Historical

by Richard Crockett With the Lipton Cup taking place in Saldanha Bay in August, I wondered just how often the event had been sailed in these waters? The answer, thanks to my trusty Lipton Cup spreadsheet, shows that just three events have been there. 1993 was the first, followed by 1994 and 1995. Being on new waters, competition was intense as always – the big difference being that there were some “unknowns” in terms of tactics, so a flyer could …

by Richard Crockett The dates and venue for the Lipton Challenge Cup later this year have been published, with the challenge taking place at Club Mykonos in Langebaan from 16 – 21 August. So there is no time like the present to dig back into the archives and bring some history of the early events. The earliest report I have of the Lipton Cup is from 1958, which was the 13th Challenge, and which was held in Algoa Bay from …

by Richard Crockett The Agulhas Race was always one of those races ocean racing yachties always aspired to compete in as they wanted to pit their skills against some of the best exponents of ocean race, plus the elements. Like the Vasco da Gama Ocean Race, the Agulhas race too is tough, uncompromising and not for the feint-hearted. The 1981 Race report from Yachtsman RSA magazine popped out at me for various reasons, least of all being that there were …

by Richard Crockett The Laser Nationals report last week had “lots of legs” and stirred up an immense amount of interest from old “Japie” Laser sailors who now live in a myriad of different places around the world. So here’s another one, the annual Natal Laser Slalom event which was always good fun for both competitors and spectators alike as there was tons of action both on and off the water. I am surprised that this type of Laser event …

  by Richard Crockett Many months ago it was suggested some old Laser reports should infiltrate my published archives, so yesterday when scanning the 1980 editions of Yachtsman RSA magazine, the 1980 Laser Nationals report surfaced. This report if full of interesting results and names of people long forgotten, especially as 102 boats contested this event. Of particular interest to me was the fact that in the first 6 Nationals, only two people had won the title. Nicky Korving won …

by Richard Crockett To round off this series of “Sprog Logs” is the souvenir edition of the 4th Sprog Glinane Week held at Swartvlei in 1969. A heading which caught my attention was this: Where Have All the Winners Gone? By “Mum” Wyatt It is an interesting, though sad, fact that very few of the past Sprog Champions are still racing in the class, possibly because ambition dictates that successful skippers should get into International classes, especially if they have ideas …

by Richard Crockett I have feared for some time now that the Sprog, as an active class, may well be stone dead as little “Sprogging” appears to take place these days, and attempts by some to revive it have had little success. Sad, as this was once a very proud class of dinghy – locally designed and home built too. Unlike many of my Blogs the one published yesterday did not receive anywhere near the numbers I was expecting, resulting …

by Richard Crockett The result of additional tidying up and general organising of my archives revealed a number of copies of “The Sprog Logs” I was given many years ago for safekeeping. Sadly I cannot remember the name of the person who gave them to me, although I vaguely recall him being from Pietermaritzburg. The earliest copy I have is from March 1956, that’s 65 years ago, yet the opening article penned by Herbert McWilliam is still very pertinant and …

by Richard Crockett Here’s something completely different yet still related to our wonderful sport. Way back in 1987 when this article was written, cycling, mountain biking and just riding a bike to get fit were far from mainstream as they are today, as was going to a gym to keep fit. So when I was asked to supply Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club with a copy of this feature, It was a no-brainer not to use it here. At that time …

by Richard Crockett With the 2021 Vasco da Gama Race to East London done and dusted, and most of the passages home complete, the rigours of sailing along the East Coast of South Africa are well known, and sadly brought home with a thump and a bump and a grind….! ‘Majimoto’, the Farr 38 broke her rudder off Morgan Bay on her homeward passage, in pretty strong south westerly winds. Despite attempting to fashion an emergency rudder and make way, …

by Richard Crockett When one mentions the Hobie Cat name in this country the name Blaine Dodds seems to follow! It’s simply because he has dedicated his life to the Hobie and as a results is “one of the greats” having won more National and Provincial Hobie titles than he can count, as well as several World titles too. Digging around in the archives from 1981, that’s 40 years ago now, I came across the report on the 1981 Hobie …

by Richard Crockett The 50th Vasco da Gama Race starts on Sunday with an eight-boat fleet as two boats have withdrawn. It’s not a big fleet, but ocean races along the Wild Coast no longer attract big numbers. With three Fast 42s competing, this is likely to be where the line honours contender comes from, with the handicap race being pretty much an unknown. The fleet is as follows: Adios – John Tudehope – Fast 42 Chinook – Neville Bransby …

by Richard Crockett On Saturday I posted some Vasco da Gama Race info with a pic of the extremely close finish between ‘Shaya Moya’ and ‘Spirit of Appletiser I’ – just seconds after 265nm of racing. It created a major amount of interest and comment, so there’s no better time than the present to reproduce the report of that race in 1985 as written in SA Yachting magazine. So many of the people depicted in the pics are still around, …

by Richard Crockett It came as an unxpected surprise to me when researching the Vasco da Gama ocean race that this year’s race, which starts on Sunday 16 May, will in fact be the 50th race to be sailed. Ten boats have entered. That’s one huge chunk of sailing history which gives the race serious stature, and makes it the oldest ocean race in this country, in terms of races sailed, by far It’s a race with a rich heritage, …

by Richard Crockett It seems that so much good happened to sailing in South Africa about 40 years ago as several features have recently been published with a 40-year time line. And the L26 is one of those. Yes, it’s hard to believe that 40 years ago the L26 celebrated its 1st birthday. So much has happened since then that the design has peaked at heady heights, now waned, and is destined to be a development training boat for the …