Skipper Paul Mare with VIP guest Marius Neveling

Oh dear: after consulting the rule books on resolving ties PG Glass Majimoto was relegated to second spot in the Series. Oh well!

Final race results:

1. PG GLASS MAJIMOTO


2. TOUCH & GO


3. SPILHAUS 3


4. ALLADIN

Saturday, 9^th July 2005

Winter A2 race

by Louise (Editor of our soon-to-be-launched e-zine)

This Saturday saw great weather and even better sailing! With about 15 knots of wind, Maji got off to an excellent start with her usual crew aboard excluding Dave, who was away in France, and Paulie, who needs a new cell phone! The crew displayed brilliant teamwork as they mastered each spinnaker hoist and tack, leading the way from beginning to end and achieving line honours (first over the line for all you non-sailors!). Once in the harbour the crew enjoyed a well-earned (& customary) ‘post-sail’ drink which of course is essential for team building! So overall a fantastic day with Maji and we look forward to another!

Winter A1 race

Saturday, 2^nd July 2005

Unfortunately Maji did not make it onto the water for this race due to numerous members being away for the weekend. Not to worry though, as RCYC is allowing one discard in the winter series.

By Cat Express to Durbs

It was something very different from what I had expected or had experienced before, a fast baptism on an “out-of-the-box” 40ft Island Spirit 401 catamaran built by Fortuna on delivery to Durban. I had often mentioned my interest to Larry D’Agiuar who is delivering yachts professionally and has many such on cats including several to the Americas. When he asked me if I would like to join him on this trip, I jumped at it.

The start was delayed for some time due to problems with the commissioning which made us anxious as favourable weather conditions seemed to be passing at regular intervals but, at last, on Friday 20th the last problem seemed to have been sorted out and we were able to complete the trials satisfactorily an by late afternoon we were off.

We were dear Larry who, if you don’t know him, is a great bear of a man, owner of Beatrice, full of nonsense with a stern core, Michel Guillot, a frog as you would expect and the survivor of many incident-filled deliveries over a decade, the charming retired businessman and owner, Randal Weightman, from Durban, and myself.

Living on the cat is tough and I mean TOUGH! None of the conveniences of Majimoto with its smart facilities. It was hard sleeping in my own cabin with its bed too big for the queen-sized fitted sheet I was advised to bring, the showering with hot and cold fresh water, the stove and oven not on gimbals, the fridge and deepfreeze, the extensive electronics, radar autopilot and the rest! It was hell, I tell you!

The sailing was quite extraordinary. Luckily we caught just the right period.

Leaving Table Bay in a slight Southeaster, we soon started the twin 30hp Volvos and motored through a fabulous sunset and past the Point in the still dark. I woke for my watch as we passed Hangklip where the SW picked up and from there to the last 80 miles we had it either from our stern or quarter in varying degrees of classic sailing and with the swell in our favour.

And we had a full moon to add to the magic. I was always sad to have to give up my watch when the conditions were so wonderful- it was cold, it was rough but it was exciting. It took a long time getting used to the strange characteristics of Tamuza- ( Zulu for Take it easy, I understand) with the way it rode the swells and ran on the big ones.

Don’t let anyone try to tell you that cats are slow- in the right conditions they are able to move. Our top speed was just under 20kn and it can do more.

We reached Durban soon after sunset on the Wednesday- 5 days and 3 hours after casting off from the Elliott Basin, 800 nm later.

The sail configuration is totally different from a mono, particularly downwind where the mainsail almost becomes redundant.

With its lack of backstay- it has swept-back shrouds to provide optimum accommodation- the genoa and gennaker configuration takes precedence. But you still have your moments. We hoisted the gennaker when the wind was 12kn from behind and when, it hit 25 and building, tried to get it down. By that time Larry and I were both hanging on to the sock lines, trying to drop the sail from the trapeze with the cat hitting nearly 20kn and the seawater giving us involuntary enemas in a 40kn wind- not comfortable. However, when the excitement was over, I was able to take a warm shower, change into dry clothes, rinse and hang up my wet gear, have a hot cup of tea and relax in the lounge with biscuits and listen to gentle soothing music- tough times indeed.

I think the most memorable part of the sail was, however, the final day-and-a-half up the feared Wild Coast where the charts warn you of 20m breaking swells in the channel. This is as a result of the juxtaposition of the SW wind and swell vying with the 5kn Agulhas Current in the opposite direction. To avoid it, you sail close to the coast hoping to be in the counter-current of up to 1.5kn. Because of our very favourable conditions and our experienced pro skippers it was much easier than I had feared and, indeed, was the highlight of the trip, at least for me. To sail at 6 to 9 kn in the bright full moonlight with a the lightless land 1 mile off was just magic. Michel teased me incessantly as his watch was before mine and when I took over from him just off the breakers in 10m of water, I could not resist straying another half mile away from the surf into 20m of water! Just my mono-training with our sensitive keel, I guess.

