Our Committee Boat leaves for Oz, complete with the new committee!

Chris, Rob, Joyce and George

George and Joyce Wenman, the two punctual members of Discovery's crew!

Rob Browne arrived soon after this, but it seems Chris Sutton was somewhat delayed for the 9am start. Seems they got away around 15:30 in perfect (motoring) conditions. I guess they are having great sundowners as I write this . . . 

The course will take them to Brisbane eventually, via St Helena, Brazil, Panama and various Pacific Islands (tba). It will take about four months overall.

Its a good boat - having sailed it a bit myself with Chris on recent deliveries.  Its a Nose-Be 38, Lavranos Design (forerunner of the Admiral 38) - and quite comfortable and seaworthy - and this one is now all ship-shape and Bristol Fashion! It belongs to a good friend of the club - ex-member Ian Lamont - now in Brisbane. Ian was always very kind to lend it to the club as a "Committee Boat" hence the title of the note. The fact that it is going AWOL now with our Commodore (Chris), Treasurer (Rob), and Marina Officer (George) is purely coincidental (you be the judge!).

Fair winds and fine sailing to them all - no-one can say we don't have a sailing committee!

Hout Bay from Chappies in the early morning!

Hout Bay at first light.

Photo from the Iphone Camera of Tracy Baxter,

champion jogger from Noordhoek who gets up early in the morning!

Our Brave New Committee!

I am very pleased to advise we were able to assemble a really good team for the 2012/13 Committee at the club AGM last night. Of some concern was the lack of nominations - just two weeks ago it looked rather bleak. Miraculously we were able to elicit a nomination for our ever popular Commodore Chris Sutton to stand again (we had to have a referendum to change the rules in fact - this was supported very convincingly as a proposal from Dudley). With this inspiration Jeremy Nel agreed to stand as Vice Commodore, and good old Rob Browne is to return for yet a another stint as Treasurer. Its a miracle!

Then we have Sam Legatt as RC Beach Sailing (actually Development sailing - Sam is doing a brilliant job there), while Keith Gemmell will stay on as Safety Officer. New to the table are Mark Hainsworth (RC Keelboats), and George Wenman (Marina Officer).

We wish them all the very best!

Dudley Turner remains our long serving Club President, and no doubt very pleased this annual process has been concluded once again . . .

On behalf of myself and the club members, a huge thank you to all the above for the time and duties they contribute to the club, which sadly, is often not fully appreciated.

Viva Hout Bay Yacht Club! 

Dudley Dix's New Book!

This book is a collection of random writings by a boat designer explaining boat design in layman's terms, explanations of various boatbuilding methods, how to loft the lines of a boat, how to turn the hull over and various other boating subjects that you will not find in other books about boat design. It includes a chapter on recommendations for sailing around the Cape of Good Hope.

You can buy a hardcopy at lulu.com

Verna turns 15, or is it 60?

Verna and Commodore Chris Sutton, after the club handed over a present from the members! Verna has faithfully served the club for just about 30 years, and remains a very popular and valued part of the furniture! Long may it last. As a "leap year baby" she is a very rare find!

The party went on quite a while - led by Frankie, Enda (on guitar) and Aidan, including a few creditable guest appearances from others.

The Sailing results saw Faraway take #1 in a blistering return to form, with Savannah blasting in behind in #2 (in ideal Miura conditions), and Nandi in #3.

Welcome back to Peter Loubser, seriously injured late last year during a crash-gybe.

End of the road for the Big Red Boat

Thanks to Roy McBride and his trusty Canon G11 for the pics.

Yesterday, 29 Feb, was the end for the Big Red Boat. In fact it was a van der Laan design, about 56' on deck as I remember. It would have made a great little ship as a liveaboard cruiser. This boat had quite a few previous owners, each passing it on after they ran out of time or budget, or health reasons. However in this market (global recession) a new owner could not be found depsite a radical price reduction. The scrap merchants took it away in pieces - in just a few hours with a cutting torch it was gone . . . The keel however was a slightly more difficult problem. Filled with concrete and iron balls, it was too heavy for the crane - and took quite a while to break down.

Any prospective buyers looking for similar old steel hulls need not despair - Hout Bay has a few other bagains waiting about . . . see below . . .

Days of Deja vu!

Anyone remember Jonathan Reid? He built a Hartley 28 in the 70s and sailed off from Simonstown in the 80s. Ended up in Hawaii after sailing much of the Pacific. He still lives in Hawaii - I have had some recent emails from him.

He has written a book called "Days of Deja Vu" - his boat's name. Its a great (true) tale of sailing, adventure, romance and growing-up all in one. It is a must for anyone interested in sailing adventures - I would describe it as a modern day version of Joshua Slocum's famous book - "Sailing Alone around the World", set a few decades later.

Find it on Amazon.com here.

Wed night racing results

Almost a rerun of last week - nice steady S/Westerly, flat seas, and a great braai at the club later. Overall a very pleasant evening.

1 Megafreight
2 Faraway
3 Savannah

Gotta see this!

Not sure who to credit for this one - but it's excellent!

Click on it for full-size!

Wednesday Night Racing Results

Nice fresh southerly blowing! Despite an unusual start sequence with no yachts near the line, they all recovered very well and sailed an excellent competitive race, lead mostly by Megafreight. Faraway just pipped them over the line with 2 seconds to spare!

The Wednesday night braai at the club was good as always!

1. Megafreight
2. Faraway
3. Savannah