On This Day – 6 May. 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.

1968. “Missing Yacht Hunt”. An air search is being started today and ships off the South-Western Districts coast are on the alert for a 19-year-old American yachtsman whose 25ft. sloop is a week overdue in reaching Gordon’s Bay from Knysna.
To read the full report, Click on the following LINK:  1968 05 06 COMBINED572 3

1968. “A Yachting First”. History was made at sea off Durban this week-end when the first races of a five week-end series for dinghies were sailed.
To read the full report, Click on the following LINK:  1968 05 06 COMBINED572 5

1995. “Great, Once You’re Safely Back in Port”. Mother Nature must have a serious grudge against deep sea yachting, as GREG KNOWLER found out during last week’s race from Durban to East London. The best part about ocean yacht racing is impressing your buddies in the pub afterwards with tales of derring-do on the high seas.
To read the full report, Click on the following LINK:  1995 05 06 544

2000. “Springbok Yachtsman in Easy Algoa Bay Victory”. Springbok yachtsman Geoff Meek, 46, has won the J22 class national championship which was incorporated into the national Continental Week sailing regatta.
To read the full report, Click on the following LINK:  2000 05 06 560

2004. “Pretoria Sailing Club”. With a record 24 entries, the Cargo M2 City GP14 national championship was held at PSC over the Easter weekend in winds that were uncharacteristically good for the Highveld in autumn, affording keen competition down the fleet.
To read the full report, Click on the following LINK:  2004 05 06 626

2004. “Atlantic Seaboard’s Yachting Stars”. Three members of the South African team for the America’s Cup Yachting Challenge in Spain in 2007 – Geoff Meek, Manuel Mendes and Guido Verhovert are from the Atlantic Sun area. They will train aboard a yacht called Shosholoza.
To read the full report, Click on the following LINK:  2004 05 06 627

2006. “Italian Expert Joins Team Shosholoza As Helmsman and Coach”. Team Shosholoza has announced the appointment of a second crack Italian America’s Cup helmsman and match-racing coach just ahead of next week’s start of the 2006 America’s Cup class racing season in Valencia, Spain.
To read the full report, Click on the following LINK:  2006 05 06 672

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 10 000 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