Royal Natal Yacht Club Dinghy Bay Series

Father and son team, Martin and Carl Zimmerman head up to the top mark in the recent Royal Natal Yacht Club's Dinghy Bay Series. Pic by Sophie Thompson.

Royal Natal Yacht Club Dinghy Bay Series

Date: 2014-01-17

A fleet of 25 yachts of all shapes and sizes ventured out to participate in Saturdays Royal Natal Yacht Club Dinghy Bay Series.

Race Officer, Lucy De Freitas managed to get in four races with the faster dinghies sailing a triangle, sausage, triangle course in a gentle 8knot South Westerly breeze and the smaller dinghies sailing a single lap around the triangle. De Freitas kept the fleet guessing with the first three races having two individual starts, the bigger boats followed by the smaller dinghies. For the final race of the day, she hoisted the black flag signalling a mass start for the entire fleet.

The larger boats consisted of a J22 helmed by the club's Rear Commodore Rob Samways and a competitive field of eight Flying Fifteens. Samways with his ace crew of Jarred Quinn and DJ Latha stuck to the front of the field as they paced their way eagerly around the Olympic course.

The top end of the Flying Fifteens jostled for positions with Patrick Harris and Jeremy Kriek assuming victory with three firsts and a second. The father and son combo of Martin and Carl Zimmerman scraped in at second place, two points ahead of Myles White and Estelle Buys. Team Zimmerman claiming victory in the final race gave them the edge and placed them second overall. The father and son combo punched the air and cheered as they drove their classic design Flying Fifteen to a marginal win over the National champions of Harris and Kriek.

The fast flying 505 was joined by two lightening quick 29ers. Thomas Funke continued his great form after the last offshore regatta, sailing with Clayton Beviss the two enjoyed working their way through the Flying Fifteen fleet. Having just returned from Germany, Michael Dickinson enjoyed the warmer conditions as he sailed with Rob Tarboton from Pietermaritzburg on their 29er. After a wobbly start, Tarboton and Dickinson showed their prowess in the class with three wins ahead of the brother team of Euan and Sean Hurter.

In the laser fleet, three designs were represented. After missing the first race, Campbell Alexander stormed to victory on his standard rig laser with Denmar Nel from Pinetown taking second overall. Durban North's Trent Bingham showed his class taking the win in the Radial fleet, ahead of Queensburgh's Anna Tiet and Eli Brophy-Tintinger placing third. The young Matthew Gaughran took the honours on the smaller 4.7 laser.

Chad Stevenson, having sailed recently in the UK took the honours in the RS Terra class and Liam Fennessy won the Oppies class.

Sailors had to contend with variant winds as the breeze swirled around the big ships in the harbour, causing a few spots were the boats stalled in their progress.

The next issue of the Royal Natal Yacht Club Dinghy Series takes place this Saturday in the harbour.

For more info go to https://www.rnyc.org.za or contact the club on 031301 5425.

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