General

Dave Shilton was invited to join a group of Finn sailors in a 2-week ‘Emerging Nations’ Programme before the 2018 Finn Gold Cup in Denmark. He received intense coaching and support both before and during the Gold Cup. The programme proved a great success for Shilton as he was 5th in the first race of the regatta against the best in the world. His final position was a credible 56th out of 90 boats. Shilton’s dream was to come back …

Mirror Sailing from Start to Finish by Peter Aitken & Tim Davison This book tells you everything you need to know about sailing the bermuda and gaff-rigged Mirror. Packed with practical advice and illustrated with step-by-step photographs, it teaches you how to sail the UK’s most iconic and best-loved dinghy – there are over 70,000 of them. Learn all the essentials, from sailing theory and rigging to faster upwind and downwind sailing and the fundamentals of racing. Whatever your standard …

The Yanmar partnership was announced at the America’s Cup Overture in Cowes (UK), the first event on the road to the America’s Cup Presented by Prada which will take place in Auckland in 2021. Racing will commence in autumn 2019 when the first America’s Cup World Series events will take place in the Mediterranean. Over the next twelve months the best teams, from the most prestigious yacht clubs, will be designing and building their AC75 yachts in preparation for the …

It’s a pretty safe bet to say that Blaine Dodds has to be South Africa’s top Hobie sailor as he has such an impressive local and international record in these cats. His latest victory is another international title to add to the long list he already has. He recently competed in the Sylt Regatta in Germany, an exclusive regatta, where only teams of the worlds best Hobie 16 sailors compete – and he won it in fine style too, sailing …

SAILING has a massive library of books for sale – with the oldest dating way back to 1863 (yes, 1863!) – covering almost every single conceivable subject on the sport from anchoring to yarns. Authors include Bernard Moitessier; Uffa Fox, Sir Francis Chichester; Erick Hiscock and many, many more. If you are interested in buying some books, please send an email to: sailing@iafrica.com – and you will be sent the full list as an Excel file.

Liesl Nel, Sales & Marketing Manager – South Africa for Sunsail; The Moorings and Le Boat Marine Divisions has announce the launch of the NEW Sunsail South Africa website @ www.sunsail.co.za Sunsail Sailing Holidays continue to offer the best bareboat, skippered and flotilla holidays in Croatia, Greece, Spain, the Seychelles, Thailand and the Caribbean. Our holidays are about seeing the world from a different perspective, discovering unspoilt spots only reachable by water. It is now easier than ever to book …

By Richard Crockett Now here is some serious history on this magnificent two-man spinnaker trapeze dinghy from an A5 ring bound booklet in the SAILING Publications archives. Read the pages selected from the booklet HERE:  Flying Dutchman booklet South Africa had a strong association with the class back then as in the list of Founders of the IFDCO (International Flying Dutchman Class Association) the names of two prominent South African sailors – Jack Koper and Dr. Ken Warr. Don Ord was …

The month in which the Lipton Cup is sailed always highlights some interesting characters and even more important, some incredible performances. It’s hardly surprising then that Roger Hudson is the one to be singled out as he skippered the RCYC team to a Lipton victory on ‘foreign’ waters by winning 4 of the 5 races. While this was an emphatic win, it simply does not tell the whole story. Hudson is the kind of sailor who takes nothing at face …

At a presentation in Canada, South Africa’s Le Boat office received the award for the best growth in the world, beating the USA, Australia, Canada, Germany, France and the rest of Europe. This was the fourth time in five years that South Africa posted the best growth for all international Le Boat offices. The number of South Africans booking international canal boat and yachting holidays increased by 35% the past year. At the same event, the head of Le Boat …

Well with an amazing Nationals behind us we look forward to some great Vaal sailing! The J22 Nationals, sailed from PYC as part of MSC, was a great success! As always our fleet of 19 Js out shone all other classes. The first day of racing was blown out, but going forward the wind and weather could not have been better, providing highly competitive racing with the top boats being within 1 point of each other, making it so tight …

‘AL’ formerly known as ‘AL Mount Gay Rum’, has a formidable race pedigree in this country, including back-to-back victories in the tough Vasco da Gama Ocean race. She will do her new owner proud on the race course as she is fully equipped to race, or can simply be a comfortable cruiser – depending on the wish of the owner. Immaculately and professional maintained. ‘AL’ has a huge inventory as detailed below, and is sold with her mooring at the …

Sailing in the TP 52 Super Series during June in Croatia, Tina Plattner and her crew, with a generous number of South Africans aboard, scored a number of ‘firsts’ which have tipped the scales in her favour to win this award for the second time this year. It is rare that anyone gets to win the “Sailor of the Month’ title twice in one year, yet Tina Plattner has done just that, and added another ‘first’ to the following achievements …

Book Review. SAIL & Rig. The Tuning Guide. By Magne Klann & Øyvind Bordal Published by Fernihurst Books Info & Orders HERE This book is ultimately the complete guide to sail trim and rigging to make the boat sail faster and safer. With hundreds of colour photographs and illustrations throughout, the text is concise and precise, divided into sections to make it easy to find exactly what you need. Research was carried out with professional riggers, sailmakers and elite sailors …

Book Review. Multihull Seamanship by Gavin Le Sueur Published by Fernhurst Books Orders & Enquiries HERE This book has been one of the most popular books SAILING Books has ever had as multihull sailors are starved of good info on this aspect of their boats and the sport. This new volume has been updated and republished in a completely different format – now a smaller more user-friendly sized book. The sub-title is an A-Z of Skills for Catamarans & Trimarans. …

British marine diesel innovator, Cox Powertrain, has announced Seascape Marine Services (Pty) Ltd as its exclusive distributor for South Africa & the Sub Saharan region. Seascape Marine is the first distributor of Cox’s game-changing CXO300, the world’s first 300hp diesel outboard engine, to be named outside of Europe, the USA & Australasia as Cox finalises its global distributor network ahead of the engine’s launch later this year. As a specialist importer of marine propulsion systems since 1983, Seascape Marine has …