Sailing Magazine
2013-2014 NKA MOD Summer Series 2014 King of the Vaal 2014 J22 Practice Series
Report by Kathy Manten
Great fun on the water on Sunday the 26 January. Middle of the dam racing was held at the end of January as the Round The Island will be held on the first weekend of February.
13 boats participated with six J22s in the fleet. The J Sailors are starting to get their yachts out of mothballs as they begin their preparations for the 2014 J 22 World Championships. Saturday was to be the first race in the “King of The Vaal”. Unfortunately, there was a whole lot of sun, but not much wind and the yachts spent the day drifting in the middle of the dam awaiting a wind that finally came through as a humping South-Easter in the late afternoon. Too late for the sailors to get any benefit out of it.
Sunday morning had a slightly more moderate version of the SE blowing and yet it was enough to give the sailors a great opportunity to dust off the cobwebs and fine tune their skills. Three races were sailed.
In the first race, Rob Wilcox and crew on the L26 “Streetcar” squeaked home in first position on handicap. Laying claim to the first step in being crowned “King of the Vaal” for yet another season.
We say squeaked as the J22’s were hot on his heels. Jessica Lenz and her team finished in second place on J22 “Majic”. Not too far behind her was Dirk Manten on J22 “Da J” finishing in 3rd place and proving that they had not forgotten all their sailing knowledge. Fourth, fifth and sixth place all went to J22’s. The sailing close enough to promise an interesting Nationals and Worlds event in April.
The second and third races were also won by Rob Wilcox and crew to make it “Three in a Row” for the day proving to everyone that they are indeed “King of the Vaal”. Jessica finished second in the second race and third in the third race and Dirk managed a third and second consecutively.
The Middle of the Dam Series draws to a close in March as Winter looms. This means you have one more session – MOD Winter 6 – in order to get to the top of the leader board for the series, if you have not left it too late.
The J22 Practice series results currently show Jessica Lenz in first place on Majic. Dirk Manten in second on Da J and Neil Armstrong in third place on Hang 10. We will be watching all the J sailors carefully to see how their training progresses. Support your J Sailors as there are big challenges ahead.
