(Deneysville, South Africa)- The J/22 World Championships are about to
take place for the first time in class history in South Africa from
April 26 to May 3rd. The South African J/22 class is hosting the event
at the Vaal Dam situated in the Northern Free State Province. The
Deneysville Aquatic Club, in the small village of Deneysville on the
Free State side of the dam, will be the privileged co-host the social
events. The regatta centre and base for the fleet will be at Manten
Marina, also situated in the village of Deneysville. The amazing
facilities at this marina will provide all the necessary amenities for
docking of all participating J/22’s. All the clubs, bed and breakfast
accommodations and residents have promised to make this a memorable
event for the sailors, families and friends in the regatta.The host club- Deneysville A.C.- renowned for its hospitality and is pulling out all the stops to co-host the event. The full-time catering facilities in the club house will provide the sailors plenty of food and beverage throughout the event. They also offer campsite accommodation to all the competitors on the club grounds. Alternatively, excellent camping facilities are also offered at Lake Deneysville Yacht Club with much larger camping space.
The weather forecast for both sailing and camping looks absolutely stunning! Sunny skies, starry nights for an entire week with temperatures ranging into low 70s F in the daytime and high 40s at night. Winds are forecast to range from 5-12 kts all week for SW-NW and from NE-SE quadrants. Check out the daily forecasts here- http://bit.ly/1nGiv7a
The turn-out for the event has been nothing if not enormous for this corner of the world- forty-one teams are sailing with representatives from all over South Africa, the Cayman Islands and Germany. Many familiar names from the South African J/22 class are sailing, those who’ve been in the top five in past events like the provincial and national championships, such as LAUGH A MINUTE (John Bruckmann), MAJIC (Jessica Lenz), US’N’J (Graham Baker), AMTEC RACING (Marcello Marica and Amtec’s Mike Hayton), CELL C (Richard Weiderhold), SHAMBLES (Shellee Nel), ULLMAN SAILS (Craig Millar), and Donovan Kruger on HAKAHANA.
The German J/22 Class is well represented with one of their top teams, Svend Hartog sailing TRICKY DICKY. And, the top Cayman Islands team, Mike & Simon Farrington, will be racing TWO STROKE. While all these teams are certainly familiar faces to many in the J/22 S.A. world, there are certain to be some spoilers in the crowd who rise to the occasion and walk off with a pile of silverware. For more J/22 World Championship sailing information
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