| MYKONOS OFFSHORE 2010 - Race Report by Trygve Roberts
This event has a certain magnetic appeal to all manner of sailors - from the diminutive Hobie Tigers to the majestic 65ft Doughty and everything in between. A strong organizing committee from RCYC as well as Club Mykonos planned the details to perfection, including the weather, under the careful guidance of Hylton Hale. This is the weather everyone had been waiting for - a decent south easter to get the fleet swiftly to Saldanha. The 2010 entry list topped out at 108 of which 104 finally competed. It is a staggering number of boats considering the restrictions of the capacity of Club Mykonos harbour, which is 55 vessels.
So the question must be asked, why do so many competitors want to race the Mykonos Offshore but other races like the Double Cape and the Mossel Bay race struggle to get 10 entries? Times have changed and modern sailors seem to really enjoy the Mykonos format of a short, tight, fun, offshore regatta. It's as simple as that. Two decent length races; boats back to RCYC by Sunday and it's work as normal by Monday. All that includes the parties and some great sailing on flat water inside the bay. There is still more potential for growth. The Pacer 27 Sport Class Association and the L34 Class Association both saw the potential in linking themselves with this great event for their national and provincial championships respectively. The potential for this to become the national super regatta is ripe. The Pacer crews raved about the weather and superb racing. They started one day before with four one hour back to back races in Table Bay and then completed their national championships by adding the two offshore races to provide a well balanced set of races for their highly competitive fleet, which included several world and national champions.
As things turned out, the Pacer 27's had a field day on the Friday, sweeping all opposition before them with their stellar downwind performance, scooping up the top 4 spots in the IRC division. These 27 foot sports boats reveled in the rough conditions and strong breeze, with Regent Express logging a maximum downwind speed of 22.8 knots. The Pacer 27 Felix the cat skippered by Alan Lawrence (FBYC) ended 1st overall whilst 2nd overall was an entry from Gauteng Unruly (DAC)skippered by Dave Hudson and Davy James). Third place was taken by Regent Express(RCYC) skippered by Trygve Roberts and 4th was claimed by the Pacer 27 Pacer 3 (RCYC) helmed by Andrea Giovaninni and Finn de Haan. As the distance race counts for three separate races, it became obvious that the Pacers didn't need to even bother racing on the Saturday as they had already taken the top positions and could simply use the pursuit race as a discard, but as it was their national championships, all of them raced on the Saturday.
Entries included some very competitive boats including a brace of Hobie Tigers, several big cats, a Dragonfly trimaran, a solitary Flying Tiger 10 trucked up from Durban and the usual mix of keelers from 20 to 65 ft. This event has shown steady growth and now holds the position of the undisputed top offshore sailing event in SA. Most of the nation's top sailors were there, keen to strut their stuff. This year the event was filmed for TV coverage adding some extra sparkle to proceedings.
The weather gods were up to the task providing a stiff south easterly at the start of around 40 knots, which provided for some spectacular broaches. After a short windward leg, the took off for a very long and fast downwind run to Club Mykonos. The breeze moderated down to 10 knots near Bok Point and backed around to the south, picking back up to 25 knots towards the end of the race. There were two incidents - one which prompted a medical evacuation when the skipper of the 34 ft L34 Morgenster took a knock to the head after a gybe, leaving her unconscious for 10 minutes. The NSRI were called out to help the boat back to port in the gale force winds, where she was examined by a doctor and declared to be OK. Further down the race track a crewmember got separated from his craft when a Hobie Tiger capsized, but he too received quick and able assistance from a well run shore based rescue operation. The back half of the fleet in the pursuit race was given a solid slap in the face when a very large oil tanker decided to enter Saldanha Bay and anchor right across the path of the course. The local pilot boat aggressively sounded his claxon demanding that yachts clear the area immediately which resulted in a large number of retirements. This was a pity and perhaps better PR between the race management and Port Control might have avoided the situation.
In the Club Class 1 fleet it was yet another sports boat, a Beneteau First Class 7.5 Always Well skippered by RCYC's Lance Burger, which displayed outstanding downwind performance to claim the 1st spot in this division. Second place was taken by the SA Navy entry Amoya Omusha - a Fast 42 - (D Herman) and in 3rd place was the L34 Lapwing (Alan Keen)
In Club Class 2 there was another titanic struggle going on, but Thinus Groenewald's RCOD Reaction finally nailed 1st place from Alan Taylors J27 Pure Magic with the L26 Welsh Witch (Dave Garrard) zapping 3rd place.
All the above results are provisional.
At time of writing the multihull results were still not finalized.
The socializing aspect of the regatta attracted some 2000 guests into the welcoming arms of Club Mykonos, the main sponsor - making the whole exercise a win-win for all. Incredibly the prize giving (MC'd by a very hoarse Hylton Hale who had clearly been yelling at his crew during the races) started precisely on time which is almost unheard of in yachting circles.
Those that sailed back faced a 50 knot south easter on the way back, whilst those fortunate enough to be able to load their craft onto trailers had a much more comfortable time of things.
An outstanding event, well run, great parties, good weather, outstanding sailing conditions. Well done Hylton Hale and his team on a truly great event!
Cape Town
02/23/10 | 
Table Bay to Mykonos,
the pursuit race in Saldanha Bay
