Historical

by Richard Crockett To read the full reports, click on the LINK following the headline. Today, 52 years ago, was a significant day in my life as I was taken to watch the ‘Sandefjord’ movie as part of my 12th birthday celebrations. The rest is history as it was not long after this that I took up sailing. I kept in touch with Barry Cullen over many years, and still, on occasions, watch the movie. Bertie Reed sailed into Cape …

by Richard Crockett To read the full reports, click on the LINK following the headline. There’s not much news today from the 5000 or more individual newspaper cuttings I have so far archived. But there’s lot’s more to come, so it’s simply a case of being patient. There was talk of an exclusive club for solo sailors, and another bitter blow for Alan Bond or Australia’s America’s Cup fame. Even more disturbing is the fact that a newspaper headline said …

by Richard Crockett To read the full reports, click on the LINK following the headline. Round-the-World cruising yachtsmen are again in the news, while we continue to follow the saga of the missing ‘Carina”. A Cape Times editorial picks up on the concern of BOC Challenge yachtsmen of the oceanic “desert” encountered during their passage to Cape Town. And that man David Abromowitz is in the news again flanked by two beautiful ladies – he’s promoting the Cape to Rio …

by Richard Crockett To read the full reports, click on the LINK following the headline. We continue with a few stories from yesterday. The first being more info on the missing yacht ‘Carina’. The other being a headline that no Durban yachtie would have liked to see, that being: “Council told: Leave Durban Bay Alone”. The America’s Cup is back in the news, well in 1985 anyway, with announcements of challengers for the 1987 series. In his heyday John Martin …

1967 10 25 c 1967 10 25 c. 1967 10 25 1990 10 25 393 1993 10 25 204by Richard Crockett To read the full reports, click on the LINK following the headline. Today is pretty low-key, but important in that a City of Durban proposal to reclaim land from Durban Bay for the Royal Natal Yacht Club was significant – yet 52 years later absolutely NOTHING along these lines has materialised! And Durban sailing has suffered as a consequence. …

by Richard Crockett To read the full reports, click on the LINK following the headline. At this time of the year, every year, round-the-world cruisers start turning up at our ports, all with wonderful stories to tell and share with the landlubbers. Today in 1967 was no different! Plus there is a report on an overdue ketch sailing between Lourenco Marques and Durban. A report in the Cape Times talks about the “460-mile Agulhas race this year”, in what appears …

by Richard Crockett To read the full reports, click on the LINK following the headline. Robin Lee Graham continues to be in the news, and so he should too. And also taking up lots of news space is the Rio Race – with 1969 news of fund-raising for a Durban entry, and news in 1992 of new yachts being launched for the Rio Race. French sailor Alain Gautier took line honours into Cape Town on the BOC Challenge. There’s Hobie …

by Richard Crockett To read the full reports, click on the LINK following the headline. Despite news of Robin Lee Graham docking in Durban, the reports today are heavily Royal Cape Yacht Club and Cape biassed, which is understandable as towards the year end the club tends to become exceptionally active. However a lone report in the Cape Times simply states: “Strong Natal Challenge”. That man Ant Steward is also in the news again. 1967. There’s a pic of Robin …

by Richard Crockett To read the full reports, click on the LINK following the headline. Having missed out two days due to a busy weekend, there is some extra reading today in order to catch up. Way back in 1967 round-the -world cruisers were a rare and hardy bunch who were news wherever they went as their pioneering spirit caught the attention of news hacks and of course a broad cross-spectrum of readers who found their stories compelling reading. So …

by Richard Crockett Today is almost all about how tough it is going to sea in terms of disasters and near disasters, especially to ‘Voortrekker’ as the headline shouted: “Cracks Could Have Spelt Disaster For Bruce”. Another report raises the thorny issue of bureaucracy in our sport – something I detest. Bertie was due into Cape Town this time 33 years ago on the first leg of the BOC Challenge. Another headline said: “sailors bring fever to Cape”. And while …

by Richard Crockett Today my news spans the period from 1967 to 1991, and includes news of ‘Cariad I’, the fact that Rio race fever had hit Durban and that Dennis Conner handed the Kiwis their first challenge defeat. Then it’s a skip to 1991 with the news that the America’s Cup fleet was heading for Sydney, but not for the America’s Cup. 1969. ‘Cariad Ready for Sea in 18 Months’. One of the world’s historically famous yachts, ‘Cariad I’, …

by Richard Crockett I continue to be amazed at how much coverage the daily newspaper gave our sport “back in the day”. Today the excuse is always “there’s not enough space” – which is probably true as graft, corruption, murder, rape and opinion pieces fill our daily papers. Sad, but true. More positively though we start with a humorous editorial from “the idler’s column” of the Mercury in 1969 when John Vigor wrote that piece. Today Vigor is a well …

by Richard Crockett Yesterday I ran the cutting from 1989 entitled “Norwegian Freighter Saves Irish Yachtsman”. Well blow me down when Jeremy Bagshaw of Cape Point Rigging in Simonstown contacted me to say that he had passed the cutting on to Pat Lawless who intends doing the next Golden Globe Race to see if there was any connection. Well there is, as the Pat Lawless mentioned in the article is his father. Pat (junior) was thrilled to receiving the cutting …

by Richard Crockett Today we go way back to 1969 at a time when the proposed first Cape to Rio Race was being setup, and interest was being shown far and wide, with the RNYC announcing a new build. We then jump to 20 years later when an Irish sailor was rescued in the South Atlantic. Remember ‘Get More Fun’? Well she was sold by her Durban owner to Tuna Marine. And Bertie Reed took 42 days aboard Grinaker to …

by Richard Crockett Singlehanded sailing has become something of a ‘norm’ in the sport of ocean sailing today, but it took guts and sheer determination from the pioneers of this type of sailing to achieve their goals in the ‘60s. Today in 1967, the Daily news reported that Alec Rose was 260nm south of Cape Town. Fireball sailors of yore, especially those in KZN, will remember the well-known dinghy builder G E de Bruin who made top-class plywood Fireballs. We …