Sailing Magazine
A Blast from the Past
On this page are pics and images from our archives that we think may be of interest to readers, as they may have made it into the pages of either SAILING or SA Yachting magazines. We invite readers’ comments, information about the pics and even clarification on information we may have regarding the pics, the people and the boats featured.
All comments and contributions to: editor@sailing.co.za
“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. The NSRI – From Humble Beginnings
by Richard Crockett As seafaring people we all know the NSRI and what they do, yet how many today know that they started in a very low key manner and have expanded exponentially to be the formidable organisation they are today, doing excellent rescue work all along our Eastern, Southern and Western sea borders. I …
“Talking Sailing” from my archives. The Agulhas Current
by Richard Crockett Ever since doing my very first Vasco da Gama ocean race from Durban to East London in 1977 I have been fascinated by the Agulhas Current. And having competed in the 1984 Vasco da Gama Race, I have experienced it at its most angry too! The random nature of the current, it’s …
“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. Humiliation Does Not Build Teams
by Richard Crockett Remember “Camp Staaldraad”? It’s probably best forgotten as it was not the Springbok rugby teams finest hour, yet sailing, and specifically team building aboard yachts brought some perspective to the subject. Chris Bonnet pioneered corporate team building aboard yachts, and ran that aspect of his business along sailtraining. A newspaper feature article …
“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. Chess Match At Sea, 7000 Miles of Moves
By Richard Crockett I have always enjoyed following the Whitbread Round the World race, and later the Volvo Ocean Race, for no other reason than each event was enthralling, tough and relentlessly sailed by top-flight crew who always pushed barriers. This 1995 report from the New York Times makes good reading, and not just because …
“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. Solo Sailor Sails Away
By Richard Crockett It was 31 years ago today that Ant Steward and his trusty steed ‘NCS Challenger’ were lowered over the side of an MSC vessel off Cerf Island, in the Seychelles archipelago. Having been wrecked on the island, his vessel was salvaged and returned to Durban where it was repaired and put back …
“Talking Sailing” from my archives. The Buccaneer Class
by Richard Crockett To a large degree the Buccaneer is a scaled down version of the Royal Cape One Design, with the Van der Stadt designed Buccaneer arriving in this country in the mid-sixties although it was then known as the Primaat. Yachting World magazine adopted the Primaat design and renamed it the Buccaneer. Interestingly …
“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. Some Old America’s Cup Boats in Photos
By Richard Crockett As I recently scanned some fascinating old photos of America’s Cup yachts, I knew that I needed to share them. The featured image featured ‘Endeavour II’ caught my eye for several reasons, one being the lengthy caption which reads as follows, and which was dated 1958: The ‘Sceptre’, the 70 000 Pound …
“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. 1995 Admiral’s Cup
By Richard Crockett I feel that the best way to comment on this event, which was 28 years ago now, is to reproduce verbatim the Log Entry I wrote in SAILING Magazine at the time as it’s still relevant. “An interesting situation arose with the dissemination of results during the recent Admiral’s Cup regatta off …
“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. 1975 Admiral’s Cup
By Richard Crockett It appears from editorials that the SA Teams were all far better organised this time round, probably being the third consecutive time that the country had competed in the event. However there do appear to have been some cracks which were quickly plastered over thanks to sponsorship. South Africa did not have …
“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. Admiral’s Cup 1973
by Richard Crockett Today we continue with the Admiral’s Cup thread by covering the 1973 event where our South African team finished 12th out of 16 teams. The yachts used were Hans Berker’s ‘Omuramba’, ‘Jakaranda’ skippered by Bobby Bongers, and ‘Outburst’ skippered by Bill O’Reilly. The team were as follows: 1973 TEAM MANAGER: Pim Penso …
“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. SA 1971 Admiral’s Cup Teams
By Richard Crockett I do enjoy capturing some real gems when scanning and digitising old archive material as I come across some treasures like the four Admiral’s Cup competitions South African teams competed in. Today I will concentrate on the 1971 team, but sadly do not have a full team list available, so followers of …
“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. Innovative Space-age Yacht From Glanville
By Richard Crockett While scanning and archiving recently I stumbled across a series of photos ‘Datsun Skyline’ – a yacht being built by Richard Glanville for the 1982 – 83 BOC Race. She was dubbed as “innovative and space-age” and was to be skippered by Greg ‘Maori’ Coles, a New Zealander, despite being built in …
“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. More Photos to Feast the Eyes on
By Richard Crockett As promised, another selection of photos that have not been seen before. This is purely a random selection of images I have recently scanned so include dinghies and keelboats. Please COMMENT, SHARE and LIKE.
