Saturday 22 August 2015

With no racing planned for this weekend, Yolo still goes sailing. Ideal conditions, flat sea and a warm 18 knot south eater, one of the great sailing days, with fast sailing, no water over the deck.. Just good to be on the water.. Most of the sail was spent chasing Tenacity around the bay

.. Aboard were:Dale, Ian and Sieger. Pics, courtesy:Marc Bloch

SOCIAL SAIL - 10 August 2015

Yolo had not been out sailing for some time, some two months. Winter, family and work commitments etc.. In the interim,Various jobs had been done on Yolo. Conditions were varied, initially making to a Strong Southerly on the South Side of the bay blowing in the Mid 20's, but quite cold, so opted to sail to the Granger Bay Area where a gentle SW was blowing and a nice relaxing sail was had. Discussion ensued about the upcoming season. Aboard were: Dale, Ian and Sieger. Boat performed well.

PORTUGAL DAY RACE 13 June 2015

Always a favourite event.... with a medium distance course and a Pursuit Race.. Always a winner as all types re happy to enter. Winds were light but the seas were relatively flat. Yolo had not been raced for a while so good to be back on the water with a full crew. Getting a good start at full speed where we wanted to be.. giving us a nice quick leg fetching to Landfall nearing Landfall the fog set in, so a bit of navigation was required, Once around and hard on the wind and we passed the first boat... Soon after that the fog thinned as we closed in on the shoreline. We rthen started to play the shifts upwind as we weaved our way through the fleet, the winds had died down at BArket Rock with a big surge. We rounded nicely in the lead of our class.. Hoisted the kite and gybed immediately but struggled to set thre kite as we were in the backwash of the rock.. eventually gybing back and started getting going, alas this maneuver cost us our lead.. The rest of the race was a mundane downwind leg with a few gybes, while always trying to ensure we were in the breeze. Yolo came second in our class.. All had a great Time. Aboard were: Dale, Ian, Sieger, Mark, Cath and Sarel

SATURDAY SAIL -30 May 2015

With no racing on the program, it was felt that a sail was still in order to keep the boat active etc...
Starting with the traditional lunch in the club house.. followed a sail on the bay. Unfortunately winds were light and the sea very lumpy so not much excitement to be had.. Eventually working our way back to the harbour and a motor through the Waterfront and back to the club for a pack away. Boat performed well. Aboard: Dale, Ian, Sieger and guest Antonio.

Double Handed Race -Sat 17th May 2015

Last Race of the Double handed Series.. Conditions were light with a SW slop.. Conditions not ideal for Yolo.. with lots of Kelp in the vicinity.
Course was a Start at Granger Bay, Barker to Stb and finish off Green Point Light.
A conservative start was had.. with a few tacks on the upwind, which dodging some of the kelp.. everyone trying to best position themselves. About halfway there we noted a shift which kept us in the game and then later noted the fog on the horizon and wind on the water to sea.. so split from the fleet to these conditions which paid.. with a nice fast leg into the rock.. as we arrived at the rock, the fog had filled in, we also had to give the rock a healthy clearance as there was a lot of wash.. Once round, kite up.. we were in full fog.. but still had the boats ahead in visual.. eventually putting in two gybes on the downwind as we caught puffs so we could hold for longer.. the wind filled in and we started to make ground.. The fog cleared just short of the finish line.. and then filled in again..
In the end we won the race and won the series. Aboard were: Dale and Ian. Boat performed well.

TLC for Yolo

Things have been quite on the Yolo front with not much racing on the calendar….

It was decided to give YOLO some TLC and have a few jobs done on the hard.

Diving and Yachting were commissioned to attend to a few tasks, namely:

·         Both rudders were removed, stripped, reshaped and faired, treated and antifouled.

·         Rudders refitted and calibrated(twin rudders) to designer spec.

·         Prop to be replaced(Top racing prop to be used only for the offshore racing, otherwise the original prop)

·         New anode.

·         Spray touch up antifouling.

·         Buff top sides..

Boat then returned to the water.. work was executed on time, great quality and the rudder reshaping was done with precision. We are very happy with the work.

