Damian Gibbs
Wynberg Boys’ High have lifted the trophy as winning high school at the Southern Charter SAS WC Inter-schools sailing regatta for the third consecutive year.
This year’s event was tightly contested with rivals SACS nipping at their heels throughout the weekend’s eight races.
The Wynberg team consisted of two of South Africa’s top Laser Radial sailors, Calvin Gibbs and Dylan Long, which provided a powerful platform to build on. Teammates Arin Long, Nic Faraday, Matthew Thorburn, Lee Gibbs and Murray MacDonald held their own in their respective classes and provided the scoring combinations to secure the title.
Wynberg Boys’ have a long line of seasoned sailors and their current crop of yachtsmen are proud to be able to carry on the tradition. Bishops were placed third overall and have promise of being tough competitors in coming years.
The Junior School trophy was won by International School of Hout Bay for a second year in a row.
The young team of Adam Deuchar, Alex Sammeli and Scott Macfarlane-Chase had their eye on retaining the title and put in the extra hours of coaching which paid off. Second place went to SACS Junior and runners up were Rhenish. While the podium positions of overall schools were all boys, Wynberg Girls’ team of Sarah-Jane Deary and Sonja Stock stepped onto the podium for second place in the competitive Laser Radial fleet.
Sailing is well represented at girls ‘schools with both Wynberg Girls’ and Herschel entering two teams, and Springfield entering both high school and junior school teams.
The conditions played along this year with light winds for the first couple of races on Saturday and moderate building to strong on Sunday, which provided excellent viewing for the many spectators.
This years Southern Charter SAS WC Inter-schools was attended by 31 schools from throughout the Western Cape with just under 100 youth sailors taking part on the water. Organisers, Imperial Yacht Club, are thrilled that this event has grown over the past few years and that youth sailing is growing with more and more schools taking part in club fixtures and league events.
* Damian Gibbs is Commodore at Imperial Yacht Club.
