SAS Grand Slam, Durban 2020

The SAS Grand Slam took place on 17 and 18 October in the Durban Bay. The event was run in a joint effort by both Point YC and Royal Natal YC in conjunction with SA Sailing. A total of 36 entries were received and competitors came from as far as Henley Midmar and Zululand YCs. Racing started off on Saturday with a fresh North Easter, gusting in the upper 20s. The race start coincided with some shipping movement and low tide, which made the channel extremely narrow and with testing wind conditions, the race officer, Kevin Bingham, had his hands full to lay a course. Racing got underway at around noon and 4 races were sailed back to back. The lasers dominated division 1 on handicap, with Henry Frencken and Vincent Vermaak leading the charge, whilst the Flying 15s and a 505 were having it out fighting for survival and line honours. In the multihull fleet, the Hobie 14s dominated, with Wayne Smith leading and the Halcat, sailed by Steve Hegestrom of SAS, having to retire due to breakage. Division 2, saw many of the kids head off to the safety of the sand bank and eventually being towed back to shore due to the strong conditions. Marcel Vermaak dominated the racing with 3 first places and Kaytlynn Smit, from ZYC, coming second in a RS Tera. Sunday dawned with the prospect of a lighter day and after some broken bodies, promised some good racing. Racing started promptly at 9.30 am and 4 races were sailed back to back. Racing was tight in all divisions and for a change most of the sailors could be out on the water. Division 1 was again dominated by the Lasers with the 4.7 of Robert Peters scoring 4 first places. Unfortunately Robert carried a number of DNCs from the Saturday and could not make up the point differential. In Division 2 the racing was also tight with Connor McLoughlin snatching the lead from Marcel Vermaak on a tie break and Kaytlynn Smit, coming home in 3rd. The Multihulls saw a similar tight finish with Justin Butler and Wayne Smith finishing tied on points, but Justin taking it on the tie break. All in all, it was a great event. A big thank you goes to all the volunteers who gave up their time to assist on rescue and bridge duty and a special thanks to Rudi v Niekerk for offering the use of his ski boat. We look forward to a great season of sailing and once the beach club is operational, the dinghy committee will also plan some fun events from the beach. Thomas Funke Rear Commodore: Dinghies