A.L. STORMS THRO SIMON'S TOWN

 By Jason Acar

It was a case of perfect preparation and perfect execution for A.L as they steamed to victory in the Intasure Spring Regatta at the False Bay Yacht club over the long weekend.

Sailors enjoyed mixed weather with Friday being calm and beautiful - providing real "gentleman's" sailing. Saturday saw the wind come up and give entrants a real test with large swells and a strong South-Easter.

The tough conditions saw a number of incidents occur, as well as a crew member go overboard. Tokai's Mathew Wentworth, on Felix the Cat, went up to unwrap their kite when the lifeline broke and saw him thrown into the deep blue. Luckily, he was plucked out of the water a few minutes later by the crew aboard Fascination of Power and suffered no injuries.

Sunday saw slightly calmer conditions once more, but rain and overcast weather ensured that the excitement continued on the water.

A.L skipper Robert van Rooyen sailed to victory in five of the eight races and finished with 8.5 points in IRC Division 1. He placed second in the first race of the event and discarded his fourth place finish in the last race to secure a comfortable victory.

"We very happy with the win. We sailed with 14 people, which is a lot of people, but we did it because we saw that the wind was going to be quite strong and we knew the number would be correct," he said after the event.

"We prepared the boat very well, we sailed very well and that is the number one formula to win."

Gordan Kling, aboard Lobelia, came in second place with 16.5 points while Jan Reuvers steered Corum into third with 25 points.

Division 2 was dominated by Simons Town resident David Shilton on Bertha's Restaurant. The local crew took advantage of their knowledge of the waters to finish first with nine points.

"It was a good regatta for us, we won last year and we defended it this year," said Shilton.

The highly competitive Division 3 was topped by Vitor Medina on Far-Med with six wins in eight races. A disastrous final race saw them finish 10th, but they discarded the result to secure a comfortable win.

Division 4 had the most entries and saw Garmin Fiesta take the spoils once again. Richard Gie skippered the entry and ended with eight points. The division also hosted the Buccaneers who took part in the first Buccaneer Nationals in over 20 years, running alongside the Spring Regatta.

Hayden Taylor, on Hayvan, beat off strong competition to secure the national title in the event. Bruce Williams rounded off the Spring Regatta with victory in the cruising class aboard Baysider.