9 Hour Race at Henley Midmar Yacht Club, South Africa

by Sophie Thompson 9 Mar 16:53 GMT 7 March 2026

Nearly 50 colourful craft took to the water to compete in this year's Henley Midmar Yacht Club's 9 Hour Race.

In the junior category, Shalin Naidoo (16) and McKayla Marx (14) claimed top honours in the 6 Hour Classic Fleet. Sharing the responsibility of helming an ILCA 4, this was the first time the two had teamed up.

Manor Gardens resident, Naidoo, a Grade 10 pupil at Durban High School shared, 'Racing at Midmar was good. We placed first in our division which I am chuffed with. The first 2 hours was fantastic as the wind was much lighter. We completed as many laps as we could which I think was 12 -13 laps, then as the wind got heavier and we couldn't manage, we called it day.'

Stepping it up a gear, Shelby Steenkamp (17), a Grade 11 student at Hoërskool Richards Bay, launched at Midmar Dam for the first time in her first 6 Hour. The adventurous young lady was crowned champion in the 6 Hour Endurance race, a 6 hour non-stop sail around the dam. Sailing on her ILCA 4, the delighted and determined Zululand sailor stated, 'This weekend was honestly so fun, even though it was challenging - in the end it was worth it! Successfully competing in the 6 hour makes you think: 'If I'm able to do this. I can do anything I put my mind to! "

In the main event, the title was awarded to the three Pretorious children. Joshua, Taylor and Caillee, all 16 years old from Gillitts raised the trophy as the overall handicap winners in the 9 Hour Classic Fleet. Competing against 22 other entries, the trio had an outstanding day on the water racing on their small little Dabchick. The siblings are having an outstanding year sailing at Midmar, having finished first, second and third at the recent Grand Slam event.

Finishing third in the Classic Fleet, Myles White competing in his eighth 9 Hour event. Sharing the duties with his long-time crew member, Estelle Buys on Whites magnificent Flying Fifteen, the team shared the sailing duties with father and son team, Jerome and Connor McLouglin.

White commented, 'The wind started very light, but by lap 2 it was ideal around 12 knots. Toward midday it went to high teens / low twenties but moderated again to mid-teens. Nearing the cut off time, between 4 and 5pm the breeze started going light again. They stopped the race about an hour early because of mist closing onto the dam. But it was a really magical day's sailing!'

For the hard-core sailors, 16 boats tackled the 9 Hour Endurance where they competed with no crew change overs. A name to watch out for, up-and-coming sailor, Kai Law finished on the top step of the podium. Law who usually sails in the ocean, read the dam conditions perfectly in his Optimist.

Finishing in second place on handicap, no strangers to the 9 Hour, Highway's Anthony Mc Millan and Luke Wagner sailing on their Hobie Tiger had an epic race where they registered a top speed of 20 knots and earned line honours. Mc Millan expressed, 'It was a great event. Midmar did us proud. We had some good strong breeze for some five or six hours of the day. Definitely some very scary reaches with it blowing 20 knots or so, with a pretty hectic cross chop which made it quite entertaining and some good white-knuckle sailing. It was a good fleet, good morale across the club and very well organised event. Luke and I thoroughly enjoyed it, we got a bit tired towards the end but very happy that we gave it horns.'

Commodore for Henley Midmar, Paul Cooke explained, 'Our Race Officer, Tony Allison did a fantastic job of setting a challenging race track. The course comprised a series of marks inside the sailing area of the dam in an anti clockwise direction. With the wind switching round to the south east, bringing in light rain, mist and cold conditions with fading light in the early evening, Tony decided to shorten the race to 8 hours, given the prevailing weather conditions.'

Continuing, Cooke concluded, 'Our waters welcomed young and old, new and familiar. We are delighted at what a success the event was. The youngest competitor was Mia Strydom-Wallis, only 12-years old and sailed in her Opi on the Juniors course finishing fourth overall. And our oldest competitor was Peter Goble. He is 80-years and sailed on a micro-mini.'

6 Hour Classic Fleet:

1 Shalin Naidoo / McKayla Marx (ILCA 4)

6 Hour Endurance:

1 Shelby Steenkamp (ILCA 4)
2 Ruban Holtzhuizen (ILCA 4)
3 Ethan Kruger (Optimist)
4 Mia Strydom Wallis (Optimist)
5 Benjamin Bloem (ILCA 4)

9 Hour Classic Fleet:

1 Joshua Pretorious / Taylor Pretorious / Cailee Pretorious (Dabchick)
2 Warwick Despy / CJ Despy / Matt Despy / Andrew Dolloway (Soling)
3 Myles White / Estelle Buys / Jerome McLouglin / Connor McLoughlin (Flying Fifteen)
4 Thomas Funke / Gust Funke / Kai Funke / Nadia Funke (Hunter 18)
5 Ross McArthur / Antoinette McArthur (Theta 26)

9 Hour Endurance:

1 Kai Law (Optimist)
2 Anthony Mc Millan / Luke Wagner (Hobie Tiger)
3 Murray May / Kime Brits (Hobie Tiger)
4 Nick Smart / Alison Grunewald / Steve Proudfoot / Janine Proudfoot (Jazz 25)
5 Daniella Cantarelli (Weta)