Sailing Magazine
Southern Charter Grand Slam 2
Theewaters Sports Club
6th and 7th December 2014
by Andre Wolheim
The Southern Charter Grand Slam 2 got off to a flying start with 115 online entries, a record for the Southern Charter Grand slam Series! In total 145 entries were recorded. The event organisers encourage everyone to enter online to speed up the registration process. This also helps them sort the fleets and capture the data into Sailwave before the event.
The Mirrors topped the entry list with 19 Mirrors as everyone was using the opportunity to get some practice in for Mirror Worlds which will be help at Theewaters in January.
The weather forecast looked good for Saturday and iffy for Sunday but very warm for both days, typical December weather for Theewaters.
Many competitors arrived on Friday evening to enjoy the balmy weather and the fantastic food in the restaurant. The sunset on Friday was amazing!
Saturday the racing was scheduled to start at 11am but because of very little wind racing was delayed until 1130am when a light westerly came through. Racing commenced and most fleets completed their race just as the wind started to clock around to the South. The wind started to build nicely and after three more races on course one and 2 on the other courses it was decided to call off racing for the day as the wind was around 25 knots.
The fleets headed home after some great close racing in excellent conditions and looking forward the evening at Theewaters.
The wind abated around 6pm and the braai fires were lit and the DJ put on the music and despite Eskom’s best efforts, Theewaters had laid on a generator, so the music went on late into the night. The vibe was amazing as over 200 people braai’d or ate in the restaurant or simply just had a sundowner. Later in the evening the music was turned up and a space was cleared for dancing.
With racing scheduled for 10am most boats were rigged and ready to go by 9am after some repairs from the last days racing, however the wind as forecast was not to be seen. The fleet was told to stay ashore until the wind came through. After an hour or so a light westerly settled in and the Race Officers quickly set a course and alerted the fleet to come to the start. Only one race was possible on course 1 and 2 with two races being held on course 3 as they were at the top of the dam where there was a nice breeze.
Prize giving was held promptly at 16h30 by Sebastian Thompson from Southern Charter and Mary-Ann Sharwood from TSC and a few words by Peter Hall the current Chairman of SAS were said. He mentioned how great it was to have so many boats on the water, new classes of boats and a great vibe at the event. Mark Thompson the CEO of Southern Charter came forward to do the lucky draw for the iPad which went to Andy Hoyle and Sebastian Thomson did the draw for the Moorings 1 week charter. 5 names will be drawn from each Grand slam and the final draw will be held at the Southern Charter Grand Slam final.
The event incorporates the Xtra Nationals as well as the Hobie 16 Provincials. The Xtra Nationals was won by Stephen Du Toit with James Stock in 2nd and Owen Middleton in 3rd. The Hobie 16 Provincials was won by Belinda Hayward and Janine Kruyt.
The formula of the Southern Charter Grand Slam series is proving to be a winner with regular growth in the attendance. We look forward to making our final two events of the season (HYC on 31 Jan and 1 Feb, and the final event at FBYC on 3-6 April) even more special – see the event website www.sasgrandslam.co.za for further details.
Many thanks to Southern Charter for their continued support of this event and sailing in general.
Full Results Here: results _southern_charter_grand_slam_2_20142015_at_theewater_sports_club_2014
