 13 students aged between 11 and 16 and admitted from The International School of Macao (TIS) and Sheng Kung Hui Primary School when the course began in March, Mr Galbraith said a lot of children in Macau were keen to pick up the sport but could not afford the fees of 1,900 patacas per module for the six week course.

According to this Royal Yachting Association (RYA) certified "yacht-master" who had also launched the Algoa Bay Development Sailing Academy in South Africa and worked at the Hanble School of Yachting in the UK, there was a very keen child called Akit in England who wanted to learn sailing so much but he was an orphan that no one could pay the tuition fees for him.

"To somebody in the western world 100 pounds is nothing. But 1,900 patacas is a lot of money for people living in this area [Macau]. But I don't blame their parents, they just can't afford it," the 55-year-old principal said.

In March when Mr Galbraith gave a presentation of his sailing course to 200 students at the Taipa primary school, he said 72 of them showed their interest afterwards but only five had returned the entry forms to the association eventually.

Every module has a running cost of about 38,000 patacas. Considering the small number of intakes the association has, the Galbraiths have been covering the costs out of their own pockets.

But for this married couple, running the academy was never a money-driven idea.

"It's very important to give back to the sports," Mr Galbraith said, adding "children today are sailors tomorrow and we really need to start them young".

Mr Galbraith was not in the sailing industry until 1994. Although he still managed to take home championships from different world renowned yacht races, he told the MDT a late starter could never obtain "the Olympics quality".

"Without a sponsorship, by the time a person can afford to buy a yacht, he will already be in his 40s or 50s," the principal said.

The 55-year-old already has a two-year plan in mind for his 13 students whose parents are either expatriates with western origins or Macanese.

Mr Galbraith said he wanted to train 16-year-old Kyle to be the assistant instructor by the time he reaches 18.
"It is like a pyramid from within, only by doing this sailing can truly carry on in Macau," he added.

The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) held its first team announcement for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at Olympic House today.

Representing South Africa in the Sailing discipline are: Penny Alison, Dominique Provoyeur and Kim Rew, collectively known as Team Isigungu. The sailing Manager/Coach is Dayne Sharp.

Read about Team Isigungu HERE

The Giza Challenge is being sailed from the 1st to the 4th of May 2008. Registration starts on Sunday the 27th April - why don't you make a day of it and come down for Breakfast before you register to sail?

The following is a breakdown of the activities:

Wednesday 30th April:
Opening Ceremony for approximately 300 sailors and invited guests. Food platters will be provided.

Thursday 1st May:
Breakfast will be available consisting of a Breakfast roll wiff egg and bacon (R15.00) or sausage, egg and toast with orange juice and coffee. A full breakfast @ R30.00 will also be available.
The normal Chartroom Lunch menu.
Dinner: Italian night. 3 x pasta with rolls and salad @ R32.00 per head.

Friday 2nd May:
Breakfast as above.
The normal Chartroom Lunch menu.
Dinner: Braai @ R35.00 per head with salad, rolls and braai pack.

Saturday 3rd May:
Breakfast as above.
The normal Chartroom Lunch menu.
Dinner: Fish, chips, salad and roll @ R32.00 per head.

Sunday 4th May:
Breakfast as above
The normal Chartroom Lunch menu.

Available from the 1st to 4th May:

* Toasted sandwiches available from the restaurant between 3:00 pm and 6:00pm R12.00

** Lunch packs available from the restaurant R30.00 to be ordered and paid for the day before.( 2 x rolls, juice, chocolate and fruit.)

*** Additional meals (non sailors) to be ordered and paid for the day before.

The Interclub Regatta weekend of the 27th and 28th April promises to be one full of activity with many dinghies sailing creating a spectacle for the Teak Reefers, Lunch Girls and General Layabouts better suited to talking about sailing rather that actually sailing. Now who said we weren't all things to all people?

The program as follows:

Friday evening: Restaurant open

Saturday morning: Breakfast-roll/egg/bacon(R15) or sausage/egg/toast with orange juice and coffee.

Saturday lunch: Lunch menu

Saturday evening: Spit braai (arranged by P. Stunden - please book in advance)

Sunday morning: As above

Sunday lunch: As above

Sunday evening: Lunch menu available AND the 27Dinner

Monday morning: As above

Monday lunch: As above

Monday evening: Lunch menu available

* On Saturday and Sunday toasted sandwiches will be served from the restaurant at R12 between hours 3pm-6pm.

** Camping on the lawn is available

*** The Car Park will be cleared for boat

Notice of Race and Entry Form HERE

A bunch of geeks and media people will be having their 27Dinner at ABYC on Sunday evening as well.

With the Giza Challenge a scant 10 days away it is time to get sailing fit. These tips and exercises come to you with compliments of the Scuttlebutt Blog with a nod to Derek for sending me the link:

* Sit on a bench with large metal fixtures cutting into your legs, stare straight up into the sun for 2 hours - for a more robust workout: invite 4 friends to come over and yell at you the whole time

* Go out and get very drunk, sleep 4 hours, then stand on a rocking chair for 6 hours.

* Go to bank and withdraw as much cash as you can - then set it on fire

* Sit in front of a commercial fan and have someone throw large buckets of salt water on you

* Cut limb off nearby tree, tie ropes to it, stand on rocking chair with tree limb and ropes - hold them over your head for 3 hours...at 5 minute intervals drop on your head - more robust version: have friends yell at you in 6 minute intervals

* Pour cold water in your lap and give yourself a wedgie, now alternate between sitting and running around bent over

* Tie ropes between 2 trees and sit on a hard barstool tipping yourself into the ropes and balance - push your body against them as hard as you can for 6 consecutive hours - don't stop for pain or bruising until the pins and needles in your feet make it impossible for you to walk.

* Nail wooden blocks covered in rough grade sandpaper to your stair make sure the sandpaper is wet , crawl up and down on your knees in shorts for several hours making sure to catch your fingers under the stair rods and smash your knees into the banisters

* Make 12 sandwiches on white bread with bad meat and margarine cram them into a plastic bag, sprinkle with sea water- eat one a day for 12 consecutive days ... make sure the last one is peanut butter and jam.

* Tie rope to rear bumper of friend's car, hold on tightly, but allow rope to slip through fingers as car drives away - TIP: works best with nylon.

* Upon completion of above sit down and drink 24 Mount Gay Rums and tell your non-sailing friends what a fantastic sport it is.

ADD YOUR exercises in the comments section.

GIZA Challenge 2008 NOR

With a challenge put out to other Yacht Clubs for this years race, The Intelegence Telecoms 2008 managed to attract a field of a total of 12 yachts, this being two entries up from last years race. 3 were from Port Elizabeth’s Algoa Bay Yacht Club, 1 from Arena Quays, 1 from East London Yacht Club and 7 from Buffalo River Yacht Club

Again all the skippers and crew were enthusiastic, making it a pleasure for the race committee to organise.

The Skippers briefing and sponsored evening for crews and their families, the NSRI, East London Yacht Club helpers, and Team Sponsors was held at the Buffalo River Yacht Club on the Friday evening, with welcome bags being handed out to the Skippers of the Yachts. Slaley Cellars kindly donated additional Sponsorship towards prizes and welcome packs with a very generous sponsorship of a selection of really top class wines. The Fish River Sun kindly donated a weekend getaway to one of the winners, and Automall in East London donated a whole lot of goodies and bags for the goodies.

Team Sponsorship of R500,00 plus T shirts for the crews of each yacht entered into the race, was sold by the Yachts to companies, all this money was then donated to the local NSRI, this year we managed to Raise R6000.00 from these sponsors. As well as Proceeds from raffling a Magnum of Slaley Merlot, kindly donated for the purpose.

THE RACE

The Start line laid off East London’s Esplanade, with the first marker buoy to windward, off Eastern Beach, the yachts then were to round the Ports Eastern Pier, and choose their own courses to Port Elizabeth with the finish line between a marker 200m in line with the end of the breakwater and PE’s Port control Tower.

The Race started promptly at 11:00 am in a approximately 10+ knot Easterly with Warrior from ABYC rounding the mark first, closely followed by Fleur from ELYC and Warrior from BRYC.

This 10 knot wind was not to last too long, and as the morning progressed into afternoon the wind died steadily, although the initial predictions of weather for the race were a lot more favourable than the 2007 race, this proved to be incorrect. This years race was plagued by not strong winds and rough seas, but rather very light winds and almost glossy doldrums seas, not Easterlies chasing the yachts on a fast downwind slalom run, but a slow and tiresome Westerly that the yachts had to beat into. This made the race far more tactical with some yachts choosing to go far offshore looking for a bit of wind and the fast flowing Augulus current, others choosing an inshore route hoping for a land and sea breeze to help them on their way.

During the night of almost windless conditions both inshore and offshore the majority of the fleet started to retire one by one until only four of the initial eleven of the starting yachts remained. Warrior PE, Warrior EL, and Fleur contending for the handicap mono-hull class, and Moments the only single handed entrant remaining.

Occasional relief came to the remaining yachts by means of squalls offshore, on the route that they had taken, with winds picking up briefly to around 18 knots combined with lightening streaked cloudy skies and torrential rain, soaking the crews to the bone.

As dawn broke Warrior PE was in the close vicinity of Bird Island, with Warrior EL and Fleur within sight of one another 10 to 15 miles behind, and Moments trailing a short distance astern of them.

Saturday mornings wind picked up slightly with a 5 to 6 knot Easterly, and saw the three leading yachts round Bird Island and take the inshore route around Algoa Bay.

Warrior crossed the finish line at 11 hours 43 minutes and 8 seconds winning Line Honours in just 24 hours 43 minutes and 8 seconds.

By 2 p.m. the wind shifted to the South East and picked up slightly, and Moments decided to cut directly across the Bay, now trailing 11 to 12 miles behind Warrior EL and Fleur. Fleur crossed the line at 18:17 just as the wind died, and Warrior struggled in the windless conditions, finally crossing the line at 18:40, managing to take the Handicap Honours. Moments then drifted throughout the night, beating against a light 2-3 knot Easterly and limped in at 6:55 on Monday morning in the very light conditions.

The feeling from all the yachts and crews that finished the race was, despite the race being exhausting both physically and mentally due to the light frustrating conditions, it was great fun, and a well-run event.

Prize giving will be held at the Giza Challenge ABYC Week.

The Organizers of the Race would like to thank:

East London Yacht Club for their help laying the Start Line and first mark, and manning the Start.

ABYC for the welcome on Arrival and the laying of the finish marker and especially Alan Straton for the interest he generated in the race from PE.

The Daily Dispatch for their excellent coverage of this event, with hope through this, our sport can grow in the Eastern Cape.

Intelegence Telecoms, for making the race possible, through their keen sponsorship.

Slaley Wines for their generous donation of fine wines as prizes and welcome packs and to raffle off in order for us to Raise Funds for the NSRI.

Fish River Sun for their donation of accommodation for a weekend away to one of the winning yachts at their luxurious hotel.