Double Handed Race 18 April 2015

With a SW on the water and lighter winds for the start, Yolo started a bit off the line, which inhibited an immediate tack as there were star boarders, eventually tacking and making one's way to Barker Rock. Sailing was good on the upwind leg, with Yolo playing shifts to slowly claw back into the game. Once at the rock, a Quick set of the Kite, soon after a gybe on a wind shift... while playing the advantage on the downwind.. Followed by another two gybes till reaching Landfall, where Yolo hardened up for a tight reach for Woodbridge mark.. but there was a convergence zone with the late afternoon SE filtering in.. So Yolo Stopped and lost the advantage as a boat behind caught up, once the new wind was in, we were off again, but Yolo was to lee so a bit lost there as well.. Once Around the mark, Another downwind sail set, and powered to #8, but there was another convergence zone, so jib up, sail down.. and we struggled through.. eventually rounding the mark and hoisting a downwind sail again and worked on the final leg to the finish in near no breeze.. In the end, Yolo came first over the line and a few seconds off line honours... so not a bad day on the water. Boat was going well. One of those idyllic days to be on the water...Aboard were: Dale and Ian.

Double Handed Race 14 March 2015

With Ian off to the UK on a business trip, Yolo was fortunate to get Clarence Hendricks who was on holiday in Cape Town(He lives and works in Dubai). Having done some sailing before with Clarence it was easy.. and things worked very well. The racing was good, but the winds were a bit fickle and during the course of one leg, the lead boat managed to pick a few puffs that the rest of the fleet did not get which gave them a separation to the fleet, they used this well and played a good race thereafter. The bay was flat, so the sailing was a pleasure, if not a bit light. On the last leg to the finish, Yolo was doing well and then picked up a piece of kelp on the keel which immediately affected performance.. with the kite up, it was decided not to backwater as it would cost more... In the end Yolo came second in her class. Aboard: Dale and Clarence.

WED NITE RACE-11 MArch Flag Officers Race

The last Wednesday night race of the season. Boats are randomly allocated into teams headed by the flag officers. Walm balmy evening with almost no wind at the start area... On Yolo, as it was the last Wed night race of the season... we did it a bit differently and allocated a new helmsperson. Cath took up the challenge... A good start was had, with the boat making a very good leg to the first mark overhauling some of the division one boats as Yolo managed to maintain way. Good kite hoist and kite leg but winds were fickle, so eventually a gybe and a peel to a Codey... and then later to a J2 as Yolo entered the light SE. Around the mark and a nice kite run to Woodbridge and then a beat back upto top mark and a kite back to the transition zone.. where Yolo lost her lead as the boats behind came in on the breeze while Yolo was stuck without wind. they entered in a different space and managed to pass. Yolo struggled in the almost non existant winds... But before one complains, it was a fantastic night to be on the water.. and one must realize, it was the last Wed night race of the season.. so nice to get some finishers. In the end, one needs to be accepting it was a fun event and fun was had out on the water. Yolo managed a 3rd in this Race. Aboard were: Dale, Ian, Sieger, Mark, Shane and Cath.

WED NITE RACE- 4 March 2015

The last race of the series. 4 Races had been sailed(rest had been cancelled due to weather conditions) with Yolo scoring three firsts and one DNC.. With the 5th race, it would mean a discard and the opportunity to discard the DNC.. Yolo would need a 4th place or better to win the series. Jut prior to the start a nice NW of about 12 knots was blowing.. but at the five minute gun the wind had died and the sea had gone flat.. On the gun Yolo was still not making anyway.. It took about seven minutes before any breeze came through.. Coming from the SW... it gradually built up to 11 knots.. and gave for a nice, if not patchy sail to the laid mark off three anchor bay. Yolo was able to get nicely ahead of her class.. and consolidate her lead... Round the mark and kite up... with Yolo trying to stay in the breeze as it looked as if it was dying, it started dying at the leeward mark and once round way was very difficult to make.. and soard... Aboard won afterwards the race was abandoned. So there we have it... IN the end, mainly due to the poor size fleet Class 2 is having, Yolo still came third in the series.. having had to carry a discard: Dale, Ian, Mark, Ross, Shane and Cath.

MYKONOS RACE 20/21 February 2015

A popular Race amongst Cape Sailors.. and last Race of the IRC series. For some peculiar reason they did not seperate IRC into it's class's as normal, that meant Yolo had to square up to to boats some 60 foot long which perform totally differently and therfore not normally paired up in terms of international IRC reccomendations.

The races were split up as follows:
Race 1- Cape Town to Dassen Island Gate
Race 2-Dassen Island GAte to Mykonos
Race 3-Total of Cape Town to Mykonos.

This means, that if you have a bad leg one or two.. it will carry forward into Race 3. A different way of calucuating.

