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By Richard Crockett Following on from yesterdays Slocum Centennial, there is more in this part about the man, his yacht and the places he visited. He stopped in Durban and Cape Town where he spoke about celestial navigation, and interestingly how to obtain longitude without an accurate time piece. As a result he was given a free rail pass to tour the country and tell people about celestial navigation. In Pretoria he met President Kruger. The president, who believed the …

by Richard Crockett Here’s one for the history buffs! 127 years ago, in 1895, Captain Joshua Slocum set off on a voyage around the world. His boat, named ‘Spray’ was a 37-foot antique oyster sloop that he rebuilt from a wreck he found propped up in a field near New Bedford, Massachusetts. Never before had any craft circumnavigated the world with a one man crew. This is a famous quote from Slocum: “With all its vicissitudes, I still love a …

By Richard Crockett The headline is misleading as there was no devastation, mayhem nor Mayday calls, but rather a Tornado catamaran setting the Round the Island Race alight on the Vaal Dam. It was Garth Boshoff who took line honours in 1991, setting a new course record time, and also taking the rare double of winning overall on corrected time too. Today’s feature is all about the photos in this 4-page report, plus all the names mentioned in the report …

By Richard Crockett Some random browsing had me stumble upon this report from 1989 when Rob de Vlieg and Nicholas Cloete were announced as “Yachtsman and Junior Yachtsman of the year” respectively. De Vlieg is a man always around boats, initially dinghies where he was always a top Fireball sailor, and who also dominated other dinghy classes too. And, he could never resist a shot aboard a keelboat on inland waters. Nicholas Cloete, being “Junior Yachtsman” was an Optimist sailor …

      by Richard Crockett Here’s a delightful story. Who knew that Albert Einstein enjoyed sailing? I certainly did not until stumbling upon this delightful piece in the January 1989 issue of SA Yachting mag. It reads as Follows: Eric van Ees, scribe for the Flying Dutchman class, is an experienced journalist with a prominent Dutch news agency. ln a neat bit of investigative reporting he has unearthed an amazing piece of information which he submitted with his class …

By Richard Crockett I can clearly remember the build of ‘Thunderchild’ as for some reason it attracted a lot of discussion, all good too. Even today she is a yacht that is regularly mentioned in dispatches – and still races all the major Cape regattas. Maybe she was the talk of town as she was built by her owner Vincent Goldswain and his two sons, and launched just prior to the 1988 Rothmans Week. At 52-foot she was one of …

By Richard Crockett Since the launch of the first Shearwater 39 in November 1987, Dudley Dix’s creation turned heads and stolen admiring glances. She’s still a beauty that will never age, a remarkably fine sailer too, and a design still in demand the world over. Those who watched the Dudley Dix-designed Shearwater 39 under development at Nebe Boats in Cape Town never doubted that from a practical and aesthetic viewpoint this boat was undoubtedly a cruising man’s dream come true. …

By Richard Crockett Back in the day Crystic Week was simply one of those regattas that every serious sailor simply had to do – every year. Durban was warm in July while the rest of the country froze, but more importantly a vast array of different classes were catered for, attracting many of the inland sailors who wanted to test their skills “on the groot dam”! Good sailing, great entertainment and overall a vibe that simply attracted people back year …

Pages from 1985 10 – SA Yachting – 0OCR by Richard Crockett Charles Paice was a prolific writer back in the day, and a really good guy too, who could not help but look back at how the J-Boat sailors of yesterday went about their business. And, he found it difficult not to compare ‘Apple Macintosh’s’ line honours victory in the 1985 race to Uruguay as the boat was brand new and bristling with the latest and greatest sails, fittings …

by Richard Crockett I am always in awe of those who are able to weigh anchor and head seaward on adventures to place few people ever venture. One of these is Bernhard Diebold who took ‘Diel’ to the Antarctic Circle. The 17.4 m .aluminium alloy ketch ‘Diel’, designed, built and owned by Bernhard Diebold, had a successful racing record around the South African coast. She also performed well in the 1982 South Atlantic race. In stead of participating in the …

by Richard Crockett Due to the stormy weather on the South African coast a few days ago, this article may well be timeous and a pertinent reminder, indeed a refresher, on actions one may take when caught in a viscous storm. It was written by Robin Knox-Johnston, so the authors credentials are impeccable. “When the prevailing weather conditions reach the point where it is no longer safe or comfortable to continue sailing, the time has come to heave-to. This means …

                                                  by Richard Crockett Random searches through old magazines in my archives turned up the Holiday 23 yesterday, and today the Formula 1. It’s hard to believe that the Formula 1 has been around for over 50 years now, with boats still sailing and racing in the Gauteng area and on the Vaal Dam. They were …

by Richard Crockett I have decided to change tack having given Bruce Dalling and ‘Voortrekker’ saturation coverage for a long time now. There’s lots more to his story, and indeed that of ‘Voortrekker’ as I still have 9 scrapbooks of his to digitise and archive. So today I decided to share one of the very first sailing tests of the ubiquitous Holiday 23 that became an instant hit the day it was launched, and which today still has a strong …

By Richard Crockett Now here’s a great story which could only happen to someone as recognisable as Bruce Dalling. Tennis player Ray Moore caused a sensation on the centre court when, in the middle of the Cliff Drysdale – John Newcombe singles, he appeared at the court side and sat down next to Bruce Dalling, the transatlantic single-handed yachtsman. As the hairy Moore sat down next to the bearded Dalling the 4,500 crowd burst out into a roar of amusement …

by Richard Crockett Such was the demand from people country-wide to see Bruce Dalling and ‘Voortrekker’ that she was exhibited at the Rand Daily Mail Great Outdoors Show at Milner Park. To prepare and rig ‘Voortrekker’ Navy trainees were taken specially from Cape Town. Amongst them was well known Cape Town sailor Richard “Thirsty” Bertie who went on to become a sought after crewman on top yachts around the world. READ MORE HERE:  1968 10 05a – Star – Bruce …