(Capetown, South Africa)- The 2011 sailing season was a very busy and
active one for the J/22 class in South Africa. Like their J/Sailing
comrades in J/22s and J/80s in Europe, this was also a "vintage year"
for the J/22s racing in some of South Africa's most spectacular sailing
venues- lakes, oceans, bays.
The four main regattas held each year are the J/22 Nationals, Mpumalanga
Championship, Northwest Championships and Interclub Youth
Championships. Here are the reports from each event.
Amtec J/22 Nationals
The Nationals officially opened at a cocktail party hosted by the
sponsor Amtec where Mike Hayton drew the winner of the new Amtec branded
main sail won by Werner Hautmann on MOONSHADOW. Dave Rushton, having
arrived from Durban announced that racing would begin at 0900 the
following day, and those having sailed with Dave as the Race Officer
knew he would be ready to start at 9 sharp if the winds were in his
favour. The wind was in his favour so it was all systems go in wind of
18 knots for 5 slick and well run races.
HAKAHANA
now skippered by Ewald Sternagel, crew Steven and Donavan Kruger set
the pace from the start always in sight of the top positions. Their
worst results were a 6th, 8th and 9th so with 2 discards this made them
the boat to watch. AFTER DARK sailed by Jessica Lenz and her crew of
Lara Wood and Herbie Karolis were placed 2nd in the first race and
continued to be seen in the top finishers with a final place of 7th.
CELL C had only 2 “bad days at the office” during the whole regatta in
the 8th and 13th race finishing 21, races they would probably rather
forget. US'N'J had a good first day racing with 2 firsts, their worst
result being an 8th that day. VOODOO, the PYC entry skippered by Luke
Wagner, crew J George and Siya Vato took their first in the 4th race.
Paul Thompson (who became synonymous with his scarf) on ALPHA ROMEO
managed a 1st and two 3rd’s his worst result being a 15th for the day.
Tired and wind swept, some more than others, all 24 boats were very
happy to head for home in the late afternoon to enjoy some liquid
refreshments!
Thursday
saw another early start with great races in good winds. The results
made it evident that any one of the top 6 boats could be a winner
depending on what transpired in the two remaining days. Dave Rushton
pushed the races as the forecast was that the winds would decrease with
little or nothing forecast for Saturday. The close and competitive
racing heard several shouts, of varying degrees of insistence and
volume, for water, starboard boat, windward boat keep clear and all the
other regularly used terms used in similar circumstances. The protest
committee dealt with the infringements quickly and efficiently but this
still did not show a clear cut winner.
Friday racing was just as hard and competitive with the anticipation of
no sailing on Saturday due to the weather forecast. Remarkably, just one
more race was squeezed in by the Race Officer.
It was great to see PAGURO back on the water with Dirk Manten, Dylan
Emmett and JJ van Niekerk who finished 4th overall. Local knowledge was a
much debated advantage but the local J/22 LAUGH A MINUTE finished in
6th place. All the junior sailors showed their commitment and
determination to make their presence known. It was great to see the
juniors Oliver Cribb on JAY WALKER, Alice Martin on JAY BEE, Jolene
Tofts on BLUE JAY and JABBERWOCKY sailed by the locals Steffan Botha,
Donovan Martinson and Devan Mathews on the water. These are our J/22
champions of the future.
With a total of 14 races with two discards the deserved winner was
HAKAHANA (4 wins, three 2nds) skippered by Ewald Sternagel crew Steve
and Donovan Kruger. Second was Graham Baker on US'N'J with Sean and
Barry Gurnell, third on the podium was Richard Wiederholdt with Greg
Plunkett and Rob Edwards. Our sincere thanks to all the Witbank Aquatic
Club and the dedicated team who worked all hours of the day and night
to make it the event it was. Mike Hayton of Amtec without whose
sponsorship and love of sailing made it a regatta never to be forgotten
and hard to beat.
Mpumalunga Championships
From 10h00 on Easter Friday the grounds of Witbank Yacht & Aquatic
Club became a hive of activity in preparation for the Amtec J22
Mpumalanga Provincial Championships. Life was made easier for the
registration team as most of the information had been collected prior to
the event. Witbank Yacht Club had pulled out all the stops with the
facilities and infrastructure ensuring a well run and organised event.
With boats and crew prepared, the winners of the Amtec sponsored
spinnaker, the team on PAGURO IV, knew that their chances had just
improved.
