Following months of Covid blues, False Bay Yacht Club has got its sailing season off to a cracking start.
In the past couple of months they have hosted their Intasure Spring Regatta, the Mossel Bay Race and the False Bay start to the Cape Point Challenge – heralding a partial return to normalcy, albeit within current Covid prevention protocols.
As can be expected of the Cape, the Spring Regatta, held from Friday 24 until Sunday 26 September dished up the full menu of weather for the competitors. The fleets were treated to everything from perfect sailing conditions to gale force bluster to absolute calm. Forty two yachts entered and fantastic racing and great fun was enjoyed by all.
Starting on Friday 1 October, the Mossel Bay Race, South Africa’s oldest ocean race, saw the bigger and more adventurous boats take on the challenging 210 nautical mile (389 km) course.
A very sprightly South Easter had the competitors beating under heavily reefed sails out of False Bay, followed by high speed reaching up the coast to Mossel Bay.
The winning boat took just over 31 hours to complete the course, with the last boat finishing in under 44 hours.
Sunday 31 October saw the return of the Cape Point Challenge.
Competitors started from Simon’s Town and Cape Town, then rounding Cape Point, followed by a mark at the opposing club. This year the conditions were particularly tricky, with patches of strong breeze and frustrating light patches around the peninsula, resulting in most of the fleet retiring. The winning yachts were Maker’s Mark from FBYC and Regardless 2 from Royal Cape Yacht Club.
With sailors ever eager to get out and compete on the water, the rest of the season will no doubt be equally competitive and fun.
