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By Richard Crockett Always known to be a tough race, this was one of the tougher ones as it was a beat all the way from start to finish! But a special mention of Siggie Eicholz and his crew who beat all the way from East London to the start, arriving mere hours before the start, then turning round and beating all the way back again! That’s over 500nm of beating! How many yachties today would do that? Today I …

by Richard Crockett With the 2024 Vasco da Gama Race due to start later this week, the time is opportune to bring back the past and share some history on the race. This is mainly due to there being a dearth of info on this year’s race. The 1981 race was part of the South African Games, with winners receiving SA Games medals as well as the normal race prizes. The gold medals I am told had a goodly amount …

by Richard Crockett A total of 72 yachts competed in the 10th anniversary Double Cape Race, yet it was a cruiser which pushed the hoy-shots off the top step of the podium. Winning is such a sweet pleasure for the best of the hot-shot “yotties” but when you are basically into cruising and nobody from your yacht club has ever won a Double Cape race in its 10 year history … and you actually WIN … well, its just a …

by Richard Crockett There appears to be a lot of interest in this race, so I am happy to share more again today, that year being the 9th race. 54 yachts competed in this race, the fleet spread across four different start/finish lines – which is the very essence of the Double Cape Race. The wind was generally light, yet just 34 boats finished. The Farr 38 ‘Sinderella II’ took line honours while Kalahari, a Dix designed Shearwater, won the …

By Richard Crockett Continuing yesterday’s thread on the Double-Cape race, I will share the story of the 1988 race today. It was a light wind race with lots of “holes” in places and many tales of woe from those who were caught in the windless patches. Some persevered while others succumbed to the iron topsail and retired. With ‘Assegai’ having a lead of some three hours on handicap at one point, her endless battle of being becalmed saw ‘Gwaap’ become …

by Richard Crockett As another Double-Cape race finished over the weekend, it’s appropriate to recall some history of this great race. Sadly today the race is a shadow of it’s former format as it takes in just two of the rounding marks, and not the four from days of yore. In those days there were rounding marks in Cape Town, Hout Bay, Simons Bay and Gordon’s Bay. While bemoaning this fact, I am more than happy that the race still …

By Richard Crockett It’s a good time now to wrap up the memories of the 1984 Vasco da Gama storm with a personal account from a competitor. But before that, I would like to pay my respects to the crew of ‘Rubicon’ and their families who were traumatised by their respective losses. Siggie Eicholz had selected a good and competent crew, and I doubt whether it entered anyone’s mind that in the conditions which prevailed, if anyone was to succumb …

By Richard Crockett Today I will share some newspaper reports from the 1984 Vasco da Gama Race, as they offer additional insights into the drama and conditions experienced by crew. It also includes a response from the Sunday Tribune newspaper after both David Cox and Chris Bonnet objected to their reporting. Here are the 10 headlines from the selected newspaper cuttings. (CLICK on the link following the headline to open the report): 2 Children on Missing Yacht:  1984 04 27 …

As a result of a report in the Sunday Tribune talking glibly about “killer waves”, both David Cox and Chris Bonnet separately expressed their views in letters to The Editor. Some content may be a repetition of what has already been published in the past few days, but it does reinforce the severity of the storm, the competence of the competitors and the efforts taken by the organising Club, the Point Yacht Club, to ensure that ALL the facts were …

By Richard Crockett Over the years there have been many discussions around various “Teak Reefs” as to what happened to ‘Sensation’ in the 1984 Vasco da Gama Race. The stories mostly were second, third or fourth hand accounts all embellished as they made the rounds, and some not particularly savoury, possibly even libellous, about crew and even the construction of the boat. I knew her owner, Neil Baily, very well as he was a business partner for some years, plus …

By Richard Crockett Below I have combined several editorials I have written over the years, into a single one attempting to answer the question in the headline. 1984 was a year that every single crew who competed in the Vasco da Gama Race from Durban to East London will remember forever. Hurricane force winds and massive towering seas with breaking crests appeared, unforecast as the sun set on the first night of the race. For all crew it was a …

There are two ‘sharp ends’ to every yacht race. One of these, the cold, tiring, often uncomfortable and sometimes storm-ridden end, is the lot of yachtsmen themselves, to whom the exhilaration and rewards of racing more than make up for the mental and physical strain. The other ‘sharp end’, perhaps stormier than the first, is the lot of the race organisers, the middlemen who stand between the sometimes temperamental yachtsmen on the one hand, and the watchdogs of public safety, …

Some of the Many Questions Asked Post-race – Answered Here Should the Race Have Started? The question has been asked ad infinitum and the answer is definitely yes. Yacht Inspections Every single craft that put to sea was thoroughly inspected prior to the race, not once, but in some cases, four or five times. In Durban, every yacht is inspected before it is launched. Before the yacht is granted permission to proceed to sea, the Durban Offshore Yachting Committee inspects …

by Richard Crockett (aboard ‘Assegai’) Today, 26 April, marks the 40th anniversary of the 1984 Vasco da Gama Race, when the fleet was devastated by big winds and massive seas. For me, all these years later, I feel it’s time to share a reminder that the fateful 1984 race had two starts – one on 25 April at 16h00 for the cruising yachts, with the racing yachts starting the following day, 26 April, 18 hours later at 10h00. Why does …

by Richard Crockett I was very fortunate to compete in the very first Vasco da Gama Race from Durban to East London in 1977. I crewed for Brian Tocknell aboard his Miura ‘Outre Mer’. ”It was my very first major ocean race, having done several races and passages from Durban to Richards Bay and return. As a result I was well aware of what to expect during the race, including having experienced the Agulhas Current and a pretty full range …