Double Handed Race -23rd June 2012

Last race of the series... Light breeze. We got what we thought was a good start, not realizing we could lay the first mark lower down the line.. that was our downfall.. as we got to the weather mark the wind shifted making us put two quick tacks in. We did very well on the fleet on the downwind pulling though all but the A35 who held us off. We needed to put in two speedy gybes with the kite up to avoid a ship.. the breeze freshened towards the end of the downwind giving us nice sailing for the rest of the race.. We came 2nd in this race and 1st place for the series. Aboard were Dale and Ian. Boat performed well.

Portugal Day Race -9th June 2012

Unfortunately we were short on crew, but we still decided to race. We took a very conservative approach. There was a good course to sail and good conditions to sail in besides the pockets of light winds during the earlier part of the race. We hoisted the brand New Code Zero for the first time and was very impressed. In the end we placed 13 out of 57. Aboard were: Dale, Dennis, Sarel and Sieger.

Club Racing, Saturday 2nd June 2012

It was supposed to the IRC and Club racing racing as one giving both club rating and IRC results afterwards to allow the fleet not to be diluted. Anyway, light wind start, we were stuck above the line trying to sail downwind in the light stuff, so started about two minutes late.. quickly caught up as we sailed the catspaws... the conditions were split between the 12knots South Easter and a light NorthWester and the convergance zone.. We sailed well to weavethrough most of the lighter stuff and kept up with bigger boats, but the lower rating boats ruled supreme in that weather.. Towards the end once we were in good winds the Race Officer shortened the Club class, which meant we had to make a choice.., We opted to race with the bigger fleet and finished with club in line with previous races that we have already competed in for the series. Aboard were: Dale, Sieger, Dennis, Sandy, Walter and Leroy. Boat performed well.

Double Handed Race -26th May 2012

Start was in about 11knots.We managed an OK start with us rouding the in the back of the front bunch.. We immediatelty gybed and hoisted the spinnaker, the rest of the bunch delayed and then did a slow hoist.. Neccessity did not even use their kite.. Once we got going we gybed to a puff which allowed us to gybe under the fleet and give us a nice lead.. the wind started dying off to 4 knots.. which barely had us going. We rounded the leeward mark in first place, with us struggling on the beat to keep going with th elight breeze which allowed a J27, a class 2 boat to do a wonderfull catchup job on us. They were revelling in the lighter conditions and we were struggling in it... The fleet caught up with us a bit but we maintained our lead to the weather mark on the CLass 1 boats with the J27 pipping us there, we had a good downwind leg allowing us to pass the J27 but they had a shortened course so they could carry their kite past the mark and we needed to drop for the mark, so they passed us there again. We managed to pull out a bit on the next leg.. In the end we won our class.. Aboard were Dale and Ian.

PPS Challenge 19th December

This is a social race sponsored by PPS between all the industries. We sailed with the Legal guys... to make the numbers up, 3 regualr crew, namley Ian, Sieger and Dale plus 5 legal guys. The day had 46 entries.. light wind with lumpy seas and a wind the regressed slowly over the race.. Nice sailing and fun to be out racing, unfortunately we did not fare well. Boat performed well.

Saturday Sail -5 May 2012

With no club activity over the weekend, we decided to take the boat out for a sail anyway. Wind was around 12 knots South Wester, with a running swell... the Sail was good with the self steering doing most of the work. We got to do some reefing practise. Sail was good. No problems aboard. Aboard Were Ian And Dale.

SATURDAY SAIL -28 April 2012

With no racing on the calender planned, we decided to take a sail int he bay in any event.. the wind was a North Wester with just a little chop running and for the most of it a steady 14 knot wind.. We decided to mark off the following bouys on our GPS to ensure accuracy.. Landfall, Blouberg, Milnerton, Woodbridge and Paarden Island. A good sail was had.. Aboard were: Ian, Sieger and Dale. Boat performed well. No problems experienced.

