The owners of a 34 foot Van Der Stadt, Seaboard, Hennie Du Plessis and Kevin Grey extended an invite to the following ABYC members: Kerry Bonnage (Skipper), Jason Schaefer (Bowman) and David Moorcroft (Trimmer) to attend the Gaul Regatta in Gordons Bay, hosted by the Gordons Bay Yacht Club this past weekend 13 to 16 June 2009.

Kerry reports on the regatta as follows:

Day 1:

Very disappointing. In the first race we had to return to port with faulty steering system. Second race stsrted in 25 to 35 NNW, with rain squalls so bad we could not even see the bow, we missed the bottom mark, beat to round the bottom mark and then hardened up to the finish. Seaboard did not make the cut off and we scored two 11th places.

Day 2:

With the previous days problems sorted out we knuckled down to some fun racing. Seaboard struggled upwind a bit but flew on the downwind legs. We finished 4th in lighter airs, followed by a 2nd and a 3rd to round off a good days racing.

Day 3:

Medium distance race day. My excuse for only finishing fourth over line and 8th on handicap was "poor Navigation skills" (Thanks Kevin, Mr Designated Navigator!) Compounding this was that not only was I not at skippers briefing but when the co-ordinates for the shortened course mark were given to us no one bothered to read them. So we speed off to Seal Island, much lower and of course faster, keeping in touch with Windpower and Gumption. Only to have to beat to the shortened course mark while the whole fleet sailed over us. David and Jason had a blast trimming kite all the way back.

Day 4:

Today everybody came with their A game. Very close upwind duels between Patches, Flyer and Raging bull in very shifty conditions. Positions changing at every mark made for some great sailing. We finished the regatta with two 3rds and 5th overall.

All said and done Gordons Bay is a fantastic sailing venue, GBYC were great hosts and I encourage more ABYC members to make an effort to get there next year. A big thanks to David and Jason for all their efforts this past weekend.

GBYC Gaul Regatta Results

Mark Orams, one of few people to have winner's medals from both the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race and the America's Cup will be speaking at a function being held at the Algoa Bay Yacht Club on Wednesday 24th June from 20h00 to 22h30. He sailed with Sire Peter Blake on Steinlager 2 and was the inaugural Executive Director of the Sir Peter Blake Trust from 2004 to 2007.

Mark is the Associate Director of the Coastal and Marine Tourism Research Institute, located within the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute at Auckland University of Technology is going to speak at ABYC. He has plenty of good light hearted sailing stories and is an excellent and entertaining public speaker.

Mark spent a year at St Andrews College in Grahamstown where he fondly remembers being a part of the winning team on the Swartkops River (sailing out of Redhouse) at the 1981 Eastern Cape Schools Sailing Championship. On the same team was Brett Clark from PE. Subsequently both Brett and his father gained Springbok colours in sailing.

He is in Port Elizabeth taking part in the 6th International Coastal & Marine Tourism Congress (CMT 2009) - a small congress of specialists which has its foundation in Honolulu, Hawaii way back in 1990. CMT 2009 is being held at the Feathermarket Centre, Port Elizabeth from 23 to 26 June. The congress hosts researchers, educators, postgraduate students, and practitioners from government and industry involved in the broad field of tourism related to the marine environment.

Of particular relevance to Port Elizabeth and it's citizens, the theme of the congress is; 'The Spirit of Ubuntu, Connecting Continents, Places and People".

The talk by Mark is open to ABYC members and conference delegates only.

If you are going to attend please let Dee know by Friday the 19th of June 2009 as limited seats are available.