| Western Cape Dinghy Champs race Reports | Saldahna, 24th – 27th April 2010 |
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By Kirsten Veenstra The Western Cape Dinghy Champs, organised by SAS Western Cape, is always an incredibly well-run and organised event, and this year was no exception. The 2010 WC Champs incorporated the Hobie 16 and Mosquito Nationals and had a really great entry of 257 boats. Of these, the biggest classes were the Hobie 16’s (52 entries), Oppie A (30 entries), Dabbie (21 entries) and Laser Radials (20 entries). Sadly missing this year were the Extras and the Fireballs, possibly because many of these sailors decided to leave their dinghies in favour of the Hobie 16 Nationals and were sailing in other classes. A wonderful new edition to the fleet were 19 RS Teras, most from Mossel Bay and False Bay, with many juniors who have just started sailing getting great experience in their first regatta. There were two separate courses – Course A being the dinghy course and Course B, towards the Iron Ore Jetty, the Hobie, Mosquito, 29er and Flying 15 course. Di Hutton-Squire was the race officer for the dinghy course, and as usual, ran an impeccably slick and organised bridge. Kudus must go to Di for this – the dinghies got in ten races over the four days and the bridge handled over 40 starts and 600 finishers – no mean feat! Di Hutton-Squire described the racing very well in her Race Officer’s Report: “Initially we were worried about the new mussel beds in the middle of the bay, but there was just room on the West and East of these to set the two course, though on the West side there were also two ships moored. Should there be any more mussel bed, we will not have room for 2 courses inside the ore jetty. This was a light breeze regatta, as is to be expected at this time of the year in the Western Cape. Each morning we had to wait for a suitable breeze, but once it came, it was from a constant direction of about 210 degrees, though at times the pressure was variable. The dinghy trapezoidal course with inner marks works well as we are able to split the faster and slower fleets. There were a few general recalls on the dinghy fleet which makes the procedure of starting longer, but generally the fleets behaved.On the Hobie course, however, the black flag was used on several occasions as the fleet was pushing the line! The dinghies sailed ten very good races so that there were two discards each. The Hobies only sailed nine races.” The wind was indeed very light for the first three days and racing did not start at 10h00 on any of the days while the fleet stayed on the shore waiting for the wind to come up. The dinghies got in two races in very light winds on Saturday and the third race was abandoned when the wind died completely. They got in two races on Sunday, again in very light winds and four races on the Monday in moderate breeze of 8-10 knots. On Tuesday the wind picked up nicely to make for more exciting racing and all classes got in two races and the Dabbies three. At one stage mist threatened but it stayed away, making for a great last day’s racing. In general, there was great competitive racing in the Laser, Dabbie, Sonnet and 420 Classes. A really big Well Done goes to SAS Western Cape on a really great event, and to the very long list of volunteers - from scorers to mark layers to bridge to rescue – who all contributed to making the event such a great success. We look forward to an even bigger fleet next year at South Africa’s biggest dinghy regatta! Results
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