Monday 30th October 2017

With a few new crew members, it was decided to do a training session for Wednesday night type events.. Although everyone can sail, we started with the basics.. so everyone could be in sync on how it is done aboard Yolo.  From boat preparation, to leaving the dock and getting underway.. to the final crew work, maneuvers, crew movement etc... The evening was spectacular on the water, flat water, warm breeze around 13 knots... fantastic.. which enabled could training conditions. Eventually sailing back to the harbour and did a proper pack away and debrief. Aboard

: Dale, Sieger, Cath, James, Arran, Antonio.

Double Hander Race- 28 October

Sadly Class A seems to be continually plagued by poor starting numbers... Sad that with the introduction of ORC the class split could not have been better resolved... using the Class A and B to sail under A for Double handed events.. which would have slightly helped numbers... and at the same time giving the Class B Double handed guys a more even fleet... We note that Class B also struggles to get regular starters.. with the score sheets peppered with DNC's in both class's. We hope that this will improve. Nonetheless Team Yolo were there for some sailing.

Although out of our control, we knew that later in the day there would be a wind shift as forecasted and that the course should not have been set where it was as that was in the transition zone. The finish line was also set outside normal World Sailing recommendations... ie. you finish in the direction of sailing from the last mark.. in this case we had to finish withe the Finish boat to port and then technically bear away around the anchor chain to finish.. the wind transition made this slightly better to accomplish..

And onto the Race:
This would be the first Double handed race in a while to have a bridge start... a refreshing change...
Getting what can only be described as a cracker of a start.. best start of the season... sailing over the entire fleet seconds later... and onto the beat to Barker Rock... a nice breeze setting in with a flat sea... nicely powered up.. trying to find the correct switches, but there was few to be had... often losing out in the process... tacking up the coast to Barker rock, rounding a bit behind the lead boat, a much faster 42 footer... then kite up.. and settled down.. but the breeze was already dying, which had us attempting to find the puffs putting in the odd gybe.. to no avail... eventually getting a nice puff which took us to Landfall, the leeward mark.. and around this and a few hundred meters where the breeze died off... leaving us there for around 40 minutes crawling.... and tacking on the odd shift without any dividend... all this while the lead boat eeeked out the last of the breeze and finished... Eventually the Southerly started to push in.. and we were able to hook onto it... and sail down the wind line to the finish in a rapidly increasing breeze...  Overall a Second.. Really great sailing on the water.. for the most part, some nice conditions.. Aboard: Dale and Ian.

Wed 25th Oct 2017

A SSW breeze at the start area.. with puffs on the water.. wind range 6-12knots. First start was a General Recal.. then a bit of confusion in the fleet as to whether the next start would be the restart of whether our class would be relegated to the back of the starting order... Some boats got this wrong. In the end we got an OK start and raced off to the first mark of the Raddison.. relying on the puffs to keep going, with the faster boats in our class rounding ahead of us.. Immediately set of for Number 1 harbour mark with a bit of fresh breeze behind and a slight windshift which allowed us to catch some distance on the lead boats, then around the mark and to the finish, we noted two wind patterns on the water so made our selection to try and stay in our existing one, which allowed us to catch up more distance on the lead boats.. ending with just crossing the finish line just after them. Overall we got a first  in our class. Aboard were: Dale, Ian, Sieger, Cath, Arran, James and Antonio

WED NITE RACE 18 October 2017

With a Sw wind on the bay, around 12 knots.. with light patches in between.. Getting a fair start and managing to hold onto the back of the Class one boats for the first beat rounding the weather mark not far behind them, but having made up good way on our own fleet after playing a few shifts. Dead downwind to the next mark and a soldiers course for the rest of the race.. Sailing was good. In the end, first in our class. Aboard were: Dale, Ian, Sieger, Cath, Arran and new aboard, James.

ROUND ROBBEN ISLAND RACE 14th Oct 2017

A NW breeze blowing, but had not been blowing long enough for a sea to build.. winds were in the range of 16-20knots for most of the racing. Being a bit light on the rail sailing with only 4 aboard, making upwind a bit more technical... Working our way up the beat, watching and playing the shifts, eventually rounding the island behind a well known sailor who seemingly kept pinching to hold us... we allowed this... and then a big bear away from Yolo blasting 4 boat lengths ahead through their lee in 30 seconds before they figured it out. a fetch around the island and once sure we were clear a kite hoist... the swell was perfect giving the odd surf... with us slowly catching those ahead except the lead boat who was matching our speeds so we were unable to close in meaningfully.. We gybed twice on the downwind. The sailing was great, both upwind and downwind for the day.. Overall 2nd.. which we were very happy with. Aboard: Dale, Ian, Sieger and Denis.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT 12 October 2017

First Wednesday night of the season.. sentiment onboard is that we race Non Spinnaker Class for the moment.. the rationale is that we do not always have sufficient crew to race properly with a spinnaker on a Wednesday night.. We also consider Wednesday racing a bit more light hearted and a way of introducing people to sailing and fun..

Conditions were SW, flat seas making sailing really nice.. from around  9 knots to 20 in the puffs..
Yolo started in what we thought was a good position, but the puffs came through higher on the line, propelling those boats forward... Oh well... We spent the rest of the race working our way back to the fleet and then to get through them.. with a few shifts being played on the 2 upwind legs..
In the end, we crossed the line first in our class and first on corrected time..

Abaord were: Dale, Ian, Cath, Sieger and Arran.

....

RCYC Opening Cruise 7 October 2017

Always a firm favourite on the calendar onboard YOLO. With some of the crew getting into the spirit of the day.. this years theme being "Pirates".. which is perhaps not exactly in keeping with the issues that yachtman are currently being subjected to on the East Coast and the West Coast of Africa with the related pirate issues.. nonetheless.. a good day to be had. The day went off well, with a well supported sail past which was enjoyed by all on YOLO. Aboard were: The Kushner Family, Cath, Shane, Sieger, Arran, Misha, Milan.

Gansbaai to Cape Town. 23 September 2017

After a comfortable night at moorings, breakfast aboard and then departed Gansbaai at 7am to head for Cape Town. Motoring the first hour allowing the SE to settle in.. thereafter motor off, taking it easy poled out the Genoa.. and started sailing in breeze which was in the late teens. The wind eventually went into the mid twenties but very comfortable sailing.. with good speeds. MArk Managed 15 plus knots in this configuration. A Gybe was called for Cape Town, Pole other side.. and with winds touching 30 at times a nice sail to the coast and down the coast where the wind started to drop off.. eventually starting the motor in the Llandando region where the pack up of the started.. Arriving at RCYC just before 6. A fast passage and a definite highlight of the weekend. Aboard were: Dale, Ian and Mark(DWD)