COMMODORE’S CORNER
Holger Bischoff

I trust that you all have had a good break from sailing or rowing over the past three months or so, while our vlei has been drawn down and is itself ‘recuperating’.

I am looking forward to seeing all of you at our Opening Cruise on September 4, at which Kader Williams and some of the crew of ‘Spirit of Izivungu’ will tell of their experience. Our sailing master, Alastair, has prepared an exciting and different program and format of events, which will involve both sailors and rowers at various stages. I urge you to support this event in numbers, as it promises to be real fun – as you will see in the program below.

I thank Mike Hyslop (Treasure), Theo Stock (House & Grounds) and Ian Smith (Rescue) for all they did for the Club whist serving on the Committee and now that they have stepped down from the Committee, I hope that they will now find a few extra hours for themselves. As yet we have not been able to fill the position of Treasure. Dick Holmes has taken on the House and Grounds Portfolio and Joost Van Der Ploeg will be running rescue. Thanks to them for joining the Committee for what I trust will be a long and successful term.

Your committee itself, as well as the club management, has continued to attend to all relevant matters throughout the break, to ensure that the new season can be kicked off smoothly and, hopefully, without any glitches. This includes the usual off-season maintenance to the bridge and rescue boats, some ‘home improvements’ (which you hopefully will see at the opening cruise), as well as the usual administrative and maintenance related issues. I am happy to report that the new ‘faces’ on the committee have already brought along some fresh ideas to the table, most of which have been implemented.

We have also been faced with certain challenges, some notably emanating from SAS (which I do not wish to go into detail about at this point), which we have been able to deal with successfully. One such challenge, however, which we are faced with every time before the start of a new season, is to get the required number of volunteers putting their hands up to serve on bridge or rescue services during club events. We have found that, over the past years, it is generally always the same names which come forward in this respect. This is something which must change. A club such as ours must be supported by its members in respect of certain tasks and duties, and to this extent I am making a personal appeal to all members to consider their obligations in this regard. The fact that you may never have been on a bridge or rescue boat before, should not deter you, you will receive all necessary training, both on and off the water. We appeal specifically to the parents of our junior sailors; there is no better way to see your kids in action, than being there in close quarters, on the water. It definitely beats sitting around the club house all day long. So please, come forward and contact either Lorna or Millicent in the office, or Joost van der Ploeg, who runs the rescue show.

Finally, I wish to take this opportunity to welcome all new members, young or not so young, to the ZVYC family. I am sure that you will enjoy your time with us!

To all of you: good winds (sailors) and calm waters (rowers) during the 2011 / 2012 season!

FROM THE OFFICE
Lorna Norris & Millicent Kellett

We thank those Members who have paid their subs already. Please remember that, as per the constitution, all Subs payments are due by August 15th and that any that has not paid by that date will be in default and liable to be removed from the access control system.

We would appreciate it if you could assist with rescue and bridge duties at the various regattas we will be having.  It is a great opportunity to get out on the water, learn a bit about what goes into putting a regatta together, and having the enjoyment of being able to watch your family or friends sailing, rather exciting stuff. Please let us know if you can help.

OPENING CRUISE PROGRAM

4 September 2011

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING A CAKE OR A PLATE OF SNACKS

10h00 – 12h00   Optimist Training

12h00 – 13h00   Lunch will be on sale

12h00 – 14h30 Rig boats & sail first rounds of the MDM Spring Series. First Race @ 13:00 sharp

14h30 Guests to arrive

15h00               Tea will be served

15h30 – 16h15   Opening Cruise Address by the Commodore and Guest speaker

16h15               Sailing instructions and break open Burgee

16h30 – 17h00   Poker race* and sail past

17h30               Poker race prize giving

18h00               Bar will be open and supper will be on sale

*        The poker race participants will go to 4 away points in Home Bay and then to a rescue boat anchored just past the island.  The sailors and rowers must collect 1 playing card from each of the 5 points; optional gluhwein will be available at each point. At the rescue boat, sailors/rowers must form up into classes and sail /row back toward the club for the sail past and commodore salute. After which poker hands will be handed in and your scores tallied.

ROWING
Richard Moolenschot

During the winter months, our rowing activities are curtailed somewhat due to the low level of water in the vlei during the draw-down period. This is a pity because some of the best weather for rowing occurs during the winter months. There is nothing quite like spending an hour or so on the vlei in the early morning with the sun rising above the trees on the East bank, and the water surface like a sheet of glass. In addition, no other craft are on the water during this period.

Some of the members have relocated their boats temporarily to the Keith Hart Memorial Boathouse on the Southern shore as this position does give some access to the water.

However, the off-season does give us a chance to do some maintenance on our rowing equipment.

