The Kingfisher Trophy 2012
With London 2012 in full swing, unfortunately I was missing out. However the Olympic spirit was still stirring within me. I returned to Kampala in late July, well
before Helen, who was taking full advantage of her long school summer holiday. As per usual however, the majority of the
Kampalan expat community were also noticeably absent. With the GB team tearing up the records in
London, and Kiprotich winning Uganda’s second ever gold medal in the Marathon,
if therefore fell upon me to hold my end up back in Uganda. The following is an except from the Victoria Nyasa Sailing Club newsletter from
the first two races, and successes, in August;
The monthly mug contenders arrived at the club
seemingly before the wind, and after waiting in vain for Reint to arrive, they
lined up at the start line. Dr Dick got away to a fast start up to the first
mark and continued to eke out a slim lead from Bernard by performing a
precarious looking Goose-wing, on the run and around mark 3. The two front
boats appeared to be making the best of the light winds coming into the second
and final square circuit. However,
during this section, the sails finally filled with the much anticipated breeze
and the three back makers managed to reduce Dicks lead.
The second race was a much breezier affair, with
everyone tight together at the first buoy. Bernard rounded first with Dick
close on his heels. The route was changed this time to include a dog leg back
through start line after mark 2, but Bernard did well with some good running to
keep away from Dick. Behind the front pair, Ollie, with the larger sail, made
the most of the stronger winds and pulled away from Harriet and Emma into third
place. The second square was similar to the first with Bernard maintaining his
lead and crossed first, while Harriet took advantage of Ollie’s 'capsizing
drill' at the second mark to catch up, and piped him by tenths of a second
across the line.
For the third and final race the wind remained
strong at the start and all crossed without incident. Tacking up to the first
mark was once again a tight affair, with Bernard, followed by Dick, followed by
Reint and partner in hot pursuit. Once again in the same way as the second
race, but raced over the first course, Bernard increased his lead coming in
first once more. In the back of the
fleet however there was plenty of interchanging of places with Peter slipping
from 4th to 6th after being caught on the run, and Ollie and Reints older
friend switching places on numerous occasions. Dick crossed in second after
nearly tacking through the started boat, followed closely by Reint. So on the water Bernard picked up two 1st and
a second, while on handicap Ollie claimed the monthly mug with a trio of
firsts.
We finally had a reasonable number of boats on
the water for week two. Although the
number of participants was perfect, the wind wasn’t. Rene was the first at the windward mark, but
generally the fleet was closely packed together. Margaret was struggling to
round east in her smaller boat and was soon overtaken by Gordon in his Radial.
Convinced that everyone still had to do the sausage, he headed for mark 1 again
rather than mark 3. His stubbornness didn’t have any serious consequences though
and he soon re-joined the others, closely followed by Jelmer and Oliver. Dick
had pulled away from the rest and was certain of a victory. Yet Behind him the tension and lack of
concentration caused Annabel, John and Steve to sail backwards while Gordon,
Jelmer, Rene and Bernard were using a wind shift to catch up. It was a close
finish with Gordon coming second and Rene third.
Fortunately, a distant storm created some
massive waves and strong winds for the second race. Rene took an early lead and
for once didn’t make a major mistake at every mark. With clear winds he had no
trouble staying in front of Dick in number 2 and John as number 3. In the last
race Gordon surprised everyone by staying just behind Dick in his Radial.
However his smaller sail soon had to give in to Rene, Tom and Jelmer. Dick
managed to stay well in front of the others, while Rene who had a smooth race without
too many mistakes last race actually managed to tack on the wind shifts in
which he lost significant ground to the others. Dick came in first followed by
Jelmer and Gordon. Dick confidently came
in first with 5 points in front of Gordon who was the number 2. Oliver however, took his second consecutive trophy
home winning on handicap.
So it doesn’t look to be all doom and gloom to the British Sailing
Association with the news that Ben Ainslie has retired after his fourth gold,
as there is a new kid on the block for Rio 2016 people!
As an addition to keep the sporting spirit
alive, the end of August saw the 19th outing of the Kampala Royal
Ascot Goat Races. Taking place down at
the Speke Resort in Monyono, the good and great of Kampala flocked down to the
lake in their best attire and we were there to match them. This year, after the disaster that was last
year, we had decided to buy a goat to improve our chances. As proud owners we scanned the programme and
found ‘Frankie Goat-ori’ would be running in race 4. We made our way to the owner’s enclosure to
inspect the course and prepare for the race. Shortly after, the tape went up and the goats faltered
on the start line. However, with a hefty
shove from the following mattress on wheels they were soon up and running for
the three ‘furlongs’ of the track. Much
shouting ensued, and at the last bend our little goat reached his nose out and
took the race on the line. The
subsequent celebrations were long and noisy.
Although the local press got hold of their
stories, including an interview with South Africa’s Super Sport, we never did
find out the fate of our winning goat.
All we can hope is that she too has won the recognition of the Ugandan
public and has taken her place at the high altitude training camp under
construction in Mt Elgon.