All the Team sponsors of R500.00 to the NSRI and T-shirts to the yachts crews, this year we raised R6000.00. THANK YOU.

The NSRI, for keeping track of the race by taking positions of the yachts every few hours.

Final Results:

1st: Warrior East London, L34, Chris Church
2nd: Warrior Port Elizabeth, Simonis 60, Phil Gutsche
3rd: Fleur, Farr 38, Mike Ross

The Interclub Dinghy Regatta takes place on the 26th and 27th April. Entry fees are; R50.00 single and R75.00 double.

On the 26th April Phil has planned a Spit Braai - R60.00 gets you the ticket to carnivore heaven with a bit of Rabbit food on the side.

We are trying out a new solo artist as well, Mary K. Mary K. is sure to appeal to the younger of the greybeards at ABYC.

Please confirm your attendance at the Spitbraai at the ABYC Office or phone Anna on 041 585 4058 to book.

Download the Interclub NOR and Entry Form HERE

ABYC Week, become Isuzu Challenge, then ABYC Week, then this year we had a number of incarnations; 'The Spirit of Giza Regatta', 'Giza Technologies ABYC Week' and finally 'GIZA CHALLENGE'.

Be that as it may, the 1st to th 4th of May will be full of great sailing fun, highs and lows as we take part in the GIZA Challenge.

The CHALLENGE now is to get the moorings empty on every single day of our long weekend. I remember the days when the moorings at ABYC were 80% empty every day that we sailed ABYC week. It is time that we put a little effort back into our sailing and completely emptied the moorings for the GIZA Challenge.

So far we can confirm:

The Pacer 27 Class is confirmed.
The Sadlers are almost confirmed as a class.
A Melges 24 will make it's appearance.
We have enough boats for an IRC Class.
Subsidised / Free Entertainment and meals have been organised for every night.
The opening will be held on Wednesday night 30 April
Registration will take place on 27 April and Wednesday 30 April.
A photographer has been employed to take photographs which will be distributed to each boat.
Supersport will be filming the event.
Danny will organise a helicopter for the photographers and film crew.
T-Shirts, plaques and prizes will be given away.
For an entry fee of R350.00 the photographs are worth the cost - you cannot lose.

WE NEED YOUR PARTICIPATION - it is not only about racing but about the JOY of sailing and taking part in ABYC's premier regatta.

Make our sponsors, GIZA, proud and let us see EMPTY moorings on each day of sailing.

One of the recent schools to take part in the ABYC Sailing School program was Herbert Hurd. They entered their first major regatta in March this year; The Redhouse Inter Schools Sailing Regatta and acquitted themselves well.

Darryl, of the Wednesday Committee of Two fame sent the following report in:

Herbert Hurd entered the 32nd Coca Cola interschools regatta held at Redhouse Yacht club on the 15th and 16th of March. With the 5 entrants being Jesse Martin, Mark Laggar, Shumeeze Salie, James Westraadt and Bryan Waters, nervous and excited because the day had dawned on their first regatta!

With the first race set to start at 10:30am, the weather decided to show her hand and gusted at 27 – 30 knots before settling down to about 16 knots constant. My kids’ eyes were wide as Scott Stephens went out on his laser 4.7 to show off a bit! He capsized on the run at some serious speed! “Is this what we are in for?” asked one. “I’m not going out there!” said the other.

Herbert Hurd at the Inter schools sailing regattaThe first race was postponed due to the wind but when it settled the lasers were first on the start line. Second to start were the gypsies and mirrors and the lone senior optimist. Then it was the chance of the junior optimists and lastly the novice class was set to go. The cries of “I’m not going out there!” turned into “When can we go sir? Is it time yet!”
The start line was a bustle of oppies and o’9ers, with it being the first regatta, the rules of starboard and weather boat, just didn’t apply to them! Shouts of “Get out of my way!” and “I’ll ride straight over you!” were heard from the bank! The hooter went and they were off on the run to the bottom mark! EVERY boat got to the bottom mark at the same time and there was a lot of bumping and shoving and shouting! You could hear as the o’9ers banged each other and booms clanged against masts! Herbert Hurd managed a 4th from Jesse Martin and an 8th from Mark Laggar

So first race was done, the second and third race was very similar. Same conditions, same shouting and they were off! Jesse managed a 4th place in both races due to his proper course choice.

The fourth and last race of the day came as a shock to the kids. Shumeeze didn’t sail and it turned into a correct choice. The wind suddenly picked up after the start and as some of the front runners gybed on their way down to the bottom mark, spectacular broaches were witnessed by the spectators on the banks! Other boats at the back were taken out and bashed into by the boats broaching and there was absolute chaos down at the bottom mark! 2 of my boys made the end of the race with boats filled with water!

Sunday dawned with lighter winds and bluer skies! After frantic rigging to go for a pleasure sail, the fifth race would soon start. The course was set to be a reaching course. As the kids went underway, all 5 of the Herbert Hurd children go a perfect start! As they reached the bottom mark the placing was as follows: 2,3,4,6 and 9th!

The last race saw the novices race the same course that the “bigger” boats. They were excited to finally sail round the elbow towards the mouth of the Swartkops River.
As they rounded the elbow, many of the bigger boats were on the run to the finish line so there was mass confusion and chaos as the novice fleet of 19 boats got tangled in with the other fleets! Herbert Hurd posted a 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th and 11th place in this race!

At the prize giving each novice received a medal and a Coke from Coca Cola! Herbert Hurd narrowly missed out on the team trophy to Clarendon. Watch out, we’ll get you next year!

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOGRAPHS
See the story on MyPE

CLICK HERE to get the official notice of a Special General Meeting scheduled for the 24th April 2008 at 6:00 p.m.

SGM Notice

The Interclub Regatta will be held at the Algoa Bay Yacht club on the 26th and 27th of April 2008. Monday the 28th is a public holiday.

The Interclub Regatta is an all classes event traditionally sailed between ABYC, Knysna Yacht Club, George Lakes Yacht Club, Mossel Bay Yacht Club and Redhouse Yacht Club. Entries are invited from all dinghies for this popular event.

The last Interclub Regatta was won by Redhouse (incorporating ABYC).

Entry fees are:

1. Single Handed: R50.00
2. Double Handed: R75.00
3. Single Handed Juniors: R30.00 (Under 15)

Sunday the 27th is also registration day for the Giza Regatta which takes place from the 1st to the 4th of May 2008.

Download: Notice of Race
Entry Form

As the tension mounts in anticipation of the start of the East London to Port Elizabeth race we seem to see that chances of Warrior completing the 134 nautical mile dash in less than 10 hours fading with the wind.

All is set for the race start, except that Wattoo had an unexpected setback and had to return to Port Elizabeth after clearing Bird Island on Wednesday evening. Can I hear someone grumbling about postponing the Great Circle only for Wattoo now being a waste of time? Sod Off, you.

The East London Daily Dispatch newspaper has got some good coverage of the race in todays edition - SEE HERE.

This Wednesday Evening Sail is sponsored by Proline Computers. Johan can always be relied upon to promote sailing and ABYC in a BIG way whenever Proline sponsors an event.

Indications are that Johan will have in 101 guests attending and he will be looking for berths for 92.

This is a small heartfelt PLEA for as many boat owners as possible to make space available on their boats to accommodate Johan's Guests.

Proline have hired the band The Tom Boys to play on into the wee hours of the morning so we are expecting a fitting finish to HUMP DAY.

Please mail Johan or Myself with numbers that you are able to accommodate on Wednesday evening or let us know in the COMMENTS section below.

Predictions for this years race range from 10 to 14 hours for the first boat to cross the finish line.

So far a total of eleven boats have entered with hopes for two late entries by Friday.

The race starts at 10:00 a.m. in East London on Saturday the 12th of April and most people are touting Warrior as the line honours winner.

The finish line will be between the end of the breakwater and a mark approximately 200 metres to seaward.

One of the EIGHT Pacer 27's that will be sailing in the Giza Technologies ABYC Week, Unmatched, sailed by Graham Wentworth is also taking part in the East London to Port Elizabeth race.

Make the time and come and greet the crews as they arrive from East London at ABYC.

Today is ABYC President, Ronnie Baer's birthday. Please join us in wishing Ronnie a very Happy Birthday and all the best for this auspicious occasion.

Ronnie is one of the hardest working club members, selflessly giving of his time and resources to constantly promote sailing, ABYC and the members.

Along with Glynis, Ronnie has been a stalwart supporter of youth and dinghy sailing for many years. Introducing new kids to the sport and schlepping boats and kids alike all over the country to take part in local, provincial, national and selections regattas.

For many years Ronnie has served in various capacities on the ABYC Committee as well as on the SAS council and in a pivotal role for SASEC.

This absolute focus on sailing has also helped produce three very good sailors in Jonathan, Simon and Phillipa Baer who have all represented South Africa at various sailing events and disciplines.

Ronnie was one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the ABYC Sailing School and a major contributor to the SAS Accredited Sailing Course Syllabus.

Mazeltov Ronnie, may you have many more.

Place your wishes in the comments section.

In the past the crew's race was a little slow jaunt to some navigational point and back.

In light of the fact that we have ONLY this weekend available to the racing fleet and that, in my humble opinion, we ALL need to understand the round the cans racing in the build up to the Giza Technologies ABYC Week from the 1st to the 4th of May.......

This weekends Crews Racing will be a full weekend of racing, starting on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and again on Sunday at 10:00 p.m.

Maybe if your crew get to see THEIR positions from the perspective of 'behind the management line' we will assist them in becoming a more understanding and far better team.

ANYONE WANT TO OFFER THEIR YACHT AS START / FINISH BOAT? Please contact ALAN NOW.

The 2008 Action Bolt South African Laser Class Championships will take place in Richards Bay from the 28th of June to the 4th of July at Zululand Yacht Club, Richards Bay in the Heart of Zululand.

Zululand Yacht Club has played host to many local and international regattas over the years, including the Tornado Worlds, the OCRA Selections Regatta, the annual combined Zululand Cat Challenge, and on various occasions the KZN Youth Provincials and the KZN Laser Provincials. The Club has also been selected as the Venue for the 2009 IODA African Optimist Championships

Action Bolt in conjunction with Wurth has agreed to be Title sponsors for this prestigious event. Thanks must go out to Action Bolt who have supported sailing in South Africa for many years and especially for supporting this event.

Over and above the normal ablutions, 24 hour security and infrastructure the club boasts a host of top quality facilities including a double story Clubhouse with a fully licensed air-conditioned bar. There is also a Kitchen that caters for your Breakfast, lunch and supper needs.

The Pelican Bar on the lawns in front of the clubhouse is a wet bar that will be open for drinks, weather permitting, as well as a swimming pool that is well shaded. There are a limited number of grassed campsites (both with and without electricity points) that will be available on a first come first served basis at very reasonable rates. Please contact the Club’s office to make your bookings early for these sites on 035 788 0256.