Race 4- A Popular Pursuit Race in the Saldhana Bay.

FRI:
The start in Cape Town was in very light conditions with perhaps the odd NW puff carrying the boats till they met with the SE just before the first mark(Paarden Eiland) Once round this mark, it was kites up and a easy sail down the coastline... minding that one did not fall back into the lighter conditions again to the West. At some point the SE started to run out with a very light Westerly meeting the fleet at the convergence. Yolo transitioned well... but later while passing Robben Island Yolo ran out of wind, with the boats ahead just manaing to hang on a bit longer and pulling dramatically away. Yolo then spent well over an hour drifiting slowly with the boats ahead getting close to the horizon.. Eventually a Southerly filtered through.. and progressively increased with Yolo using the kite and managing some really good fast sailing.. just before Dassen, dropping the kite for about 15 minutes to lay the GAte and thereafter kite up again and a fast sail to South Head.. Knowing the conditions we changed to a J4 in anticipation.. A good gybe angle for South HEad was found and a fast sail between South head and Jutten Island.. with gusts in the 30's and Yolo managing the kite. A kite strike and rounding close to the landsend... and a fast sail across the bay to the finish. This was a good race and Yolo would have done well if not for the light patch which Yolo got stuck in.. but hey... that that is what yacht racing is about.. Race 1-15th, Race 2-4th, Race 3-11.

Saturday:
This was the Pursuit Race. As race rules disctate that you cannot change crew numbers each day.. we sailed with the same 5 as we did no the Friday which meant for the conditions the Yolo crew were a bit light.. Full main and a J4. A perfect start, good first beat raplidly hauling the smaller boats... round the first mark, up with the Kite and a blast off to the next mark.. getting good speeds on the way with the wind gusting. A kite strike at the mark and a beat to Number two mark just laying it on one tack, then a fetch to North Bay where the winds were a bit lighter and Yolo feeling a bit underpowered again, beating out of the bay, Yolo optioed to sail to the puffs working her way upto Jutten Island where the winds were better... Once roudn Jutten Island, Kite up and a fantastic blast down to the next mark with the boat getting some super speeds.. behind us, some of the boats were struggling with their kites.. 33 knots of wind was recorded.. Then around the mark on the last beat the big boats started to come through... but Yolo managed to pass a boat on the last beat.. and only a 49 footer and a 40 footer from IRC passed Yolo on this leg.. round the weather mark and a good downwind kite run to the finish.. Great race.. 3rd in this race.

Overall Yolo got a 7th in this event, which the crew are satisfied with... such is this event.

Ashore crew stayed at the Farmhouse Hotel in Langabaan... and meals were taken there.

The race crew as follows: Dale, Ian, Sieger, Shane and HAns(from Dubai)

The boat was delivered back departing at 11pm on the Saturday evening. Reports were of high winds on departing and head winds of around 21 knots till close to Dassen after which it progressively reduced to 8knots towards the end.. Boat arrived late morning on the Sunday. Aboard were: Ian, Sieger, Shane and Newby aboard Warwick Strutt.

Day 2 and 3 Fling Regatta 2015

Day 2

Race 3, 4, 5

Races were well run, with Yolo managing to sail as optimally as possible. In Race 4 which Yolo won, Yolo was protested by another boat which resulted in a DSQ for Yolo. The crew were a bit disappointed as the protesting boat were in our opinion misleading in their facts in the room and as they had retired from that race in any event as they did not sail the proper course their protest could be considered by some an act of malice. Either way.. Yolo crew does not dwell on these things.

Overall Yolo had a good day on the water with the following results:

Race: 2  -4^th Place

Race: 3  -1^st Place –Later a DSQ

Race: 4  -2^nd Place

Day 3

Last day of the event. The  Bridge was out early as there was fog on the water and they were preparing for it to lift.. Kudo’s to the bridge for being ahead of the game.. They did a magnificent job.. and the point that really stood out was their crystal clear communication to the fleet.. leaving us without doubt on what was happening and when….

Yolo was the first boat out and in the race area.. to acclimatize to the conditions. Again three races were had.. and Yolo was on form for all the races. The crew who are by now are used to the boat having done some miles on her.. a few adjustments here and there helped… together with some very good tactical calls from the afterguard… allowed Yolo to keep the pace up.. and keep Yolo up with boats that are well above her weight band..

Results of the day as follows:

Race 5:  3^rd

Race 6: 1st

Race 7: 1^st

Overall Yolo would have come first in this event.. but for the DSQ.. which relegated Yolo to second place.

