Sailing Magazine
by Richard Crockett
I cannot remember featuring the Soling, so here’s a report on the 1978 event, sailed on the Vaal Dam, and won by Durbanite Dick Haliburton sailing ‘Solan’ who won four of the six races.
It was interesting to see Selwyn Tucker competing on ‘Kate’ and finishing third overall, behind Jurgen Coblenz on ‘Apollo’ who was second. Sadly the crew are not mentioned.
Racing was from all accounts close with 5 minutes often separating the leading and last boat after sailing for almost three hours. One mistake and that was a place or two lost not to be regained without a lot of luck or the very finest sailing. No doubt this was a true test of skipper, crew and boat – and class racing at its best.
A bonus today are the results of the 1978 SAYRA National Championships – with the top 10 in each of the classes mentioned.
These results, as they so often are, read like a who’s who of sailing in the country. The best part being that they truly show that sailing as a sport is a lifetime sport – as over 40 years later some of the people mentioned are still sailing and are still quite competitive. What a wonderful sport we have.
READ IT ALL HERE: Pages from 1979 02 – Yachtsman RSA – OCR
