Hello all,

This Past Weekend we enjoyed a fantastic two days of sailing as the NSRI Trophy was competed for.

The weather and winds were good both days resulting in some pleasantly surprising results despite a somewhat poor turnout due to the long weekend and many of our regulars participating in the Algoa Bay Week Giza Challenge.

The enthusiasm of the sailors at Redhouse was however superb with several taking advantage of the good winds to sail an additional two friendly races after the last NSRI race on Sunday.

Congratulations go to Matt Van Rensburg who sailed extremely well to win the NSRI Trophy, the Vivier twins for again demonstrating that they are a force to be reckoned with a superb win in the Open Class and Ian Visser who must have been rather pleased he was persuaded to take a break from remodeling his kitchen after taking the honours in the Gypsey fleet.

Congratulations also go to Frans Loots and his crew who entered the Algoa Bay Week Giza Challenge regatta as RYC sailors and won their class event with a clean sweep - very well done to you and all the other RYC sailors who took to the high seas last weekend.

Sailing Results for last weekends NSRI Regatta and the Class Champs sailed early in April have been finalised are posted on the Club web site. To view the results please click here.

Sailing School - The 2008/9 sailing school has now come to an end and we look forward to our sailing school candidates sailing out in the Frostbite Regatta and joining the Optimist A fleet in the 2009/10 sailing season.

Boats Wanted - I appeal to anyone who has, or who knows of anyone else who has an Optimist, Mirror, Laser or Gypsey that they no longer use and wish to sell to please contact me or Rhona Clark. In addition to our sailing school graduates, who are now needing to invest in their own boats, we have several folk looking for boats at affordable prices. Even if the boat is not in good condition or if you only have sails / spars we will be interested in buying!

Rescue / Powerboat Skippers Tickets - The new legislation requiring skippers of rescue / powerboats to have a license comes into full effect from August. Besides our regular rescue craft skippers anyone else who is keen to obtain a powerboat skippers ticket must please contact me or Rhona for more information and so that a group training / examination session can be arranged.

Frostbite Regatta - The Frostbite regatta next weekend, 16 & 17 May, marks the close of the 2008/9 RYC sailing season before we have our winter break. The Frostbite is going to be a great regatta so please be certain to diarise and keep the whole of next weekend free for sailing.

Besides the sailing next Saturday and Sunday we will be having a scrumptious Club breakfast (with champagne for those who want) on the Sunday morning. This is included in the Frostbite regatta entry fee of R25 per senior sailor and R20 per junior. For non-sailors in the Frostbite regatta the breakfast costs R20 per adult and R15 per child. Please note that the Club breakfast replaces the formal Saturday night function on the sailing program.

A separate email about the Frostbite regatta and how to book for the breakfast will be sent out to everyone during the next day or two.

This Weekend there is no organised sailing at Redhouse. The club will however be open for anyone wanting to take advantage of the pleasant winds forecast for this weekend to get some practice in ahead of next weekend's Frostbite regatta.

Have a fantastic weekend, remember to keep next weekend free to sail in the Frostbite regatta and last, but certainly not least, I wish all our sailing moms' a very happy Mothers Day on Sunday.

Yours in sailing

PAUL PETTITT
Commodore
041 581-5394