Sailing Magazine
by Richard Crockett
Thanks to Richard “Thirsty” Bertie who gave me all his sailing scrap books to scan & digitise some years ago, I am able to share news of the South African Admiral’s Cup effort in 1971.
“Jakaranda Leads Boks In” blurted the headline which went on to say that “South Africa’s Admiral Cup team moved up to sixth place overall following yesterday’s second race of the four-race series sailed at Cowes”.
An even bigger headline said “Jakaranda 2nd Round Fastnet in Big Yacht Race”. The South African yacht Jakaranda was reported last night to be the second boat concerned with the Admiral’s Cup to round the Fastnet Rock in the 605-mile Fastnet race. She was seen rounding the rock at 10.36 pm South African time.”
That report concluded with this: “Conditions today should favour Jakaranda if the forecast holds.
“Mr Guy Reynolds, manager of the South African team, said last night: ‘Jakaranda could be the fastest Cup boat in such conditions and I’m just hoping that the wind lives up to the forecast.
“Mercury seems to be doing well, too, and I think the South Africans might get a good result.’
Here are the headlines of the newspaper cuttings I am able to share today:
“Jakaranda En Maats Vorder”: 1971 08 03 – Thirsty Bertie – 000028_Redacted – OCR
“SA Yachts Improve in Admiral’s Cup”: 1971 08 03 – Thirsty Bertie – 000027_Redacted – OCR
“Jakaranda 2nd Round Fastnet in Big Yacht Race”: 1971 08 00 – Thirsty Bertie – 000039 – OCR
“Jakaranda Leads Boks In”: 1971 08 03 – Thirsty Bertie – 000029 2 – OCR
Daily, historical material is dumped in the trash and on landfill sites purely because those who have it don’t recognise the value of the scrap books, newspaper cuttings and photos they have in their possession from loved ones long deceased. And not knowing what to do with it, or to whom to pass it, they simply ditch it.
I pledge to scan and digitise all sailing related material passed to me, and save it in my archives for use in this Blog and for historical purposes in the future. I also pledge to give the donor a copy of the digitised material to keep for their own use.
If you have old sailing related material you don’t want to keep any longer, please contact me editor@sailing.co.za – and let me preserve it.
