Chick Ramsay

Events for Your Diary

     Sat 5 Nov – 13h00 Keelboats Active Cup Race 4 (high tide 12h50) plus Happy Half Hour (somewhere between 17h00 &            19h00)
     Thu 10 Nov – Keeler Group – Racing & Bridge Rules Refresher (everyone welcome)
     Sat 12 Nov - GLYC Interclub (Dinghies & Hobies)
     Sat 12 Nov – 14h00 Keelboats Active Cup Race 5 (high tide 16h37) plus Happy Half Hour (somewhere between 17h00 &            19h00)
     Wed 16 Nov – 17h00 Twilight Series 1
     Sun 20 Nov – 16h00 First of Boules Game series
     Sat 26 – Sun 27 PARKES FAMILY Parkes Cup – fun for everyone with Tea and Cakes, Music and Prizes – Not to             be missed occasion!

Social Scene

Administration Matters

Inshore Sailing Dinghy / Hobie News

Andrew Finn & Gayle Newby

The Topsaw Cup was held on 15 October in very good winds. In the Hobie fleet, with 4 entrants, Pat Tarboton came 1st, Tertius du Plessis 2nd and Chick Ramsay 3rd. In the Junior fleet, of five, Gwayi came 1st sailing one of the new RS Teras, Robert Conradie 2nd also sailing a new RS Tera and 3rd Justin Stoker on a Dabchick. In the Open fleet, Dudley Isaac was first sailing his Spearhead, Joop Weddepohl 2nd on his SonnetFR with Rosemary Finn 3rd on her 420.

The Lombkor Baillie Trophy took place on 22 October and was blessed with fair winds. It was a spectacular sight with a multitude of colourful boats competing. It was a day for the ladies to shine in the Hobie fleet as Lucinda Edwards on a Hobie 16, won the (Hobie) trophy. Blaine Dodds was 2nd and Pat Tarboton 3rd. In the Open fleet it was the old timers who showed how it is done with Knud Jacobson winning the (Dinghy) trophy on a Laser, followed by a youngster, Jason Rees on a Laser 4.7 and then, in 3rd position, the septuagenarian, Joop Weddepohl on his Finn. The keelboat fleet also competed and the results can be found in the Offshore section.

Junior Sail Training is well underway with 3 sessions per week – Friday afternoons for 17 novices; Saturday mornings for 13 intermediates; and Monday afternoons for 8 sea cadets. A variety of helpers and coaches are involved in training including Rob Clarke, Hansie van Schultz (MB), Jason Cooke and Justin Stoker. The juniors and coaches are very pleased with the new Terra RS. The Sailing committee would like to get two more and is looking for sponsors.

The organisation of the Hobie 14 & 16 Ladies Nationals, being held in Knysna in Feb 2012, is underway. Don Brink had been appointed chairperson of the committee for the Knysna Ladies Hobie Fun Regatta (serious sailing with serious partying). The Hobie Regatta Committee is looking for boats to buy. The other committee members are Bossi Monsen (KYC Facilities); Andrew Finn (Sailing Logistics); Tony Gradwell; and Blaine Dodds. The expectation is that between 30 and 50 Hobies will compete.

As reported in the last newsletter, the smaller keelboats have now been included into the general club trophy racing. We are experiencing some problems with this format mainly due to the confusion at the starts. This is affecting both the keelboats and other classes. We will be addressing these and other bridge matters as part of the Keeler Interest Group meeting scheduled for 18:00, Thursday 10th November. All sailors, keelboat, dinghy and cats, are invited to this meeting where suggestions from the floor will be welcome.

Keelboat results on handicap of the trophy races are:
27th Sep “Ma Wyatt Trophy”     1st Stuart Hume sailing “Maxie”
                                                      2nd Dominic de Villiers - “Aquaplay”
29th Oct “Lombkor Baillie Cup    1st Chris Tait - “Chiz”
                                                          2nd Geoff Goddard - “Gemini”
For full results please refer to the KYC website.

The one disadvantage of these events is the tidal condition. When trophy racing is held at times other than high water then the keelboats find it difficult to race against strong current and shallow water. Remembering the rule of twelfths then the tide runs strongest midway between high and low water. Saturday 29th was a prime example.

The Active Cup, a keelboat-only series, is always scheduled as near as possible to high water to make sailing more practical. Check out the Club calendar for dates and times of the Active Cup. http://www.knysnayachtclub.com/events/index1.php. If you are looking for fun events that are not necessarily aimed at the serious competitor then come and sail the Active Cup.

Roger Clancy continues to run the keeler training sessions every Saturday morning. These are well attended and if you would like to learn to sail a keelboat why not join the fun. The group meets at 09h00 at KYC with an informal breakfast followed by sailing until midday. If the Heads are navigable then sessions usually go offshore.

An exciting new addition to small keelboat racing is the introduction of the one class match racing series for the “Fluid Yachts” F180’s. See below for more information.

12 teams attended the briefing which took place in the beautifully located Cutty Sark Restaurant overlooking the course on Swartvlei, which was later rounded off with a wonderful braai at De Vette Mossel Restaurant at Pine Lake.

Saturday dawned a perfect day for sailing. Once the Skippers briefing was dealt with, the first race of the day kicked off at 10am. Competition was fun, but also fierce with crews trying to outsmart the opponent tactically before even crossing the start line, supplying the spectators with nonstop action and entertainment. It also gave competitors with less experience in the Match racing scene, a chance to sharpen up their skills and knowledge of not only the rules, but the clever tactics used by the more experienced boats!