Boat is now under preparation for the Mykonos Offshore Race..

FLING REGATTA 2015 Friday

Race One:
With a 5pm start and a mild South Easter forecast.. we were all set. With a few changes aboard we were keen on a couple of good days racing and we weren't disappointed.. We set the boat up conservatively for the conditions. Yolo got away to a clean start and made good progress on the upwinds.. and maximized on the downwind legs getting good speed in the puffs. Perhaps sailing a bit too deep and on the first downwind calling they gybe early which necessitated an extra gybe.. The rest of the race was good with us making good calls and working the breeze as best as possible.
Yolo won this race. CREW: Dale, Ian, Sieger, Shane, Ma

rk, Simon.

Wednesday night Race -4 February 2015

A warm Cape Town Summers evening. A real joy to be on the water. Breeze was from a S Westerly direction. Yolo stayed out of the frey and got a good start. With Yolo sailing well to the weather mark which was positioned offshore of the Raddisson. With winds being slightly switchy, Yolo was fortunate to position on the right side of each shift. Good kite work on the downwinds and a good upwind again followed by a kite leg to the finish. Boat performing well. We attained First Place in our Class.. Aboard were: Dale, Ian, Sieger, Mark, Shane, Simon..

Double Handed Race Sat 17th Jan 2015

A good breeze on the bay, with a W blowing at the start. Yolo getting a good start and quickly away. The first leg was a fast fetch making for Daeyang Family.. Rounding in a good position, a gybe at the mark and off to Milnerton.. The leg was very tight with all the boats opting not to put their kites up.. Winds were touching 20plus on a few occations. Halfway down Yolo opted to give the kite a go.. Good hoist and went tearing off at good speeds. Unfortunately could not lay the full angle so needed to drop early and tight reach in to the mark.. which meant no real advantage but fun was to be had anyway. After Milnerton a tight leg to Woodbridge then around Woodbridge for another leg to Landfall,  Then back to Woodbringe.. Wind was much lighter, used the Zero.. again probably did not make much of a difference on this leg.. We could See a SE ahead and transitioned nicely.. Then around Woodbridge and kept with the SE as long as we could.. boats behind us would be able to stay on it longer.. We rounded the NO:8 mark in a good position but the convergence was a slow one, with puffs coming through which would get you to the next position.. In the end, we got going and got a second on corrected time, which we were happy with. The race was almost three hours which was great as we got to spend a good time sailing on the bay. Aboard Were: Dale and Ian.

WED Night Race -14 Jan 2015

First race of the new year.. A perfect Summers evening in Cape Town.. Around 30 degrees.. with the breeze ranging between 8-14 knots. Normally we don't bother with spinnaker class on a Wed, but it would seem that our normal class this season has watered down giving us very few other boats to sail against, so we decided to sail Spinnaker Class...
Spinnaker Class has all the Spinnaker boats starting together, but with each class sailing a different course.
Yolo opted to start further down the line on the hope of stronger breeze and a lift being found.. It lifted but not enough.. with Yolo having to try and sail a shift or two to make the weather mark still in the range. Quick kite hoist and a nice reach off to Milnerton mark keeping us within range. A nice beat back to Paarden Island followed by a gybe and a hoist with us making for Woodbridge. Winds in the meantime were around 12-13 knots with a flat sea making for some great sailing. From Woodbridge a beat up.. With Yolo taking it conservatively as essentially it is handicap sailing and we were just sailing for time... Round Paarden Island and kite to the finish.. With us finishing around 40 seconds behind the lead boat giving us a win in the class. Aboard we had: Ian, Dale, Sieger, Shane, Mark, Guest:Simon(who we will try and make a regular) and visiting SA from Australia, Walter Page who was a regular member of the team till he emigrated. Boat performed well.

Saturday Sail 20th December 2014

With our regular Saturday sailing, boat had been cleaned up following the recent Summer Regatta with her spic and span again. At the regatta we noted some wear on our mainsail.. We had to retire from that race... (which cost us a podium as there were insufficient races to allow for a discard). We repaired the damage ourselves and the sail was fime for the rest of the regatta...

But to put the sail into proper context... the sail is a membrane sail, with internal taffeta on the one side and film on the other.. it is three years old.. well over 10 000nm on it.. putting that into perspective that can be 10-15years of normal club usage.. the sail is still going strong but the usage is starting to show.. the amazing detail is that the shape is virtually unchanged...

