ANNUAL REGATTA, 14-15th February, 2002

  By our special reporter: Judy Gardham                               Get a Powerpoint Download of this report

The PDORC Annual Regatta, sailed over the weekend of 14-15th February, 2002, was a very successful event, with sunny skies and excellent sailing conditions. It was a lot of fun for all participants, both on the water and on the beach.

Many thanks to Esther Nielen and Anja Eulderink for organising the various children's games and competitions, to Gert-Jan Rook for the children's sailing, to Tony van Thiel for putting on extra Laser races, and to Pim Braun for setting up the keenly contested volleyball competition: activities which make the weekend a true family event. Thanks, too, to the band 'Still Thinking About It', which kept the party on the beach going late into Thursday evening.

There were 11 teams, involving more than 100 sailors, competing in the main event to see who could sail the most laps of the course during a total of 14 hours on the water. A visiting team from the Air Force enjoyed competing in the regatta for the first time and we were pleased to see the Castaways, ex SAF Club and now from the CARC near Seeb, again.

Winds varied from light at the start of each day to around 15-18 knots (gusting 20) in the afternoons: so there was something to challenge sailors of all standards. Several capsizes added to the excitement and 2 demastings of the old Prindles due to equipment failure gave some headaches to the Dayaks and the Sharkies. Much time and effort had gone into maintenance during the weeks before the event, to ensure that the boats were as well prepared as possible, but still a lot of rivets had popped out of the aged Prindles by the end of the regatta. It is unlikely they will last many more strong-wind races and some replacement boats are a top priority for the Sailing Section so that regattas can continue to be held.




                    The Laser 2000s in close competition



Green Machine: winning Cat Team
Out of the multihull teams, the leaders on the first day were Exploration, Green Machine and Norske Cruising Line 1. On the second day the Dayaks made a come-back and there was a very close race for first position between the Dayaks, Green Machine and Exploration. Only one minute separated the boats at the end of the six hour Sunday race. Unfortunately for the Explorers they did not interpret the local racing rules correctly and were penalised one lap and dropped to third place, with the Dayaks second, and first place was awarded to the Green Machine. The 'Fastest lap' was achieved by Exploration, as well as the longest time with their Hobie mast in the water!

Two Laser 2000 monohull teams also competed on the same course as the multihulls: Dunkley's Dunkers and the Castaways. Monohull sailing has taken on a new level of excitement with the introduction of the Laser 2000. These boats carry a genneker on a long bow sprit giving a large sail area for some downwind speed sailing. The racing was always going to be close with all the sailors coming from the high performance Laser class. Indeed, during the lighter morning sessions the racing was tightly contested, but in the fresher breezes of the afternoons the 'Dunkers team managed to pull away, surfing the waves downwind. To win this type of marathon race requires a steady strategy with as few capsizes as possible. Both teams managed to go swimming in the heavy winds but quick recoveries allowed one team to gain some time on the other.

Eventually Dunkley's Dunkers emerged not only as the winner of the monohull class but also managed to secure the overall regatta top place on handicap, demonstrating that monohull sailing is still very competitive even in the stronger winter winds encountered this weekend.
 
Other awards:

Best-dressed team must go to the Dayaks for their matching tee-shirts, trousers and make-up. Laziest team probably goes to Exploration for having outside assistance in the construction of their sun-shade! Most-intimidating mascot is awarded to the Sharkies…. as well as best hats! NCL were the most sophisticated (and latest) diners and had the best decorated mainsail and Giants had the biggest support group. As for the Wild Cats, well, they won the volleyball!!

Everyone had a great weekend. All the sailors would like to thank Brian Hooper for being our OOD, Martin and Jamal for boat preparation and rescue services and sponsors of the event: Halliburton, Galfar Engineering, Tam International, Dentag, ATE, STS, Bahwan Engineering and Schlumberger. Finally, thanks to Jan Brakel and all the Regatta Committee members for overall organisation and to our traditional 'guest of honour', Abdulla Lamki, for presenting the prizes.

                                   Sandcastle Competition

Leading Cats round the buoy

  


Best Sail!

Rigging up for the Children’s Race
 
REGATTA WEEKEND EVENTS

Children’s Sailing

This popular event saw a turn-out of 33 children who competed in two-man teams in three races.

The first race was sailed by the hardcore sailors in the 11-12 age group and the second race sailed by younger children and less experienced sailors. The top sailors from both groups then battled it out in a third race with pretty strong winds. All three races saw excellent wind and some very good sailing as well as some spectacular capsizes.

The prize for most noise on the water must go to Tashi and Elizabeth after their capsize in high seas. Although a number of sailors were still working out the difficult concept of not sailing straight into the wind, there are quite a few teams who now understand the technique of tacking. Some top tricks from the international sailing scene were skilfully (although unknowingly) displayed by the young sailors. The event also mirrored the excitement and frustration seen in the adult race, when one of the sailors jumped overboard and swam to the beach in frustration after narrowly missing the mark. These kids will go far in PDO regatta sailing!

Winners

Older group

  • 1st Bas Braun and Michiel v/d Bas
  • 2nd Bas de Best and Tamara Pieters
  • 3rd Nick v/d Hoeven and Jaap v/d Jagt
  • 4th Sabine Peters and Daan Tettero

Younger group

  • 1st Luuk Brakel and Reimer Kok
  • 2nd Jorden Schotman and Reinier Pieters

Thanks to Martin who made sure that all 10 Toppers were available for this event.


The Volleyball

We started off with 2 pools of 3 teams each:

1. Wild Cats / Sharkies / Giants

2. MIX / Dayaks / Exploration

On Thursday we started off with the pool games to establish the number 1 and 2 teams in each group. After all the games were played under testing conditions of strong wind and against the setting sun, the clear pool winners were

1. Wild Cats / Sharkies

2. MIX / Exploration

On Friday, two semi-finals were played. The first game, MIX vs Sharkies, was without doubt the highlight of the tournament. A very close game, but the team which kept their nerves under control and executed more solid tactical manoeuvres came out as winner: the Sharkies. The second semi-final, Wild Cats vs Exploration, was a clean sweep by the Wild Cats. At the start of the second set Exploration was ahead with eight points, but mental and physical strain took hold and Wild Cats swept to victory.

In the final, Wild Cats vs Sharkies, it became obvious that the semi-final had taken its toll on the Sharkies. The physical and mental condition required to win wasn't available anymore. The Sharkies were no match for that well prepared, well-oiled machine called the Wild Cats.

For the 6th year in a row we have the Wild Cats as the 2002 Regatta Beach Volleyball Champions. Well done.

The ANNUAL REGATTA
a weekend of family fun
next year, come and join in!