"...if a boat as simple, slick and downright easy to sail as the Tera had been around when I was a child, I would have wanted to do a lot more sailing..."
David Ritchie - ex RYA National Sailing Coach.

"An ideal boat to introduce kids to sailing - modern looking, fun to sail and exceptional value - buy one and burn the Playstation"
WhatBoat magazine.

"Just thought I would let you know that we are really pleased with the Tera's. They have surpassed expectations and the lads have nothing to say but good comments. 'Wicked' is the description used by them."
Tom Smith - 3rd / 5th Lancing Sea Scout Group.

"The boat has been designed to make the excitement of modern performance boats attainable quickly and this has to be good for sailing"
David Ritchie - RYA National Coach.

"The RS Tera is definitely our club's boat of choice for training and racing." Rob Holden - MBYC Commodore

"Good looks are there for sure - the Tera seems likely to get the thumbs-up from both adults (who'll be signing the cheque) and young sailors (who'll have the fun)"
Yachts & Yachting

"The RS Tera has quickly become the most popular choice with our Cadets"
Desborough Sailing Club

The RS Tera is also ideal for small adults up to 70kg

"With equipment like this on the market, teaching sailing can never have been so easy."
David Ritchie - ex RYA National Sailing Coach

RS TERA SOUTH AFRICA CLASS ASSOCIATION

EAST CAPE PROVINCIAL REGATTA

The RS Tera South Africa Class Association members celebrated their inaugural provincial regatta with the Eastern Cape Provincials at Mossel Bay 25 to 27 September.

Being able to field ten entries less than six weeks since the RS Tera was introduced to the South African sailing community surprised many sceptics and the honour of being part of the new RS Sailing initiative in South Africa made us all extremely proud.

Besides making new friends and having fun sailing a great new sailboat this weekend what we, and especially our parents realised, is that with its strict one design and manufacture the RS Tera is one of the very few sailboats where skill and practice, and not how much money you spend on upgrading your boat or buying the latest sail, determines who wins the race - an altogether welcome and refreshing change to junior sailing in South Africa.

Day one:- With our regatta registrations completed early Friday morning we excitedly gathered around the RS Sailing trailer - a huge box on wheels fully stocked with boat spares, a cool sound system and even some high-tech disco lights - where the friendly RS Sailing South Africa team introduced themselves to us before checking that all our sailboats complied with the strict RS Tera one design specification and assisted us with tweaking  the rigging to maximise our sailboats performance.

The formalities completed it was time for us to get on the water for three days of serious racing!

 Our first day on the water started with us sailing around in circles for over an hour waiting for the start as the shifting wind forced the bridge boat to repeatedly relay the course.  This proved a bit much for two of our members who returned to shore overcome by the wind chill and sea sickness.  We eventually started our first race together with the Mirror fleet who shared our start and course.  John-Marc Olivier (GLYC) sailed extremely well taking the honours in all three races sailed in moderate wind.

Day two:- Sailing in exceptionally light wind, that eventually faded completely, was a bit frustrating for the heavier sailors who had to use all their skills to keep up with the fleet but proved ideal for the lighter Patrick Butler (RYC) and Tammy Holden (MBYC) who led the fleet across the finish line in race 4 and 5 respectively prior to racing for the remainder of the day being abandoned.

Day three:-  As the morning rain eased the wind picked up nicely to a steady 12 knots with gusts of 17 knots providing  fast and exciting racing that had our RS Tera’s  planing around the course without a single capsize or nose dive.  Not having to bail and sail at the same time, thanks to the auto draining RS Tera cockpit, was really nice and allowed us to concentrate on our sailing as the wind brought the true performance capability of the RS Tera to the fore.   A very close finish in both the races had John-Marc Olivier (GLYC) and Sean Farnham (MBYC) beating their teammates, as well as most of the Mirror fleet, across the finish line in races 7 and 8 respectively.

Overall a totally awesome regatta was enjoyed by all especially the last day when the stronger wind afforded us a thrilling sail.

Hearty congratulations go to John-Mark Olivier who won the shiny new RS Tera E.Cape Provincial Championship  trophy and a cel phone, Sean Farnham who earned second place and Patrick Bulter who performed really well to beat Dane Hennegan by two points and take third place.

A big thank you to Mossel Bay Yacht Club, the rescue and bridge crews and especially the slipway team who performed a superb job assisting with the launch and landing of our sailboats each day as well as to RS Sailing South Africa for all their support and for making certain that everyone of us had an awesome regatta.

The next major events on the RS Tera South Arica Class Association calendar are the Natal Provincials, the Youth Nationals and the Western Cape Provincials that will be followed by the RS Tera Nationals and team selections for the fourth RS Tera World Championships  to be sailed in Carnac, France from 25 till 31 July 2010.

Given the huge amount of interest shown by other junior sailors, and their cheque book bearing parents, in the RS Tera this weekend I am pretty confident that it will not be long before the exisitng fleet of RS Tera sailors will have serious competition on the water as the fleet grows in leaps and bounds like no other before it - especially with the opportunity to participate in an alluring word championship event just nine months away.

FINAL RESULTS

Eastern Cape RS Tera Champion Sailor John-Marc Olivier Receiving the RS Tera Provincial Championship Trophy
from Rob Holden and Paul Pettitt of RS Sailing South Africa

Eastern Cape Provincial Regatta RS Tera Sailors with the RS Sailing South Africa Team