Sailing Magazine
pic by McLagan
By Richard Crockett
Now here is some serious history on this magnificent two-man spinnaker trapeze dinghy from an A5 ring bound booklet in the SAILING Publications archives.
Read the pages selected from the booklet HERE: Flying Dutchman booklet
South Africa had a strong association with the class back then as in the list of Founders of the IFDCO (International Flying Dutchman Class Association) the names of two prominent South African sailors – Jack Koper and Dr. Ken Warr.
Don Ord was a Commodore of the association.
Ian H Benyon was the National Secretary for South Africa.
Also represented from Southern Africa was: Portuguese East Africa and Rhodesia.
The ‘Parts of a Flying Dutchman’ as listed will appear quite archaic in terms of what is available today.
We had 3 builders of FDs in South Africa at that time, being: Bobby Bongers; Thesen & Co; L van Velzen and Fred Nicholls.
Just 7 countries had more registered FDs then than South Africa, so we were most likely to have been considered a powerhouse of the class.
And the final pages show who the members were – and this reads like a who’s who of sailing in the country at the time.
There is much more in this booklet as can be seen from the ‘Contents’ page.
Enquiries from: editor@sailing.co.za
