As it is exam time for most of our students, sailing takes a bit of a back seat. We did however manage to get out on the water on Wednesday evening with False Bay Yacht Club on our keelboat and on Saturday when we sailed our Bosun Dinghies. We are keen to foster closer relations with FBYC and had a beneficial meeting with their committee.
Tuesday 01.11.22
Our students are currently doing their final school examinations and because of this, we try to slow things down a bit at the sailing school. Our main focus is that these students do well at school, and some of them never even want to study at home due to the bad environment. We encourage them to come along and study at Izivungu premises.
As mentioned in the last report, we have two big regatta events coming up in the December holidays. The first one will be taking place at Theewaters Sports Club on the 3rd and 4th December. This will be epic sailing and a great social vibe as most regional sailing members will be attending and is open for visitors to come see the competition. The second and final event for the year will be the 2022 Mirror Nationals from the 16th to the 19th December, hosted by Aeolians Club, North Bay, Vaal Dam. This is a big event, being part of the SA Sailing 75th celebrations, and it is a national championship. We would gladly appreciate if there is anyone that could donate towards the 14 students that will be traveling there and back.
Wednesday 02.11.22
Students went sailing on the keel boats at False Bay Yacht Club Wednesday evening series and enjoyed some fast sailing that took place on the day. We also had the younger students working on their Mirrors.
Thursday 03.11.22
Our meeting with some members from the False Bay Yacht Club committee happened at Intasure on this day, a great 3 hours where important matters were discussed and great plans made for the road ahead. The vision is to improve our relationship and to work closer together to help disadvantaged communities around us and promote the sport of sailing, as well as possibly expanding into other water sports such as fishing, canoeing, diving, etc. We are awaiting minutes of this meeting to share in this report.
After I collected students, we arrived at My Father’s House in Simonstown who kindly donate us food for the students during the week. I was notified that they just had the launch of their coffee shop, they are now raising funds for an ice cream machine so that more of the homeless beneficiaries will benefit by working for this NPO. They give a remarkable service for the disadvantaged communities!!
Friday 04.11.22
The wind is still crazy here in Simonstown, so we had a discussion on the race rules that the students learnt about the previous week. The students are really enthusiastic about learning more about tactics and The Rules of Racing for Sailing. We also had two adult fisherman from Ocean View, Tasriq and Pedro, who needed assistance with chart work and parts of a boat as they were doing their 15NM Skippers Certificate examination on this. The navigation part of the exam is very difficult for these guys and I try to help where I can as I have done the exam and have the practical experience.
Saturday 05.11.22
It was an early start to the day and we managed to have few races on the bosun dinghies, but then wind gusts were too strong and that was the end of sailing for the day. The students enjoyed swimming and some fishing from the harbour wall, a day well spent just relaxing and having fun.