For launching, the club has a beach launch site that is protected and safe. One is able to launch from here without any stress and sail out to the racing area.

The planned sailing areas are North or South of the main harbour entrance depending on the wind direction or in the Bay if the conditions offshore are deemed to be unsafe.

The weather over the June/July period is generally mild with temperatures reaching 21 degrees in the day and dropping to around 12 in the evening. The winds over this time are traditionally milder and are generally from either the North East or the South West. Statistically June has a predominant South Westerly blowing and the average maximum is 17 knots with the Northerly blowing at a maximum average of 11 Knots. Statistically, July shows a swing to a predominantly North/North Easterly direction and also has an average maximum strength of 17knots with the Southerly having an average maximum of 12 knots.

It should noted that the organisers have made a provision in the NoR the should he conditions offshore be detrimental to the safety of the sailors, racing will be held in the Bay which gives protection with an offshore effect.

The organising Committee has secured a limited number of top quality Lasers that will be made available for chartering. Please contact Rob Walker on 082 922 7163 for more information. Numbers are limited.

For any other information contact Steve Martin on 082 5734 122 or e-mail at stevem[at]bell.co.za. For more information on the venue please visit the Zululand Yacht Club website.

A full 43 boats still have safety inspections outstanding - come on guys, poor show.

If your safety has not been done please contact Phil Rademan (082 450 7039) to organise this vital inspection of your yacht before the Giza Technologies ABYC Week.

From the phone of Derek Bouwer, the following message from NPA:

Would like to inform you that the scrap vessel ARIELLA will working from berth 8, because the ore carriers will occupying berths 13 & 14. Thus scrap will be transported by road in bins and on trailers.

This might cause traffic problems, All port users please be patient with slow moving vehicle transporting this scrap to the vessel.

Your cooperation in this regard is appreciated

I have had a request from the present holders of the Great Circle Trophy to postpone this race to the weekend of the 19th of April 2008.

The present holders of the Great Circle Race trophy will be sailing the East London to Port Elizabeth race on the 12th and desperately want the opportunity to defend their trophy.

My personal feeling is to grant them their wish.

If you feel vehemently opposed to the moving of the Great Circle Race to the weekend of the 19th of April then please voice your objection in the comments section below.

A final decision will be taken this Friday.

ABYC Week 2008 has now got a generous sponsor, Giza Technologies have stepped up and offered to sponsor ABYC Week 2008.

Thanks Danny and may all your problems be manageable projects......

More good news for ABYC Week is that the Pacers will be holding their provincials at the same time and there is a possibility of eight Pacer 27's attending.

Signal your intention of taking part in the Giza Technologies ABYC Week by signing the 'entry form' on the notice board outside the bar.

The Optimist Dinghy selections Regatta to choose two teams, one to the Worlds in Turkey and one to the African Championships in Mauritius are currently being sailed out of ABYC.

The Selections Regatta is scheduled to finish on the 1st of April or once 20 races have been completed.

See reports from the racing on the Optimist web site and on MyPE.

I would like to thank all the ABYC volunteers who have given up 7 days of their lives in order to make the Optimist Selections Regatta a success. Please add names that I miss to the comments section:

Start Boat: Ronnnie Baer (Race Officer) Bill Hickson, Justin and Sarah Onvlee, Sarah Arnold, Danie Els and Tim Jones (for loaning his catamaran, Sahari, as the start boat), Rudy Botha, Josh Woolard.

Finish Boat: Ian Bancroft (who loaned and manned his boat, Talisker), Barbara Hickson, Andrew Collier, Wayne Watkins, Scott Stephens.

Mark Layer: Alan Straton, Jason Schaeffer and Philip Straton.

Measurement Boat: Phillipa Baer.

Launching and Retrieval: Pat Hurley, Robbie Gwynn, Murray Godwin.

Spectator Boat: Greg Ochabski.

Registration: Glynis Baer.

Regatta Secretary: Glynis Baer.

Measurement and Results: Alan Straton.

ABYC Support Staff: Anna Marie van Vliet, The Chartroom Restaurant, ABYC Barmen Blackie and Whitey, Cleaning Staff - Jimmy, Nora and Jackie.

Sponsors: Pick 'n Pay Summerstrand (Goodie Bags and Sarmies after sailing), Trevor Bielby Electrical (Friday Night Suppers for all sailors and support staff), Philip Stunden and Reverend Bob Tims (Donation of money for the Friday Night draw).

Thanks to the boat owners who took all the Optimist Sailors for a sail on Wednesday Evening.

I came across a blog about a yacht called Pizzazz, stopped, drew a breath and recognised it as Myott.

Myott is the second yacht that Neil Villet built and that Glynnis and I sailed the 2000 Cape to Rio on along with Justin Dent, Keith Barnes, Bunny Scheepers and He Who I Cannot Remember Now!

I am sure that I have bored far too many people with my passionate desire to see Keith again so will not elucidate further here.

Go say hello to Pizzazz, HERE.

Last night's Wednesday Evening Sail, sponsored by Arnschell Hydraulics was BIG in more ways than one. With a predicted wind speed of 18 knots we had many boat owners down at ABYC expecting a pleasant sail. Most of the guests were accommodated on Warrior with a few of the die hard adrenaline junkies on the smaller boats. When Sean explained to a group of guests that it was expected to be wet and a little bit rough, four of the male guests willingly gave up their berths in favour of their wives who joined Cooking for a sail.

Now, at the best of times, Cooking is a wet boat well known for dishing out a bit of adrenaline and getting people wet. After all, what is a good sail if you can't go fast and the spinnaker looks so much better with a belly full of 30 knots as opposed to listlessly hanging from the halyards in 5 knots!

The normal Wednesday Evening start line was manned by Ronnie and Glynis and most boats elected to proceed out of the harbour with only a jib up. Much debate on Cooking saw us choose to eschew the main and stick with the number 3 in the rapidly increasing wind. The only hard core boat that went out with main and jib was Chinook. Much to Young Bill's disappointment, in a war between main sail and wind, the wind came out eventual winner and tore Chinook's mainsail.

Leaving the harbour precincts was pleasant enough until around 500 metres out with a little bit of surfing on the waves marching OUT from the land toward the open sea. Port Elizabeth's famous North Wester made it's appearance and the wind speed rapidly increased - great fun if you are used to sailing and are prepared to get wet with the right gear on, not such great fun if your impressions of sailing are gently chortling along in a mild breeze and sunshine with a gin and tonic in hand served by an impressively half naked serving person, the gender of your choice.

With the wind rapidly increasing to what some measured as 47 knots in the harbour it was time we thought to tack and make our way back to the harbour. Owing to the relative inexperience of our guests our first change in direction was a gybe - just to get people used to moving to the windward side on the boat. The gybe was not too shabby with everyone eventually assuming the pie on the rail position.

Now we were beating against the waves and starting to become thoroughly soaked, even Gavin at the stick rapidly assumed the 'standing in a shower' look despite being shielded by five people ahead of him. Then the time came for the tack and, adrenaline time for all on board - a combination of crew not moving quick enough to the windward side and a stalled sheet put Cooking on her side. Megan was holding on for dear life and shielding guests from falling further into the water whilst we were stalled, on our side, dead in the water. A quick tug to release the sheet and we slowly righted the boat with people scrambling onto the windward side. What an experience for Sean's guests to take home.

Will they come again? One guest, the only one to have brought a change of clothes with, indicated that she would love to come again. The only problem is that further sailing has been dulled down for her as evenings like last night come around far too little. The other three guests rapidly exited and raced home to get into dry clothes and back to the club to enjoy the fine hospitality laid on by Arnschell Hydraulics.

I think the next order of business is to organise a whole set of T-Shirts for the guests on Cooking that says; "I Survived 47 Knots" - something that many of our sailors will be just a teensy bit jealous of.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Algoa Bay Week 2008:

Post your willingness to crew and your crew requests in the feedback / comments section please.

ABYC Week 2008 NOR

The crew of Durban 2010 and Beyond arrive in Honolulu, Hawaii in 6th place of leg 7 after being dismasted in Pacific Ocean in the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race.

Photo Credit: Heather Ewing/onEdition

Confirmed entries from the Pacer 27 class are Wild Thing Russel Morgan), Felix the Cat (Ant Wentworth), Unmatched (Graham Wentworth) and the Pacer 27 works boat from Cape Town sailed by Harry Brehm.

Dave Claxton has also offered to trailer down one factory boat himself as well as make another factory boat available for anyone else who would like to trailer that boat down. These Pacer 27 factory boats will be made available to APPROVED skippers and crew.

Apply for your chance to sail the Pacer 27 at ABYC Week 2008, through Russel Morgan - 082 253 5483.

Post your willingness to crew and your crew requests in the feedback / comments section please.

ABYC Week 2008 NOR

The 2008 Algoa Bay Week takes place from the 1st to the 4th of May 2008. Thursday, the 1st of May is a Public Holiday, so you will just have to take ONE day off of work.

Registration will take place the Sunday before AND the Wednesday evening before.

The NOR has been approved and the Sailing Instructions and Entry Form will be approved shortly.

In the meantime, download the Notice of Race for the 2008 Algoa Bay Week.

Post your willingness to crew and your crew requests in the feedback / comments section please.

ABYC Week 2008 NOR

Foolish, foolish! There’s no other way to describe the process of thinking the worst of a situation without contemplating the obvious. So when you think the VHF has gone on the blink try the on-off button? Instead of taking the panel off getting the multi-meter testing everything that could be tested,” gee everything is live?” Only to have Kenny press the on off button and viola’ on comes the VHF, I felt a fool! a little wiser, but a fool non the less.

Before, Struan, could once again head for where the sky meets the sea, there were once again, as always, a few boat chores, to get her shipshape. The spinnaker winches were making a noise like an ox-wagons after the rain! With trepidation the taking a winch apart without a manual was taken on. Needless to say the fears where groundless as Barbarossa had thought of that, so the process was rather simple and with cleaning and a little go fast, in no time I had the winches “werrring” comfortably.

The water-cooling took a little longer but through the process of elimination and a lot of starting the engine, running down to see if the water was being pumped, and then running to the tell tale to see if the water was running? The problems areas were sorted out and once again we have water flowing through the interchanger. memo to self “Never ever doubt Kenny!” Yes the Jebsco pump did need a gasket!!!!!!

Struan was once again good to go!

We headed off!! Going no where slowly to that point where the sea meets the sky, only to turn around and head for home. With cold beers on the deck and friendly banter, another Sunday well spent! Going nowhere slowly! Mission accomplished!!!! Next week we’ll go there again?

Derek Bouwer

Maybe next week Struan will get there. :-)

The Chartroom Restaurant has a new menu and opening times as follows:

Lunches: Open Tuesday to Saturday from 12h00 to 15h00. Sunday from 12h00 to 16h00

Suppers: Open Wednesday to Friday from 18h00 to 22h00

Functions: Monday, Tuesday, Saturday Evening.

