Sailing Magazine
by Richard Crockett
With the 2024 Vasco da Gama Race due to start later this week, the time is opportune to bring back the past and share some history on the race. This is mainly due to there being a dearth of info on this year’s race.
The 1981 race was part of the South African Games, with winners receiving SA Games medals as well as the normal race prizes. The gold medals I am told had a goodly amount of gold in them!
Line honours went to ‘Wesbank’ in a time of 32 hours, while the handicap honours went to ‘Magic Carpet’. I was aboard ‘Carpet’ for the race and remember it being a tough one.
The outstanding performance was from Andrew Lawrence who took his RCOD ‘Gunnadoo’ 40nm seaward, found stunning current, and crossed the finish line in third place. An outstanding result as he beat many of the hot favourites across the line.
I have included reports from both magazines today.
READ THEM HERE:
Pages from 1981 06 – YACHTSMAN RSA – OCR
Pages from 1981 06 – SA Yachting – OCR