Double Handed Race..21 April 2012

The conditions were foggy with the bridge only aggreeing to start if they could site the full start line.. they ran a postponement..There were a quess of about 20 entries. THe fog started clearing and they started in 12 knots of wind... We got a cracker of a start, allowing us to reach the weather mark first, ahead of the larger boats... We hoisted the kite and set off in the fog getting overhauled by the faster boats.... The fog was quite thick with us having to navigate.. we ended up about 50m too low for the mark with a quick strike and sailing the 50m with the main only while we set about sorting out the deck... allowing for a faster downwinder to get through as they made the mark dead on.. We rounded the mark and started on the new leg which was almost a full beat.... a few minutes later we were called on the radio by a fellow competitor as they were expereincing difficulties and they asked us to assist, so we radioed Race control advising them.. and left the race course to assist a fellow yacht. All was quickly sorted. Boat performed well, we picked up something before the start on the prop so we had very little power and no reverse thrust... Aboard were Dale and Ian.

CLUB BAY RACE 14 April 2012

Winds were around 10 knots at the start, a NW and a slight build up on the open water.. We got a good start and did fairly well but decided to duck the stb 34.7 who was on stb at clsoing in on the mark.. we did well on the downwind and sailed a technically good upwind pulling on the 34.7, again on the downwind we went a different route to the 34.7 feeling that the wind was shifting and it would help us, which it did, we pulled out some good distance, on the beat we sailed conservatively.. and did well to finish 2nd on corrected time. We found out speeds very similar to the 34.7, our main gains came from reading the shifts differently. Aboard were-Ian, Sieger and Dale. Boat performed well.

DELIVERY-Simonstown to Cape Town Easter Monday.

We departed Simonstown at 07h30.. with a light Southerly., We were expecting around 15 knots later in the day so we were hoping for some nice spinnaker sailing. We motored to Cape Point, At Cape Point the seas were confused and large after the large frontal system over the previous days.. Due to this we headed all the way to Bellows rock before turning due to the large breaks off South West Reefs.. The swells were forecasted at 4 metres. We then motor sailed all the way down the coast line. Some of the crew catching up on sleep or eating. We completed the passage in 9.5 hours. No sailing as there was only wind in the final approach to Cape Town. Aboard were: Leroy, Dennis, Steven and Dale. Boat performed well.

Easter Regatta -FBYC Simonstown

Some of the metal collected..

SAT:
Due to the Two Oceans Running race and all the pending road closures, we made an effort to get to Simonstown before all the closures with some of the crew opting to arrive later. There was a North Wester blowing.. We got an OK start, with us immediately Chasing the Simonis 35 Our Dianne, they had a touch of speed on us, with the extra waterline etc.. We sailed to Castor where we hoisted our spinnakers for Whittle Rock.. Our DIanne kept pulling on us, putting the pressure on us to gybe and keep with the wind, with them covering from below. As Whittle Approached rain squalls of 26knots started coming through.. Our Dianne led at the mark with some margin... we rounded up in the strong breeze seeing Our Dianne ahead, they were overpowered with their sail choice... they soon tacked off and we carried on sailing to break out of the squall and then tacked on their weather hip as the wind dropped to just below 20knots. The wind lifted and we pulled through Our Dianne with quite a margin as there was a big separation... We both sailed to the coast and then tacked up the coast with us placing the cover tack.. they were steadily closing the gap with speed. As we got closer to Glencairn they started to work higher to make the mark, on the face of it, it looked like they were through us, but with our local knowledge we also knew that it would head at the mark, so we kept up speed to take the knock, which did happen, we were then able to tack immediately and lay the mark whereas Our Diaane effectively needed to sail into the knock.. allowing us to maintain and increase out lead. In the end, we were over the line first and first on HAndicap.

Sun:

This race was in a predominant South Wester with fluctuations. We got an excellent starts.. and hoisted Spinnaker, but Our Dianne just had more speed and was soon able to pass us. They were ahead of us at Castor and again they were ahead and Glencairn.. then the long spinnaker run to Seal ISland.. at one stage it looked like we had chosen the right side of the shift but as we neared the island squalls came through which favoured their angle and we lost out.. the highest windspeed was 30knots.. we still had the kite up.. We rounded the island a few minutes behind them but after rounding the island the wind had died and we struggled to make headway.. while Our Dianne had found and stayed in more wind, allowing effectively for them to do a horizon job.. we eventually did get back into the wind and did a long take to the Surf break of Sunrise beach and then got lifted to Glencairn.. We were looking like we were recovering as initially they did not get the lift but it just kept on lifiting with us having to crack off and they got lifted to the mark. They were first on line and first on HAndicap.