The new menu has a range of starters, mains, fish, side orders, sauces and salads to suit every palate and pocket.

Starters range from R20.00 for Soup of the day and your daily bread to Classic Prawn cocktail with avocado at R26.00.

Main Courses Creamy Fusilli pasta with cajun chicken, bacon, tomatoes and fresh mixed herbs at R50.00 to a 350 gram Grilled Rump Steak, with a side salad, hand-cut chips and onion rings at R82.00.

Fishy delights include R38.00 for Classic fish ‘n chips with fresh beer battered hake, hand-cut chips & a curried mayo and a Seafood feast consisiting of steamed mussels, calamari, prawns and hake with savoury rice at R85.00.

The Warm honey roasted butternut salad with green beans, feta & cherry tomatoes with a mustard dressing sounds just like the ticket and desserts are baked daily to ensure freshness and a changing variety.

Bookings can be made by phoning 041 585 2893. Members qualify for a 10% discount and the public are welcome. Of course Mark knows just how to butter me up as I see that he has a reference to www.MyPE.co.za on the Chartroom Menu - "Thanks Mark"

More Port Elizabeth Restaurants

The note from Safety Officer Phil Rademan below refers:

Following a discussion with Port Control recently I have been instructed to request that all Skippers please monitor their VHF radio’s (CH 12) from the time that they board their vessel, as frequently Port Control gives a blanket clearance to all yachts to leave the Port only to have the channel blocked by 3 or 4 yachts that were not keeping a listening watch on channel 12 and then requesting clearance to leave the Port. Please urge all Skippers to comply with NPA's request.

This is exactly what happened last Sunday and I could feel the frustration from the "Man in the Tower".

At 0610 GMT on the 19th day of the 4,400-nautical mile Pacific Ocean leg, the team representing Durban, South Africa, contacted the Race Office to report that they had been dismasted at deck level, whilst sailing in approximately 20 knots of wind.

Durbanite skipper, Ricky Chalmers says, “The conditions were bouncy, but we weren't slamming. Just before the mast broke, the helm said he bore away from a wave. I think there was a slam, but not major, then a double crack and then lots of shouts of "Ricky" from on deck.

Full Story and Images

Hi, all at ABYC

Well, we have been in Luderitz, Namibia since Sunday the 24th of February. We spent 4 weeks in Cape Town preparing the last things for the trip and stocking up. It was a lovely time even though we had a week of 45-65 knots in the marina. Port Elizabeth doesn't come near Cape Town with wind. Then we left and had a good sail up to Saldanha and passed Warrior at Dassen island on her way back to Cape Town.

We spent a few days in Saldanha at anchorage which was very good and relaxing. The little town actually has a vibe to it and stocks are available. The anchorage is good and quiet. Then we left for Luderitz, opposite Cape Columbine though we had a misfortune. For all the years of sailing it was the first time ever that a seal swam into our prop shaft while we were motoring at 1500 rpm doing 6knots, it made a resounding bang and straight away we had a strong vibration, after reducing to 1100 rpm the vibration was acceptable and we decided to push on further. We passed 17 whales, one of which was the size of the yacht and surfed a wave right next to us. We could see the gills clearly, that's how close it was.

On the second day though, it became quiet and then all was pure white. Fog rolled in, thick as pea soup and surrounded us totally that you couldn't see the sea and nor the horizon. This continued right up till we rounded Diaz point and sailed into the first bay of Ludertiz. It then slowly dissipated and we could see blue sky again. What a pleasure! The wind was howling , little did we know that this was the norm for this area. We tried to anchor 6 times, dragging every time. Port control then called us up and gave us permission to tie up against the wall on the harbour side. We secured her well. Immigration called and we checked in . We also had to report to Port Control with the boats papers. On the Monday morning we went to customs and that also went very quickly.
On the whole Luderitz is a very easy place to clear in and out of. We were informed that the anchorage is very bad as a result of all the dredging by the diamond boats and was not recommended unless a private person offered you one of their trot moorings. This doesn't happen to easily. The nickname for Luderitz area is the "devils playground", believe it, it can blow incredibly. A normal day is 35-40 knots! The convenience of being against the wall is when needing diesel they come to you and the same applies to water.

The yacht club is a meeting ground for all, after 5pm. Lots of beers and Jagermaester gets consumed there and many a tale gets told. It is very festive, only problem, no one actually sails! It is a meeting point for the small population of the town. Everyone is extremely friendly and helpful. Every Saturday they organize an event to bring the community together eg. anything that floats, braais etc. We think this is very important for all clubs, it brings members together and keeps the club alive. Anyway we are still here after 12 days and planning to set sail soon as a window opens.

I would like to recommend ABYC a point to consider very seriously. Being yachties and sailing you always end up with a huge amount of washing when you arrive in Port. It was an absolute pleasure to be in CT where they have 1 washing machine and tumble dryer which operate with coins, purchased at the office. This is an enormous help as sometimes laundries are too far to walk to and with all being provided at the club, encourages more yachties. Do consider this it will boost the club a lot and will be well used. From a windy, dry, barren, Luderitz we wish you all a happy Easter and take care.

Safe sailing

Jacqui and Walter

Sunday the 10th of March saw the staging of the double handed challenge. Seven boats sailed the Harbour - Jaheel - Harbour course; Duette, Skybird, Shady Lady, Cooking, Umbaleki, Jouster and Tikalox. Josef, on Skybird, sailed solo. Along for the ride were Struan, who graciously acted as start boat in the harbour, and Mystic Lady. Phil's representation to be included as a participating boat as "we are four people and promise to only use one hand each" had to be denied, unfortunately.

The start, in line with the normal Wednesday Evening start and the stern of Struan, was in a North Easter of around 8 knots. First out of the start block and in front on one tack the entire way to Jaheel was Cooking reveling in the light conditions. At one stage Cooking was sailing at 7.5 knots in the steady wind of 10 knots which increased to around 14 on the way around Jaheel. The conditions for the trip back were ideal for Umbaleki carrying an asymmetric and we kept on remarking that Wild Thing, a Pacer 27, would have flown if taking part.

Going around Jaheel demanded a bit of thought and cautious sailing for this relatively unfamiliar mark and the site of the new Coega Harbour on the starboard side brought the reality of this immense project closer to home for many of the sailors.

The battle royale between Jouster and Cooking began on the trip back - a tight reach and with the wind predicted to swing more to the South, no chance for either boat to carry a spinnaker. One third of the way back Jouster went below Cooking and took the lead. No amount of sail tweaking, bailing, 'sail placement adjustment down below' or barber hauler tactics were good enough for Cooking to close the gap.

Back towards Jaheel, Umbaleki were making their bid on beating wily campaigner, Rob Smith on Tikalox, and the assymetric made it's appearance as they tried to reel Cooking and Jouster in. With no shipping for the entire day the finish was across the normal Wednesday Evening finish line and Jouster was the first over the line in an elapsed time of 3 hours 8 minutes and 6 seconds, then Cooking in 3 hours 11 minutes and 45 seconds followed by Umbaleki in 3 hours 18 minutes and 50 seconds.

The corrected times show a very close race with 56 seconds separating first and second place, 2 minutes and 2 seconds between second and third places and 2 minutes and 15 seconds separating third and fourth places.

Warren and the Longhair (Sorry Kitty, couldn't resist!) on Shady Lady did themselves proud with Kitty's first double handed. AND, they were talking to each other when they got back ........... Often this type of sailing can make or break a relationship, so; "Good on yer, guys, well done"

Now about those 56 seconds separating first and second place: Based on past performance, isn't it time that we had a long hard look at the handicaps?

Full Results: CLICK HERE for Double Handed 2008

The calls were made, the crew is ready, the last minute problem, “damn that kill switch”, is attended too with a little oil going a long way. Now safe in the knowledge that once you’ve started the donk, once the sails are set you can actually silence the beast and slowly succumb to the silence of the sea.

The crackle of Port control allows you to be where you want to be, “out there!”

Sails set and once again Struan does what she was born to do, wooed by the wind and caressed by the sea she heels ever so slightly and sails.
With the easterly still in its infancy, the boat, nudges you to a direction, “so where are we going?” “over there!” the reply and the hand describes an arc where between sky and sea your destination lies.
Minds wander as hand make small adjustments to the boats yearnings as she responds to wind and sea, cares fall away, thoughts find homes in you head, the sun warms you to relax.

The murmur and talk with comments and laughter pertaining to nothing while yarns are spun and retold. Boats are identified or just remain a mystery until they’re closer. Somehow at a gentle 4 knots there is no place for anger, coffee and bread rolls come up from below and somehow taste better then when had at home.

The horizon comes closer while the shore falls away, lost in the haze of the city. “Shall we go with the spinnaker?” Question asked, decided upon and there is the activity of getting ready, lines are run halyards are tugged and pulled. Struan bears off and up she goes, filled sails are furled, the main eased and the wind appears to die? all is still, except for the motion of the boat, the wake disappearing to vanishing point and the gurgling 4.5 knots makes down the hull. With the only sound being, the playing of the sheet, as the trimmer coaxes the big bag to fly.

We’ve turned at our point out there! land’s getting bigger, passing fishing boats and the bell buoy, soon! all too soon! “I think we should dump the spinnaker”. Feverish activity in the cockpit, on the foredeck and the big sail disappears as if swallowed by the forepeak hatch.

Once again port control welcomes us to Port Elizabeth, sails are furled, and the motor coughs under water in the props wash. Struan nose’s into her berth and once again restrained to land, tugging to the call of the sea.

Banter and cold beers as to “where did you go?” “We went there” once again the hand indicates that point where the sea meets the sky. Knowing next week we’ll be going there again! The art of going nowhere slowly is born.

Derek Bouwer

This years Scimitar Cup was sailed over two weekends - the 2nd and 3rd of February and 1st and 2nd of March 2008.

The first day's racing took place in a strong South Easter with a large swell. Brian Reynolds and Harry Lamprecht on the committee boat, Lady had a hard time getting their pick to settle and had to reset the line and pin a number of times. The course was windward- leeward and made all the more difficult as the top mark was a smaller buoy which was difficult to spot in the conditions. Two boats OCS and breakages on Wild Thing whittled the fleet down even further. A course length of two hours ensured that the sailing was hard, wet and tiring. Back on Lady, Harry and Brian had a trying time keeping the mark laying duck under control and tethered, as the duck had a mind of it's own successfully breaking loose and trying to make friends with a passing fishing boat. Young David Moorcroft on Wild Thing made a fine job of playing 'Rescue Ranger' and flung himself into the water to return the duck to it's rightful place.

A sponsored braai and music followed a long and tiring day for the sailors.

Sunday, dawned with 30 to 40 knots of howling west and it was prudently decided to can the racing for the day.

The second weekend and day three and four of racing were quite the opposite. Fine weather, flattish seas, sunshine and great sailing. Eugen Lombard, Tian and Lesley Webber did the committee boat honours on Saturday afternoon and Eugene and Lesley again on Sunday.

