Sailing Magazine
by Richard Crockett
The National Regatta of 1964 had the words “and Games” tacked on to the end of it – I’m not sure why, although it is not relevant. It was also the first major dinghy regatta held in Saldanha Bay, and as always is a treasure-trove of history, people and top-class competition.
The report was introduced as follows: “The 1964 National Regatta at Saldanha Bay from January 6 to 15, under the auspice of The Western Province Sailing Association confounded those sceptics who had predicted a “washout” with high winds and seas. On only two days was there any bite in the wind – once for the inter-club and interprovincial events, and for one round of the championships. In the main, sunny skies with light southerley winds of between 10-15 m.p.h. predominated, and fair-weather crew found condition much to their advantage.”
The cover picture of the January/February issue of SA Yachting magazine was captioned as follows: “Unluckiest men in the “National Games” were the Snowball twins with their new Flying Dutchman ‘Gemini’, here passing the Navy’s guardship ‘Nautilus’. The South African Navy “made” the regatta with their generous co-operation”.
You’ll need to read the report to find out why the Snowball’s were so unlucky.
READ IT ALL HERE: 1964 01-02 – SA Yachting – 1964 national games – OCR
