On this Day. A Peek Into Our Sailing History

by Richard Crockett

I have been frantically scanning away as I realised that I have so far scanned little from the latter part of the year – so here goes.

Corsair II. 1967. Stan Jeffrey took his trusty steed on a three-and-a-half year cruise, and docked in Durban on her final leg towards Cape Town. Jeffrey became a highly respected sailing administrator within the Cruising Association of South Africa (CASA). The Stan Jeffrey trophy for outstanding administration within the sport is still awarded annually.  Read about it HERE:  1967 10 03 + OCR 2

Aground! 1986. Die Burger reported that ‘Samoya II’, owned by Peter Lay van Constantia was blown ashore over rocks due to 120 km/h winds. Read about it HERE:  1986 10 03 495

BOC Race Doldrums. 1990. The BOC fleet was in the doldrums and headed by Philippe Jeantot with John Martin and Alan Gautier 28nm behind. Read about it HERE:   1990 10 03 393

About “On this Day”
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. 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 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.

The possibilities are endless – so watch this space.

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