Paine takes Verhagen Trophy in season opener

GEORGE SAILING NEWS - The official start of George Lakes Yacht Club's sailing season for 2018 / 2019 got underway on Sunday in cool, damp conditions. The conditions conspired to produce a low turnout - just ten boats on the water.

A wind of 10 to 15 knots from the south-west produced good sailing conditions.

Proceedings started with two short races, to contest for the Verhagen Trophy. In race one, the lead was closely contested between the Lasers of Henry Paine and Malcolm Osborne. However, rigging failure forced Osborne to retire, leaving Paine the clear winner ahead of the Laser of Chris du Toit and the Wayfarer sailed by Evelyn Osborne and Herb Phillips.

There were two Optimists sailing - in this race, Conrad Holm finished just ahead of Jean Paul Buys.

In the second race the race leader was once again Henry Paine, but with the Dabchick of Matthew de Villiers as his main adversary. These two went around the course close together, with Paine finishing just 15 seconds ahead. This was an insufficient lead to be able to secure the race win, however - calculating corrected times against class handicaps gave the win to De Villiers. They were the only finishers in the senior fleet in this race.

For the two races, Henry Paine is the winner of the Verhagen Trophy. In the Optimists, Conrad Holm once again took the lead, with Buys a minute behind at the finish.

The sailing fleet then took part in the Opening Cruise. With the GLYC Commodore still away, having competed in the 2018 Fireball World Championships, the Vice Commodore, Maurits Lammers, took the salute from the end of the jetty. Led by the Wayfarer sailed by Evelyn and Malcolm Osborne, the boats sailed in line past the jetty to salute the Vice Commodore. Then, as some rain set in, all retired to the clubhouse to partake in a good array of snacks.

For more information about George Lakes Yacht Club, see its website, www.glyc.org.za.

Winner of the Verhagen Trophy, Henry Paine (left), in action on the lake.