RCLasers sailing at the Pond in Durban a few years back

Gauteng Radio Controlled Laser News Letter February 11th Meet A fair turn out with terrible wind conditions, this did not dampen the spirits of the competitors as there was much bantering going on. Yours truly arrived late due to a small incident with a knife earlier in the day, six stitches later and a throbbing finger but nothing to worry about, it is now on the mend big time. Liz Tough took over from “Somebody” who is overseas to make an excellent job of running the bridge, officer of the day really. Young Murray is beginning to show form by first managing to win a race & going on to beat his wife, it has to be pointed out the conditions were very trying so Lindsay and yours truly spent a long time at the leeward mark were the wind was nonexistent. Andrew & John had a very tight competition even though John scored the most first spots Andrew pipped him with consistency, all very interesting. Walter had his moments & Stuart was forced to be a spectator due to technical problems with his boat. All in all a very good day at the office with all the normal little drama’s. The “Hank Buchanan Regatta” This is a bonus day out and it seems it is going to be well attended, it is does not clash with club champs or any other regattas so we may see some of the serious dinghy sailors using the opportunity to clear the cob webs from their trusty RCL’s and joining in the fun. Hank asked if he could sail with us when visiting SA but could not make our scheduled days hence the special day, please-please come and support it. Hank is a senior citizen and has 7 different RC models (Star45, Seawind, Soling1M, CR914, Victoria, Footy and an RCLaser plus 2 RCLandsailers). Is a member of numerous RC sailing clubs that sail in the Greater New York metro area. He was involved with the birth of the RCLaser, knowing Bruce Kirby (the full-size Laser designer) and Jon Elmaleh the RC version's designer. (Jon is/was a consistent winner when he does RCLaser events). Hank’s biggest event is the yearly "mid-winter" regatta on Marco Island, Florida in early March. He has won that one twice and is usually 'in the money'. It is a privilege to be able to host Hank and we can only benefit sailing with him. Schedule Howards Folly Pretoria Sailing Club 14-00 for 14-30 Start

Gauteng Radio Controlled Laser News Letter February Last Meet This was held on the same weekend as the famous P.S.C. charity regatta so many of our stalwarts were sailing serious dinghies, yours truly being one of them. It was a small but interesting turn out of RCL’s mainly new comers to the class, I am not sure how many races were sailed and how long they were, it seems there is a new racing tactic being adopted by the female side of the class, it is much quicker to ignore the buoys and make your own way round the course not a tactic that will be around for long. Apart from all this a lot of fun was created. Next Meet This is scheduled for 11th of Feb at PSC at the usual time of 14-00 for 14-30 start, should be good if the storms hang around for a few more days, bring waterproofs and lighting conductor. See you there. Very Special Impromptu Regatta As you know this letter is read far and wide even in the USA, Hank Buchanan an RCL sailor from the States is visiting SA and has ask if he could sail with us, unfortunately he can only be with us the 18th Feb. I am sure we can get enough people together to make a very nice “Hank Buchanan Regatta”, he will be very pleased to pass some of his USA sailing knowledge on to us, so how about it? Please come back to me if you are a Bok, let us show him some real SA hospitality. Nick Woolley Don’t forget it is the Memorial Ceremony this Saturday AM at St Michael's Anglican Church Bryanston, see attached for details. It would be easy to attend then get to PSC for the sailing. Frequencies We would like to check and update or frequency list, please reply with your freq. and Sail number. Thanks. Class Subs Do the right thing, it is only R60-00 First National Bank Parktown J.V.Wright Acct. 62074692370 Code. 250-355 Sail Number as Refrence See you at PSC John RCL89

Gauteng Radio Controlled Laser News Letter Mid Jan 2012 Next Meet Yes there will be RCL sailing this Saturday 28th Jan. in accordance with our tried & tested schedule, 14-00hrs for 14-30 start. It has to be pointed out the Annual Charity Regatta is also being held so be aware there will be a lot of marginally controlled dinghies in the area so be careful. Yours truly will be supporting the Charity regatta but will be around to offer support. Have a good day. Baby News Barry & Bronwyn delivered two wonderful babies, a matched pair. They were unfortunately scored OCS and had to spend some penalty time in ICU, by now all should be well. The stats are:- Eleanor Mary 2.0kg and Bryce Charles 2.1kg started 21st Jan. Aquarians like their Dad. More potential RCL sailors. Class Subs for 2012 Yes it’s that time of the year again, it seems to come round so quickly, for those new additions to the class the procedure is to deposit R60-00 into the following account using your sail number as the deposit reference, anonymous payments are gratefully received but seldom allocated without proof of payment:- First National Bank Parktown J.V.Wright Acct. 62074692370 Code. 250-455 Do the Right Thing. See you Saturday Regards John RCL89

Reminder of the meeting re the DRBC. See below for time and venue. The time is NOW that you need to come to the rescue of the Durban Radio Boat Club and make yourselves available for the various positions which will need to be filled to re constitute the Club. Much has been done to save the pond and although slow it appears as if the pond may be restored to a Model Yacht Pond. We cannot let all this work be for naught. To this end there needs to be an active Model Yachting section which will only happen if you are all prepared to make a small sacrifice and GET INVOLVED by standing on the committee. Don't stand back and leave it to someone else because that someone else will be from the Scale Section who with all due respect cannot represent the Radio Sailors and their specific needs. We need to have Radio Sailors in the Flag Officer positions and in the secretary/Treasure position. Please send this message on to any Radio Sailor not on the list. Des Fairbank It is herby requested that you attend an AGM Meeting at the Model Boat Pond at the Blue lagoon on 29 SUNDAY 2012 at 09H00 for 09H30, to decide on the way forward.