So, before sailing, we decided to go through the sail patching here and there.. to give the sail some extra life... However we will start to look at options of replacing this sail.

Once finished with the sail... we went out for a sail... conditions were ideal with a SW on the bay, a nice flat seaway... with winds between 16-21knots... Yolo broad reached to the Western Side of Robben Island and back. Boat was reveling in those conditions...

It was good to have Yolo out for a social sail.. where everyone gets a chance at everything.

Boat performed well. Aboard were: Dale, Ian, Sieger, Evan, and guest Antoinio.

SUMMER REGATTA-16 December 2014-Day 3

We needed a discard to bring us back into the game as we retired from the previous race with sail damage. So two races were needed for the day to make this happen.
Good SE blowing, gusting just over 30 in the start area. Good start with Yolo hanging in there.. and able to blow off a main competitor. First mark being Harken, round the mark, gybe and hoist of the kite and a nice blast downwind. Boat handled well. We could see the transition zones ahead.. no way around it.. just stalling the inevitable... so we transitioned on the lay line.. and caught a early SW. We managed to keep the boat going and stayed within range. The breeze had died near the mark itself.. holding the big boats back and with us, coming in with new breeze, we managed to keep moving all the time and rounded the mark and started to make for the SE again, but we still had to transition. We kited, then J2'd and then as we got close to the SE did a change to the J4. With hanks it takes longer and it a bare head maneuver.. so it lost us some time, but the right sail choice. Once in the SE.. the winds were between 23-25 knots for most of the beat, hotting upto early 30's towards the finish line.
We rounded two more marks before the finish..
We came second in our class in this race. Giving us good results for the past two races... Unfortunately no second race for the day.. and therefore no chance of a discard to us, keeping us off the podium. Boat performed well. Great to have races in strong breeze again.
Aboard were: dale, Ian, Mark, Ross, Shane, Daphne, Mornay, Catherine.

Pic.. of the boat at the V&A with the crew relaxing before racing.

Summer Regatta 14 December 2014- Day 2

This was the Medium distance race. One could see a SE trying to hold on.. but it was not going very deep in the bay..  A reasonable start.. and a quick kite hoist to transit the light areas to the SE.. Which Yolo entered reasonably...Around the weather mark where around 20 knots was blowing, and a good kite hoist and a fast kite leg to the area where we chose to transition.. We did not want to break too far from our main competition as we were expecting a Westerly. Successfully transitioning and then into the Westerly.. giving good sailing conditions to the rounding mark.. We again had to transition a few times more in the race, but the transition was a lot quicker as the winds had settled down. The crew kept working the boat quite hard.. with us hanging in with the bigger boats for a percentage of the race.. Eventually having us win our class.
Aboard were: Dale, Ian, Mark, Shane, Ross, Daphne, Catherine, Mornay.

SUMMER REGATTA 13th Dec DAY 1

Race 1:
First race was in a SW conditions.. Wind was light, not exactly YOLO's conditions. Unfortunately we were shut out by a weather boat at the start line who did not give way as they should.. causing us to stall. Unfortunately our protest flag was down below having forgotten to have in position. It took some time to get going after the slow start.. but we managed to chose the right end of the course and stayed in range of the bigger boats.. followed by a good downwind leg.. keeping us in range. The next weather leg had the start of a wind shift.. with us probably being not so optimally positioned which meant that the fleet that were ahead was able to make distance. Then on the downwind the breeze started to soften.. so those ahead held it longer or were on a beat making better apparent out of a light breeze. This gave us a bad leg.. In the end we had a poor result of a 6th Place.

Race: 2:\
There was a race in a SW which started, but soon after the start the winds started to die.. in the interim were were catching up nicely with the fleet.. The race was abandoned... and a new course was set for the "now building SE"

We could see it was going to be strong breeze... We put up the correct jib in readiness.. the crew were looking forward to a good breezy race. Breeze was in the upper 20's... Yolo managed a good start.. and was hanging in where we wanted to be... when we look up and saw a little tear in the mainsail.. near the batten.. We decided that the mainsail would be damaged further if we continued.. so we had no choice but to retire from the race. This giving us a RTD on the scorecard.  We repaired the mainsail ourselves with Kevlar sticky back.

Aboard were: Dale, Ian, Sieger, Daphne, Shane, Mornay, Catherine, Ross.

Pic: Courtesy of Trevor Wilkins

Rudder Calibrations

HAving done rudder calibrations in the water... it is very difficult to measure up accurately, so this time it was decided to remove the boat from the water and do the job with the boat hanging in the slings.