The most noticeable difference in sailing technique after the sail usage was, to me, the steering. I am so used to the sensitivity of Maji’s tiller that I found the relatively heavy and unresponsive wheel of the cat hard work. We were on Autopilot most of the time and only took the wheel when conditions required it- to have to steer it all the way by hand would, in my opinion, be pointless- when you have the goodies, use them!

I must comment on my co- sailors. The competence, professionalism and good cheer of both Larry and Michel was a tremendous pleasure, even if we had irreconcilable differences in choice of music! And the way Randal, a new sailor/owner with his new baby in the hands of others never gave me the feeling of possessiveness, made me respect him tremendously. When I met his delightful wife, Helen, in Durban, I could see he is a man of considerable choice as well as sense. They have a wonderful craft, well-designed and constructed to sail on. I wish both of them fair winds and good sailing in their future.

Thanks guys.

Stunning weather as our season moves into Autumn, with more predictable wind. We eventually took the VIP guests from Katz Breskal on their long promised bay cruise ... and what a cruise it was! Sunny weather and enough breeze.

We decided to follow hard on the heels of the yachts taking part in the first of the winter series Bay Races ... and put our guests to work grinding and tailing - they learned so fast that we would have picked up third - had we entered.

Crew in their new gear
After our 'race' we enjoyed another surperbly catered finger lunch and were treated to the sight of a square rigger coming into harbour.
Five hours later we headed back - memories of near knock downs and 60 Knot gusts from our recent races fading fast.

Guests from Katz Breskal insurance brokers (Not in order!)
Robyn Carr
Melanie Carr
Neville Mckay
Rina Mckay
Albert Pillay
Vida Pillay

 Pics from last nights VIP race in Table Bay Cape Town ...

Carl with Happy VIP Guests ...

Thick fog meant no sailing! ... again

Andy T giving sailing instruction ...

The first of the Wednesday Twighlight Series races was held last night, and it was great to be back on the water. It is hard to describe the fantastic atmosphere that rocks the Royal Cape Yacht Club during summer. PG Glass Majimoto fell victim to a silly yacht skipper at the start - causing some damage to our new paint job - and costing us dearly. We spent the race playing catch up and did not feature in the results. Our VIP guests, Lorrain and her daughter Estee, from Regent Insurance had a fantastic time anyway. (Our Ceri feels that Estee must assume some responsibilty for our poor result - for some reason the boys were just not concentrating!!!)

Carl from PG Glass with Andy

Carl and Lorrain with Tim acting as spinnaker pole. Look at that sunset!

Lorrain with daughter Estee (Estee is visiting home for a few months, she has just finished a stint on cruise liners in the Caribbean)

Lorrain enjoying the 'dice' when Touch & Go tried to pass us - without success

Oh Boy,

Not great news from the first weekend. Race one held in wet and cold conditions - still the weather is no excuse for our poor performance (5th). PG Majimoto was just not her usual self: small - but costly - crew errors dogged us for most of the day.

Rain and the bitter cold did little to bolster spirits ...

A crew pep-talk on Sunday caused a shuffling of positions, which saw fewer mistakes: - but Maji's usual speed was still elusive -  a far cry from the fast yacht that saw us romp into second position the previous weekend. Constant attention to trim and pretty good decsions did little to improve our position - and it was a despondant crew that packed the yacht up after the days racing.

Lindsay forcing some good cheer into Ceri after the day one disaster ...

Three days left of the regatta (next Friday, Saturday and Sunday) give us a chance to redeem ourselves ...

I called DI who said we managed 2nd place after Six Pack - a come alive L34 with a blackbelt crew. They were so far behind that it must have been very close! We were 4th in Spinakers in the series according to DI - amazing if one considers our no-shows and general performance - must take a look at complete results to understand this. The boat is flying. Helming without instruments is really not a problem because one feels it in the pants. Watching the windshifts can really boost our chances. On Saturday I saw Windsong (with alll of the blackbelts on board) being headed on our way in to the harbour wall from Paarden Island. We tacked back out onto Port. Six Pack, way back, followed us far a short while but then tacked back to follow Windsong. It was on this leg that we really nailed Windsong. Paul Mare :lol:

What an amazing time ... Paul, in his haste to grab his sailing gear, managed to toss two left sailing shoes into his sailbag. Then, our guest Analize from Santam, was keen to experience the full adventure of off shore racing - The PG Glass crew, always happy to oblige, promptly found some 50 Knot gusts and threw Maji on her ear - nearly tossing Joy and Carl overboard in the process. Carl - dunked to his midriff in freezing water, bravely kept Joy aboard. 

