SOUTHERN CAPE NEWS - After the exciting completion of the Lipton Cup Regatta in Mossel Bay, where several GLYC sailors were competing, club sailing got under way on Sunday on Island Lake.

A fresh south easter produced tricky conditions and helped to wash away the rust.

The opening cruise was attended by 28 boats, with the rear commodore leading the fleet past the commodore in the committee boat anchored off the club house shore. This fleet comprised a large number of junior sailors on Tera, Optimist, Dabchick and Laser, bolstered by seniors on Fireball, GP14, Sonnet and Laser.

After a short tea break, racing commenced for the first races in the Frostbite series.

Eight boats competed in the junior fleet. With the results calculated on a handicap basis, the clear winner in both races was Georgou Divaris on an Optimist.

In the first race, Nathan Page (Tera Sport) was 2nd ahead of James Hellstrom (Tera Pro), but these positions were reversed in the second race. James and Nathan are tied for 2nd place overall.

In the senior fleet, the Fireball of Anthony Parker and Ferdinand Holm established a big lead over everyone else.
The other Fireball of David & Rory Laing fell behind, finding boat handling difficult in the gusty conditions.

Malcolm Osborne was the first Laser in both races, but the Laser 4.7s sailed by Cundell Statt and John Marc Olivier performed well to get 2nd and 3rd places in race 1 and Cundell did a repeat performance in race 2.

The Parker/Holm Fireball lead the senior Frostbite Series, followed by Cundell Statt and Malcolm Osborne.

The day's proceedings concluded with a bring and braai, with a "communal" salad selection provided by the members.


Part of the large fleet on Island Lake.