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 March 2011 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 03 – SAILING Magazine – OCR
Responses to Pic 1
Don Pfotenhauer March 2011 issue page 20.
The ‘mystery man’ is Hal Thesen, son of the late Stan Thesen of Knysna and owner of ‘Albatros II’, the handicap winner of the first Rio race. I don’t know which cup Hal is holding but ‘Albatros II’ won a number of trophies as follows:
• South Atlantic Trophy (floating) and a Gold Medal for the overall winner
• Marinha Brasileira Cup for the overall winner
• Royal Cape Yacht Club Trophy for the winner of class III on corrected time
• Cape Town Prize for first yacht across the line in class III
• Southern Cross Trophy for the best placed South African yacht on corrected time
• Royal Natal Yacht Club Trophy for the first SA yacht across the line
• Navigator’s Cup (presented to John Goodwin) for the navigator of the winning yacht on corrected time
• Trophy of Capricorn for the best placed SA yacht on corrected time whose hull was built or finished in SA.
For some years Hal has been living outside Vancouver, Canada.
John Lochhead response
Lastly the following arrived from John Lochhead regarding the pics in the March issue on page 20:
Picture 1: I recognise the tall fellow as one Hal Thesen, who was at school at St. Andrews College, Grahamstown. He was a couple of years ahead of me, matriculating in 1968 or ‘69. He was a keen sailor from Knysna. It looks as if he is wearing a KYC blazer.
Response from George Parkes of Knysna:
With regards to pic 1 in the March edition of SAILING, the mystery man is Hal Thesen of Knysna. He is the son of the late Stan Thesen, the then Chairman of Thesen & Co who owned ‘Albatross II’, and was part of the six man crew.
The gent to the right of Hal (left in picture and talking to the bald gentleman behind) is the Englishman John Green, who was also part of the crew. The six crew were John Goodwin skipper, John Allen, John Green, Brian Lello, Arthur Holgate
and Hal Thesen.
‘Albatross II’ was, of course, built by the Thesen family to celebrate their centenary in Knysna.
Having looked at old photos of the crew, I can confirm that the gent with his head turned is John Green and he is holding the Royal Cape Yacht Club Trophy.
Hal is holding the Marinha Brasileira Cup presented by the Brazilians for the winner overall and the wording on the trophy is as follows: ‘Ao Albatross II, Vencedorda, Regatta Capetown – Rio, Homenagem da Marinha Brasilia, Rio Fevererco 1971’.
Responses to pic 2
Dave Cox sent the following: I have been most interested to see the old pics appearing in SAILING, and the replies of the people involved. In your latest issue you have a picture of a Sprog taken by Brian Lello. The Sprog is ‘Stampede’ sailed by Billy Lockhead of Redhouse Yacht Club. It was taken at the National Regatta in 1959. How do I know?
a) I was there and
b) the picture appeared in the Sprog Log of March 1959 and was captioned as mentioned above. I still have a copy of the log.
It was at this regatta that I was really introduced to the Dabchick. One was sailed around by its designer, Jack Koper, on a very windy day. I was most impressed at the time, especially at his reaching speed in the heavy conditions.
Brian Reynolds response
Well, the crew was unknown until Brian Reynolds of Port Elizabeth phoned me and identified himself as the crew. Many people will remember Brian, as besides Sprogs he sailed Fireballs, Lasers and Hobies. He is still active in PE and runs many races for ABYC. He also told me that the mountain in the background is the Maanskyn Berg.
So that mystery is now solved.
John Lochhead response
Picture 2: This is my late father, Mr. IW (Bill) Lochhead, sailing his Sprog ‘Stampede’ (Sail No. 161) with Brian Reynolds crewing. They sailed out of Redhouse Yacht Club and were attending the Nationals at Hermanus.
Sails were cotton, and were rinsed in fresh water after weekend sailing and laid out on the front lawn to dry out (Monday). Bricks were packed at each corner, and needed to be checked regularly in case the wind blew the sails about. It was my job to help my Dad fold them up when he returned from work that evening.
Just like the photo on page 30 of the January issue, the Sprog was transported on the roof top of an old Morris. Brian Reynolds is still going strong and can be found at Algoa Bay Yacht Club, on most fine sailing days.
