GEORGE SAILING NEWS - All three races scheduled for last weekend were completed in sunny conditions for the first time since sailing started at the George Lakes Yacht Club this season.
Joining the fleet for the first time this season was Club Commodore David Laing, sailing on his Fireball with Rory Laing. He had been competing in the Fireball World Championships in France.
The rest of the fleet comprised Lasers, a Sonnet, Mirror and Dart, Optimists and a Tera Sport.
In the first race the Fireball was able to get clear of the rest of the fleet, with Henry Paine leading the Lasers. Paine finished just a minute behind and on class rating won this race on corrected times.
The Laings were second, with third place going to Mandy Lombard on a Laser Radial.
First to finish in the junior fleet was Conrad Holm. He and Kyle Koeries had close competition during the race, but Koeries came unstuck at the last mark to fall behind. Sean Vonk started late on his Tera Sport and proceeded to overtake all the other Optimists, except Holm.
In race two the Laser of Georgou Divaris joined the fleet and soon extended a lead over the other Lasers. He was pursuing the Fireball and closed up at the finish, two seconds behind. Hans Delport was able to get better speed in this race on his Dart 18 to finish ahead of the Laser of Henry Paine.
In the juniors, Sean Vonk (Tera) finished well ahead of Conrad Holm (Optimist), but class ratings gave the race win to Holm on corrected time, leading with just 15 seconds.
In the fading wind of race three there were only seven starters. In the junior fleet it was just Holm (Optimist) and Vonk (Tera) sailing. Vonk extended a lead to finish 3½ minutes ahead. This was again not enough to beat the Optimist on corrected times.
The Laing Fireball was able to eke out a small lead over the rest of the senior fleet but really needed more wind to perform closer to its class racing. Paine was once again the first Laser to finish. However, the race win went to the Sonnet of Dave Jones, with Paine second and Mandy Lombard in third place.
Henry Paine is currently leading races for the Realty / Homenet Trophy. Conrad Holm is leading in the junior fleet for the Tom's Tavern Trophy.
For more information about George Lakes Yacht Club, see its website, www.glyc.org.za or like its Facebook page, GLYC.
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