News
Flying Dutchman Nationals 2003
Published: Feb 03, 2009 - 11:46 AM
Four classes joined together at PSC to sail their respective National and Provincial Championships. The Flying Dutchman fleet of 10 boats contested their Nationals under some extremely difficult wind conditions with many races seeing huge holes, localised puffs and switches during the race.
Pretoria Sailing Club 11th – 12th October 2003
Four classes joined together at PSC to sail their respective National and Provincial Championships. The Flying Dutchman fleet of 10 boats contested their Nationals under some extremely difficult wind conditions with many races seeing huge holes, localised puffs and switches during the race. However, despite these trying conditions, the PSC bridge crew lead by Malcolm Osborne managed to complete the required seven races for the event.
Race 1: The race started with reasonably good winds but gradually dropped and started to swing with some very interesting switches. Nigel and Gavin got a great start in this race and developed a good lead with Ana le Roux and Dave le Roux initially leading the chase boats. Ana and Dave were eventually caught by Dirk von der Fecht / Patrick Cullen, Willem Stevens / John Stevens, Tony Aimer / Giel Pieterse, Dalmain Unteidt / Jake Darby and Graham Tuckey / Matthew Beyers. The speed shown by both Dirk and Willem in the first race was a sign of things to come as both these boats performed exceptionally well as the wind conditions became lighter.
Race 2: Wind conditions remained tricky for the second race and some extremely tight racing ensued with the lead changing place on many occasions between Nigel / Gavin, Dirk / Patrick and Willem / John Stevens. Each team spent a long time in front with Dirk getting the timing right. It is always best to be in the lead at the finish. Willem and John finished second with Dirk and Patrick third. This tussle was however not the only tightly fought race as many boats put in a fine performance with the biggest surprise being the junior team of Graham Tuckey and Matthew Beyers. These two have recently started sailing together and have proven you do not have to be an old heavy weight to do well in the FD fleet.
Race 3: The afternoon conditions were dominated by a nearby thunderstorm that bent the wind all over the place. The race was lead initially by Willem Stevens and John Stevens who managed to pull out a good lead and by the second mark had Dirk/Patrick in second place, Tony/Giel in third and Nigel/Gavin in Fourth. As the race unfolded, Nigel and Gavin managed to pull through the fleet to win the race with Dirk and Patrick just taking second place from Willem and John on the last leg. Warwick Ham and his son Alexander performed well to come in 5th since Alexander is only 9 years old and this was only the fifth weekend that Alexander has sailed on FD's. Steph Martinussen and Grant Halcom brought up the rear of the fleet after getting tied up with some of the other boats in the fleet.
Race 4: Again very twitchy conditions saw many boats leading with Tony Aimer and Giel Pieterse showing the fleet a clean pair of heels at the start of the race. This race also saw Dalmain Unteidt (72 years old) / Jake Darby well up the fleet getting to second place going down the first run. Also performing well were the ‘boys’ Graham / Matthew who climbed to fourth at the start of the race. However as the race unfolded, the usual three boats from Boskop Yacht Club (Nigel / Gavin, Dirk / Patrick and Willem / John) pulled through the fleet. Dirk lead for a long while only to be passed by an unfortunate wind switch just before the line giving the win to Nigel and Gavin.
Race 5: Sunday morning initially looked as if there would be no racing at all for the day with extremely light conditions. Fortunately the wind started to build and the race started in reasonable wind. This however was short lived and the abundant holes in the wind caused a lot of bunching and some dramatic changes in fortune for many boats. Ana and Dave fulfilled their promise and finished a very creditable fifth and Tony / Giel pulled into fourth place. The only junior team completed the race in 7th place. This was a bit of a disappointment as they were leading the handicap competition after the first day's sailing.
Race 6: In this race, Ralph and Ken were struggling with 275 as a problem seemed to have developed with their rig. They did manage to finish the race but they were some way down the field.
Race 7: Wind conditions improved with Nigel/Gavin looking to complete a clean race from start to finish in first place only to be passed by Dirk with a brilliant identification of a 30 degree switch on the last beat. This was after they completed a 360 deg penalty at the start and being determined not to allow a clean race showed the boat speed that was evident at the beginning of the regatta.
