Sailing Magazine
by Richard Crockett
In January 2011 I started the “from the archives – a blast from the past” series in SAILING Mag as we had been re-organising our filing system and reference library.
By way of change and providing something fresh and different, I will reproduce them here – so please ENJOY, SHARE and COMMENT.
Please read the original magazine offering at the link provided to see what I could glean from the pics at the time of publication, and then the responses below which came from readers in the months following.
READ IT HERE: 2011 02 – SAILING Magazine – OCR
Pic 1 (505) February 2011 – Responses
Jeremy Bellengre has finally shed some light on the 505 pic, which really stumped most people. “The pic was taken at the PYC beach site during the 1979 505 World Championships. The yachtsmen in the picture carrying the 505 are mostly, if not all, Frenchmen. The July 1979 issue of SA Yachting, page 24, has a group photo of the French contingent and many names can be put to the faces in the pic,” said Bellengre.
Pic 2 (Dabchick) February 2011 issue – Responses
Brian Hallock. The picture shown is the first batch of Dabchicks launched (there was an earlier prototype but it was narrower). I think the pic was taken in 1957 on the hard at Zeekoe Vlei and all the
sailors were from Rondebosch Boys’ High School.
From left to right, the people are: Gerhard Koper, who went on to have a distinguished sailing career in Sprogs (several times National champion in the ‘60s), and Flying Dutchman (’68 Olympic selection and several times FD National champion). He then went on to campaign Hobie 16s.
Keith Boshard sailed a Flying Dutchman with Gerhard for a short while after they both quit Dabchicks, but stopped sailing in the early ‘60s.
John Moss, Rodger Trigg and someone with the surname of Burnell [sp?]. I think he is standing in front of Mike Rutherford’s boat, but did not carry on sailing.
At the end is Chris Koper, Gerhard’s younger brother who went on to sail Andys, Sprogs and Finns. He emigrated to Canada where he continued to sail Finns and then moved to, I think, Hobies. Sadly he passed away several years ago.
Meek, Nankin and Bongers were only just out of nappies when this photo was taken!
In a later e-mail Brian Hallock contributed the following:
As someone who grew up in that era (I got into Dabchicks a year or two after these guys and am still trying to flog a Laser Radial around the course today) I get a buzz out of seeing these old photos.
Some facts about the photo that you might find interesting:
The boats were all built by the boys themselves using hand tools (power drills were pretty scarce in those days). A number of the boys had the advantage of taking woodwork or metalwork as a subject at Rondebosch.
The fittings were made of 1/8 aluminum scrap bought from shopfitters. Stainless steel was too difficult to cut and drill. The stays were made from fencing wire.
The sails were balloon cloth. The Kopers used to cut the panels, one’s Mother then stitched them up and sewed the bolt rope on. Cringles were fitted in using a ball bearing to flatten the eyelets.
The hulls were varnished. You can see the beautiful sheen on the decks of the nearest two Dabchicks .
Sailing clothes were usually old rugby jerseys and shorts, swimming costumes, old jerseys etc. None of the designer gear, gloves, boots and sunglasses that today’s youngsters have!
Lifejackets were not compulsory and you can see a complete absence of them in the pic.
At that time there was no cheap junior yacht available; some kids used to potter around in pram dinghies but they were slow. The Dabchick opened up and introduced generations of youngsters to sailing.
Top Yachtsmen like the Meek brothers, Rick Nankin, JJ Provoyeur, Stephan Du Toit and others cut their teeth in Dabchicks .
Gerhard Koper was by far the best skipper of that bunch and you would often see him overtaking Sprogs on a reach in strong southeasters
A number of the boys used to live in Pinelands, about 18kms from Zeekoe Vlei. They used to ride to the vlei by bike with their sails and sailing gear in a bag on their backs, and after the day’s sailing ride home again. No doting parents standing by to load the gear into the SUV!
How junior sailing has changed in 54 years!
Gerhard Koper add this: The photo of six Dabchicks attracted my attention as the photographer was my father, Jack Koper, who took the photo to mark the occasion of the launching of four new Dabchicks at Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club in January 1957 increasing the fleet to seven.
The boys from left to right are: Gerhard Koper, Keith Boshard, John Moss, Roger Trigg and Chris Koper.
By the end of 1957 there were 12 Dabckicks and following publication in SA Yachting’s first issue in March 1958, all hell broke loose with requests for plans and construction details. A year later 250 plans had been distributed (cost 10 shillings each!) and a decade later this figure stood at 2,200 sail numbers. The fleet sizes grew steadily over the following years with popularity peaking at the 1981 Dabchick championships at Swart Vlei with 100 entries on the start line!
