Yolo is first and foremost a sailing boat.. With no racing, it does not mean no sailing.. So a Sail was in order.
A perfect day, motoring out there were flat windless conditions.. With local knowledge the call was still made to make the J4 ready.. around the corner Yolo continued her motor up to the Paarden Island area where we could see the start of the SE. Once there, motor cut, and beat for a minute or two followed by a bear away and a hoist of the kite. The winds rapidly increased topping out at 30 knots in the Milnerton area.. giving for a great downwind leg. A kite strike and then a sail across the bay. We then stayed in the bay reaching up and down following by a pack away and Yolo anchoring at Granger Bay for an hour. Great sail was had. Boat performed well. Aboard were: Ian, Sieger, Dale and Guest Jan.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Monday, April 14, 2014
SENIORS DAY RACE 12th April 2014
The rules for the Senior's Day Race is that the skipper/helmsman must be over 60 to be eligible. On Yolo, we need look no further then our active Halyards man, Sieger Smink, so the Yolo entry, remained a truly YOLO team.
For those of you who do not know Sieger, Sieger built is own Buccaneer from a set of plans up.. in the late 70's.. and was active in the early 80's with his boat. She was named WAVE GUIDE.. After this, Sieger purchased a Brand New Ladd27 which was also named WaveGuide. Sieger campaigned both these boat actively, attracting the top skippers aboard. Dale sailed with him from time to time. The boat moved regularly between FBYC and RCYC for it's program. After which Sieger took a break from sailing, at a later stage selling the Ladd27 to Dale, who sailed her for one season. At that time Sieger was attracted back to sailing and became a regular aboard again, staying with the team and being an active part of the team specializing in the Halyard position. Besides this, he has always been part of the delivery team. A well accomplished sailor.. and very handy technically aboard.
Back to the Race:
Conditions at the club were hot and windless.... and people were concerned that there would be no racing. The Race Chairman ensured that the Club Launch was sent out early to see where the wind was and to set the course. This was done, so prior to everyone leaving they already had a course in hand.
With a Pursuit start, Yolo had a nice clear line.. and started with a few boat lengths to spare at the right side of the line. Sieger who had not been helming in a race for some time, quickly settled in and got the boat sailing well. Yolo holding her own with the increasing breeze. Yolo put some tacks into the shoreline in search of a lift... but the conditions were averaged out. Caught up to the smaller boats, around the weather mark, bear away, pole up. Yolo Opted to gybe and sail own breeze and gybed back with 20% of the leg left. Yolo had a good rounding, but by now the bigger boats were breathing down..so Yolo had to work to keep her breeze clear for the remainder of the leg.
Yolo came 11th out of 48 starters and 5th in Age category. Well done Sieger.
Aboard were: Sieger, Ian, Dale, Riaan. Boat performed well. No problems.
For those of you who do not know Sieger, Sieger built is own Buccaneer from a set of plans up.. in the late 70's.. and was active in the early 80's with his boat. She was named WAVE GUIDE.. After this, Sieger purchased a Brand New Ladd27 which was also named WaveGuide. Sieger campaigned both these boat actively, attracting the top skippers aboard. Dale sailed with him from time to time. The boat moved regularly between FBYC and RCYC for it's program. After which Sieger took a break from sailing, at a later stage selling the Ladd27 to Dale, who sailed her for one season. At that time Sieger was attracted back to sailing and became a regular aboard again, staying with the team and being an active part of the team specializing in the Halyard position. Besides this, he has always been part of the delivery team. A well accomplished sailor.. and very handy technically aboard.
Back to the Race:
Conditions at the club were hot and windless.... and people were concerned that there would be no racing. The Race Chairman ensured that the Club Launch was sent out early to see where the wind was and to set the course. This was done, so prior to everyone leaving they already had a course in hand.
With a Pursuit start, Yolo had a nice clear line.. and started with a few boat lengths to spare at the right side of the line. Sieger who had not been helming in a race for some time, quickly settled in and got the boat sailing well. Yolo holding her own with the increasing breeze. Yolo put some tacks into the shoreline in search of a lift... but the conditions were averaged out. Caught up to the smaller boats, around the weather mark, bear away, pole up. Yolo Opted to gybe and sail own breeze and gybed back with 20% of the leg left. Yolo had a good rounding, but by now the bigger boats were breathing down..so Yolo had to work to keep her breeze clear for the remainder of the leg.
Yolo came 11th out of 48 starters and 5th in Age category. Well done Sieger.
Aboard were: Sieger, Ian, Dale, Riaan. Boat performed well. No problems.
Monday, April 7, 2014
Double Handed Race -5th April 2014
First sail back on Yolo since the Cape to Rio Race. The boat had just completed her "clean up" and ready to go. Aboard were Dale and Ian again.
Nice South Easter across the whole bay, flat seas.. not too strong.. just right.
Yolo got a fair start on the weather side of the line.. making for Harken rounding just behind Scarlet Sun. After the rounding gybed and immediately hoisted the kite. Most of the fleet continued on Starboard for a while. Yolo settled down quickly and had a nice sail to Dayang Family mark.. with the conditions being lighter.. due to the good rounding and the quick hoist Yolo was still in the frey.. and managed to round in third place just behind the bigger boats. On the upwind Ylo played the shifts to try and keep up with the bigger boats, while still falling back she managed to stay ahead of the larger boats that were slowly catching.. Back around Harken, Yolo then hoisted the kite but the sheet had flogged loose on the hoist.. so opted to drop the kite for the final leg to the finish(no one else used a kite). Yolo won the race in the end.. A nice time margin made of of the extra kite work and working the shifts on the upwind to try and stay in... Nice to be back on the water.
Nice South Easter across the whole bay, flat seas.. not too strong.. just right.
Yolo got a fair start on the weather side of the line.. making for Harken rounding just behind Scarlet Sun. After the rounding gybed and immediately hoisted the kite. Most of the fleet continued on Starboard for a while. Yolo settled down quickly and had a nice sail to Dayang Family mark.. with the conditions being lighter.. due to the good rounding and the quick hoist Yolo was still in the frey.. and managed to round in third place just behind the bigger boats. On the upwind Ylo played the shifts to try and keep up with the bigger boats, while still falling back she managed to stay ahead of the larger boats that were slowly catching.. Back around Harken, Yolo then hoisted the kite but the sheet had flogged loose on the hoist.. so opted to drop the kite for the final leg to the finish(no one else used a kite). Yolo won the race in the end.. A nice time margin made of of the extra kite work and working the shifts on the upwind to try and stay in... Nice to be back on the water.
Boat clean up
Following the delivery, it was time to give the boat a good clean up and check. The following were done:
- Boat removed from water.
- Rudder work
- Keel bolts re torqued
- Touch up anti foul
- Interior touch up
- Interior clean.
- Sails serviced
- Halyard and sheet chafe attended to.
Boat arrived in overall good conditions, especially considering she had just crossed the atlantic two times.
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