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The Battle of Trafalgar Pursuit Race

The Battle of Trafalgar Pursuit Race

Date: 2013-10-18
The second event in the calendar for the Royal Natal Yacht Club is set to be a memorable affair where the club celebrate the iconic historical event, the Battle of Trafalgar, with a black tie dinner on Friday 18 October followed by the Battle of Trafalgar Pursuit Race on Sunday 20 October.

Commodore of the Royal Natal Yacht Club, Graham Rose commented, "The annual Trafalgar Dinner is a black tie dinner and the club's premier social event where gentlemen get together to enjoy an evening of great camaraderie while at the same time remembering the most famous naval battle which occurred 208 years ago."

Continuing, the Commodore said, "The evening is conducted in accordance with strict naval tradition and Lord Nelson is remembered in a silent toast. Once the dinner and formalities are over the gentlemen are permitted to remove their jackets and sit back and enjoy an after dinner speech delivered by the guest of honour. Thereafter the port is served and the gentlemen take great care in ensuring it passed around the table correctly!"

Traditionally, the first Sunday after the Trafalgar dinner is set aside for the Battle of Trafalgar Pursuit Race. A pursuit race is different from most races insofar that it is formatted over a set distance, such as to a turning buoy near Umhlanga Rocks and back to Durban.

Yachts are sent off in staggered starting times based on design, size and speed of yacht from slowest to fastest. Based on speed calculations, the Race Committee attempts to get all the yachts finishing on mass back at Durban, if they have all sailed equally well. With the slowest yacht started first at around 10am, wave after wave of progressively faster yachts are sent off to essentially try and catch any, if not all, the preceding yachts before they get to the finish line.

The first yacht to finish is the overall winner and no other handicapping time corrections are applied. It is a fun event with an afternoon of festivities on the lawn of the club afterwards.

Should anyone wish to get involved in this sport and lifestyle, they should feel free to contact Gayle at the Royal Natal Yacht Club on 031301 5425 ahead of the race, there are always yacht skippers looking for crew and this is usually the easiest method of getting involved in this pastime.