A great experience. On arriving at the hard early to check if they were still on time, they advised that they were ahead of time and we could bring the boat to the crane. This we did. On arrival, club staff were waiting to sling and hoist her..

After lifting her, we immediately got to work, measured up rudders, made some adjustments, locked it off.. We then put the boat back in the water.

From water to water, it was less then 30 minutes.. Well done to the club staff who made it a great experience.

We will now see how the calibrations fare in the upcoming Summer regatta this weekend.

DOUBLE HANDED RACE -Sat 6th December 2014

With a nice SE breeze building on the bay, typical summer conditions with a freshening SE. Yolo got a good start and was able to hang onto the big boats to the weather mark.. On the bear away immediately hoisted the kite and sailed through the larger boats quite quickly as they had not yet decided on using the kite.. We kept on opening our gap between us and the fleet making good speeds downwind.. The highest gusts on the downwind was in the early thirties. Some of the boats behind us tried using their kites, to varying degrees of success.. or broaches. Yolo made the Leeward mark struck kite and began the beat to weather, well ahead of the larger boats. The larger boats were quite a bit faster on the beat but only managed to pass Yolo just before the weather mark.. then two short legs to the finish. Yolo won this race. After the race, Yolo took a sail across the sail and back as it was still quite early. Hopefully we will get longer races in the future. Aboard Were: Dale and Ian. Boat performed well.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT RACE/PRIZE GIVING 3 December 2014

With the last race of the series being cancelled due to strong South Easters, the Club held the Prizergiving for the first series of Wednesday night races(first half of season).
Yolo came third in her division...

See pic of Ian Coward at the presentations.. Pic -Courtesy of Trevor Wilkins

Saturday Sail 27th November 2014

A glorious day in Cape Town.. With a light breeze, clear sky, flat seas and warm conditions.. One of those days that make sailing great.
Onboard we had some guests... experienced sailors.. so we let them take control... and the regulars could sit back and enjoy... On departing the harbour, it was felt that a SE might build and went to what looked like the wind line, instead a SW/NW was found.. so sailed in this to just past Daeyang where Yolo tacked and was planing on heading up a bit further and then a bear away and a kite hoist.. but soon after the tack the winds started to head and the SE filled in over the bay at a nice steady 15 knots.. making for great sailing. Nice sail back to the harbour. Aboard were: Ian, Dale, Sieger and guests: John, Noel, Rob. Boat performed well..

Wed nite racing -26th November

Great sailing conditions, with a nice technical sea.. 18- 20 knots at the start.. with it becoming 15 or so during the race. Yolo was 4 up, so a bit light.. With all the big boats "bullying their way" on the start line, Yolo took a conservative approach.. and ended up sailing from the back.... followed by a good upwind beat.. which kept us in range and a nice downwind leg... if not a bit too square for our liking.
IN the end, we came in second in our class...
That being said.. we are very dissapointed that there were only 3 boats in our class.. and if one notes the overall results, only one boat has actually sailed all the races.. So for all intended purposes, a bit of a disappointment, the class numbers have dwindled . the top three are those that have raced the most races in the series...
Boat performed well... Aboard were: Dale, Ian, Sieger and Evan.

Pics Courtesy: Dave Mabin

VOLVO PRO AM RACE

Yolo Skipper was fortunate to have received an invite from Xtra-Link and Cobham to sail aboard on the Pro-Am Race scheduled for Friday the 14th November.
Weather was cloudy, with winds blowing in the late 20's.. touching 30 at times. The sea was bumpy as the sea built up in the NW breeze.
The bridge decided no racing, but the Boats went sailing anyway.
Boat speeds were maintained easily between 17-22knots.. just beam reaching across the bay.. with one reef and a J2 set.

Sailing was wet with the boat punching through the chop.. with the additional water from the bow spray.

