Osborne was coaching the Optimists and Dabchicks, while Ronnie Baer was coaching a group of ten Laser sailors. With light wind forecast for Midmar, training at George Lakes Yacht Club (GLYC) had to proceed in the prevailing strong south easter blowing every afternoon. Lighter wind in the morning produced more appropriate conditions, however.
Club racing
On Sunday afternoon, December 8, normal club racing proceeded as normal, with numbers boosted by those doing youth national training. There were nine entrants in the junior fleet, comprising Optimists, Dabchicks and Teras, but when the wind came up, only five of these boats were able to finish the first race. First boat to finish was the Dabchick of Chris Kennedy, followed by the Optimists of James Vonk and Cape Town visitor Amber de Decker. Class handicap gave the win to Vonk, with De Decker second and Matthew de Villiers (Optimist) in third place. Only the three Optimists were able to compete in the other two races, both of which were won by De Decker, followed by De Villiers and Vonk. The short junior Christmas series was won overall by Amber de Decker.
The first race of the day in the senior fleet was the single race for the Verhagen Trophy. The lone Fireball of David and Rory Laing sped around the course at great pace, finishing in 29 minutes, six minutes clear of the rest of the fleet. This was sufficient to secure the overall handicap win. Second to finish was the Laser Radial sailed by John Marc Olivier, with Ruben Heard on Laser 4.7 close behind. Class handicaps gave second place to Heard, followed by Georgou Divaris and Nathan Page, all on Laser 4.7
Ken Harding Mug
The following two races were for the Ken Harding Mug. Despite the strong wind, there were still ten finishers for the first of these races and seven for the last race of the day. Up front, there was close competition between the leading Laser 4.7s. Olivier changed to the smaller sail Laser 4.7 to compete on equal footing with the others and succeeded in winning both of these races. Divaris was second in the first race and Jonathan Rees was in this place in race two. Overall, Olivier is the winner of the Harding Mug, with Divaris second and Port Elizabeth visitor Patrick Butler in third place.
There was close racing amongst the Lasers, seen here on the fast downwind leg.(Photo: Ronnie Baer.)
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