1. BOAT MAINTENANCE: Bryne Jeffes has organized a schedule of maintenance mornings which are taking place every second weekend. A number of regulars have been supporting this effort as there is a lot still to do. The sessions take place in the morning from 08:30 to 11:30 for those who wish to join in and learn how to maintain our craft. The boatsheds have also been given a good cleanout and we can now feel proud of the sheds.
2. OCEAN ROWING: A new development has taken place in the form of an Ocean Rowing branch of the club. This idea was initiated and pushed along by Derrick Read from Johannesburg who is planning to settle in Cape Town. With his enthusiasm, two sea quad rowing boats (these are rowing craft designed for four scullers and a cox, and are safe to use in the sea) have been obtained on loan from Western Cape Rowing and are based at the Simon’s Town Naval base, with the permission of the authorities. Regular rowing trips have been taking place on Saturday mornings, starting at around 07:30am, and some beautiful conditions for rowing have been experienced.The Robben Island Row is due to take place in December, so some training is recommended. A good navigator is quite useful for this event as the crews were shrouded in fog last year in the beginning, making directional choices difficult!
3. OPENING CRUISE AND HEAD OF THE VLEI: The opening cruise will be taking place on 4 September and the new format of the Poker Race before the sail past will be challenging for the rowers to complete. We wait to see what this entails!The traditional start to the season is marked by the Head of the Vlei which we have planned for Sunday 28 August. This depends to a large extent on whether the water level will have risen enough for us to launch boats from the jetty. The Head is a fun event in which different categories of boats set of at intervals to row around the perimeter of the vlei, around 7 km, using the buoys as turning markers. The wind has been punishing for the last two years and hopefully we will have a quiet morning for this event.

Our first regatta for Senior’s and Masters will be on Sunday 20 November, the Cape Sprints, at Zeekoevlei.

SAILING
Alistair Keytel

The sailing season promises to be packed full of fun and some serious sailing action with a jam packed sailing calendar with a variety of great sailing events planned to suite all! We’ve looked at our calendar and decided to keep some of the best events from previous seasons, made some ‘tweaks’ to existing ones and of course the introduction of some new ones.

We kick the season off with our Opening Cruise on the 4th of September. We’ve tried to listen to all of your valuable feedback about last years opening cruise and believe that this year we’ve struck the right balance between the traditionalist and those of you that can’t wait to get racing! Look out for the promos.

Before we get into what else is going to be happening this season I must extend a very big thank you, yet again, to all our sponsors for their continued support of dingy sailing at our club. They include:

• MDM Services – Southern Africa distributors of Raymarine.
• North Sails – Yacht Sail Manufacturing
• Seaport Supply – Paint & Yacht fittings
• Southern Ropes – Fishing, Industrial, Mining, Military, Yachting
• Southern Spars – Yacht Spars & Rigging

NEW TO THIS SEASON

• MDM Spring series – A change to what proved to be a very popular team racing series; we’re now going to replace the team racing with a spring series event at the start of the season with the following format:
  • Raced over 4 Sundays (mornings only),
  • Sailed in Home Bay between Buoy no.2 and the club house,
  • Short races; 15 or 20 minutes long,
  • All classes and all sailors are welcome!
• Commodores challenge – Rowers vs. sailors, time to settle once and for all who the best are! A rowing and sailing biathlon.
• Sail training – 2 Sundays set aside to provide sail training to the senior classes
• Class Representatives – re-introduction of class reps to promote the classes and sailing at the club. They are;
  • 420’s – Heidi Burger,
  • Extra’s – Ian MacRobert,
  • Mirror’s – Nigel Smithie,
  • Finn’s – Ali Serritslev,
  • Lasers – Jessica Deary,
  • Sonnets – Theo Stock,
  • 29’ers – TBC

WHAT’S CHANGING

• Sunday club racing format Morning sailing, Shorter races
• New courses Designed by top SA sailor Steve Du Toit!

SPONSORED EVENTS

• North Sails, the aim of the day will be to sail 4 races, 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. The races will be between 50 and 60 minutes long and the 2nd and 4th races will finish in “Home Bay” at the club.
• Seaport Supply, aim to sail 6 shorter races on the Sunday each race lasting about 30 minutes.
• January Sponsored event (look out for our new sponsor!) – will be the same format as the previous years with a pursuit race in the morning and a revised rating for the afternoon race based on the mornings results.

COMMUNICATIONS: Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/zeekoevleiyachtclub, Twitter http://twitter.com/zvyc or go to our website www.zvyc.org.za to get all the information about our sailing such as the 2011/2012 sailing calendar which is available for you to view, download and print. You can also find useful information about upcoming events as well as pictures and reports of past events.