Crews were ferried to and from the race boats by rubber duck making the turnaround time between races, fast and efficient as well as making it very social. The winners of the Round Robin pool Races were as follows:

1. The Lemon Party, Pool A
2. Fast Boys, Pool B
3. Mountain Goats, Pool C
4. Knysna Rescuers, Pool D

The Semi-final was held between The Lemon Party vs. Mountain Goats with The Lemon Party taking the win and the second race between Fastboys vs. Knysna Rescuers with the Fastboys victorious. The final was set to be a hard but exciting race with the winner taking the best of three races.

The first race was won by The Lemon Party but then the Fastboys proved to be just too fast taking the next two races and therefore earning themselves the top step of the podium.

The F180 match racing event was made possible by the sponsors mentioned above and by the following: Fluid Yachts; Harken; North Sails; Rip Tide Motors; Paragon screen printing; BOATBIZ; and Crystic Resins.

October is always Fish month, with the Hansa Fish River Canoe Marathon taking place in the Karoo town of Cradock. This race has over the years built a reputation as one of the most enjoyable canoe races in the country, not only due to the guaranteed water release but also to the Karoo hospitality that is shown to paddlers and seconds alike. It is therefore no wonder that over 1700 paddlers took part in the 30th running of this race. Unfortunately our chairlady and hot favourite for the women’s title had to withdraw due to tendonitis problems, which also kept her out of the World Canoe Marathon Championships. However, many of our Knysna paddlers went to the Fish and here is the story as told by 16 year old Gabriel van Wyk, who paddled with seasoned veteran Stuart Hyde.

30th FISH SA K2, CRADOCK 7 & 8 October 2011
“It all started with a bright early morning and getting ready for the batch start at Grassridge dam with my paddling partner and driver, Stuart. We checked the boat and I went for a run to warm-up and get my adrenaline to settle a bit because I was very nervous for the day that lay ahead. The start went surprisingly well and we left H batch way behind by the time we got to the dam wall. At the new exciting "Double Trouble" chute there was unfortunately such a long queue that we chose to portage and made up more time. A few minutes later we arrived at the famous Keith's flyover, which I tripped and shot the day before in a single. I was careful not to fall out at the portage and then have to swim down the long rapid with lots of nasty rocks hidden under the surface. Before the portage I made sure that I got out the boat properly and that my splashy was loose. The portage went well and we made up even more places and had now almost caught up with the entire G batch ahead of us.

After Keith's there weren’t many big rapids except for Soutpans.....and this is where everything went horribly wrong. A slight navigational error and we ended upside down before we even went under the bridge. After a hectic swim we finally got out half way down the rapid where I saw the massive hole in Stuart's leg. He lost a lot of blood and we paddled slowly (so slow in fact that my geriatric dad and his partner Zac beat us on day 1). We gratefully reached the end of day 1 without any further problems.

Day 2 started off with a blast! We patched up the boat and Stuart had his leg stitched up. We started in an earlier batch and had lots of company that could keep up with us. The rapids were lekker with quite a few big ones.

The highlight for me was Marlow chute which we shot with ease. I was looking forward to the next big obstacle, Cradock weir, but as on day 1 there was just too long a queue. We decided to portage it and again made up some time lost on day 1. It goes without saying that on day 2 the geriatrics were not even close.

There was a great vibe at the FINISH with lots of friendly HANSA girls. We stayed for the prize giving and cheered all the category winners. Saturday night was the big party and we enjoyed Wonderboom and Good Luck, which was the best way to finish off an awesome weekend paddling the Fish!” (Gabriel)

The race was won by Hank McGregor and Grant van der Walt from KZN in a final time of 4h40min. Knysna paddlers’ results were as follows:

142. Stuart Hyde and Gabriel van Wyk: 5h55min
159. Zac Isaac and Danie van Wyk: 6h10min
161. Chris Stubbs, Jenni Niksch and Trevor Niksch: 6h0min
193. Hubby Sandberg and Pierre Giraud: 6h09min
195. Radie Dippenaar and Neil van Deventer (Plett): 6h09min
294. Rob Hyde (K1): 6h29min
303. Neil and Di Steenkamp: 6h31min
457. Wojtek Orzechowski (Plett) and Nina Orzechowski: 7h02min
486. Alastair Fraser and Greg Chauncey: 7h11min
612. Grant Trollip and Iain Smith (Dabulamanzi) 7h45min

Gabriel also went to Gauteng at the end of October and competed in a Klip River race. Those of us who hail from Gauteng and know the Klip also know that this is one of the most polluted rivers in that province, but, according to the race report, there was “an interesting aroma of incense while passing the Buddhist ceremonial rites taking place”. Gabriel, with Emile Theunissen of the Florida Lake Canoe Club were third overall, and first Under 18 in 1:26. Well done Gabriel!

On a very sad note, the whole Canoe Club, as well as the greater Knysna Yacht Club, was shocked by the sudden death of Jenni Isaac, wife of Zac, who passed away while out cycling with fellow club members and friends on Sunday, 16 October. As a gesture of respect for her, the time trial on 18 October was cancelled. Instead, the Canoe Club paddled out together to the Heads to scatter some flowers on the water. Our thoughts are with Zac, and we will always remember Jenni for the wonderful warm person that she was. RIP Jenni.