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Myles' Monday Missive - Week-end racing wrap-up

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Myles' Missive
Myles' Missive   
Wrap-up of week-end Dinghy sailing            

Over the years PYC has hosted several World Championship regattas for a number of dinghy classes, including 505, Flying Dutchman, Fireball and GP14, and we have had the odd Olympic Champion and/or World Champion stop by to visit (I recall attending a talk at PYC during the late 1970s presented by the great Dane, Paul Elvstrom). We get excited when our own members win a Regional or National Championship, but right now we have all of the above rolled up into one.

 

A number of Durban dinghy sailors participated in a range of international events during July and August – a time when Durban sailing traditionally goes into brief hibernation. But, the performance that outshone all the others was our own Benji Daniel, who travelled to California with his Cape Town based crew in the form of Alex Burger to compete in the 29er USA Nationals (where they acquitted themselves extremely well), and followed that up by WINNING the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – more than 30 points ahead of 2nd place – that was quite some margin!! My own research shows that PYC has only once before had a member win a World Championship – and that was in 1974 when Bruce McCurrach crewed with Paul Elvstrom and another famous Danish sailor, Hans Fogh, to win the Soling World Championships in Palm Beach, Australia. So, we had one World Champion during PYC’s first 100 years, and another one already during the second 100 years.

 

To commemorate this significant achievement, PYC will be holding a presentation for Benji and Alex at 3pm on Saturday 2 September, at the Club. All members are invited to attend, but for catering purposes please confirm your attendance with Amanda at the Club (e-mail: functions@pyc.co.za). The youth sailors will be running a short race and sail-past to honour Benji and Alex, prior to the presentation, during which Benji and Alex will tell us about their regattas.

 

A sizeable contingent of PYC members travelled to the Netherlands to compete in various classes at the Hobie World Championships. Top achievers were the evergreen Garth Loudon and Peter Hall who finished 7th and 9th respectively in the Hobie 14s – very well done Guys!

 

Such results speak volumes for the quality of sailors that we have at PYC. I would like to encourage all of our dinghy sailors to aspire to finish ahead of these guys during the upcoming sailing season – aim high, always!

 

The various sailing calendars are just about finalised, and will be published on the Club online calendar in the near future. From a dinghy perspective, we have provided for some weekends early in the season for the newer sailors to be trained and guided by their more experienced counterparts, and hopefully that will give them the confidence to participate more frequently, as well as enabling them to finish higher up the order. There will again be 2 pursuit races in the Jonsson Cup, as well as the Bar Anniversary Mug. The Match Racing weekend was a very popular concept last season, so we will have at least 2 weekends of match racing – just be ready to get your entries in very early, as they will be limited! Sadly the offshore dinghy racing was not well supported, and with the uncertainty of the beach site, Club racing is all scheduled for the harbour, although the Easter Regatta, as well as any Championship events will be set up for offshore.

 

An initiative starting this season is that folk who sail regularly in Club events, will enjoy discounted boat parking fees. So, if you feel that your boat parking is too expensive, come along and sail it cheaper!!! Anyone sailing in 80% or more of scheduled Club events, will enjoy a 50% discount on the following season’s parking; while sailors participating in 50% to 80% of events will be awarded a 25% discount. Remember that we are a sailing Club – not a parking lot. Also, it is up to you to: make sure that I have all of your details such as sail number etc; that your boat parking is paid for and that the Club has all of your details; make a copy of the sailing calendar and diarise for sailing; and, simply come sailing.

 

I was delighted to attend a training session on Saturday and to meet the team that will be travelling to Cape Town to represent KZN at the launch of the SAS Team Racing League concept, and fleet. Our guys and girls are going down to win, and we look forward to receiving report backs on the event. There will be seven 410 dinghies (420s, built extra strong, and with more simple, de-tuned rigs) coming to KZN, in order to establish a Team Sailing League. In addition to offering inter-Club competition, these will be on offer (at a fee) to corporates for staff events, which will in turn hopefully get more people interested in our sport. Our team includes sailors from PYC, HMYC, Sail Africa and the Sea Scouts. Good luck team KZN!

 

On Monday 28th August is one of the most critical events on the PYC calendar – the Annual General Meeting. Whilst many members don’t like the ideas of “politics” or “meetings”, I have to point out that for those members who have ideas that they believe will help the Club, this is the opportunity to stand up and be counted. I have recently witnessed such a fantastic swell of commitment to the Club and to Sailing by a number of members, and we need to keep this momentum going. Not only is this a case of “well, if you didn’t offer, too bad you don’t get what you want”, but more importantly, the leaders of your Club need to hear your ideas so that they can in turn deliver what will be good for the Club.

 

A bit further East, there is a growing group of DUC and DSBC members who have recently become enlightened to the shameful carryings on with the whole Vetchies Beach saga, but despite their significant efforts, the agendas of those in power continue to be railroaded through. My current buzzword is “COMPLACENCY” – through the complacency of far too many members, those few individuals have been able to establish a strangle-hold on their Clubs. Not that there is any danger of your current PYC leadership looking to replicate such strategies here, but it is very healthy for any and all Clubs to have a strong base of interest and support from members. Don’t merely leave it for someone else to do – become involved, and it is a guarantee that you will benefit significantly in the long run. Please be at the AGM on the 28th.

 

See you on the water in a few weeks’ time!

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