J/22s Getting Busy Sailing In South Africa!

(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.