Pic. Dale Kushner at Helm of SCA, with Sam Davies.(pic Courtesy of Team:SCA)

WEDNESDAY NIGHT RACE- 12th November 2014

A Nice NW on the bay with about 20knots blowing and a lumpy seaway, Overcast conditions with the odd raincloud..
Yolo had aboard some guests.. so took it conservatively... and ended up being very late for the start.. Being at the back, we could see ahead a ship making it's final approach for port and realized that this would be an obstacle later tacked off early and made the long beat for Landfall, Nicely powered up and working the waves, Yolo caught up.. together with reading the shifts... Coming onto the mark there was a 40 footer on starboard to our lee that was pinching and a Simonis on Port.. The 40 footer could not lay the mark and tacked with very little speed and essentially stalled on the new tack and the Simonis came through just below them... Although on Starboard, we needed to avoid a collision.. and quickly depowered and sailed below them.. and immediately rounded the mark.. In a proper race.. they would have to do a penalty each.. Thereafter a downwind.. and a beat to Number 4 and finish.. Yolo had worked to the front of her class...
Aboard were: Dale, Sieger, Evan, Guests Loauy HAbib, Geoff Grills, Yuri(the Russian, but not that one).,
Boat performed well.

MORE IRC Regatta PICS-Courtesy Dave Mabin

IRC NATIONALS

IRC was a well organized event.. this time the location was out of the V&A as part of the VOR festivities.. it brought considerable public interest and put our sport int eh public domain. Prior to the event we did a lot of boat preparation..

Day 1:
Light conditions with two races being held.. We managed a first and a third.. We were quite pleased with this.. as the conditions were definitely

not ideal for a Sunfast 3200 which has a large wetted surface which drags with it's wide stern in the lighter conditions...

Day 2:
This was the double points medium distance race.. Conditions started off with twelve knots.. with nice starting conditions but by the time we got near the Sea Point Pavilion(after tacking up the shore line) the wind had died.. with little puffs coming once in a while.. Yolo lost some distance at this point, but caught a puff to round the bouy.. and sail back to the light.. after a while new breeze started to set in.. with the boats in front getting first and pulling away..  Towards the latter part of the race we caught up with the class leader but we did not cover.. allowing them to pull away again.. giving the race back to them.. and us scoring a second..

Day 3:
Due to time pressures and possinle wind shifts the course set was a short one... Yolo sailed a good first beat and started to pull nicely on the downwind.. with Just the J sailing faster.. however we ended up sailing into a "hole" and while the J sailed around it and the little boats were able to catch us on time in the new breeze... So a 4th place.. (to be our discard) The last race.. breeze had come through.. 25knots and counting. Yolo got a good start and although they should not have.. gave some room for the J at the committee boat..(could have pushed them out) First half of the beat was good.. but suffered on the starboard tack as the big boats came through to weather and dropped dirty airs.. between that and dodging kelp and plastic on that leg we fell back a bit.. With all that we did not focus on the downwind.. Round the mark.. Kite up.. and off we went.. 15plus knots of boat speed... boat was happy... but the gybe angle was coming up.. and the wind was gusting 38 where we were... so we decided the gybe was too risky, if we got it wrong, there would have been carnage, few boats had kites up, those that did some were in trouble.  We dropped and gybed..
In hind site we should have tried. Yolo got a 3rd in this race.

Overall before discards  15 points(winners had 17 points) after discards we were level on points with the winners, but the tie split determines the winner giving them a well deserved win..

Event was enjoyed by full crew, both abaord and ashore.. Well done to the organizers and the bridge..

Aboard were: Dale, Ian, Sieger, Hans, Shane, Mark, Ross, Daphne. (On the last day Ross was replaced by Mornay as Ross had fallen off his motor cycle.. Hope you get well soon Ross.)
Boat performed well.

Work progress Report

Boat has been antifouled. We have also had the standard decals removed in preparation of Xtra-Link decals.. so the boat will have a new look. top sides polished.. YOLO is starting to look quite "fresh" again. Xtra-Link decals to be applied on Monday and should be back in the water on Tuesday..

YOLO on Hard

Yolo was put on the hard for maintenance on Thursday, 30th October. She is having her bottom cleaned and resprayed to racing surface, anodes replaced, top sides polished and stripe removed. At the same time the Xtra-Link decal will be applied. Yolo is due to go back in the water on Tuesday, 4th November in time for Team training on Wed and IRC nationals.

