Gordon’s Bay Yacht Club (GBYC) has introduced a new series of social sails to encourage broader participation from novice and prospective new sailors displaying an interest in the club’s activities.
The social sails provide an opportunity to sail in a relaxed, non-competitive setting and learn about the fundamentals of sailing from more experienced sailors.
The first social sail took place this past Saturday (12 March). Nine yachts participated, including two Holiday 23s, two Spirit 28s, two L26s, an L20, a Flamenca 25, and a Morgan 31 – a diverse array.
With a fresh north-westerly breeze and slightly choppy waters, the conditions offered a fine learning opportunity for newcomers to navigate more nuanced weather conditions, even pockets with little wind.
The sail kicked off with a brief training session about downwind sail configurations. The yachts then followed a course which beat upwind towards Clarence Drive, followed by a downwind run back to Gordon’s Bay. This offered a perfect opportunity to put into practice the downwind configurations described in the training session.
This informal learning opportunity is complemented by Carol Ferguson’s fun “Think and Drink” sessions which elaborate upon basic sailing competencies. These happen on the first Wednesday evening of each month.
In addition to these educational initiatives, GBYC’s Sailing Academy offers South African Sailing-accredited sail training to the public. In these ways, GBYC is excited to offer members and prospective newcomers varied opportunities to develop their sailing abilities.
This coming weekend two GBYC yachts will take part in the Compass Rose overnight race – namely, Plumbob (skippered by Jana Loubser) and Barbarian (skippered by Jack Hattingh).
The next GBYC event is the MDL Logistics Medium Distance race on Sunday 27 March.
V For more on sailing at GBYC, contact the manager, Eleonore Bondesio, on 021 856 3263 or at gbyc@gbyc.co.za.
V For more on sail training at GYBC, contact Neil Ashton on 072 219-5951 or at coach@sailingacademy.co.za.
