Sundays racing started off looking as if we were going to all go home without a race under our belts which would have meant a frustrating morning spent “Bobbing on the Bay” with nothing to show for our endeavours. Due to an unforeseen problem, the bridge was late at the start and they offer their sincere apologies to all the competitors for this late start. Unfortunately, life doesn’t always work like clockwork and we need to accept that sometimes, things go wrong. Hey, we are all human.

The first race was not ideal with less than perfect wind and at one stage the bridge thought they would have to can the race and send everyone home. However, the bridge decided that if there was going to be no wind for the rest of the day, the majority of sailors would prefer to get at least one race in and therefore decided to allow the race to continue after shortening the course. Most of the competitors managed to finish the race with only one DNF. The first race was one with three J22’s coming home in reasonably quick succession one after another. Neil Armstrong on “Hang 10” took first place with Lara Wood on “After Dark” in second and Peter Wiemann third on “Just J”. It was interesting to see that the two JS 9000’s finished within 9 seconds of each other.

Now, as the story goes: “The Wind Gods looked down from above and felt that the sailors really deserved a bit of wind due to good behaviour and wonderful sportsmanship…” We started the second race with approximately 7.5 knots and finally, could get down to the real business of racing. The J 22 “Just J” with Peter Wiemann on the helm came in first followed by Roy Spurdle on His Farr “Madam Pazazz” making a long awaited trip to the podium and Herbert Karolius and his never tiring crew on the Fast 42 “Baleka” in third place.

The third race started in 12 knots of wind and these conditions were ideal for Madam Pazzazz to finish right at the top of the podium in first place. Lara brought “After Dark” in second position and Johnny Smit on the Stadt 23 “Jem” who incidentally finished in 4th place on both of the prior races, finally managed to snatch third place. A good consistent performance by Johnny.

The overall standings have changed considerably since last season with J22 After Dark in first place. Stadt 23 “Jem” now in second place and Frank Lenz doggedly determined and managing to hold his J 22 “Majic” in third place. The L26 “Windways” and J 22 “Hang 10” are lurking in the wings ready to pounce on the leaders. The August MOD race will be the final one in the Winter Series and so poses a last chance opportunity for anyone wishing to oust the leaders from their positions.

MOD Winter Series Results as at June 14 2010

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Forthcoming events for July & August are as follows:

July 2010

Sat-Fri    3-9    MSC Week
Sun    11    Brass Monkey 3
Sun    18    WYAC Winter Series 1
Sun    25    Brass Monkey 4
Sat    31    Tour de Vaal - (Grand Prix Series)

August 2010

Sun    1    MOD Winter 6
Sun    1    WYAC Winter Series 2 & Opening Sail Past
Sat-Mon    7-9    Combined Keelboat Provincials
Sat-Sun    14-15    Reserve weekend for re-sail of Keelboat Provincials
Sun    22    Brass Monkey 5
Sat-Sun    21-22    Ron Roseveare Night Race (Grand Prix Series)
Sun    29    WYAC Winter Series 3