News

By Richard Crockett Remember the sports boycott against South Africans in the late ‘70s into the ‘80’s? Padda Kuttel and ‘Xargo III’, plus his crew nearly fell foul of this boycott before the race had even started. The New Zealand High Commission in London lit the fuse which led to the row over a South African entry in the 1981 Whitebread Round the World yacht race. The New Zealand Commission The commission drew the attention of Britain’s Minister of Sport …

By Richard Crockett Most yachties will remember competing in at least one Crystic Ocean Challenge/NCS Regatta back in the day? It was a warm regatta where shorts and T-shirts were the order of the day, and where the inlanders and Southern Capies came to warm their frozen bones. The 1990 event took a nasty turn when some injuries and man-overboard incidents occurred after the day started with perfect conditions, but deteriorated very quickly when a strong wind came up from …

by Richard Crockett Back in the day the Mercury newspaper in Durban ran the Idler’s Column daily. This tended to be a humorous look at what was news in the day, and for many it was the first piece they turned to every day. I know that I did. The Idler was for many years John Vigor, an avid Mirror dinghy sailor who sailed aboard Dave Cox’s ‘Diana K’ as navigator in the 1971 Cape to Rio Race. He was …

By Richard Crockett In the first transatlantic radio-telephone interview with Bruce Dalling, the Springbok yachtsman said yesterday that he had been in the lead in the solo race across the Atlantic by an estimated 120 to 240 miles before he was becalmed off Newfoundland. Brian Lello conducted the interview and congratulated Dalling personally. Dalling replied: “Thanks – but I honestly feel as though I’ve come in stone last. I should have crossed the line first. I was confident I had …

By Richard Crockett Bruce Dalling’s fine second place in the OSTAR was mired in controversy when a protest was lodged in his name against the winner Geoffrey Williams and his yacht ‘Sir Thomas Lipton”. Dalling, who sailed ‘Voortrekker’ to second place in the Plymouth-Newport race, said that under no circumstances would he make any protest against the result. He said there was not a single doubt in his mind that the ‘Sir Thomas Lipton’s’ skipper, Geoffrey Williams, had won the …

By Richard Crockett As we have followed the OSTAR fleet across the North Atlantic it became quite clear that this is no ordinary race, but a truly Corinthian one with load of camaraderie and the desire by the men and women competing singlehanded to simply do their very best. Our very own Bruce Dalling, sailing our South African built ketch ‘Voortrekker” very nearly caused a major upset by being first home and beating the favourite. He came within a whisker …

By Richard Crockett The closing days of the OSTAR (Observer Singlehanded Transatlantic Race) were tough ones with the two yachts heading the fleet having it all to play for, so close were they thought to be. Remember the Rand Daily Mail newspaper? Whether you do or don’t, this is how they reported today – 57 years ago. “The transatlantic yacht race is expected to end at Newport, Rhode Island, tomorrow in a desperately close finish between Britain’s ‘Sir Thomas Lipton’ …

By Richard Crockett We are beginning to close in to the finish of Bruce Dalling’s epic dash across the North Atlantic where in the final days he put everything he had in to taking line honours. The Western Morning News in Plymouth said this: “With Cornish hopes pinned on Geoffrey William’s 57ft ketch ‘Sir Thomas Lipton’ in the Single-handed Transatlantic Race, there was a report last night that he is being hotly pursued by South African Bruce Dalling in the …

  By Richard Crockett 41 years ago on this day in 1984 John Martin and ‘Mainstay Voortrekker II’ finished the singlehanded Transatlantic race as second monohull across the finish line after 17 days 22 hours and two minutes on the stormy North Atlantic. Martin was sailing against some of the most sophisticated yachts in modern ocean racing. He proved once again that what South Africans lack in hi-tech, they make up for in grit and determination. His main rival was …

By Richard Crockett The British press have always been great supporters of yacht racing, giving the sport some wonderful coverage as can be seen from The Observer newspaper front page editorial I share today. The OSTAR race is turning into a great battle on the high seas, with no-one, including the race organisers not really knowing where everyone is as radio communications have been very “iffy” Move forward 57 years and today we are able to track fleets in real …

By Richard Crockett The answer to yesterday’s concerns about Joan de Kat is that he was ultimately rescued. On the day that news appears in my daily search I will share that info. But now for something entirely different which caught the sailing world by surprise and enthralled South African lubbers. That’s of course ‘Shosholoza’ and her America’s Cup campaign. This paragraph from a report in the Sunday Independent should stir you, move you and give you goose bumps – …

By Richard Crockett Following the report I shared yesterday, and the robust responses it solicited, it’s as if by magic there is another sea rescue in the waiting. This one though is from 57 years ago in the OSTAR race in which Bruce Dalling was competing aboard ‘Voortrekker’. Joan De Kat, 27, was forced to abandon his self-designed yacht, the 50-ft. ‘Yaksha’. Rough seas had destroyed his rudder and mast and he had abandoned his vessel. In the build-up to …

By Richard Crockett The first day that Abby Sunderland was stranded in the Southern Ocean, Australia’s rescue agency chartered a jet to fly over the area where her emergency beacon was activated. The 11-hour flight cost an estimated AUS$110 000. The second day, after locating her, the agency sent another plane to coordinate her pick-up by ships that were racing towards her damaged and drifting yacht. The Australian military also deployed two Orion aircraft to wait on an Indian Ocean …

By Richard Crockett My apologies for the break in transmission last week, but some miserable sleaze ball hacker was the cause. Thanks to a diligent backup regimen, all is not lost and I’m back on the bus and raring to go again. It’s uncanny that last week I intended to share info about Bruce Dalling battling with coms, as did most of the fleet. The Baldock radio station had hear Dalling but could not get his position as reception was …

By Richard Crockett At just 19 years old, Marvin Sampson, an Electrical Engineering student from Grassy Park, temporarily left his studies for Mauritius where he joined the fleet of Clippers for the 5th leg of the Round the World Yachts to race to Cape Town. He also sailed the next leg to Salvador, Brazil, a distance of 5 800 nautical miles. The City of Cape Town sponsored his participation as they used the race as an opportunity to promote sailing …