The overall event was calcualted by putting the times of both races together and applying corrected time.. So we won the full event. Aboard were: Dale, Sieger, Leroy, Assaf, Dennis, Steven, Mark. Boat performed well.

Delivery to Simonstown 31st March 2012

Pic of Siger Rounding Cape Point.

We delivered the boat in preparation for the Easter Regatta, a club event which takes place in Simonstown...
Left Cape Town after 7:30am.. winds were Southerly 16 knots.. motored the first section in the lee of Sea Point..,.. Off Llandudno the winds were 20 knots with it settling down to about 9-11 knots by the time we reached Slangkop... We ended up motor sailing to Cape Point in a very slopppy sea with big swells.. After Cape Point we hoisted kite with the breeze increasing to the early 20's.. with the boat sailing nicely... We reached Simonstown roughly 9.5 hours after chucking off lines in CT. Aboard were Sieger and Dale. Boat performed well.

Double Handed Race 24 MArch 2012

Sailing aboard were Ian and Dale.. Strong Southerly... off the line quite conservative.. so needed to put the effort into catching up on the smaller boats.... We were able to hoist our kite straight after rounding the weather mark, in the strongish breeze and were able to comfortably gybe on the downwind... While on the downwind we decided to change to the J2(We started with a J4) in preparation for the upwind.. The downwind mark was Daeyang.. We dropped the kite just before this mark and rounded up just behind a 44.7.. then for the long beat back.. we worked the boat quite hard.. and read the wind right... which allowed us to finish soon after the 44.7..
We came first overall..

Mykonos Regatta 23/24 February 2012

FRI:
This was alomost as promised, the 60 odd NAutical mile dash down the coast.. With the usual no wind zone at the start followed by the struggle of whom would get to the breeze line first... well it was not us, by the time we hit the breeze line some of our nearest competitors were alreadzy past Paarden Island.. In the breeze we quickly got going.. round Paarden Island and the kite was up.. with breeze at around 25 knots.. we were quick... putting in gybes when closing in on Blouberg.. we sailed a mid route but suffered just past Robben Island with no wind... leaving us wollowing for 20 minutes which probbaly lost it for us... thereafter we had a great spinnaker sail.. with the best sailing in the Jutten Island area.. reaching goood speeds under kite.

SAT:
This was a pursuit race with us leading the full fleet until just short of Jutten where the wind died on us with a sloppy sea condition which is not good for a sunfast allowing the longer waterline boats to catch us and start to pass us....

Overall we tied for 4th on points but lost it on the tie breaker so we can 5th overall. Not bad for a first major event. Aboard were: Dale, HAns(who came down specially from Dubai), Ruan(back from travels) Leroy and Sieger. Boat performed well.

DELIVERY BACK:
This took place on the sunday morning(following day) we were fortunate that the full racing team were aboard.. we left early morning under motor in fog.. using the plotter to navigate.... we motored past Dassen while coooking breakfast(Stoves first use) and halfway to Robben Island picked up some breeze formt eh South West, so we were able to fetch for CT, deciding to take Robben ISland on the outside.. It was a great sail back...

FIRST RACE-11 Feb 2012

This was to be the first race... it happened to be a Double Handed Event, an event that we enjoy..
Sailing abaord were Ian and Dale. We got a good start in a light North Wester... we had to sail up a shipping lane and round a shipping mark.. as luck would have it, a ship was enroute through the racing zone so we had to chose a side, once we rounded the mark we had to quickly gybe in order to get behind the ship, gybe back and then hoist the kite... we managed to find wind in the rather benign conditions.... helping us to catch up with the fleet and had a reasonable beat back to the weather mark followed by a good downwind leg, with us having found and kept in the breeze the whole way.. the last leg was to the finished... we managed a second on corrected time.. which was really great.. boat performed well.. HAd a great day on the water..
Pics Courtesy of Theo and Shirley Van Der Hoek.

First Sail

The boat was launched on the 3rd January 2012. A few days later we took her for her first sail, accompanied by the sailmakers. Boat went well, we sailed in the lighter breeze and hoisted the full inventory. On finishing we worked back into the South Easter and did a brief beat in 33 knot of wind with the J4. All worked well abaord.