LIPTON CUP: Our entry for this event is ‘Maverick Meercat’ that will be sailed by Alex and Heidi Burger, Ed and Josh Lehtinen, Matthew Smith and Alex Cassar. The first named of these sailors have just returned from the Youth Worlds in Croatia where they participated in the 420 and 29’r classes. Arrangements have been made to transport the boats by truck to Mossel Bay and there are 20 entries for the event. Their aim is to make a big improvement on their position last year and we wish them all fair winds and great sailing.

DATES TO DIARIES: Please take note that due to the Volvo Optimist Team Racing, taking place on the 3rd of 4th of December both the TSC and MAC point series have changed theirs dates from previous years.

• September
  • 4th Opening Cruise and start of the MDM spring series (1)
  • 11th MDM series (2)
  • 17th & 18th Southern Spars Spring regatta (point series 1)
• October
  • 9th MDM series (3)
  • 16th MDM series (4)
  • 23rd North Sails regatta
• November
  • 5th & 6th Vogevlei Points regatta (2)
  • 20th Seaport Supply sponsored event
  • 26th & 27th MAC point series (3)
• January
  • 22nd Sponsored event
  • 28th & 29th HYC Points regatta (4)
• February
  • 11th & 12th Southern Ropes Club Champs
  • 18th & 19th TSC Point series (5)
  • 26th Commodores Challenge
• March
  • 18th Southern Ropes sponsored event
  • 25th Bone of Contention Triathlon
• April
  • 6th to 9th WC Champs

HOUSE & GROUNDS
Dick Holmes

The following matters are being dealt with:

• New sun umbrellas are to be acquired to be erected on the lawns in front of the clubhouse to provide much needed shade on race days. It is planned for these to be first used at the Opening Cruise.
• The hedge/fence in very poor condition on the western boundary of the boat park from Skipper’s End down to the container will be replaced with a vibracrete wall to increase security
• The lighting upstairs in the clubhouse needs to be improved. The existing track lighting system is obsolete and new lights can no longer be obtained and a new lighting system is being investigated
• Some rust on steel columns to the clubhouse has been reported. This will be repaired by removing the rust and repainting
• Ways of making the job of watering the lawns and garden areas easier and less time consuming are being investigated, possibly by installing an irrigation system.
• A clear-up is needed behind the rowing sheds is badly needed. The possibility of this being done by the builder who is soon to start on the new Bishops shed will be investigated.

JUINOR NEWS
Nicky Stock

Quite a few sailors have been busy during the ‘off season’. On the local front MAC hosted a Team Racing training camp during the holidays where the oppie sailors spent 2 days being drilled by a handful of superb coaches in the finer arts of Team Racing. The weekend was open to all skill levels of sailor with the aim of trying to improve standards so that OCRA has a good pool of sailors to choose from in December when the Volvo Ocean Racing arrives in Cape Town and hosts an Optimist Team Racing Regatta. The course was well attended and the comments I heard were all positive. Thank you to OCRA for organising this.

In addition, various coaching opportunities were available to the oppies that had been selected to represent SA in either the world championships to be held in December in New Zealand, or the UK Nationals which are being held this week in Wales.  The latter team would normally have gone to the Africans Championships, but with the unrest in North Africa, a decision was taken to postpone this event and so the team was invited to the UK.  Just to confuse things;   when the political situation stabilised, it was decided to send a team to Africans after all – this team is still to be decided.  ZVYC has 2 representatives in the World’s team: David Wilson & Emile Feuillette – congratulations to you both and good luck for the Worlds.

The ISAF youth world sailing championship was recently held in Croatia.  This was not for Oppies, but for the older classes – ZVYC was well represented in the team of 10 sailors that went across – (7 ZVYC sailors!) they were:  Jessica Deary (Girls Laser Radials), Edu Lethinen and Josh Rubenstein (Boys 420’s), Rosey Finn and Heidi Burger (Girls 420’s) and Alex Burger and Alex Lethinen (29’rs). Congratulations to all of you. What an amazing experience.

And now for the new season:  we will be doing Registration for training on Sunday 14th August from 09h30.  I hope to see all Oppie and dabbie sailors there ready for the new season.  Please contact the office immediately to book your places and boats. We are planning to start coaching on the 14th – water or no water!! Could be interesting… Bring your boats and kit and be ready for whatever is thrown at you!

We encourage all of the Optimist sailors and their families to join in at the Opening Cruise on 4 September after training.

This season is going to be action packed;  please read the Senior Sailing Section of this newsletter to get some insight into the Opening Cruise which is running to a new format this year and should be a good deal of fun – gambling and drinking!!! Oh and sailing!

There is a new address for the Optimist Class Association at www.optimist.org.za. Also have a look at this really good article on Junior training at http://tinyurl.com/WindCheck-072111

Looking forward to seeing you all on Sunday 14th