The first race on Saturday started with winds of 8-10 knots, an
organised RC had a course laid and a prompt start for the fleet of 21
J/22's commenced at 11h00. No one boat held the first place
consecutively as the competition was close and fierce. In the first
three races a maximum of 8 minutes separated the first and last boats. A
quick turnaround between races ensured that a total of 6 races were
completed.
The
Durban entry, VOODOO skippered by Luke Wagner and crewed by Jean and
Siya showed they were a team to be reckoned with achieving two firsts,
two seconds, a third and a fourth. The steady wind which calmed slightly
after three races did nothing to deter the boat skippered and crewed by
the Youth team. They were as competitive as their experienced senior
counterparts as proved by Donovan Kruger on HAKAHANA rounding the mark
first in the 6th race and ultimately finishing 7th. As the sound signals
for the 6th race were heard there were some tired bodies but the focus
was ever present with five minutes separating the first and last boat.
Sunday saw a lighter breeze but four evenly matched races completed the
regatta on 10 total races! Prize-giving acknowledged Donavan Kruger,
with his team of Jared, Steven Kruger and Justin Botha being the first
placed Youth skipper. Third place saw US'N'J skippered by Graham Baker
with Barry and Shaun Gurnell with 28 points, second VOODOO with Luke and
his team with 25 points and first place to Richard Weiderholdt on CELL C
with his team of Greg Plunkett and Rob Edwards on 18 points. Special
thanks went to Mike Hayton of Amtec for his sponsorship, time and effort
as well as all Witbank Yacht Club ensuring a fantastic regatta was held
by all.
InterClub Youth Championships
The Aruba Networks 2011 J/22 Interclub Youth Championship was
well-attended with nine teams all sailing an incredibly competitive
regatta, sailing seven races with one discard.
At the end, it was hard to hold back the HAKAHANA team from TYC, sailed
by Oliver Cribb, Riccardo Suttner-Scalco and Rudi van Velzen. Their
record of 1-3-1-1-3-1-5 for a net of 10 pts was hard to beat. Behind
Oliver and crew it was a tight battle for 2nd and 3rd, with three boats
all in a virtual tie for second. Winning the tie-breaker and finishing
second was Megan Eccleston skippering JOKER TOO with her crew of Jacob
Bester, Zak Bester and Tyrone Smith to a 3-4-2-7-6-3-1 record for 19
pts. Third was Donovan Kruger on US'N'J sailing with crew Jared Kuger,
Alex Nicolakos and Jolene Tolfs to a 2-2-3-4-2-9-6 record for 19 pts.
Watch out for these teams in the future, they're sailing fast and
furious and know how to get a J/22 around the course smartly. Perhaps
some of them may sail in the J/22 Worlds in Crouesty, France next year?
NW Championships
The TYC's NW Champs saw an excellent field of twenty entries sailing in
both Gold and Silver Fleets. All four race sailed were scored as
counters for the regatta, no toss races.
It seemed that Team HAKAHANA were on a roll as Donovan Kruger's team
managed to win this regatta with three 1sts and a 6th! Second was John
Bruckman's LAUGH A MINUTE with a 3-2-3-3 for 11 pts. Third was Graham
Baker's US'N'J with a 1-3-14-2 for 20 pts, they were feeling the pain of
an OCS in the third race-- otherwise they'd been in the running to win
against their buddies sailing HAKAHANA! For
more South African sailing information.
This
year's winner of the J/22 Euro League was, for the first time, the
French team on J/22 #1444 sailed by Reinier Brockerhoff.
Congratulations to Reinier's team! That is quite an awesome
accomplishment for the French J/22 fleet. Perhaps this is indicative of
the strengthened training program for some French J/22 teams preparing
for their J/22 Worlds in June 2012 held in Crouesty, France. Good news
for French sailors, but watch out for the Dutch, Germans, South Africans
and American J/22 teams!
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Ryan
first got into sailing at the age of 8, when his father decided to buy a
Catalina 27 for his 40th birthday. He and the Scott brothers all grew
up together on Lake Ray Hubbard and have sailed together on everything
from Optis to Laser 2s, J/22s and a J/105.
Apparently
a crew member who was late delivering a sail caused HT to miss the 9am
opening of the Fort Lauderdale 17th street bridge to reach the Atlantic
Ocean. After much discussion the decision was made that they would be
able to clear it. Except a scary moment occurred when the radio antenna
on top of the mast scraped the bottom of the bridge and navigation
lights on the spans in spite everyone sitting on the end of the boom to
tilt her.