Trent Bingham RCL29 was leading the Sprog Nationals after 8 races had been completed. This was Trents 3rd Sprog regatta and he was mixing it with the "Heavies" Trent ended up in a very credible 4th position at the end of the regatta

2012 Gauteng Radio Controlled Laser And Others News Letter First Meet This coming Saturday 14th January is the second Saturday of the month, so we are due to have the first sail of 2012. We have no idea what conditions will be waiting for us at “Howards Folly” so be prepared to be sailing from the pontoon at the club house. Get those batteries charged & be there. Normal time 14-00 for 14-30 start. Important Happening November 2010 Nick Woolley, an old RCL sailor and friend to many, passed away in Australia. His wife, Maggie, & family are holding a memorial service here in South Africa on the 11th of February 2012 at 10am. All that knew Nick will be welcome to attend, more details in the attachment. You will notice the RSVP bit. General Gossip It was only when I started to spring clean my mailing list that I realised exactly how much it had grown and how diversified it had become. Originally it was aimed at RCL owners and people I thought may become RCL sailors, if nagged enough. This has worked and the Gauteng class has grown considerably and is still growing. As some of the members emigrated it was the right thing to keep them on the list so that they could share our news and therefore stay part of the family. This letter is now read all over the World. This includes some of my very close friends that one day may visit South Africa and join us for a sail or just come for the never ending fun. Already there have been invitations from the UK for us to visit & sail with RCL’s there. As some of you are aware, one invitation was extended for an opportunity to take part in the “Biggest Yacht Race in the World”; 1930 entries, an experience that I will never forget. Another sailing experience that has extended the Mailing list is all the “Virtual Sailing” friends, many of these are seriously mystery people as we have only met “On Line”, while in the UK I was introduced to “Solent Star” (Mike Strange); like many others we only previously met on line while sailing “The Volvo Ocean Race”, “Round Britain Race” and “The Clipper Race”. The Virtual sailing is much bigger than most can grasp, just imagine if you can 100,000 computer sailors all over the World, 6,000 on line at any one time while the race is on. It is truly mind boggling! In the last leg of the Volvo Race to Dubai first South African was Xcentricdave followed by SlapHappy (Yours truly) then Firehorse all below 300th position not bad out of 88.000 boats. Should you be on the list and want to get off, just ask and you will be removed; if on the other hand you know somebody that wants to be included please send details. See you on Saturday Warmest Regards John RCL89

The Latest news on The Pond at Blue Lagoon Durban. Hi To the RCLaser Fleet, At the meeting of DRBC members two Sundays ago it was agreed by those present that Peter Heathcote and Denny Moffat will in, the short term, be the spokespersons for the DRBC in discussions with the ‘city fathers’ and any other officials involved with the Pond situation. The below feedback from Peter is relevant to the above decision. Martin Meyer the DA councilor for the area was present at the meeting and informed us that they had verbally been informed that the Pond was no longer on the cities agenda to be ‘filled in’ and they (the strategic projects dept of which Julie May was the head) had handed the Pond back to the parks and beaches department for them to administer. It was further suggested that we as radio enthusiasts were welcome to once again make use of the Pond for our sport and hobby. To this end the ‘modelers’ returned to the Pond this last Sunday as mentioned below by Peter. It was agreed that the radio ‘yachties’ should prepare a list of minimum requirements that have to be resolved at the Pond before it is possible/practical for us to make use of the area once again for presentation to the ‘city officials’ now in charge of the Pond for them to attend to, in other words return the Pond to at least the state that it was before the city decided to destroy it more than two years ago. The 2nd point below refers to these comments. So and I must emphasize that this is my understanding of things as they stand (and if there is anyone out there who is more informed about the issue to please let me know so that I can pass it on.) The main positive, still to be confirmed in writing, is that WE, THROUGH ALL OF OUR EFFORTS, HAVE SAVED THE POND FROM BEING FILLED IN AND MADE INTO A GRASSED AREA Now we have to get it made sail friendly again and get our sport back on track in Durban ASAP, that is Thursday night summer sailing, Sunday regattas Provincial Championships National Championships Lets hope that 2012 bring us all of the above, standby for the next update Kind regards Terry Flynn From: Peter Heathcote Subject: FW: Pond Good morning all, The modellers turned out in good numbers yesterday at the pond, and showed that we are serious about using it, despite its current condition. At the same time Norrie Taylor had a trial sail. See his notes below. Nothing has been heard from either the DA man Martin Meyer, nor from Denny Moffatt's contact in the municipality, Sue Bannister, so we are pushing them for response, and will keep you informed of progress. Peter Heathcote The water level was at about its normal height - plus/minus 800mm below the jetty - wind a light SEer - plenty of rubbish around the pond water line and generally the area looked shabby. Managed to launch the IOM in from the jetty after finding a narrow channel in the rubble which was about 300m deep - put the bow in and gave it a big push. The 3 islands are still there and appear to be about 250 - 300mm below the water surface. I went onto the one at the western end twice but both times managed to sail off however when I went aground on one of the others had to call in a rc tug and pilot boat. After about 10 minutes they managed to get it off .Came off the water after that - no sense in going aground again.