Sailing Magazine
Hout Bay Yacht Club hosted their 26th annual LTC Phoenix Admirals Regatta this past weekend. The regatta is one of the classic ocean sailing regattas in the South African yachting calendar.
The event saw over fifty entries of both keelboats and sailing dinghies, and three days of beautiful sunny Cape Town autumn weather, with wind conditions varying from very light to fairly strong-wind sailing conditions.
Hout Bay resident and businessman, Peter Roeloffze, has committed to the role of regatta director for five years, and has brought on board a long-term sponsor who is passionate about developing sailing and the youth in Hout Bay through the Hout Bay Youth Sailing Development Trust. The sponsor is sister companies based in Boksburg, Literally Tax Consulting and Phoenix Business Consulting, who also founded the Hout Bay Youth Sailing Development Trust.
Roeloffze says, “My long-term vision for the event is for it to grow. This year it will be incorporating Hout Bay Water Week – dinghy and Hobie cat sailing, paddling, power boating and other water sports. In future years, I would like Hout Bay to have a full Mardi grass style/carnival week in the same week as the regatta, bringing in lots of visitors and boosting Hout Bay as a destination, giving the local businesses a greater income opportunity.”
The LTC Phoenix Admiral’s Regatta had over 200 competitors, from many different ethnic and social backgrounds. The regatta also saw many of South Africa’s most experienced and awarded sailors, sailing with juniors and development sailors. Sailing is sport that makes all competitors equal as people with a passion for sailing and being out of the water and there are no ethnic, cultural or socio-economic barriers between the competitors.
Amongst the competitors were nine development sailing teams and an all-women team who will be competing in their third Lipton Challenge Cup as an all-women crew.
The main trophy, the Admiral’s Sword, was won by South African Sailing President Philip Baum on his boat Nemesis.
