Local residents sail to victory
Quartet of sailors shine at national champs.
LA LUCIA and Glenashley residents from Point Yacht Club Durban walked away with the majority of top slots at the 2014 Southern Charter Laser National Championships, held in False Bay, Simonstown recently in very strong south easterly conditions.
Frances van Breda won the Women’s National Championship title and Rudy McNeill is the national champion in the Laser Standard rig, with his brother Michael, winning bronze in the radial fleet. Michaelhouse pupil, Samuel Lombaard won the Laser 4.7 national title.
As the top South African lady sailor, Frances has now earned a slot for the Laser Radial World Masters Championship to be held in Hyeres, south of France in October this year.
Frances won this event when South Africa hosted The Laser Radial World Championships in False Bay in 1996. She won the Laser Radial Masters Women’s Championship and finished 6th overall in the mixed men and women’s fleet.
Her success at the Masters resulted in her being nominated ‘Point Yacht Club Yachtsman of the Year’ in 1996. She last won the First Lady title in the Laser Radial Nationals offshore Durban in 2001, and finished third out of the men.
Rudy McNeill won the Laser Nationals in Langebaan in 2011 and missed the 2012 event as he was in Germany, sailing the ISAF World championships in order to qualify for the Olympics. He narrowly missed selection and is now determined to win a slot in the 2016 Olympics taking place in Brazil.
He will compete in a series of qualifying events, the next one being in Santander, Spain in September 2014. “Without sponsorship it is very difficult to compete in all the European events, so I have to be selective and choose the big ones. As soon as I have recovered from my ankle injury, I will join Dutch sailing friends and will compete in The Netherlands.”
Michael McNeill, who matriculated from Northwood School last year, is also no stranger to success, having won the Laser 4.7 Nationals at Vaal Dam. He was second in the Laser Radial Nationals held offshore Durban in 2012 and third in this year’s Laser Radial Nationals held in False Bay.
Samuel Lombaard, who won the Laser 4.7 class, competed with a broken arm. He will be competing in the Laser 4.7 World Championships in Japan in August this year. He is the youngest sailor ever to have competed in Lipton Cup.