Saturday's course was again a windward leeward, but with a twist.The pin and committee boat were designated as bottom marks of the course as a gate, the top mark was set slightly off to try and give the assymetric boats a bit of a reach and boats were allowed to pass through the gate and round either mark. A variation on the America's Cup course. The 8 to 10 knot South East wind moved to the East and failed to give the expected tight reach. A shortish course was set and the boats went off on a journey that would take them five time around the top mark. Hard work for some boats, like Chinook as the guys on the pointy bit can attest with the shorter than normal beats, two or three spinnaker gybes and the weather drop, as all boats opted to go around the pin, necessitating having to reset the kite on the way up. On Cooking I was drenched in perspiration the second run down and by the time the fifth run came along we were so confused and had made so many mistakes that we never even got the kite up. As we finished the last round the predicted Westerly bluster could be seen marching up the course to engulf the stragglers.

Sunday saw a lot of our amateur weather pros get it all wrong. The predictions were completely contrary ranging from major wind to no wind. In the end we decided to take the fleet out, lay a starting line and get a top mark down later. The wind settled in the East North East and we decided to go racing after setting the top mark just a little to the South as this is the direction that the wind normally swings to after a short time in the North. At least we were right in that assumption and Eugene wisely shortened the course to three rounds when it clocked over to south east.

A little bit of waiting and the settling wind made the Bell Buoy a perfect natural mark for our final race of the day in a fading south east.

It was good to have Sea Mole, Tikalox and Skybird along for the race. Just how does Josef manage to race alone with a spinnaker up and make coffee?

Results

When asked about Yacht Racing and how we actually determine who comes first in a mixed fleet I tend to explain a regatta as follows:

Imagine if you will a standard game of rugby to begin with. All the players have specific positions, members of each team wear the same clothes, both teams play to the same set of rules on a playing field that is exactly the same shape and size wherever they play, the goalposts are all the same shape and size and the ball is a standard shape and size. A referee and touch judges direct play and controls stoppages.

Yacht Racing, on the other hand takes place along the following lines: Each set of participants on a boat has specific tasks (positions), members of each team wear different clothes, all yachts play to the same set of rules, BUT, these are open to interpretation. All yachts play on a constantly changing playing field in terms of size, shape, weather and distance, which is also open to interpretation. The marks of the course (goalposts) all vary in shape size and colour. All yachts play with a 'ball' (with reference to class, weight and design configurations here) that differs in shape and size from yacht to yacht. As a result of these factors the yacht that actually comes first over the line may NOT be the yacht that wins the regatta. Even in a One Design Class race the final outcome may be determined by the result of a protest by one yacht against another. There are no referees or touch judges on the field of play - each sailor is expected to sail with honour and in a sportsmanlike manner as the judges (referee and touch judges) are on the shore and will only intervene if one yacht protests another.

If we, as a yacht racing fraternity want to broaden the appeal of our regattas the clearly what we need is to vastly simplify our rules and fanatically encourage the growth of ONE specific one design yacht.

I am thinking that the first step in doing so would be to organise racing according to length - for example 25 to 30 foot boats race in a class and the first over the line is the winner. Over time yachtsmen in this class would naturally gravitate towards the design that wins.

But, we also need to simplify the rules so that we lower the fear factor in entering races. In ABYC and clubs dotted around the world there are many sailors who do not enter races simply because they say that they do not know the rules and do not want to look like prize idiots. More often than not these are sailors with many miles under their belt.

It pleases me to see that ISAF have recognised the 'complications' within the present Rules booklet and have produced a set of introductory racing rules aimed at the sailor with less than two years experience. The two pager gives enough information to get this sailor racing and covers the most important rights.

The Introductory Racing Rules are experimental. ISAF is inviting organizations involved in race training to trial the rules and provide their comments, criticisms and suggestions. The Introductory Racing Rules will be updated as required and the latest version published on the ISAF website.

Give us your thoughts in the comments section.

Links: ISAF Sail Training
Download the Introductory Racing Rules

I just knew that there was a reason for getting up at 6:00 a.m.and starting work today.

As I was getting to the last of my messages I had time to stop, sit back, pause and reflect on the innate goodness of our members.

As all and sundry are aware we have two Quagga training boats that are in serious need of attention and we have a dream that we will see them on the water being used in match racing between, first of all, two High School Sailing Teams and then between club member teams. How about a 'Teak Reef Four' challenging a 'Junior Jam'?

What caused me to stop and reflect was this message from Phil Rademan:

Morning Alan,

I met with Harry Lamprecht and Gert Schoeman last evening and whilst discussing the upgrade of the Quagga project, Harry kindly offered to donate all the mooring lines and anti fouling required for the vessels and Gert has kindly agreed to undertake all the splicing and rope work!

As the round the cans fraternity will know, Harry also is the first (and normally ONLY) boat owner who will agree to being committee boat as well.

Dankie Manne, ons waardeer U kontribusie.

I know that we have many unsung heroes in the club and I want to give ALL a chance to name those heroes, so please feel free to do so in the Comments section.

A woman who hired a yacht using a certificate she downloaded from Facebook has been questioned by police and cautioned under the Fraud Act.

The 29 year old hired a yacht near Dorset last summer using the fake certificate. The conditions of hire stated that she needed to have a Marine and Coastguard Agency (MCA) Yachtmaster certificate in order to hire the vessel.

The woman found an image of such a certificate on Facebook. She downloaded the image, doctored it and produced it, claiming it was a photocopy of a genuine certificate she had earned.

Though the certificate was accepted at the time by the yacht hire firm, it was later found to be a forgery.

The MCA investigated the incident alongside the Marine Unit of Dorset Police, and the woman in question turned up at Bournemouth police station to be questioned.

She was cautioned under the Fraud Act and released. A statement said that no further action had been taken because the yacht hire was paid for and the boat was returned undamaged.

"Seafarers should never publish copies of their certification on the internet," said Captain Andrew Phillips of the MCA Enforcement Unit. "If you have already done so then you are strongly advised to remove them immediately. Having the document on the internet allows them to be copied, and then abused."

Huh? Read on for the full report from Jenny Zurcher:

At the recent interclub held at the Knysna Yacht Club over the 16th and 17th of February, a good week end was had in wonderful weather for both sailors and campers. Faye, Josh and I left home at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday morning and arrived at the Knysna Yacht Club at 8:00 00 a.m. closely followed by Andrew Bosworth. We tent and started breakfast on the skottle in time to greet the Arnold, Onvlee and Bulter families who had traveled down on Friday afternoon.

Racing started at 13:00 hours after a skippers briefing at 11:00 There were only 9 sailors from Port Elizabeth consisting only of ABYC and RYC members. It was decided that we should join forces and, as the biggest number were Redhouse members (Eds note: Not so sure about the math there Jenny as I count seven ABYC members and seven from nine leaves two Redhouse members!) we would compete as Redhouse, as it would be the only way to have a chance against Knynsa. Mossel Bay joined up with George lakes as their youngsters used George lakes Optimists and O9'r.

Racing got underway at 13:00 hours with 2 races for the Optimists in 3 Groups and 5 races for the Open Class.

A great braai and pleasant evening was had by all afterwards and racing was set for 10:00 hours on Sunday. Sunday was a lovely day and the Open class got two races in around the buoys followed by a long distant race at 14:00 hours. The Optimists did 2 races before lunch and 2 after lunch making it 6 races in all.

Racing finished at 15:00 and the big pack up began for the home ward trip after prize giving. Our group did very well indeed. Joshua Woolard winning the A Optimist Fleet, Patrick Butler getting a 5th place, Sarah Arnold first girl home in the Open Group. Justin Onlvee winning the Open Group. Rob Onvlee 5th in the open group. then came the adding up and details of how the points were worked out. Total number of competitors divided by 3. We had to have 2 DNS in each race to make up the average. SO we thought that was the end of us and George lakes as they also had to have 2 DNS.

The final results were:

3rd: .... George Lakes
2nd: ..... Knynsa.............Screams and shouts.................
1st: Redhouse.

The Team: Rob Onvlee, Justin Onvlee, Steve and Debbie Arnold, Sarah Arnold, Andrew Bosworth, Patrick Butler, Joshua Woolard Trevor Kitson and Ian Gooden.

Mike van Wyk reports:

This past weekend was the most enjoyable regatta in South Africa, The Mykonos Regatta. The Port Elizabeth and ex Port Elizabeth contingent onboard Warrior was Phil ”The Boss” Gutsche, Michael “ Why She Ironing my Cap” van Wyk, Kerry “I think I swallowed a Weber” Bonnage, Sean “Where’s my Grinding Team” Wiseman, Dion “I’ve been Violated by a Deck Fitting” Millson, Katie “The Best BB in the World” Moore and Deon “Seaport Rules” Coetzer.

The offshore race to Mykonos started on Friday at 08h30 in a light North Westerly and rain but once the boats cleared Robben Island the wind filled in from the South West and the skies cleared leaving us to decide to whether to go offshore or stay inshore, we stayed inshore and after negotiating a pod of whales we were on our way. Although a slow trip we made it to Mykonos in 8 hrs. 40 min. no record but we finished first and way ahead of the fleet and settled for 5th on handicap.

For some of Port Elizabeth crowd this was their first Mykonos and their first race with Rick Nankin at the helm and with constant sail changes and spinnaker peels it was an experience second to none.

On Saturday it was the Bay Pursuit Race a 25 mile race around the Bay and out to sea with all points of sail and sea conditions to encounter. The first boat hit the start at 10h00 and Warrior was away at 12h47. The race committee set the start times based on wind speeds of 16 knots but during the race we were experiencing winds up to 33 knots. It was a tough day for us with two blown spinnaker sets and then a blown spinnaker. We finished a disappointing 16th but finished in style crossing the line in 30 knots of breeze with the SA flag spinnaker pulling us along at 16 knots. Giving us 7th overall for the Regatta.

Sunday was the return cruise to Cape Town with Phil electing to go back by road we were joined by Mariska “Deon se Stuk” Kriek and 11 year old James “Who has a Hot Mom” Dickman. Departure was set for 04h00 but my crew only left the Casino at 03H00 so departure was delayed until the Regmakers kicked in. We finally slipped moorings at 08h00 and headed out into a stiff South Easterly. With the wind on the nose we motored back to Cape Town in 12 hours arriving at the Cape Grace right at dark.

The Mykonos Regatta is truly a great regatta, last year there were 82 entries but this year it was limited to 60 and with a couple of trailered boats and a hand full of Hobie Tigers the Bay Race had an entry of 72 boats. For our “drinkers who have a sailing problem” it was an awesome experience and something I’m sure they will do again.

A friendly reminder to ALL our yacht owners and skippers to please ensure that your vessel has a current Safety Certificate, the Algoa Bay Yacht Club has a proud history in terms of safety and I would like to appeal to everyone to conform to our safety requirements, should you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact either Mike Robinson on 082 459 9866 or Phil Rademan on 082 450 7039.

