Easter Bunny + Boxes of Boat Bits = Dalmatian Dabchick!
Mountain Yacht Club, situated at Ebenezer Dam in between Polokwane and Tzaneen in Limpopo, has been running a youth sailing programme since 2006.
One of the young lady sailors, Neo Mathe from Mankweng, joined this programme in 2007 and has never looked back. After learning to swim confidently in open water, she learned to sail, and by begging, borrowing and stealing various Optimists she won enough club races during 2008 (including a bronze medal at the Northvaal Inter-schools) to be awarded the Development Sailor of the Year trophy in December last year.
However, Neo’s sailing career took a big step forward when, in the second week of April this year, Ian Fraser (Pretoria Sailing Club), a true “easter bunny”, dropped off a 28-year old Dabchick hull at MYC. Owen Baxter (Victoria Lake Club) generously donated a set of Gareth’s old (but still lekker) sails, while Brad Bell and Jim Facey (Mountain Yacht Club) produced a full rig and set of sheets.
Everyone dug into their boxes of old boat bits (every “real” sailor should have one!) and all the necessary fairleads, cleats, kicking straps, blocks, pintles and gudgeons, shackles, and even an old Dabchick centerboard and dolly wheels were forthcoming.
A rudder was fashioned from a broken windsurfer centerboard, and with about five days of work by Judas Munyai (Polokwane) in between the jobs that pay, and with sandpaper, fibreglass, primer, paint and stickers from Neo’s parents, a beautiful “Dalmatian Dabchick” was produced for a total cost of only R650!
Christened “Gothika”, this bubbly Dabchick was proudly launched during MYC’s Autumn Youth Regatta, where Neo sailed her into 4th place in her first ever single-handed Dabchick race.
PHOTO CAPTIONS
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Gothika Before”
Judas Munyai with Gothika, after sanding, patching, and reinforcing the hull, ready to be painted.
Gothika After”
Faith and Neo Mathe with Gothika at Ebenezer Dam before launching
“Gothika Sailing”
Neo Mathe sailing Gothika single-handed in her first race
AUTUMN YOUTH SAILING AT EBENEZER
Mountain Yacht Club recently hosted its annual Autumn Regatta for advanced youth sailors from Polokwane, Haenertsburg and Tzaneen at Ebenezer Dam. The teenage sailors enjoyed warm weather with light winds over the weekend, and managed to complete three America’s Cup-style races on the Saturday plus a long distance race on the Sunday.
The training aspect of the weekend covered advanced sailing and racing theory, and the practical aspects included competitive starts and dry capsizing.
The regatta was won by Tessa Morris sailing her Dabchick, followed closely by Carmen Bradfield in her Laser. Third position went to Rain Patterson also on a Dabchick.
Tessa, an accomplished ballerina as well, demonstrated beyond doubt that these two sports share much in common when sailing downwind in light airs!
There were also other good performances, notably from Rodney Stevens, Kyle Smith and Douglas Elphinstone, sailing Dabchicks single-handed in the advanced category for the first time, as well as from David Morris and Timmy Elphinstone (Unicorn) sailing their Optimists.
Amongst the young ladies, Ayanda Buthlezi and Neo Mathe, also sailing Dabchicks single-handed in the advanced category for the first time, sailed very well to finish within the top 10.
For more information, contact Mauneen on (015) 293 – 2333.
Photo Captions:
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2009-05 Ayanda
Ayanda Buthelezi sailing her Dabchick “Dabonaire” at Ebenezer Dam.
2009-05 Doug
Douglas Elphinstone sailing his Dabchick “Lightning” single-handed
2009-05 Tess
Tessa Morris sailing her Dabchick “Windspray” to victory in the recent MYC Autumn Youth Regatta.
Good luck and great sailing to MYC,and those behind the scenes -you are setting an example great stuff
Owen
