Hello all,

Greetings from HMYC in a hot and humid Natal where three RYC juniors as well three of our fellow sailors from MBYC and GLYC are enjoying the Natal Youth Provincial Championships following their success at the E.Cape Provincials last weekend.

This Weekend at Redhouse those members not away for the last weekend of the school holidays will be sailing races 1 & 2 of the Spring Series.

The Spring Series is a personal handicap series affording every sailor an equal chance of winning the trophy. The weather forecast is for a mild 9 knot southerly that together with the incoming tide will make an exciting and challenging race for all.

The start time for the races at RYC this weekend is 14h00 sharp.

Sailing School for our new members and junior novices begins this Sunday at 10h00. All sailors wanting tuition are asked to please be at the Club before 09h30 and to rig their boats as best possible before the 10h00 start to allow more time for tuition.

The Club is also requesting all out more experienced sailors to be please make themselves available to assist, especially during the first few weekends. Anybody able and willing to assist should please telephone Steve Arnold on

The East Cape Provincial Regatta last weekend in Mossel Bay was a blast despite there not been much wind during the first days of racing.

Redhouse was represented by Sarah Arnold and Sarah Onvlee who sailed the RS Feva, Tarryn Butler, Patrick Butler and Sydney Pettitt who sailed the RS Tera, Johan and Eben Vivier on their Mirror and Josh Woolard on his Optimist.

Our first day on the water started with the competitors sailing around in circles for over an hour waiting for the start as the shifting wind forced the bridge boat to repeatedly relay the course before the first of three races in light winds.

Day two sailing was in exceptionally light wind, that eventually faded completely, was a bit frustrating for the heavier sailors who had to use all their skills to keep up with the fleet both races prior to racing for the remainder of the day being abandoned.

As the morning rain eased on day three the wind picked up nicely to a steady 12 knots with gusts of 17 knots providing fast and exciting racing that had our RS Tera’s planking around the course without a single capsize or nose dive.

The most notable performances of all during the regatta were by Patrick Butler who blossomed on his RS Tera to take third place in the RS Tera fleet and the Viviers' twins who demonstrated their outstanding sailing ability beating two teams who had just returned from the Mirror world championships in Wales to take second place in the Mirror fleet.

The full results are posted at www.onlines.co.za/ecchamps/results/open.htm

Very well done to Patrick, Eben and Johan as well as all the other RYC sailors who participated - RYC is proud of you!.

I wish you all a wonderful day of sailing at Redhouse this weekend and look forward to joining you on the water again next weekend.

Yours in sailing

PAUL PETTITT
Commodore
041 581-5394