News

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 …

After a hard fought and challenging 5,200 nautical miles across the Atlantic, the Clipper Race fleet faced one more hurdle in the last 48 hours as they started to get closer to Punta del Este, Uruguay. The notorious Pampero wind is a meteorological phenomenon commonly found around the lowlands of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. This burst of cold polar air can be violent and picks up very quickly. The Clipper Race fleet experienced this natural force as they raced down …

Bluewater explorer, Randall Reeves, navigated his 45-foot aluminum sloop, ‘Mōli’, under the Golden Gate Bridge and into the record books, becoming the first person to solo-circumnavigate both the American and Antarctic continents in one season, a feat he calls the Figure 8 Voyage. The voyage ended where it began, in San Francisco Bay, marking the successful completion of a feat that covered nearly 40,000 miles since his departure on 30 September 2018, traversing two of the world’s most treacherous passages, …

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 Francis Joyon set off aboard ‘Idec Sport’ yesterday on his attempt at the Mauritius Route record between Port Louis (Brittany) and Port Louis (Mauritius). This is a complicated 8000-mile long solo voyage to the island of Mauritius. Joyon is attempting to smash his own reference time of 26 days, 4 hours and 13 minutes set ten years ago, and which is the first Act of his campaign of record attempts in Asia. Joyon set the reference time …

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 Our two local RSA skippers did not have the best of legs with Nick Leggatt bring in ‘Zhuhai’ in 6th, and David Immelman bring ‘GoToBermuda’ in 10th. So no doubt these two will be scheming ways to bring their trusty steeds in to Cape Town at the top of the fleet. Let’s hope so. ‘Qingdao’ took line honours in convincing style, followed by ‘Visit Sanya, China’ and then ‘Ha Long Bay, Vietnam’ on the 5,195 nautical mile …

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 The Lipton Challenge Cup competition appears to be gaining momentum at a rapid rate with good decisions being made to ensure that the event stays relevant and in keeping with it unofficial title of “an interclub regatta for the top sailors”. Mike Hayton and David Rae led their ‘Nitro’ crew to victory in August this year on Table Bay, and chose Langebaan as their choice of venue to defend the Lipton Cup. So, from 9 – 15 …

by Malcolm Osborne George Lakes Yacht Club hosted its annual Inter Club Regatta at its Island Lake venue over this past weekend. It attracted an entry of 33 boats from Mossel Bay, Knysna, George and a single entry from Cape St Francis. The Mossel Bay sailors were sailing under the new banner of Mossel Bay Sailing Club. The entrants were divided into two fleets, based on Portsmouth ratings – a fleet for the faster boats, with 20, and slower boats …

by Richard Crockett It seems almost futile to have made such a huge effort to take a C31 from Cape Town to Hong Kong for just 6 races, although Ellian Perch knew the odds before he committed himself. Day 2 of this 3 day regatta did not happen due to light winds, and from all accounts 3 races were ‘squeezed into the final third day. With an IRC handicap not really suited to taking on boats about 10-foot longer, there …

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 …