BDSAA’s All Coastal is like Christmas in July!
The 2012 All Coastal Provincial was hosted in the picturesque Christmas Rock by Christmas Vale Ski Boat Club. Congratulations to the organisers who made great efforts in ensuring all participating teams were well accommodated, fed (glowing reports on the boat packs!), and made to feel very welcome – a really well organised event.
The event kicked off in early March, with the arrival of the teams, opening functions and boat draw. The six teams that participated include John Watkins, Keith Lowes and Francois Bekis (Natal), Kyle Mitchell, Steve Bragge and Louis Theron (Southern Cape), Alan Ford, Rory Lennard and Claud Wilken (Border Blue), Martin Gietz, Gary Poisat and Richard Donaldson (Eastern Province), Gary Truluck, Johann Steyn and Simon de Waal (Free State) as well as Shane Weweje, Ruben Zitzke and Chappie Kretemann (Border Red).
Boat and skippers included Limelight (Brendan Croney), Fugly (Gavin Roux), That Darn Cat (Mark Norton), Sunrise (Luther Zitzke), Lady B (Garth Roux) and Sea Dawg (Andy Chick).
Day one kicked off with the beach launch of the boats supervised and assisted by the capable launch team, who took three hours to recover some colour after launching and retrieving boats in 15-degree water temperature. Conditions were generally good except for the water temperature, which contributed to reduced catches and quite a bit of scratching around.
Special mention on day one goes to boat Fugly (skipper Gavin Roux) with 147.3 points, which included a Cob of 5.58 kg, a Black Steenbras of 5.12 kg, and a Copper of 5.58 kg in their catch bag. Day two and three kicked off under similar conditions. The water temperature again played a big factor with the lowest recording at 14.2 degrees. Nonetheless, the skippers showed their metal and after some hard angling, a good mix of species and some nice individual catches were recorded. Special mention on day two went to boat That Darn Cat (skipper Mark Norton) with 71.91 points including a Stump of 6.13 kg, a Stump of 4.42 kg and 2.52 kg. Special mention on day three goes to boat Fugly (skipper Gavin Roux) with 221.35 points including a Cob of 6.7 kg, a Con of 4.66 kg and a Stump of 2.8 kg. Well done again to the organisers, skippers, launch team and the participants for a great event! For more information, visit www.sadsaa.co.za
