ABYC dominates in three-day event

ALGOA Bay Yacht Club (ABYC) took the honours in the inter-club dinghy sailing regatta which ended on the North End Lake this week.

Of the 38 competitors that sailed in the three-day regatta, ABYC fielded 26 sailors, Redhouse Yacht Club (RYC) nine and Rhodes Sailing Club three.

The three days dished up some interesting and varied conditions, ranging from a 30-knot southwesterly to a six-knot northwesterly and an eight-knot southeaster on the kidney-shaped inner city lake.

Laying of the courses were not challenging at all for race officer Ronnie Baer, who had come prepared with plenty of chains and even more anchor rope should unexpected deep holes be encountered.

Launching and retrieval were accomplished by using a temporary slipway built specifically for the regatta.

Three final races were sailed on Monday in light winds that clocked from northwest to northerly.

The first race of the day was shortened for all three fleets. There was a 20-minute wait for the breeze to shift to the north and the course was quickly and efficiently relaid so that the last two races could be sailed.

The regatta favoured the lighter laser, sprog, finn and dolphin sailors with full rig who managed to power along without much discomfort in the flat conditions.

In the junior fleet, Chad Bilsbury (ABYC) performed the best of all the sailors with six bullets from the seven races, his second position in the first race spoiling an almost perfect score.

The results were:

Fleet 1: 1 Andrew and Claudia Ward – Hobie 16 (ABYC), 2 Rob and Blaine Archibald – Hobie 16 (ABYC)

Fleet 2 (seniors): 1 Tim Jones – Laser Full Rig (RYC), 2 Georgeou Divaris – Laser 4.7 (ABYC), 3 Sigi and Jenna Bailes – Sprog (ABYC)

Fleet 3 (juniors): 1 Chad Bilsbury – Optimist (ABYC), 2 Sophia Hynch – RS Tera Sport (RYC), 3 Emma Lucas – Optimist (ABYC)