Saturday 11 February 2017 will see the third running of the 24 Hour Sailing Challenge hosted by the Redhouse Yacht Club on the North End Lake. Race control will will from the EP Powerboat Clubhouse.
Teams of up to ten sailors each from East London, Algoa Bay and Redhouse Yacht Clubs will sail two-person dinghies throughout the day and night to see who can sail the furthest around a sailing course in the shadow of the iconic Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
A young team of sailors from the Herbert Hurd and Parsons Hill Schools will be challenging an older team from the Algoa Bay Yacht Club in Laser Pico dinghies.
The schools team recently completed their sail training course on the Swartkops River and are keen to match race against the ‘oldies’.
Racing will start at 12:00 midday on Saturday.
After watching the weather anxiously earlier in the week and slotting their heavier sailors in to the two hour slots that were predicted to blow over 25 knots today’s forecast shows a completely different picture with wind strengths ranging from 6 to 21 knots up until 8:00 am on Sunday morning and then, in first for Port Elizabeth absolutely no wind for the rest of Sunday.
ABYC ‘Full of Sheet’ Team Member and Commodore of the Algoa Bay Yacht Club, Alan Straton said; “We were quite looking forward to the heavy wind forecast as we have a …. weight advantage over the scholars, but now this could be the equaliser that will allow the youngsters to challenge us in the light easterly conditions.”
The best time to watch the sailing will be between 2:00 and 4:00 pm on Saturday with a predicted easterly wind peaking at 21 knots.
The inaugural Redhouse Yacht Club 24 Hour Sailing Challenge was held on the North End Lake on the weekend of 31 October to 1 November 2015.Seven Sailing Teams and one paddling team (NMMU Paramedic Students) took part.
Over the 24 hours the NMMU Paramedic Students covered a distance of 131.43 kilometres.
The winning sailing team – North Sonnet – on a …………. Sonnet covered a distance of 107.3 kilometres.
The top three sailing teams all sailed Sonnets and only 8 kilometres separated the Top 3.
The East Cape Power Boat Club graciously made their facilities available for the sailors.
Alan Straton
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