Sailing Magazine
by Richard Crockett
My old mate Roy Dunster always had a very different take on sailing events and the sport in general, and more often than not he was spot on with his comments, as I feel he was when he wrote this intro to the 2006 race report:
“ Many stories about regattas in South Africa start off something like this: “…… but what the fleet lacked in quantity, it made up for in quality, etc., etc”. I’ve written it and so have many of the other contributors to this magazine. Having just sailed this year’s Sanlam Round the Island Race (SRTIR), I can assure you that sailing in big high quality fleets is heaps better than sailing in small ones.
“While it is certainly true that not all the 440 boats entered had the remotest chance of winning, the top end of the fleet was stacked with talent including teams from Shosholoza, reigning Hobie 16 World Champion Sean Ferry and multiple national champions in a bunch of classes. Other regatta organizers would do well to learn from Lake Deneys Yacht Club (LDYC). While regattas around the country have generally suffered a decline, the SRTIR continues to get stronger and attracts many of the country’s best sailors despite being positioned as a fun regatta. Beating 440 other boats is a heck of a lot more thrilling than beating just nine or ten.”
Yip, most readers would agree I am sure?
For a change the dam was 100% full that year, but the other vital ingredient – the wind – did not play ball.
The multihulls dominated the line honours results, although Albrecht Holm took the honours.
There is a pretty extensive set of results in the report, with the top 3 in each class generally mentioned.
READ IT ALL HERE: Pages from 2006 03 – SAILING Magazine – OCR