The This is Sailing Weekend takes place at the Algoa Bay Yacht Club on the 23rd and 24th of February and is open to the General Public to experience the lore of sailing in a magnificent setting.

Heard at the start of the sailing season “We interrupt this marriage for the duration of the sailing season.” Sailing is oft described as the art of going nowhere slowly at great expense and brings with it a large amount of words and terms that can be confusing to the landlubber. Naturally the sailing vocabulary, along with the perceived expense, is often seen as one of the barriers of entry to the sport of sailing.

The Algoa Bay Yacht Club is going to help you break down these barriers on the 23rd and 24th of February 2008 with an open ‘This Is Sailing’ weekend.

‘This Is Sailing’ will ease you into the rich world and lore of sailing and soon you will be ‘port’, starboard’, ‘halyard’, and ‘vang’ with the best of them.

Sailing consists of many disciplines and each niche can become an obsession. Dinghies and yachts are all represented at the ABYC and each offer a unique perspective on the sport.

Dinghies are seen as an entry level training vessel that lays a solid foundation for the sailor. Many of the dinghy classes are sailed by sailors well over eighty years of age, such is the hold that this form of sailing takes on them. Most great sailors started out in dinghies, Michael Giles, a local Port Elizabeth dinghy champion was part of the Shosholoza team that sailed in the 2007 America’s Cup. Dinghies range from the one man Optimist or Laser to two man boats such as the Mirror and 470. On the overseas front many exciting dinghies such as the Laser SB3 and 49’er are also sailed hard and well. In Australia thousands of people turn out to bet on and watch the 49’ers battle it out.

Yachts can be loosely classified as Dayboats, Sportboats, Racers and Cruisers. Dayboats are not suitable to sail at night. Sportboats are almost oversized Dinghies with massive acceleration. Racers range from 19 foot to massive 100 foot machines with 40 to 50 crew members and the latest hi-tech equipment, freeze dried food and limits of the amount of weight a crew member can be and carry onboard. Cruisers are the caravans of the sea, owners outfit their boats with all the comforts of home (even e-mail, microwave ovens and washing machines) and cruise to islands or around the world. And in between all of those classifications we have various different classes of boats.

Sailing offers a massively diverse amount of choices to all whether you are eight or eighty years old.

‘This Is Sailing’ will give the public the chance to visit the Yacht Club and see many dinghies and yachts in action. Regular sailing opportunities will be offered over the duration of the weekend, either in Dinghies or Yachts. Safety demonstrations and static displays will help ease the public into the lore and vocabulary of sailing.

Entry to the Yacht Club will not cost you a BOAT – Break Out Another Thousand and will be free the entire weekend.

The Teak Reef will be open and serving cold frosties after a long day in the sun and snacks from the Restaurant will be available.

You are welcome to ask questions in the comments section.

Are these the kind of scenes we can expect when the Optimist Selections take place out of Algoa Bay Yacht club next month?

Matías Capizzano published a series of stunning photographs of Optimists doing some incredible sailing on the Mar del Plata, Argentina recently.

Click on the thumbnails to see a larger version

Matías Capizzano contact details
Matías Capizzano web site

The Port Elizabeth Daily Photo blog site is one of many around the world that posts a photo of a city a day with a small description.

A couple of weeks ago I invited 'Sam' along to the yacht club for a sail and the opportunity to click her camera to her hearts content.

I see some of those photographs popping up every now and then on the web site and am particularly impressed to see that a photograph of a J27 with the Donkin in the background was selected as the runner up as being an image that best epitomises Port Elizabeth:

Sam says: In trying to decide which photo would depict our city for yesterday's theme, we considered many options. In the end the beach won. But this photo was one we also wanted to use, because the Donkin Reserve is the sort of PE icon image, and can be seen on the hill in the background here (the lighthouse and pyramid). Also because we are a Port, and this shows part of the harbour, and renowned for watersports, thus the yacht.

Now, which J27 is in the picture? Hit the comments link to let us know.

Visit Port Elizabeth Daily Photo HERE

It would seem that there is a need for a national rating system to be implemented, especially when holding the bigger regattas.

To this end, South African Sailing is requesting that all regions forward the names and contact details of two representatives that will form the Rating Committee. It is envisaged that this committee will meet to discuss the way forward with regard to forming a “National Rating System” which all clubs and classes will be at liberty to use.

Please forward these names to Sandy Ostendorf (email: sandy[at]sailing.org.za) by no later than 29th February 2008 so a meeting can be set up.

Only names submitted by the Regions will be considered and anyone who is keen to assist in this process is urged to contact their regional office or a member of their regional committee.

Now I am really making the "saltpeels" heads spin with a headline in Afrikaans.

The This Is Sailing weekend planned for the 23rd and 24th February is gaining momentum and we are getting exposure and coverage from a number of media groups. A radio interview on Kingfisher FM and a nice write up in Die Burger were first.

I see now that the article that Die Burger wrote is also on the front page of the Die Burger web site. Click here to read the article online.

Plan to spend the entire weekend sailing and sharing your love of the sea with our may expected 'landlubbing' visitors.

I see that Wild Thing is really throwing out the challenge in the Bell Buoy Dash.

On Sunday the 10th of February 2008, in a favourable North Easter of around 12 knots Russel Morgan and crew on Wild Thing posted a time of 45 minutes and 59 seconds for the dash from the Harbour to the Bell Buoy and back.

Wild Thing have definitely set a time to beat for the monthly R200.00 prize.

The man with the inappropriate surname is coming to town..................

ABYC Commodore, Ian Littlejohn celebrates his birthday on the 9th February 2008.

Happy Birthday Ian.

The Lion King huh? I am sure it will work far better than chocolates.

What we have been missing in the Sailing Calendar is a decent offshore race and with the return of the East London Port Elizabeth Race, sponsored by Intellegence Telecoms, we have the opportunity to walk the walk and talk the talk, as Eugene Lombard says; "With the East London to Port Elizabeth race around the corner I had a look at my records to try and determine which members have done any serious offshore sailing during the past 3 years. I was a bit disappointed given the amount of talk that happens at the teak reef at any given time."

Aaah the Teak Reef, it has snared many an unwary sailors with it's insidious grasp on dispensing of various cold beverages ensuring that many a sailor becomes one that talks about sailing the deep blue, rather than actually getting his / her wet and blown back.

According to Eugene; "I am sure we have many capable sailors that could air their oilies and do the East London Port Elizabeth race and I challenge them to do so."

For the record, the following is a list of members that have done notable offshore passages over the past 3 years. If we have missed somebody please mail ALAN or Eugene or add your details in the comments section so that we can get the information up to date.

PASSAGES OF MORE THAN 2000 MILES:

Kevern & Tich Evans - Bee Haven; Madagascar and back via Mayotte and Mosambique
Steve Burnell - Bee Haven; Madagascar return passage
Mike van Wyk - Warrior; PE to Mauritius and back
Tony Zurcher - Warrior; PE to Mauritius
Eugene Lombard - Warrior; PE to Mauritius
Dylan Mitchell - Delivery Knysna 44; Knysna to Tahiti
Kerrie Bonage - Gumption; Durban to Mauritius and back
Dave Bilsbury - Sea Flirt; PE to Ascension
Alba Bilsbury - Sea Flirt; PE to Ascension

PASSAGES OF MORE THAN 500 MILES:

Pietro Bocchi - Multiple deliveries as skipper to Durban, Richards Bay and Cape Town
Dave Bilsbury - Gaia; PE to Inhaca and back to EL
Alba Bilsbury - Gaia; PE to Inhaca
Lee Godwin - Wings; PE to Richards Bay
Eugene Lombard - Wings; PE to Richards Bay and back
Gavin Rother - Gumption; PE to Durban; SeaQuell - Zanzibar to PE
Iain Bancroft - Sarah; Durban to PE
Patrick Wilson - Sarah; Durban to PE

OTHER COASTAL PASSAGES:

Mike van Wyk - Warrior; Durban and Cape Town, multiple
Eugene Lombard - Warrior; Unzipped; Shady Lady; Gaia; Durban and Cape Town, multiple
Kerrie Bonage - Warrior; Gumption; Durban and Cape Town, multiple
Dave Bilsbury - Warrior; Durban to PE, Gumption; PE to Cape Town
Mike Robinson - Warrior; Cape Town
Johan Herselman - Warrior; Cape Town
Sean Wiseman - Warrior; Cape Town
Tony Rogers - Warrior; Cape Town
Warren Kritzinger - Shady Lady; Durban to PE
Danie Roos - Shady Lady; Durban to PE
Darryl Garner - Cape Town

Related Link: East London to Port Elizabeth Race

Nope this is not another form of TPNS but, an ABYC Special General Meeting to be held at 18h00, on TUESDAY the 26th of February 2008 at ABYC.

The purpose of the meeting is to present approval for the following:

• Updates and revisions to the Club’s constitution
• Feed back on the status of the club after the past 6 months – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!
• Corporate Membership – thought and ideas

Get the official notice HERE
Download the Proposed ABYC Constitution Changes HERE

BRYC are putting a lot of effort into promoting the East London to Port Elizabeth Yacht Race starting on Saturday the 12th April 2008 at around 10:00 a.m.

The race this year is once again sponsored by Intelegence Telecoms and is being billed as a feeder race for ABYC week.

I notice too that BRYC have got their web site up and running and the details for this race can be found HERE.

Anyone looking for crew to sail? Let me know and I will ask in the e-mails and in the lead up to the race.

EDIT: Some news from Ian Williams:

Tenacity, a Caribea 30, sailed down Single Handed last week in a practice run and did 21 hours. On handicap I think that would be pretty good so she is dead keen.

I will enter single handed if there are a few more entries.

Are there many single handed sailors in Port Elizabeth? This could be a great opportunity for them to try their hands at a blue water race, albeit a race that takes around 24 hours.

East London holds the honours for last years race, does anyone in Port Elizabeth feel that they could take this away from us? I challenge them to try. Crewed or single handed.

Eds Note: Fighting words and the gloves are off.

Read all about this ancient, but revolutionary system HERE.

TPNS is touted as being attractive on any vessel, does not require passing satellites or any power source. The manufacturers guarantee that fitting TPNS is more than half the fun, as it can be mounted anywhere.

Read More.

South African Sailing is planning to enter a team for the 2008 ISAF Youth World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark. This serves to give notice of their intent, and to call on all interested potential team members to make known their intentions known.

The event is to be held in Aarhus Denmark. Boats to be sailed at the event are as per the notice of race, which, together with all further event details can be found at www.youthworlds2008.org

Click here for more info

The Knysna Interclub will be held on the 16th and 17th of February. The Knysna Yacht Club are planning a fun filled weekend.

Accommodation - Camping will be available on the lawn and the Loft will also be made available.

I have been holding off on this post waiting for Sue and Max to start posting their photographs from the Wednesday Evening sail that took place on the 23rd of January 2008.

