NMU students set sail at George Lakes Yacht Club

GEORGE SAILING NEWS - The George Lakes Yacht Club welcomed a new group of university students to their sailing fleet last Sunday.

There was a mixed fleet of 12 in the senior fleet, competing for the Chris Thomas Trophy, and five in the junior fleet. A light, puffy south-westerly breeze made for tricky sailing conditions.

In the first race the Fireball of David Laing and Matthew de Villiers had the lead in the senior fleet but could not extend any significant gap ahead of the leading Laser, sailed by Georgou Divaris. Behind was a group of three Lasers, where Malcolm Osborne was able to finish ahead of Chris Kennedy and Luke de Villiers.

In the second race the Divaris Laser got ahead soon after the start and extended a big lead ahead of the rest of the fleet. The Fireball was not, in the light conditions, able to catch up.

In the Lasers, Osborne was again ahead of Kennedy and De Villiers, with the Sonnet of Conrad and Ferdinand Holm just behind.

The junior fleet had Kyle Koeries and Thomas Lawa racing Dabchicks for the first time while JP Buys and Morgan Lagerway were on Optimists and Luchen America sailed a O-9er. In both races Koeries extended a lead ahead of Lawa. Similarly, Buys was the leading Optimist, ahead of Lagerway and America in both races.

Luchen America getting down to the serious business of sailing the O-9er dinghy on the run.

Combined with his results from the previous races in this series, Georgou Divaris is the winner of the Chris Thomas Trophy for the 2018/2019 sailing season.

For more information about George Lakes Yacht Club see its website, www.glyc.org.za or like its Facebook page, GLYC.

Maurits and Janine Lammers tried racing the Wayfarer for the first time. It was also Janine's first time taking part in a sailing race.