At lunch time, and for most of the afternoon, on Saturday the 12th of September it seemed that the ZVYC Spring Regatta was destined to be a drifter, but eventually our trusty race officer, Di Hutton-Squire, found just enough knots to get the racing underway. Although there was a fair amount of drifting all round, most of the classes got a race banked in the 0-8 knot westerly that eventually filtered through.

After a long paddle back to the club a few stalwarts stayed on for a braai, but most disappeared off early to get warm as the night chill crept in to remind us all that it is not quite summer yet!

Sunday dawned with a much more promising breeze, but a beautiful sunshiny day it definitely was not! Everyone got kitted out for an early start in a cold, rainy and gusty 15 knot northerly. Zeekoevlei, most will know, is best known for its south-easters which caused some confusion for the finish bridge who plonked their finish buoy down on the ‘usual’ side, which in this instance happened to be the wrong side! All of the classes got 2 races in and headed home for an early lunch after most of the fleet got blown over by a hefty gust during the second race.

The wind dropped considerably over lunch and swung west. The morning’s hard work caused many sailors to pack it in after lunch, but for those who stuck it out there was one more mellow race to be sailed in a dying breeze. Especially exciting to see was the 15-strong fleet of Extra’s and the many familiar faces now sailing in different classes as last season’s Oppie sailors are moving on up and others are enjoying a change of pace.

Many thanks to Southern Spars for sponsoring the event and the many volunteers that made this event possible. I think it would be good for all of us to keep in mind that without these volunteers events like this just wouldn’t happen and that the least we can do is be polite and accept that we all make mistakes sometimes. Well done to ZVYC for getting this season off to a great start, I think we can all look forward to lots more great sailing to come this season!

Download Results.

Thanks to Angela Gray for the photo – view photos from the weekend: Saturday, Sunday. See also Crag Leslie’s photos here.