Sailing Magazine
by Richard Crockett
Mention the name ‘Rothmans Week’ in any yacht club pub and old salts start salivating, reminiscing and calling for copious amounts of “more beer” as they reflect on the past!
It’s simply because Rothmans Week was the pinnacle of sailing in this country at that time, and everyone, no matter what they sailed and where they lived in the country, wanted to compete. It was almost like a ‘who’s who’ of sailing in its day.
Not that the Cape Town Race Week is any different today – other than being a little low key.
Younger salts will today scoff at the type of boats that won Rothmans Week simply because they don’t understand that in their day the Miura was a highly competitive yacht, as was the Petersen 33 and other classes and designs of that ilk.
So to bring back some memories of Rothmans Week, I have selected just a few newspaper cuttings that I have in my archives of the 1988 event.
Enjoy, and feel free to comment too.
