South African International Mirror Class &

Metropolitan health group, 2003-2004 Sonnet ClassNationals

 Theewaterskloof Dam. 27^th December 2003 to 30^th December 2003. 

The Sonnet and Mirror National Championships were hosted by the Theewater Sports Club over four days in light to moderate conditions. The Mirrors joined forces with the Sonnet Class; this proved to be a very successful combination. Both classes have a strong family following, with 29 Mirrors and 20 Sonnets we had 96 people racing, and having great fun. 

We had Willie Zevenster as our Race Officer, and Neville Norton in charge of the bridge, to help Willie with local knowledge; popular consensus was that this was one of the best bridges, with good co-ordination between mark-laying and rescue, our classes have ever had.  We had great courses, set quickly, with a good spectator element for supporters on the shore and also not too long, in keeping with what one would sail internationally. Well done guys! 

At one point, the good nature of the bridge boat was apparent by the placement of a chalk board on their stern with the words “YOU’RE LATE” at the start of the fifth race which was delayed due to a number of competitors who were still ashore. 

Mirror

We were pleased to have Mirrors from Natal, Eastern Cape and Gauteng making the trip down.  It was also heartening to see that many locals lent their boats to keen crews who wanted to try their hand at Mirrors. 

Making their mark on the regatta were three boats from the Izivungo Trust, from Simonstown.  They launched their new boat at this regatta.  The Mirror Association gave the trust a kit, which they built themselves, and sailed very well. 

            A total of 12 races were sailed in ideal conditions, with the last race having the strongest winds, but not above 20 knots.  Racing was extremely tight, with the first three boats each taking only three wins, and boats up to sixth place taking wins. The eventual winners were Waldo Zevenster sailing with Wayne Watkins from the Eastern Cape, in second place Brennan Robinson sailing with Ricky Robinson from Gauteng and in third place Craig Latigan, sailing with Tyran Kerford from Western Province.  Western Province won the Team Trophy. 

Sonnet 

The Sonnets sailed a total of 10 races with tight competition at both ends of the fleet. There was good representation from ZVYC, IYC and HYC. It was especially encouraging to see growth and improved performance of many of the sailors with Marco Tobin taking the Most Improved Skipper award and Rosco Cupido taking the award for most improved crew.  

Gold medal winners were the Stephen du Toit / James Largier combination with fierce competition between Martin Pollack/Rosco Cupido, Doug Smith/Sonja Smith and Ian Ainslie/Kizzy Sokombe for second, third and fourth places respectively which saw Martin and Rosco taking the Silver medals. 

 This regatta follows the culmination of three years of development and improvements to the Sonnet and the finalisation of the class rules and measurement data with great assistance from the SAS technical committee.  

The principal improvements are:

• A redesigned Main Sail, conducted by North Sails, sporting a larger roach and therefore a greater sail area.
• A lengthened centre-board.
• Freeing up of the options of main and jib sheeting systems.

These innovations have resulted in a marked improvement in the boat’s performance in all conditions which will hopefully extend the popularity of the class country-wide, considering that the original design was designed primarily for Cape weather conditions. 

It has been very encouraging to see a marked increase in the attendance of points-series regattas as well as an increase in numbers of new sailors and a general improvement in the quality of the sailing in the Sonnet Class. The class has also shown itself to be a very suitable family boat as can be seen by the number of family members attending the various regattas. Crews are mixed in terms of seniors and juniors which also suggests the suitability of the boat for increased crew weights.