As the weather was not conducive, we did not get out on the water much this week but spent the time doing maintenance on our Mirror dinghies in preparation for the upcoming regattas in December. A handful of our sailors did get to participate in the FBYC's Wednesday evening racing and we hope to enter Donna Mia in these races on a regular basis going forward.
Tuesday 11.10.22
I had a meeting at Kleinberg Primary School in Ocean View, the sports teacher has a list of 50 students that are interested in joining the sailing program at Izivungu. This is great news!!! Fatier Yon, who is one of our senior students, was assisted by Eldred to have a CV drawn up as he wants to work during the December holidays.
Wednesday 12.10.22
After arrival at the school the guys that were part of the Donna Mia L26 team prepared an inventory of her sails and equipment. We also gave them a lesson on sail repairs and packing of keel boat sails. The rest of the group learnt about rigging and boat handling. We also had 4 of the older students taking part in the Wednesday evening racing at False Bay Yacht Club on different keel boats. The management of the yacht club informed me there is more spots available, so we are looking at 10 students sailing every Wednesday evening in the upcoming club racing calendar. We will also be entering our team on Donna Mia on a regular basis.
Thursday 13.10.22
We decided to have all the Mirror dinghy teams attend the school on this day. As the following 2 days were going to be strong south easterly winds with rain, it was decided that the students would spend the time preparing the boats for the upcoming regattas in December. The students also took the mirror boats out on the water for leak testing as some of the self bailers were leaking during the past events, this is part of the boat fittings we are needing assistance with.
We also received good news that our bus is well on its way to being restored and is looking brand new. There have been delays caused by loadshedding and unexpected items that need attention, but good work takes time.
Friday 14.10.22
The weather forecast was spot on with 20 to 30 knots blowing a gale. Students were still sending us WhatsApp messages though, nothing stops them from wanting to be here. The students did some workshop cleaning, then enjoyed a nice lunch from My Father's House. We are blessed to have them supporting us. Please see https://www.myfathershouse.org.za/. We have ship models that were donated by Captain Sarno of MSC and some kids are very interested in starting on this project. Fatier Yon got stuck in to building one while it was storming outside. In the past we had Jerome Williams, who started the model building project, move on to work at North Sails. Let's hope Fatier will follow in his footsteps.
Saturday 15.10.22
The wind was still howling, but the student's arrived early and after our briefing, Eldred had a worklist ready for us. We also got the students to make a list of touch ups on thier boats and list of fittings needed for their boats. A female student, Kiyaarah, made some beautiful changes in our kitchen area and is always so willing to help, making food and putting smiles on the students faces. We do need some assistance with kitchen utensils, etc, and even a microwave if possible, this would be gratefully appreciated if anyone could assist.