2013
Club Mykonos, Langebaan, South Africa
Event Gallery. All photos by Ingrid Owen - Event Photographer
As the Africans were held at Club Mykonos, South Africa as the host nation were were allowed to field a team of 20 South Africans. The team was led by managers Ebenita Divaris and coaches Claire Walker and Brevan Thomson.
The team was made up of Calvin Gibbs, Luuk Beekman, Georgiou Divaris, Matthew Thorburn, Daniel Teanby, Brandon Ferreira, Ross Gaughran, Sam Lombard, Arin Long, Alec Webb, Lawrence Wilson, Alexander Brooks, Michaela Robinson, Kai Leslie, Elsje Dijkstra, Sarah-Jane Deary, Megan van der Walt, Jemima Baum, Taalia Naidoo and Henning Kock.
Registration went very well and all the teams arrived except half the Angolan team who had their visa’s declined. All the stops were pulled out and we hope they will arrive later today. There were some last minute corrections to the weight of the boats at measurement as some were a little light. The practice race went off without a hitch on Sunday the 11th and the weather conditions were perfect. The race leaders went around the finish line without finishing as they believe its bad luck to win the practice race.
The opening ceremony kicked off on Sunday at 6pm with the Kaapse Klopse leading the teams around the conference centre and into the hall with each team carrying their countries flags. They each team had a turn to come to the front to place their flag on the podium while their anthem was played and photos were taken. Then the traditional ceremonial mixing of the waters took place as each team poured water from their country into an African calabash. A finger dinner was then served and some very tired sailors headed to bed.
[slideshow_deploy id='1619']Monday dawned breezy with some cloud around and after a coaches briefing the tracking systems were loaded and they set off to sail the first race. Luuk Beekman won the first race in Yellow Fleet and Georgou Divaris taking first place in the blue fleet. Racing was then called off as the wind picked up and a large swell started running. On day two we got in three races with strong winds and high seas. After a very wet start the sun came out and although there were a few squalls the wind dropped from 29 knots down to around 18. Coming into the harbour was interesting, but other that one capsize everyone made it home safely.
Team Racing was called off due a massive swell across the harbour mouth on Tuesday, so the lay day (Wednesday) was turned into a team racing day. RSA made it into the final against Algeria and won the first race. The second race went to Algeria who then had to make a team replacement due to sea sickness. RSA won the final race and are African Team Racing Champions 2013! The team was made up of Luuk Beekman, Calvin Gibbs, Kai Leslie and Georgou Divaris with Brandon Ferriera as the substitute. Claire Walker and Brevan Thomson were the coaches. Algeria came second and Mozambique in third.
On Thursday the fleet went out on strong wind and rain and then the sun came out and three good races were sailed. The Algerian Rami Riden was leading the points followed by Calvin Gibbs and Georgou Divaris. Laura Weegen, a German, was leading the girls. On Friday 2 races were sailed before the wind went up to 30 knots and the race officer sent the fleet home for the day. Calvin Gibbs had a good day on the water and jumped into first place, followed by Rami Riden and Georgou Divaris.
[slideshow_deploy id='1618']On Saturday the wind was good, however a large swell was running. The fleet went out and races 3 races in varying conditions, from light shifty wind and end in a nice strong breeze. The huge swell made the harbour entrance tricky so a line of rescue boats shepherded the fleet into the harbour without any incident. The German boy Konstantin Steidel had a very good day with 2 firsts and a third and jumped to 1st place overall with Calvin Gibbs in 2nd and Rami Riden in third. An hour before prize giving a protest was heard against Rami from the Jury and he was disqualified from race 8 due to rule 42 and not retiring in that race. This lifted Georgou Divaris into 3rd place overall. As the German could not win the Africans, Calvin Gibbs was crowned African Champion, with Georgou Divaris in 2nd and 3rd went to Diogo Sanches from Mozambique. The first placed girl overall went to Laura Weegen from Germany but as she cannot win Africans Daisy Nhaquile from Mozambique was crowned African Champion with Nouha Alalia Akil from Algeria in 2nd and Maria Mabjaia from Mozambique in 3rd.
It was very pleasing to see how strong the sailing was from all the African countries. There appears to be a resurgence in sailing in Africa and this is very good news! We had 10 African countries attending. Countries attending were Algeria, Angola, British Virgin Islands, Egypt, Germany, Mozambique, Oman, Reunion Island, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.
Team Posters