Summary: There seems to be a new enthusiasm in the fleet with the arrival of many new faces and some great competition on the water. Furthermore, a lot of effort has gone in to promoting the fleet at Pretoria Sailing Club especially from Dave and Ana le Roux, Dalmain Unteidt and Ollie Edwards. These people are always helping new sailors into the fleet. It is also good to see some more ladies back in the FD fleet as well as a few youth sailors. The event would obviously not be a success without the assistance of the organisers and the FD fleet would like to thank everyone at Pretoria Sailing Club for hosting the event.
Race 1: The race started with reasonably good winds but gradually dropped and started to swing with some very interesting switches. Nigel and Gavin got a great start in this race and developed a good lead with Ana le Roux and Dave le Roux initially leading the chase boats. Ana and Dave were eventually caught by Dirk von der Fecht / Patrick Cullen, Willem Stevens / John Stevens, Tony Aimer / Giel Pieterse, Dalmain Unteidt / Jake Darby and Graham Tuckey / Matthew Beyers. The speed shown by both Dirk and Willem in the first race was a sign of things to come as both these boats performed exceptionally well as the wind conditions became lighter.
Race 2: Wind conditions remained tricky for the second race and some extremely tight racing ensued with the lead changing place on many occasions between Nigel / Gavin, Dirk / Patrick and Willem / John Stevens. Each team spent a long time in front with Dirk getting the timing right. It is always best to be in the lead at the finish. Willem and John finished second with Dirk and Patrick third. This tussle was however not the only tightly fought race as many boats put in a fine performance with the biggest surprise being the junior team of Graham Tuckey and Matthew Beyers. These two have recently started sailing together and have proven you do not have to be an old heavy weight to do well in the FD fleet.
Race 3: The afternoon conditions were dominated by a nearby thunderstorm that bent the wind all over the place. The race was lead initially by Willem Stevens and John Stevens who managed to pull out a good lead and by the second mark had Dirk/Patrick in second place, Tony/Giel in third and Nigel/Gavin in Fourth. As the race unfolded, Nigel and Gavin managed to pull through the fleet to win the race with Dirk and Patrick just taking second place from Willem and John on the last leg. Warwick Ham and his son Alexander performed well to come in 5th since Alexander is only 9 years old and this was only the fifth weekend that Alexander has sailed on FD's. Steph Martinussen and Grant Halcom brought up the rear of the fleet after getting tied up with some of the other boats in the fleet.
Race 4: Again very twitchy conditions saw many boats leading with Tony Aimer and Giel Pieterse showing the fleet a clean pair of heels at the start of the race. This race also saw Dalmain Unteidt (72 years old) / Jake Darby well up the fleet getting to second place going down the first run. Also performing well were the ‘boys’ Graham / Matthew who climbed to fourth at the start of the race. However as the race unfolded, the usual three boats from Boskop Yacht Club (Nigel / Gavin, Dirk / Patrick and Willem / John) pulled through the fleet. Dirk lead for a long while only to be passed by an unfortunate wind switch just before the line giving the win to Nigel and Gavin.
Race 5: Sunday morning initially looked as if there would be no racing at all for the day with extremely light conditions. Fortunately the wind started to build and the race started in reasonable wind. This however was short lived and the abundant holes in the wind caused a lot of bunching and some dramatic changes in fortune for many boats. Ana and Dave fulfilled their promise and finished a very creditable fifth and Tony / Giel pulled into fourth place. The only junior team completed the race in 7th place. This was a bit of a disappointment as they were leading the handicap competition after the first day's sailing.
Race 6: In this race, Ralph and Ken were struggling with 275 as a problem seemed to have developed with their rig. They did manage to finish the race but they were some way down the field.
Race 7: Wind conditions improved with Nigel/Gavin looking to complete a clean race from start to finish in first place only to be passed by Dirk with a brilliant identification of a 30 degree switch on the last beat. This was after they completed a 360 deg penalty at the start and being determined not to allow a clean race showed the boat speed that was evident at the beginning of the regatta.
Summary: There seems to be a new enthusiasm in the fleet with the arrival of many new faces and some great competition on the water. Furthermore, a lot of effort has gone in to promoting the fleet at Pretoria Sailing Club especially from Dave and Ana le Roux, Dalmain Unteidt and Ollie Edwards. These people are always helping new sailors into the fleet. It is also good to see some more ladies back in the FD fleet as well as a few youth sailors. The event would obviously not be a success without the assistance of the organisers and the FD fleet would like to thank everyone at Pretoria Sailing Club for hosting the event.