The 1999 NSA Laser Masters Provincial Championships was held once again at
Transvaal Catamaran Club. This year, to prove that catamarans do indeed sail
competitively, TCC also hosted the Dart, Hobie 16 and Hobie 18 provincial
championships concurrently on a separate course.
The event attracted an entry of 19, a bit down on previous years. Several
long-time supporters of this event were missing. A keelboat event on Vaal
Dam was ascribed to some of these. However, the fleet welcomed back Brian &
Janet Magner after being missing from Laser sailing for some years. Richard
Parker, a veteran of the GP14 and Sprog fleets, was also persuaded to try
his hand at sailing by himself for the first time.
Three races were sailed on Saturday morning in fairly light wind with some
gusts coming through occasionally. Last year, we had up to 30 knots at this
event - some were hoping for a repeat! The course was wind / leeward. In the
afternoon, some reaching was introduced with a triangular course for three
more races. Sunday morning dawned cold and windless. It soon warmed up, but
the wind didn't appear until after 12:00. Still light, it was just enough to
permit three more windward / leeward races to be completed, for a total of
nine races.
The previous weekend, Ivan Gibbons won the Northvaal Champion of Champions
regatta, against all the champions of other classes. For this event, he
showed his form by winning four of the six races sailed on Saturday and
getting 2nds for the other two. A win in race eight on Sunday sealed his
hold on the trophy as well as first place in the Apprentice Masters
category. Grant Caroline was second overall as well as 2nd Apprentice
Master. The first Master, in third place overall, was last years winner,
John Samuel.
The first Lady, in the Masters category and 9th overall, was Janet Magner,
who beat out her sister, Evelyn Loader to 10th place. Glen Whitney was first
Grand Master in 17th place.
Results:
1st Ivan Gibbons (AM) 12pts
2nd Grant Caroline (AM) 21 pts
3rd John Samuel (M) 30pts
4th John Lindemann (M) 43pts
5th Peter Clayton (M) 50pts
6th Brian Magner (M) 57pts
7th Simon Kemsley (AM) 57pts
8th Malcolm Osborne (M) 64pts
9th Janet Magner (LM) 71pts
10th Evelyn Loader (LM) 73pts
11th David W.Aymes (AM) 81pts
12th Dennis Andrews (M) 86pts
13th Richard Parker (M) 97pts
14th Pam Miller (LM) 105pts
15th David Inder (M) 114pts
16th Lothar Klaas (M) 117pts
17th Glen Whitney (GM) 122pts
18th Eberhard Pfisterer (GM) 126pts
19th Johan Aspeling (GM) 131pts
report by:
Malcolm Osborne
Pretoria, South Africa