“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. Another L26 Photo Bomb From Yesteryear
by Richard Crockett Maybe this should be “Seeing Sailing” rather than “Talking Sailing” as there is another batch of pics from yesteryear to share! And here’s a promise, there will be no L26s tomorrow as I have unearthed more gems from the old days. Please remember to COMMENT, SHARE and LIKE as these images have …
“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. A Photo Bomb Today
by Richard Crockett I have spent an inordinate amount of time recently scanning a box full of slides. It’s something I have been meaning to do for several years, and once I put my head down and got into the task, I uncovered some real gems – most of which have never been seen by …
June 2017 issue
by Richard Crockett
I always enjoy browsing through the SAILING Mag archives and looking at the pics of yesteryear as some bring back memories. This month a file named ‘Dragons’ caught my eye as I know they are a popular class in the UK, and knew of one here in Durban. And then close to that file was one marked ‘Enterprise’ – and having sailed one, and restored one, I though it was worth a look especially as one hardly hears about this classic class any longer, despite some top names having owned them.
Pic 1. The caption to this reads: One of South Africa’s two Dragons: **Galatea sailed by Guy Reynolds in Durban. At the next Olympics South Africa hopes to be represented in this class fro the first time.
Now this pic is undated, so can anyone give an indication of that, and the name and home club of the second Dragon in the country?
Pic 2. This is an old pic, dated 1955 – so it was taken over 60 years ago. It was taken during the 1955 Cowes Regatta. The caption says: HRH The Duke of Edinburgh (right) pulls in the genoa as his yacht **Bluebottle rounds the Old Castle Buoy. Uffa Fox can be seen in front of The Duke.
Chris Talbot has advised me that this is Trio was owned by Leo Caney. He also said that he was a bailer-boy on Trio in his youth and had to keep his head below deck at all times to keep windage to a minimum. Plus, it appears that Caney had an uncanny knack of running into Enterprises and dismasting them. His crew threatened to notch the tiller for every hit!
Pic 3. A fleet of Enterprise dinghies in close contest. The caption reads: Adam French, the new Highveld champion, being closely followed by Carlo Brovelli and Maurice Hare.
Does anyone know if Adam French still sails?
Pic 4. The Enterprise was always a tough old boat to sail in a breeze. This pic, taken in 1975 at the Enterprise Highveld Champs on Florida Lake, has this caption: Brian Downham and crew hanging out well in their Enterprise whilst sailing through a gust at Florida Lake.
Brian Downham was a dab-hand in most classes he sailed.
Responses to Previous Issues
Johan Van Rooyen
April 2017 issue pic 1 pg 28
L- R are Suzette Anderson, then Kate Steward. I am not sure who the third person is. I believe it was when they sailed **Fouchini Girl in the Cape to Rio Race.
Rob Martin
April 2017 issue pg 28
Regarding the Sprog pics, the 1969 Champion at Allemanskraal Dam was John Mackay on ‘Stagalee’. I was his crew.
‘Stagalee’ was the first Sprog with Highfield levers and an adjustment at the foot of the mast including a cunningham cringle at the Jib. It was first owned by Bryan Metcalf and then purchased by the Mackay’s.
John and his brother Daniel won the Graduate National Championship in Lourenco Marques in the early Sixties. I think he was then twelve or fourteen years old. After that he competed in ‘Stagalee’.
He is the brother-in–law of the Tarboton family who sail at Midmar.
John Mackay’s swansong was the Saint Helena Race where he crewed for John Levine on a Stadt34 – the average age of the crew was in the middle sixty’s – and the old buggers showed the way!
