It is with a heavy heart that the Coetzee/Opperman Clan have decided to remove this wonderful event from the Sailing Calendar for this year, and for the foreseeable future.

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We have spent the last 6 weeks packing up the family business in Jhb that John spent 30+ years building into a thriving, reputable enterprise. The scaled down version will now be operating from the Vaal.

It's been a rough 6 weeks, retrenching long service employees, packing up John's desk which has remained untouched for the past 6 years, going through his personal keepsakes and all his trophies and awards. We were reminded time and time again what a remarkable man he was.

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Our emotional tanks are empty, they passed reserve a few weeks back already. To go forward with this year's event (2023) from the place that we are in at the moment, would be a great disservice to everybody involved.

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We would like to express our deepest gratitude to all of you who have supported us and made this event what it is. You have helped us come mostly to terms with a loss so enormous, that it's impact is still being felt today. Now we need to put our Big Broekies on and do the last last bit of healing on our own.

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LDYC will be doing a charity fundraising event with our beneficiary Wide Horizon Hospice in the near future, and we encourage all Clubs to do the same. Pieter and his team do incredible work in our Vaal community, and such is the nature of life, that we may all need their services one day.

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We will be collecting the trophies, and will donate the 4 x bronze ones to PNYC, LDYC, DAC and VCA respectively to use as they see fit. We will keep the silver trophy as a memento for the time being.

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It's been an honor.

With love and thanks.