This coming weekend’s 3D Cooling GBYC Gaul Regatta, hosted by the Gordon’s Bay Yacht Club, will see the first all-female entry in the history of the event. They will compete for honours in the Racing Class.
The L26 Wild Goose will be skippered by Nikita van Eck of Theewater Sports Club, with GBYC Commodore Jana Loubser on foredeck and GBYC members Miranda Messina and Karola van Tonder making up the remainder of the crew.
The crew has already been hard at work preparing Wild Goose for the Regatta. The boat is on loan to the all-female crew by the Sailing Academy GB. South African Sailing and World Sailing-accredited instructor Neil Ashton has been assisting with preparing the crew for the race.
Wild Goose is one of three L26s competing in the Racing Class. Van Eck and her crew will face stiff competition from Equation, co-skippered by Richard and Edmund Tough, and Go Dutch, skippered by Nico van Wieringen – both boats being favourites for overall victory. Go Dutch was the overall winner of last weekend’s Winter Series, while Equation scored a long-overdue first race win for 15 year-old skipper Edmund Tough.
Loubser and her crew will also have to fend off the on-form Philippe Pringiers aboard the lightning-quick L20 Time Out, as well as the fastest boat in the fleet, the “Magic Bus” quarter-tonner Pure Magic, skippered by Kevin Black.
The crew of Wild Goose have formidable sailing experience, however. Skipper Van Eck is a junior instructor at the Theewater Sailing Academy, and recently completed a round trip via St Helena and Tristan da Cunha. Loubser competed in the 2020 Cape2Rio aboard the Simonis 35 Tam Tam and is the first female Commodore of GBYC.
Miranda Messina spent nearly a decade cruising, including a stint managing yacht deliveries between the USA and the Caribbean. Karola van Tonder is also no stranger to yachting, having co-owned, with her husband Sakkie, the Flamenca Shen and the Miura Obelix.
The 3D Cooling Gaul Regatta is the local yacht club’s biggest event of the year. It features not only sailing on the mornings of Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 August, but also live music and a special surf ’n turf braai hosted by 2015 Ultimate Braaimaster winner, Piet Marais.
V For more details on the 3D Cooling GBYC Gaul Regatta, contact the club’s sailing officer, Barry Ross via email on barry@firefinch.co.za or GBYC on gbyc@gbyc.co.za.