With almost perfect conditions of flat sea, a dying south west wind that started at 14 knots, clear skies and just enough warmth to warrant eschewing wet weather gear we had 25 boats on the water.

Wednesday Evening's sail was sponsored by new club member, Zane Zurcher, from Zurchers Electrical (Click on the link to get Zane's contact details, the next time load shedding strikes!).

The tireless Wednesday Committee of two, Darryl and Nigel elected to send us on a little jaunt down the beachfront to the Shark Rock Pier and back.

Duette and Wild Thing were scheduled to do the Bell Bouy dash. Duette have decided that their new 'bowsprit' and 'asymmetrical kite' configuration is the bees knees and the way to ensure that they get the best out of their boat. Unfortunately for them the load on a 'bowsprit', made by lashing a normal spinnaker pole to the bow, is enormous and will lead to breakages. Cest la vie and back to the drawing board for Sean and Kerry as they now need to manufacture a fatter and shorter pole to experiment with. I just wonder what effect this will have on their rating?

Wild Thing were a little late in leaving and didn't do the dash - I believe it was because Russel didn't get his pass signed by the longhair and had to spend time tracking her down to get the forms, allowing him to go sailing, signed in triplicate. Cooking's BWB defected to Wild Thing, apparently "to take better photographs of Cooking". Yea right we believe you girl.

Anyway, Sue and Max run a blog featuring a daily photograph of Port Elizabeth, called, appropriately enough, Port Elizabeth Daily Photo and hitched a ride on Dougie Stannard's Take Six and, as Sue says; "proceeded to take hundreds of photographs". The first of the series has started going up and you can see two examples HERE and HERE. Sue has promised to give me a ring so that I can pop down and get the photos from her for members that may want copies. Stunning photographs and well worth a visit to their blog.

Those of us who were very naughty and made our respective longhairs pace the passages waiting for us to come home after Gavin Stephens birthday celebrations on the 16th of January choose the prudent route of leaving the club at a respectable hour after enjoying a sosatie roll courtesy of Zurchers Electrical.

Recent returnee to the fold, Eugene, apparently took up the cudgels and in a fine display of batting for the home team introduced all and sundry to the Zululand Yacht Club's weapon of choice, the Hand Grenade consisting of various shots of vile alcohol of massive headache inducing proportions. I can only thank my lucky stars that I was safely at home when all this went down!

The ABYC deck was full, Port Elizabeth dished out the best weather ever, happy smiling faces and camaraderie - what more do you want out of a mid week break?

Don't forget:

• Dinghy Racing this weekend on Saturday and Sunday. We start at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.
• Round the cans Scimitar Cup on 2nd and 3rd February 2008.
• THIS IS SAILING on 23rd and 24th February 2008, which is open to the general public.

Sien Joe op die water!

Strange thing about sailing and other clubs the world over, they are run by committees composed of volunteers who are 'elected' to their positions of trust.

We 'elect' these people to run our clubs, pay them nothing, take away their enjoyment of why they joined the club in the first place and occasionally abuse them for 'not doing a good job' or 'not paying attention to detail' or 'not being available' during the time they are supposed to be at work putting bread on the table.

I use the term 'elect' very loosely as most of the time these people are 'co-erced', forced to 'walk the plank' or identified as having 'leadership potential'.

Don't get me started on the people who volunteer to run and staff our regattas. Imagine if you had to employ a new staff member under the following conditions:

1. Work in the sun, rain and on a heaving boat for 8 hours per day.
2. Return to shore and take abuse from sailors whilst also acting as a Jury Officer.
3. Working time to include Public Holidays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Remuneration: One packed lunch a day and a bottle of warm red wine at the prizegiving.

How many thousands of people would line up to do the job above? Not one I am sure.

Okay, so we have now established that there are certain tasks associated with yacht clubs and regattas that really, to put it mildly, SUCK. And yet, we still get people standing up year after year and doing these thankless tasks, Why?

Well, the way I see it, the world is made up of two distinct groups; Givers and Takers. The Givers volunteer to stand on committees and man regattas, and the Takers tell the Givers to "Go To Hell". This is not a diatribe for or against one group or the other, just plain fact based on years of quietly working in the background GIVING. Sometimes the line between giving and taking becomes blurred and the givers appear to other givers to be takers, but that is just too deep to go into on a Thursday after the Wednesday the night before!

I am going to tell you the secret to ensure that a GIVER stays motivated. It is the most simple thing in the world and will not cost you a cent. But before that happens let's put the amount of GIVING a normal Executive Committee member from ABYC puts into his volunteer job. Don't forget that this volunteer job actually ends up costing the committee member money as in promotion of the club he or she will:

1. Use private resources such as cellphone, landline, cameras, computers, printers, secretarial time, bandwidth and stationery in the conduct of his job.
2. When promoting the club to outsiders drinks and snacks are for the Committee members account, not ABYC's.
3. Continuous purchasing of Chocolates and Flowers for the better half as compensation for HAVING FUN at the yacht club and ignoring the longhair.
4. Sundry purchases of fuel and other running costs for regattas.

Reminds me of another indefatigable volunteer, nicknamed Mrs List, as I embark on yet another list of average time spent on Yacht Club Affairs by Committee Members:

1. One Exco Meeting a month - one hour preparation plus two hours meeting.
2. New members meetings - two hours a month.
3. Portfolio Meetings - one hour preparation plus two hours meeting per month.
4. Portfolio Admin - ranges from portfolio to portfolio, average probably around an hour a day per weekday.
5. Portfolio Activities - the more active portfolios average around 16 hours a week.

Grand Total of time spent on Volunteer Activities: 98 hours per month.

Maybe I shouldn't publish these figures as I will probably chase all volunteers away.

Bringing the employment analogy back, let us have a look at the figure of 98 hours and let us say that a lot of that time could be construed as being yakking, non productive, schmoozing time and put an actual work related figure of 50 HOURS down. Now take the number 50 and times it by the amount of money you earn per hour (In my case the figure comes to One Thousand Million Dollars Zimbabwean! By the way, who put the bob in Zimbobwe?).

The big question is; "Could you afford to give up that amount of money and volunteer to work on a committee?" If the answer is no, then thank your lucky stars that we still have people who volunteer and do the work that demands broad shoulders, thick skin and the occasional deaf ear to abuse and people saying; "You C**** do not know how to organise a piss up in a brewery", "Go to Hell", "Are you so stupid that you don't know that I have paid?", "Why haven't you fixed X?", "The problem with this club is....", "I want .....", "Make sure that the following happens....." And my personal favourite is when sitting having a meal with family who haven't seen you in a social setting in ages, you get approached by a member who says; "I just walked past such and such a problem and I want you to sort it out NOW."

Just as in business where 80% of your complaints come from 20% of your clients, so it is in any club or association. At least when you are in business you can make the decision to retain or release that client and there is the mild sense of satisfaction you get from knowing that that client IS paying you and keeping food on YOUR table. Not so in the club or association situation where the relationships are much more complex and are 'not really' supposed to run along accepted business lines, OR are they?

I challenge any one of the hundreds of committee members that ABYC has had in the past to stand up and state categorically that being a member of the committee was a rewarding experience that led to many profitable business contacts. Each and every committee member leaves the committee with a bitter taste in his or her mouth as we, as a nation, have still not become accomplished enough to ease the past aside to make way for the future of fresh ideas, eyes and legs. Sad.

Lest I be accused of being an old moaning grouch, let's get to the good stuff and talk about how to reward a committee member in such a way that he or she puts even more effort, time and enthusiasm into looking after your club:

1. Say "Thank You", not publicly but privately, and start with all ex committee members first. Take one aside and express your appreciation.
2. Volunteer without being asked.
3. Come with a solution, NOT a problem.
4. Take ownership of your club, don't expect a small committee to do it for you.
5. When aggrieved, go straight to that person who p* you off and try to meet halfway.
6. Have FUN. Go SAILING.
7. Remember that YOU are a shareholder in the club, the better it becomes, the more valuable your share - simple Mathematics.
8. Invite a Committee Member to sit at your table - the only reason why this particular breed called Commitus Excessus congregate together is because they are afraid that members will give them more WORK or COMPLAIN.
9. Never forget that even although a Committee Member is a volunteer, each and every one of them only wants to give YOU and the club the best service humanly possible.
10. You catch more bees with Honey than with Vinegar.

Waddya Think? Hit the Leave a Comment link below and MOAN, if you dare :-)

Maybe I should retitle this one to:
"Slow Boat on the Water, the Sock is in the Sky!"
Think about, it, and if you can't work it out we will discuss the meaning over a cold beer at your expense.

Once again Derek Bouwer has come to my rescue and sent an amusing account of Sunday's SLOW BOAT CRUISE, organised by Dave Jackson. (Dankie Dave, en dankie vir die foto's):

SLOW BOAT ON THE WATER

Sunday the 20th of Jan and the slow boat cruise, this was a novel cruise where the fleet had to follow the slowest boat in the fleet of the day. This Honour (Dubious to any red blooded sailor) fell to Maricia, who at the start were right at the back of the fleet having experience difficulties with their roller furler. With "frantic" foredeck action, they got this sorted out and headed for the harbour entrance, The object of the exercise was to stay within 200 meter of the "hare" well in the light airs that prevailed in the harbour entrance this was not a difficult task as the forecasted winds where almost non-existent.

On clearing the harbour entrance this exercise looked like the race for those with no sense of direction as each boat skipper chose a different point of sail. Struan worked slowly until eventually the "hare" was away astern and there was only "Lady" in front (mmm!!! competitive spirit methinks?)
Eds Note: Nope with a genuine racer on board (at least that was what Harry called me!) the temptation to tweak, prod and pull to get the boat going was just too much. PLUS, we had my partner in grime on the MyPE web site, Hilton, and his lovely wife, Debbie along for the ride as well, so the TEMPTATION to sail faster, she was great.

Like they say there is no substitute for waterline length! You do not waste the gentle 12 knots of Southerly breeze so we made our way towards the bell buoy the intention was always to pop the kite, having the requisite crew on board. Preparation where made and we hoisted the "white red & blue" then it was a gentle run down towards the harbour entrance, even gybed the kite! A little rusty as this was a first on Struan and was effected rather slowly with a lot of rope releasing and then pulling, and a constant barrage of calling back and forth, but eventually we where on the other gybe and sailing smoothly. Communication breakdown! Being on the sharp end and the ears aren’t too good, I thought the object was to dowse the kite? I proceed to pull in the sock whilst the guys in the executive suite out back tried for all their worth to fly a sock! Everything stowed away we dawdled toward Channel mark listening to the Stowaway soap opera "Days of our lives up a rudder stock" unfold on the VHF we gybed back to the harbour. On time and behind Maricia!! Being the only boat within 200 meters of Maricia as she entered harbour! Did we win the prize?
Eds Note: Prize? - the damn prize was getting to sail on the bast bay in the friendliest company in South Africa. Get over it!

