Sailing Magazine
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 Cowes.
“All results went out stating the name of the owner, or charterer, of each boat, and not the name of the skipper. This is where the confusion arose. Most South Africans interested in our team were expecting to hear the names of Meek, Savage and King, but instead kept getting fed with names such as David Horwitz, Ellian Perch and Rick Garratt.
“This was a major departure from the way we disseminate keelboat race results in this country. It is certainly a different and fresh approach, and one which has many merits. In this country owners are often completely ignored and never get the recognition they deserve. Not all boat owners are capable of, or even want to, skipper their own boats in competitions, and are quite happy to have “jockeys” do this for them. I don’t believe that anyone should question their motives if this is how they want to compete in our sport, as it certainly opens doors and creates opportunities for the “jockeys” and crew.
“David Horwitz, Ellian Perch and Rick Garratt were the unsung heroes of our Admiral’s Cup team, and thoroughly deserved the exposure they received. Without them and their boats, our country would certainly not have been competing in this year’s Admiral’s Cup.
“It could be argued that the reason this country has few captains of commerce and industry involved in our sport, is due to the fact that owners rarely get a mention when their boats compete in major events?
“In this issue we publish a letter from a reader who ultimately questions the need and desirability of owners, such as the ones who provided the boats for our Admiral’s Cup team, to even be aboard, as in the writers own words he says “that the owners are on board for their money, not their yachting skills”. As already stated, without these guys we would not have been at the Admiral’s Cup, and really, who are we to question how anyone spends his money and who he chooses to sail with.
“Our sport and industry needs more people like David Horwitz, Ellian Perch and Rick Garratt. I just hope that their experiences at the Admiral’s Cup were good ones, and that they choose to continue in our sport at that level, and even persuade their friends and business associates that sailing is a sport in which they should become involved.”
The above still applies today.
The competing crew were as follows:
ILC 46 ‘Kwalu’ & ‘Sansui Challenger’
Geoff Meek – Skipper
Harvey Davis (USA)
Barry de Kock
Dave Foard
Neil Graham (USA)
Tom Hill Snr. (USA)
Tom Hill Jnr. (USA)
David Horwitz (Charterer)
Martin Lambrecht
Peter Morton (USA)
Rob Sharp
Anthony Spillebeen
Hanno Teuteberg
Etienne van Cuyck
ILC 40 ‘Orion Express’ & ‘Sansui Express’
Bruce Savage – Skipper
Howard Edwards – Skipper
Ellian Perch – Owner
Greg Davis
Dean Gafney
Andy Mitchell
Pete Shaw
Gary Sindler
Graham Stoner
Mumm 36 ‘Ballyhoo Too’ & ‘Sansui Sprinter’
Chris King – Skipper
Rick Garratt – Owner
George Amoils
Gary Farrow
Chris Hathaway
Gary Holliday
Rick Nankin
Craig Sutherland
David Abromowitz -Team Manager
Keith Bellamy – Team Skipper
READ THE SAILING MAG REPORT HERE: 1995 09 – SAILING Magazine – OCR 2
READ THE SA YACHTING MAG REPORT HERE: 1995 09 – SA Yachting – OCR
