Sailing Magazine
Lord Laidlaw puts a remarkable amount into sailing in South Africa. He sponsors events, flies in world class race officers to run them and has South Africans on his yachts when he races internationally.
Now he has underwritten the new Cape 31. The yacht not only looks sensational, it had also achieved 8 orders within just weeks of launch, proving the pent-up demand for a modern, relatively affordable racing yacht in RSA. Moreover, with the team he has assembled, it has the pedigree to be able to get orders internationally. That not only gives a welcome boost to our yachting economy, it also boosts South Africa’s credibility on a global stage.
Apart from being a huge supporter of local sailing, Laidlaw is also a pretty handy sailor in his own right. He steers his own boats (Cape Fling in South Africa, Highland Fling elsewhere) and he’s started off 2017 by winning both the Fling and Mykonos regattas in Cape Town. His international racing programme is extensive this year, and we wish him the best of luck for it.