New concept! The result - at least 10 boats on the water with "Plumb-bob" the new Miura welcomed on the water, cold beers on the deck to finish off the day, (Thank goodness Eugene Lombard from Wings, who arrived on our way out, left us some cold ones!) a great days sailing had by all.

Absolutely bloody marvelous.

Eds Note: Of course whilst the Cracer was off practising his spinnaker launching and sock flying,(who needs to practise with a sock?) other boats were drifting down to the Shark Rock Pier with braai smoke wafting behind them. And got close to the Rubber Duck racing that was taking place. I have often thought that Rubber Duck Racing is like going to KFC, quick and greasy. Whilst Yachting is like going to a five star restaurant, genteel, filling and extremely satisfying.

Have a look at the PHOTOS HERE

www.abyc.org.za: We all have the same old lament; "Good Sailing Crew is hard to find." Of course there are some in ABYC who feel that a good female crew member is a must on the boat as they have a delicate touch when handling the stick and are pretty lightweight when it comes to working on the pointy bit. One drawback to having a female on the pointy bit is the perceived lack of strength in the feminine form.

From time to time we get requests from many people who want to learn how to sail and many of the ABYC members send these requests through to me.

Now it appears that Sean Wiseman's Duette is attracting a lot of attention and Sean recently received a request from a candidate female sailing crew member. Unfortunately for Sean he has all the crew that he can handle so he has graciously asked me to make this particular candidate female crew member available to other boats who are looking for a strongish female crew member.

Click on the thumbnail (if you dare) to get contact details.

Wednesday the 16th January sailing was sponsored by Bill Lee from East Cape Wiring.

We had 19 boats on the water and left the harbour in a fresh west south west of around 15 knots for a quick tootle to Shark Rock Pier and back to the club in time for the celebration of Gavin Stephens Birthday. I believe that it was also PJ's Birthday as well so a belated happy happy to you too 'PJ wiff one dwarf'!

January is quite a stellar month for Cooking as we celebrate three sailors birthdays up to the 18th of January. With one other in December, also during Goat season, we have a total of four Capricorns on the boat.

On board Cooking was an old mate of Gavins', Gary Sindler, who used to charter with Gavin in the good old days in St. Maarten. Gary is fresh from the 2007 J22 Worlds Championships in Durban that he Mark Sadler, Paul Wilcox and Julia Sfarlea recently won.

As Cookings' resident BWB* remarked; "The photographs from tonight will go onto the web page only once Alan has recovered from the festivities!" Thinking back I realise now that it is very true as if I leave early and get a decent nights sleep then the report is up on Thursday. It is now late on a Friday so, draw your own conclusions.

The boats that we noticed (in other words, the boats that were quick enough to keep up with us) were Sereia, Oddysea, Wild Thing and ECW. Russel it seems has taken up caligraphy as he was practising his cursive with his tiller extension only to give up and hare off in a semi straight line with his pink assymetric towards the Bell Buouy after turning EARLY. Yes, Russel, we see all and store those trangressions for later use. Only problem with the Pacer in a West is that you have to come back to shore after your fun run screaming like a girl with spray in your face.

Great music, good company and a few laughs set us up for a MASSIVE evening to be followed by an even more MASSIVE headache the next day.

Now if only I can remember exactly what it was that we decided was the solution to the worlds problems. By the way, Rob, an Octuple Bacardi and Coke does not taste the same as a Castle, especially when you make someone else drink it.

What time did we finish? State secrets will only pass my lips in response to a cold Castle, suffice to say that my long suffering longhair eventually phoned the club early in the morning after pacing up and down for hours worrying herself sick that I had been hijacked, arrested or killed. Sheesh, I am not worthy!

In the inimitable words of Big D; "Was it worth it?" The fun, Yes. The sailing, Yes. The headache, No. Making the longhair sick with worry, No.

Watch out buggers, the next MASSIVE session will be attended by both the longhair and I and you will all suffer as we will see the sun come up.

BWB* - you will have to ask Megan what that stands for. Certainly not Bluewater Bay.

Photographs HERE

This weekend sees the Redhouse Yacht Club Championships and Redhouse are laying down the gauntlet and challenging ABYC dinghy sailors to a sail off of gigantic proportions.

The river champs take place on the 19th and 20th of January from the Redhouse Yacht Club (Just in case you didn't put two and two together!)

The following classes will be accommodated: Novice, O9’er, Optimist, Mirror, Dabchick, Gypsy,Laser, Laser II, Laser 4.7, Laser Radial & Open. Additional classes will be introduced if 4 or more of the same class craft enter. Now, if only we could get 3 more Miracles sailing.

Their is no entry fee at all and a Bring & Braai is scheduled for Saturday Evening.

Out of town sailors (ABYC?) will get free camping or caravan stands for those planning to take Ossewanya down for the weekend.

Entry is open to all sailors and Club, school and individual entries are welcome.

Entries will open at 11h00 on 19 January 2008 and close at 13h45 on 19 January 2008.

The first races on Saturday and Sunday will not start before 14h00 and the prizegiving will be held one hour after the last race.

The weather looks to be pretty pleasant with a forecasted 12 knots SW on Saturday and high tide at 13:56. Sunday's forecast is for 16 knots SW and high tide at 14h58.

Please direct all enquires to Aunty Rhona Clark (041) 463 1611

This Wednesday Evening Sailing is being sponsored by an old skipper of Birthday Boy, Gavin Stephens.

We are going EAST of the CAPE and will check the WIRING whilst the old BILL sails in the LEE.

Bring your wives, mistresses, kids, grannies, grandpas, girlfriends, boyfriends, dwarves, furry friends and others. (Furry as in of the dog and cat variety you dirty dog, get back in the gutter, shame on you!)

We sail at 5:30 p.m.

The Windguru says that there will be 23% cloud cover, 22 degrees warmth, 12 knots of South West fading and a 1.9m swell.

Sien Joe Daar!

The following report comes courtesy of Derek Bouwer *

How to knurl in 2 knots of breeze.

Sunday the 13th of January's St Croix Race, dawned with a "a grey mist on the sea’s face and a grey dawn breaking" (J Masefield) and rain, did I mention rain?

The course was Harbour start, Brenton to Starboard and the finish through the transit of the control tower and the light on the break water to seaward. Great! That’s a piece of cake! Cup of coffee single up and leave but don’t forget the rain!

Struan dawdled up and down the start line, rather easy, as Wattoo not taking part had headed for the harbour entrance, Tikalox II was to leeward and we’re bigger than Unmbaleki so they had to get out of our way (Joking, Johan, it was the rain!). Off we went in 9 knots of South Easterly out the harbour with Tikkiebox showing a clean pair of heels, Umbaleki to weather and heading higher than Brenton, into the rain.

Well, "there are times in the affairs of men if not taken in the flood" yada, yada, yada, fishpaste.....
Flood? Wind? Rain? So the wind dies, no it does not die, so much as hangs around tantalising you to hang in and keep you interested like watching the breeze play with a girl's mini, but, IT DON'T MOVE NO BOAT!

Even a gorilla can sail in 20+ knots of wind but it takes finesse on a big boat to keep it moving in any thing under 5 knots, being neither a gorilla, nor having said finesse, Struan had to contend with knurdling.

There we sat all to leeward. The log reads 0.0 knots and thank goodness the GPS says we got 0.8 knots current in the right direction. mmmm did I mention the rain? Westerly? Yes! The Wind’s coming from the west and we get the boat moving. Tikalox II is moving, soon the tiny ripples of way are gurgling merrily! I’m happy, the crews happy and the West dies. Damn, the log reads 0.0 once more, but the current is still to the good though, not to forget the rain! All to leeward once more with crew sick of my inane boat chatter.

"OK, so if there’s no wind at 14:00 we’ll go home"? "Are we all in agreement?" YES! But wait! (I do not have to mention the rain it had given it a break by now) but wait! What are those? Yes! You know those little tendrils of South Easter? So we knurdle the boat into one and once again the way is merrily gurgling down the hull and we’re heading for Brenton! 13:30 and we’re only half way there! The wind holds and the rain, she, rains! Rounded Brenton behind both Umbaleki and Tikalox II at 15:30 (The last race we were cracking the first cold ones on the deck already!)

We a headed for home 240° Magnetic. Great! One tack back! On the way home we reached the blinding speed of 7 knots in an 18 Knot puff which was to be our top speed of the day. Then the wind got more west in it allowing us to clip along at 5 plus knots, the wind eased to the East so we eased the sails to keep the speed and the heading. The wind now backed with more west in it and started dying. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! We finished with the wind down to 9 and the log on 3.3 knots. By this time Umbaleki and Tikalox II where tying up, with the thoughts of a few cold ones, dancing in their heads.

"Never in the course of human endeavor has so much been done in so short a time" as putting Struan to bed! Almost packed away by the time we tied up, I haven’t mentioned the rain which threatened but stayed away for most of the afternoon!

Frustrating at times? Yes! Wet at times? Yes! Would I do it again? Yes! A great way to end a vacation by spending 6 hours 49 minutes and 38 seconds on the water you betya!

* With only MINOR edits by Yours Truly!

The time has come to shake off those up and down country visitors, to get back to work and ease your way into 2008 and what better way than in taking part in the Slow Boat Rally, proudly presented by the Veranda Cruisers Association, this weekend the 20th of January.

The format is as follows:

• At the skippers meeting to be held at 9:30 a.m. we nominate the “Slow Boat”.
• A course will be decided upon to take us out of the Bay.
• The Fleet will set sail at 10:00 a.m.
• On clearing the Harbour you may not be further than 200 metres away from the “Slow Boat”.
• Should time and weather allow, we will return to Shark Rock Pier for a braai.
• However – DON'T GET CAUGHT PEEING FROM THE PUSHPIT. Click Here for the full horror!

mmmmm the title of this post fits neatly into the subject matter and the realisation that someone somewhere loves me........

Thanks for all the messages of encouragement(?) wondering why the ABYC web site has been so quiet lately.

Back to the business at hand, Steve Williams writes:

I took Joe away for the weekend sailing. We had about 20 knots on NE and as we were reaching, we just rolled out the head sail. Later on as we rounded Rangitoto Island (a volcano which is only about 600 years old) to port, we came onto the wind and put up a full main and hummed along at about 6 knots. We spent the night on the southern side of Waiheke Island, which is in the Huraki Gulf. The bay is called Putiki Bay.

The sailed distance was about 28 miles, however as the crow flies, this is not far from Auckland.

On the way back home we had 15 knots of NE. We sailed via another route which was quicker and over the area where the 2000 and 2003 America’s Cups were raced.

Click Here for Photo

The minutes of the Special General Meeting held on the 18th of October 2007 can be found HERE.

Brief Summary:

1. Catering: Decision to be taken on whether to retain the caterers.
2. Finance.
3. Till / Point of Sale System

Download the SGM Minutes

The ABYC Constitution is available as a PDF download. Click on the link below to get your current copy.

Algoa Bay Yacht Club Constitution