Joy (still in her dry clothes!)

When Paul decided that ou r VIP guests had endured enough 'excitement' he called for a tack. The brand new starboard sheet, still very soapy, wipped itself loose. We stayed on a little longer to sort the problem out. Once we were safely out of the wind, Joy demonstrated her sailing prowess by taking the tiller and steering us safely home. We started the engine at the entrance to the harbour.

Annalize from Santam - All her fault - she was egging us on to find more breeze!

Oh did we miss Lindsay, Our obssesive/compulsive fixer upper of all things mechanical. Lindsay has an uncanny knack of checking and then re-checking everything. To the point where the rest of us abdicate responsibility of things (like diesel) to him - just expecting everything to work when we need it.

Carl being charming

Joy, still at the helm, noticed that everything had suddenly become very quiet. Paul and Wavy looked at each other and said 'diesel' simultaneously. With a now very still engine, the crew contemplated sailing on to our mooring - before the 40 Knot South Easter caught up to us. Actually, things went really smoothly with a brilliant bit of parking under sail only. (Why is there no one around when you get it right - and always an audience when you get it wrong?)

Joy at the helm - an old hand at this!

Safely ashore, wet clothes were exchanged for dry, and two excellent bottles of red wine were quickly uncorked. Even our Ceri took a longing look at the Captain Morgan and coke before declining. A brilliant evening was had after that - with Ceri deciding that in future she would be responsible for ensuring the diesel tanks are alwys kept topped up.

Now this is what I call client relations ...

The crew and owners of PG Glass Majimoto welcome Mr Mark Hamilton-Payne (MD PG Glass) and Joy Cochran from PG Head office in Johannesburg. We hope the Cape Doctor is kind to us when we set sail this afternoon and look forward to taking you on a cruise - Majimoto style!

I know this is a SAILING site: but some news just has to be shared! :wink:

Original story courtesy of SA Rugby.net

The magic muti of Nelson Mandela and Ellis Park worked for the Springboks again on Saturday as John Smit’s men beat the All Blacks 40-26 in their Tri-Nations rugby test match played at Ellis Park.

Click here for our blow-by-blow coverage.

At South Africa’s 1995 World Cup “Field of Dreams” and once again inspired by Madiba the Springboks scored five tries to two to keep alive their hopes of winning the tournament and also halted a run of eight successive All Black victories in a super-charged performance that brought centre Marius Joubert a hat-trick of tries.

The 14-point victory, in a thrilling match in which the lead changed hands five times and the All Blacks led 10-0 after seven minutes, means the Springboks and the Wallabies will be playing each other to decide the 2004 Tri-Nations at the Absa Stadium in Durban next Saturday.

Scorers were:

South Africa 40: Tries by Marius Joubert (22 min), Breyton Paulse (34 min), Joubert (38 min), Jean de Villiers (79 min), Joubert (92 min). Percy Montgomery kicked three conversions and three penalties.

New Zealand 26: Tries by Mils Muliaina (6 min) and Joe Rokocoko (62 min). Andrew Mehrtens kicked two conversions and four penalties.

Very cold, windy and wet in the Cape this weekend while warm windy and dusty over the eastern parts

Updated: 12 August 2004

The south-western and southern Cape is still recovering from last weekend’s flood that occurred when a low pressure system was sitting over the Cape while a series of frontal systems were passing through this area. It was not long ago when significant snow fell spreading to the southern Drakensberg.

Another series of frontal systems associated with the upper air trough is expected to pass though the south-western Cape this weekend. These systems will cause very cold and wet conditions that will be accompanied by gale to strong gale-force winds due to the steep pressure gradient that will be caused by the low pressure system which will be positioned south of the Cape on Saturday, 14 August 2004. Although the system seems to be moving rather fast, the freezing levels will be very low with the availability of moisture, snowfalls are expected to set in from the west later on Saturday. Bearing in mind that the ground is still saturated in some areas around the Cape, even moderate rain might result to local flooding over flat areas.

Strong winds are expected over the central parts of the country tomorrow, Friday 13 August 2004, and Saturday 14 August 2004. Most areas will tend to be windy and dusty; fires will also spread easily under these conditions. People are advised to be cautious.

Despite Lindsays best efforts to get the crew onto the water ....It has been hard enough just floating to work over the past few days. The good news is that the floods should start drying out from tomorrow ...