WEDNESDAY Night Racing -29 October 2014

With a Nice NE type wind... around 12-14 knots.. Yolo took a conservative start as some of the Class one boats pushed over the line and were a bit menacing. This meant sailing in bad airs coming off the bigger boats for a while till the fleet stretched out. A nice, but somewhat bumpy first beat... Round the first mark and then a fetch to Landfall.. following a run to Number 8 which had the longer boats pulling on us from behind and ahead. Coming into Number 8 there was a certain J11.1 in the Class one spinnaker class reaching in at quite a speed with Assym up.. before the three boat lengths we hailed to them NO WATER.. at the three boat lengths we hailed again, but they persisted and as we were running in slowly and they were power reaching so they quickly got inside and we had to give room to them for fear of a collision.. This was disappointing as firstly this boat could easily have gone around the outside given their power and secondly this boat had aboard people who clearly knew their rules and just stone facedly set them aside to force the inside.. We did not bother to protest.. as for us it was a fun night out...But they certainly gave a new meaning to the word sportsmanship. I was particularity disappointing in this teams actions.. as their actions were not consistent to the manner they normally conduct themselves and frankly in a more fierce race would cost the owner a lot of money.
Following number 8 mark, a shy reach to the finish.
We came third overall.. but to qualify that, our fleet is particularity small so not really a notable accomplishment.
Aboard were: Ian, Dale, Sieger, Denise, Shane, Evan, Denis(nice to have back aboard), Guests Peter and Jan(from Israel)

SUNFAST 3200 - IRC boat of the year 2014(in France I think)

http://www.sunfast.fr/news/sun-fast-3200-irc-boat-of-the-year-2014.html

WEDNESDAY NIGHT RACE 22nd October 2014

Nice turnout on the water, with a light, fickle SW blowing. We positioned where we wanted to be on the start line, but the bridge called us over so we had to sail back and restart, we then needed to duck a few boats and got going. We quickly started to make gains in the shifts but then opted to sail what turned out to be a lifting tack, with us on the outside which means coming back on the header, which hurt us. The breeze all the while slowly softening, which allowed the faster guys to hold on their lead. the downwinds were mundane with us not being able to shake the L34's of which some caught right up with us. IN the end, not the greatest race for us.. but nice sailing was had. Boat performed well.  We are concerned aboard though that the class we have chosen has turned out to be very small. Aboard were: Dale, Ian, Sieger, Evan, Denise.

ROUND ROBBEN ISLAND RACE

With a Nice SW setting into the bay, the day was all set for a good sail.
Unfortunately there was confusion at the start.. as the Sailing office had issued new start times as per their notice that final times will be issued at 10am. However with less then 5 minutes to the start we figured out that some boats who should not have started had already started, we put this down to the bridge still using the previous start times.. we quickly got our jib up and made for the start area.. We got an OK start(Pursuit Race) Unfortunately there were still a few boats who were working to the new start times that lost out.
The first leg to the island was mundane with the longer waterline boats slowly catching up. Closing into the island we were the first to hoist out kite which helped hold off the longer boats until they hoisted. As we started to round the island the larger boats were breathing down our neck already.. With us going through the slower boats.  We were quickly overhauled by the Farr... who left all of us behind.. with us jostling with the Simonis 35's.. who had speed on us, with us just holding the inside track. We did an early drop as we rounded the leeward side of the island and Followed the first passing Simonis to the weather of an anchored fishing boat.. where we caught a clump of Kelp.. We immediately realized this, so we backwinded. By this time the other Simonis 35 had sailed through us.. and both dissaapeared int he distance as it was another waterline leg.
This was not the best race for Yolo with two medium wind fetch legs making up the majority of the race.. and with it being a Pursuit race, Race length based on rating differentials would have us completing in 100min.. (which was not the case) It is very difficult to be perfect for a pursuit race.
Fortunately we are not competing for the Club Championships this year(focusing on IRC) so it has no effect for us.. but does effect a number of other boats.
All in all, a great day on the water. Thanks to the generous sponsors.
Aboard were: Ian, Dale, Sieger, Shane, Evan, Michael(New Michael aboard)

WEDNESDAY Night Racing -15th October 2014

First Wednesday night race of the season.
Yolo is taking a more laid back approach.
Sea was flat with a SE on the water, ranging between 12-18 knots with light winds in the finish area.

Yolo opted to start down the line with clear breeze(as the breeze was still filling in) Good start with Yolo working the boat to get to the first mark first.. Something that she should not normally do with bigger and faster boats on the water. On the downwind Yolo tussled with Regardless to keep breeze clear.. which involved a chase away for the course. the fetch across the bay had Yolo a few boat lengths behind Regardless which she maintained and on the final beat caught up with a few tacks on shifts. just before the finish, there was a header in light breeze which allowed Regardless to beat Yolo by one second.
Yolo came third in her class.
We were dissapointed to see that we were sailing in the smallest class. this makes it less competition.. We will have to reconsider.
Aboard were: Dale, Ian, Siger, Shane, Even Smuts. Boat performed well.