Historical

By Richard Crockett It’s not often that one can win a World Championship with a race to spare and not have to sail the final race, but that’s what the British pairing of Ian Pinnel and Daniel Cripps did in the 1994 Fireball Worlds off Durban. Our conditions obviously suited them perfectly as they also knocked the defending champions off the top step of the podium as they languished in seventh spot after six races. READ IT ALL HERE:  1994 …

By Richard Crockett Last week I shared a newspaper report on the 1994 Fireball pre-worlds off Durban, and now follow that report with news on the World Championship. I remember distinctly that most of the international competitors at the event simply loved the Durban offshore sailing waters, and expressed the view that we were incredibly lucky to have such awesome sailing waters. But there is always a day in every championship that simply does not get rave reviews. Here’s what …

by Richard Crockett In my long association with our sport and Durban, it’s interesting looking back to March 1991 when massive marina proposals were unveiled for Durban, and to read what was proposed while also reflecting on why hugely expensive proposals are presented at great cost and then shelved? I have newspaper cutting going back to the 1960’s where the City Council were talking about revamping Durban’s Marina, yet to this day very little has been done. Talk and expensive …

By Richard Crockett Who remembers the heady days when Padda Kuttel and his predominantly local crew took on the world in the Whitbread Round the World Race? This was way back in 1985/86 when his South African built yacht ‘Atlantic Privateer’ took on the world’s best, and came close to causing an upset. On this day in 1986 the Cape Times reported as follows: “Padda Kuttel lost “the battle of the River Plate” yesterday – but only just. “At Punta …

By Richard Crockett Many people don’t appreciate just how far back many of our sailing trophy awards go, and how they have to some degree tracked the major achievements of our sport. The Gordon Burn Wood trophy, a Cruising Association of South Africa (CASA) award, is just one in this category, and was first awarded in 1963. Today the recipients read like a “Who’s Who” of sailing over the ages, with names like Bruce Dalling, Bertie Reed, John Martin and …

By Richard Crockett Seven of the Royal Cape Yacht Club’s crack yachts crossed the start line as the noon gun fired yesterday on the 703 nautical mile haul to Walvis Bay in the Macs Shipping Southern Star race. This was the first race between these two ports, so expectations were high that it may become a regular feature on the sailing calendar, but tough conditions, cold water, currents and fog no doubt curtailed future enthusiasm for the race. However, in …

By Richard Crockett We’ve gybed this morning as I decided to troll through my newspaper cuttings and came across this news report from the Natal Mercury on 10 March 1994. It reports on the final race of the Fireball pre-world champs which took place off Durban, which means that in the next few days I am likely to follow that regatta. Former Fireball world champion Martin Lambrecht, and his crew Steve Golliker, lead the pack of those who needed to …

by Richard Crockett Today’s feature was carefully researched by Graham Spence and written exclusively for SAILING Magazine way back in 1998. His opening words are profound and more true now than they ever were 27 years ago. “Ever heard of a mad Frenchman called Bernard Moitessier? Most older yachties will have, but among the younger sailing generation, maybe not. “Which is a pity because Moitessier was one of the more interesting characters of this century (ED. 20th century) and his …

by Richard Crockett There’s a lot to read today as it was in this regatta in False Bay where Gareth Blanckenberg took the Gold Medal in the Lasers. I am able to share not only the Youth Worlds report, but an evaluation of the South African team, an interview with Blanckenberg, and also the 1998 Youth Nationals on the Vaal Dam, with a bonus being a full page of results from the Ronstan Scoreboard. In a pre-regatta interview Rick Nanking …

By Richard Crockett It’s always tough sharing yacht race tragedies, but one can, and does learn a lot from them, especially when the teaser hidden above the headline said “six die…55 rescued…6 yachts abandoned…88 more retire”. As the 115 yachts left Sydney under bright skies on Boxing Day, no one foresaw the 80 knot winds and 11 metre seas that were to overwhelm half the fleet within 24 hours. The weathermen had warned 24 hours earlier of winds up to …

By Richard Crockett It’s that time of the year again when the annual Mykonos dash from Cape Town to Saldanha Bay starts – on Friday in fact, so here’s an opportunity to share some history from the 1999 race. There was no report in SAILING Mag on the race, other than a cover pic showing a rather blustery start. The report in SA Yachting mag revealed little other than the wind was about 40 knots at the start, and that …

By Richard Crockett Here’s another one of those easy-to-read features, this time written by international sailing scribe Barry Pickthall who was in the land of the long white cloud for the Millennium party, and of course the America’s Cup. It was dubbed the ultimate party: forty of so yachting megalomaniacs who presumably paid for it all, plus 900 friends, crew and wannabe socialites who braved the possibilities of seasickness and salt spray on an overnight ‘race’ from Auckland to Kawau …

by Richard Crockett In about mid-January I wrote about Andrew Tarboton winning the Musto Skiff worlds down under. So it’s a great pleasure to again write about another unsung hero of our dinghy sailing fleets; this time Graeme Willcox who went to Pensacola in the USA and won the Contender Worlds. He of course cut his sailing teeth on the Highveld, and sailing venues around our country. Willcox has always been a front-runner in just about every dinghy class he’s …

By Richard Crockett Frans Loots is a yachtie who always loves a challenge whether it be on the water or in his workshop tackling a tricky boat restoration project. Plus he has a wonderful knack for writing great feature articles too. Today I share his travels to Cape Horn, which is not only a delightful read, but which has several really interesting photos illustrating the area and his time at sea. “In June 2006 Jerry, his wife Anita and I …

By Richard Crockett I venture into new territory today as for the past few months I have been re-organising my photo archives and identifying every image possible. As a result I have tens of thousands of photos sorted by class, boat name, sail number and where possible what event they were taken at. I have personally taken thousands of images at NCS Regattas, Crystic Weeks, Lipton Cups, MSC Weeks, J22 Worlds and Internationals and more – and continue to scan …