LAUNCH Cont..

LAUNCH

Boat was launced.. The Champagne for a later date. Starting of the engine.. etc...

BOAT PREP

The Boat was prepped by Diviing and Yachting Services(bottom and instruments) and the Rigging was done by Associatted Rigging.

BOAT ARRIVAL

Late in December the boat arrived. Due to high winds in the harbour there were delays in ship omovements within te ports.. Eventually the ship docked and the boat was brought through to Royal Cape Yacht Club for prep.

SHIPPING

The Chosen ship was MOL Cullinan. They arrived in port spot on time. loaded her on time and departed on time.

THE PURCHASE

When Rhe boat was purchased, the exchange rate was very favourable. Enough to decide not to take forward cover and risk a slight movement. No one was to predict such a shift in the currency rate in a short period of time. Nonetheless it did happen.. The lessen learnt, don't be greedy, take forward cover or pay up front if you are happy with that rate.

Originally I have paid for road transport to LeHavre harbour in France for loading onto a ship. This would mean transhipping elsewhere. I decided agaisnt this and opted to truck the yacht directly to Rotterdam and load once onto the ship that would be shipping her directly to Cape Town. I paid the extra and this was done.

The boat was prepared and trucked exactly on time with no glitches and was met in Rotterdam by the forwarding agent who would be responsible for loading her onto the flatrack and to ensure she gets shipped on time.

The boat gets placed on her own cradle and then secured to the flat rack, then the boat is placed on the cradle and secured, lastly the mast is propped and secured above decks.

Once this was done I was sent a photo where I queried the arrangement to seure the mast. For whatever the reason, instead of sorting out, the boat was taken off the loaidng sheet(Possibly due to the loading taking place over a weekend) and she thus missed the ship.. the rectifications were done, but she needed to spend some time in Rotterdam to await the appropriate ship.

FACTORY VISIT -9 September 2011

As part of the experience I was keen to visit the Jenneau factory. The local agent arranged for me to visit the factory.

I flew to Holland, en route meeting up with a good friend of mine, Hans. We dropped off our bags at his home in Holland and then flew onto Nantes in France. We spent the night in a hotel close to the airport. The next morning we rented a car and drove the 70km's to the factory.

The Jenneau factory is the largest yacht factory in the world spanning over 35 hectres.. Their methods of productions and quality were a real eye opener. They were capable of producing over 5000 units per year and employ a few thousand people on site.

I was given a full tour of the factory which ended with me being show my yacht. The yacht was in final finish where the keel, rudders and factory extras were being fitted.

The experience of visiting the factory was really worthwhile.. I was really impressed.

The factory were prepared for me and were very keen to show me around, answer any questions. The experience on their side was shown.

That afternoon we flew back to Amsterdam with me attending a boat show on the Saturday..

If I had any doubts about the choice, they are gone.. I got to see all the latest boats including the Benneteau's and can say with frankness that I am really happy with my choice.

It was a two day trip, one for the factory, one for the boat show... but really worthwhile.

SUNFAST 3200

Sometime ago Ian and myself were at the SouthHampton Boatshop when we first saw the Sunfast 3200... We were very impressed, but did nothing further.. After selling OC I sat down and reviewed my requirements in Sailing... I wanted:

-A boat of around 32 foot.
-Can be easily sailed.
-Good shorthanded ability.
-Good offshore capabilities.
-Simple layout.
-Simple to maintain.
-Practical interior, good for offshore.
-Capable of good daily averages offshore.
-Safety.. Watertight bulkheads would be a real plus.

The above is a tall order to be found in one boat. Then I recalled the Sunfast 3200.. The Sunfast 3200 ticks everyone of these boxes... I was sold.
After some investigation I found the local agent that was just starting up in the sailing division, we confirmed an order with him.. and all systems go.
There was no stock boat available so but the boat was about to go into production for end September completion.

In addition to the standard boat, I ordered the following factory accessories:

-Gyro Autopilot
-Spinnaker gear including carbon pole
-Charging system including an additional 2 batteries.
-Fridge.
-Lower navigation lights.


Plus a cradle and the wrapping of the boat for shipping.
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