On This Day – 3 February. A Newspaper History of Sailing

by Richard Crockett

From the overwhelming response I receive from these posts, from all over the world I may add, the interest is cranking up rapidly and I am being connected with some wonderful people thirsty for more. Thank you all who have made contact.

Should you wish to copy, forward or share material from here, PLEASE acknowledge the source as: Sourced From the SAILING Mag Archives & Historical Records.

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

1987. “Fremantle Ready to Clear the Mess As Drubbings Chill Aussie Cup Fever”. Fremantle is all dressed up but the party’s almost over. Visitors are packing up as defeat looms for Australia in their first defence of the America’s Cup.
To read the full report, Click on the following LINK:  1987 02 03 505

1987. “Soon, Spinnakers Will Be Blowing in Hoopla”. The America’s Cup floats on an ocean stirred by corporate promotion and publicity.
To read the full report, Click on the following LINK:  1987 02 03 27

1988. “Good on You, Bruce!”. Bruce Cameron in a Laser and Jos Hooyberg, sailing an Optimist, were the overall winners of the Pretoria Flagship Charity Regatta at the weekend.
To read the full report, Click on the following LINK:  1988 02 03 1

1992. “Hudson Makes Olympic Grade”. Only one Capetonian – Dave Hudson – has been selected for the South Africa Olympic sailing team at the end of almost two weeks of nerve-wracking trials in Durban.
To read the full report, Click on the following LINK:  1992 02 03 574

1993. “Rio Race Yacht Survives Fire”. The Thunderchild crew had to fight an electrical fire on board their yacht during the Rothmans Cape to Rio race.
To read the full report, Click on the following LINK:  1993 02 03 792

2005. “SA-Led Crew of Tech Wizards Plots Assault on America’s Cup”. Twelve software engineers and designers have the task of crafting a world beating racing yacht. A team of software engineers and design experts has accepted a challenge never attempted in Africa before – to create a world-class racing yacht.
To read the full report, Click on the following LINK:  2005 02 03 948

2005. “It’s Plain Sailing for Five Former Street Children”. After a year of intense training, five young men from the Sakhithemba Home for Boys are now ready to sail in some of the world’s toughest yacht races.
To read the full report, Click on the following LINK:  2005 02 03 192

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.

Should you wish to copy, forward or share material from here, PLEASE acknowledge the source as: Sourced From the SAILING Mag Archives & Historical Records.

From the overwhelming response I receive from these posts, from all over the world I may add, the interest is cranking up rapidly and I am being connected with some wonderful people thirsty for more. Thank you all who have made contact.

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 do, 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. Rothmans 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 8500 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.

The possibilities are endless – so watch this space.

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