The three young sailors walk along the yacht mole. Emerging Durban sailors Khulekani Sibambo, Jessica Curtiss and Shamir Rampersadh are preparing for the Laser Nationals, which is hosted by Point Yacht Club. The offshore sailing event will be taking place in the bay of Durban from August 10. Sibambo and Rampersadh are both studying Nautical Sciences at the Durban University of Technology while Curtiss is a Mechanical Engineering student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Picture: Val Adamson
Durban - The ILCA/Laser Nationals sailing event will be hosted in Durban from August 10.
The event organisers said that three days of highly competitive sailing would take place for the one class dinghy design.
“The ILCA, or Laser, is one of the Olympic Sailing Classes, with only one sailor and one sail on board. Three classes of Lasers will be launching from the Point Yacht Club’s beach site, the ILCA 7 or Standard Laser, the ILCA 6 or Radial Laser and the ILCA 4 which is the smaller 4.7 Laser mostly sailed by upcoming youth sailors.”
They added that there is a strong contingent at young sailors at the Nationals this year.
“Henley Midmar and Zululand Yacht Clubs are contributing to these numbers. The majority of the fleet will be travelling down from the Vaal Dam, joining top-class sailors from around the country who have entered.”
World-class Laser sailor Rudy McNeill is also expected to make a return to the ILCA/Laser Nationals.
“McNeill, who has relocated back to his sailing playground, has won the trophy three times and campaigned many times at the World Championships, where he has lined up against the best Laser racers on the globe.”
There is also an international entry from Tanzania.
“The Dar es Salaam Yacht Club is sending one of their national sailors who has honed his skills offshore in the bay of Dar es Salaam. The budding sailor will be keen to get some international exposure under his belt, sailing in one of the best offshore venues in the world.”
For more information visit the regatta’s website - ILCA Nationals SA 2023 or the Laser South Africa Facebook group.