On This Day – 29 November. A Newspaper History of Sailing

by Richard Crockett

To read the full reports, click on the LINK following the headline.

1969. “Sailor’s Visit Goes Adrift”. Mystery surrounds the movements of world·famous yachtsman, Robin Knox-Johnston, who was due to arrive in Durban from Britain yesterday.
To read the full report, Click on the following LINK:  1969 11 29 607 20

1970. “Cariad Spreads Her Wings”. And her pilot swops steam for sail. Cariad I, the Tribune’s Cape to Rio race hope, could well set some unexpected records – before the race.
To read the full report, Click on the following LINK:  1970 11 29 344

1984. “Consistent Scrab Beats the Fleet in Castle Cup”. After sailing consistently well over the past few occasions, Scrab ( C Scribante and A Mew) found conditions to her liking and deservedly won the Castle Cup at Zwartkops over the weekend.
To read the full report, Click on the following LINK:  1984 11 29 a 317

Comments and contributions are welcome. Email: editor@sailing.co.za

What is “On this Day” About?
I am busy archiving many boxes of press cuttings I have accumulated and which I guestimate run into tens of thousands! A daunting task which I believe to be necessary before ditching them as I have been concerned for many years about the lack of interest Clubs, Classes and other sailing related organisations give to preserving their history.

This is my personal crusade, and instead of simply archiving and keeping the contents away from prying eyes, I will share my spoils in the hope that you will enjoy reminiscing as much as I have, and continue to do as I wade through the labourious process of scanning each and every cutting in my archives.

As each scanned cutting will be searchable, I will be able to create presentation packs personally tailored to a persons exact requirements – ie. Rathmines Week, the NCS Regatta, the Rio Race, Mauritius Race, Vasco da Gama Race and more – or simply by the name of an individual (like Ant Steward and his open boat exploits) who want a record of his/her sailing career for the family archives.

I have already done this by scanning in excess of 4000 pages of material I have on ‘Voortrekker’ – from idle chatter, to concept, to the formation of what ultimately became the South African Ocean Racing Trust (SAORT), to the fruition of the 1968 OSTAR Race in which Bruce Dalling and ‘Voortrekker’ excelled – and even beyond that.

Comments and contributions are welcome. Email: editor@sailing.co.za

The possibilities are endless – so watch this space.