Sailing Magazine
By Richard Crockett
Below I have combined several editorials I have written over the years, into a single one attempting to answer the question in the headline.
1984 was a year that every single crew who competed in the Vasco da Gama Race from Durban to East London will remember forever. Hurricane force winds and massive towering seas with breaking crests appeared, unforecast as the sun set on the first night of the race.
For all crew it was a defining life-changing experience. Some hung up their sea boots and have never sailed again while others simply reassessed their lives and gradually re-integrated themselves back into the sport. A few simply took it in their stride and chalked it up as just another one of those experiences the sport of ocean racing offers.
‘Rubicon’ had an extremely experienced crew, and her skipper, Siggie Eicholz, was one, if not the most experienced yachtsman in the fleet, and a yachtsman who was extremely safety conscious.
I was very fortunate to get to know Siggie Eicholz well over the years as we both competed in the first race to East London in 1977. Siggie was on ‘Passat’ and I was with Brian Tocknell on ‘Outre Mer’, a Miura. Siggie won that first race to East London which was fitting as he finished in his home port.
Our paths crossed every year thereafter during the Vasco Race, and on other occasions such as prior to the 1979 Uruguay Race when Siggie’s crew and the crew of the Miura I was on, again with Brian Tocknell, spent a wonderful day on a wine farm chatting about sailing and life in general, and chilling before the race across the South Atlantic.
Siggie was an incredibly fine seaman who would compete in as many ocean races as possible. He knew the East Coast of South Africa well, and was considered by his peers to be ‘one of the most experienced yachtsman of the time’. He was also a very humble and quiet man.
Siggie built ‘Passat’ his Hartley, as well as his 36-foot Lavranos one-tonner ‘Rubicon’ himself, and both were really well built boats. Having had cruising boats, ‘Rubicon’ was built with some serious racing in mind. Siggie’s boats were always meticulously maintained and were well equipped – he was too fine a seaman not to be preparing and sailing in this manner.
Such is the tenacity of the man that in the 1976 Rio Race they broke their mast 3 days out of Cape Town. Siggie jury rigged it, put into Port Nolloth and effected repairs. He then rejoined the race and overtook many of the back markers. He then sailed back to East London singlehanded, taking 40 days. Siggie also did the ‘79 and ‘82 Uruguay Races. In ‘82 his son Hansie and one of the ill-fated ‘Rubicon’ crew, Tony Holst, sailed two-up back to East London.
That fateful April night was something that no crew will ever forget. I remember that the three leading yachts, as the storm hit, were ourselves on ‘Assegai’ some 45 miles out to sea with ‘Rubicon’ and ‘Sensation’ inshore of us. Both ‘Sensation’ and ‘Rubicon’ were small on the horizon, but easily identified by their spinnakers as they romped down the coast at good speeds. That was the last time I saw ‘Rubicon’.
One can only presume that whatever happened to ‘Rubicon’ and her crew, happened so fast, that there was absolutely nothing they could do to help themselves.
There are possibly three things that could have happened to them:
1. They could have been enveloped and “swallowed up’ by a rogue wave
2. They could have been sunk by a ship
3. They could have had their deck stove in.
pic from Peter Stafford Collection
The waves during the storm were huge and extremely steep. Ships have disappeared in this area without trace, but a yacht, being so much lighter and more buoyant, can ride the seas with relative ease. If ‘Rubicon’ encountered a rogue wave, she could have been pitch-poled or rolled down its side and been enveloped by the wave as it broke.
The second possibility cannot be discounted either. There was shipping in the same area as the yachts during the storm. Visibility was bad, and there were reports of yachts having close encounters with ships. A navigation warning was broadcast to ships, warning them of the race, so hopefully, those on watch were keeping an extra careful lookout.
Some yachts reported electrics failing, and if this was the case with ‘Rubicon’, she could have had no lights, and she would have been very difficult, if not impossible, to see.
In those conditions most of the ships on that route would have chosen to go close inshore in search of calmer seas. I remember that night being amazed as to how we would see the loom of ships lights, but hardly ever see them as they were in the troughs of huge waves. Even the passenger ship (the ‘Astor’) I recall being lit like a Christmas Tree!
If she had been hit by a ship, she could have gone down, depending on the angle of the collision, so quickly that there would have been nothing that anyone aboard could have done. With the deafening noise of the wind and the sea, the ship’s crew would unlikely even know that they had hit something, and therefore could not have offered any assistance.
The third possibility is that a wave broke with such force on her deck, that it stove in and she sank very quickly. This happened to ‘Black Magic’, but fortunately for her, it only cracked her fibreglass deck and stove in a window. ‘Rubicon’ had a plywood deck, as did others in that fateful race.
Most yachts that night had skeleton crew on deck, just a helmsman and one, possibly two crew as lookouts. Had any of the above scenarios occurred, her deck crew may not have been able to unharness from the yacht, while those below may well have been trapped.
Why is there no wreckage? This will remain a mystery of the ocean forever, as, had they had the time and ability to launch a liferaft, they would almost certainly have been found within a few days.
We all have our theories about that fateful night, but knowing ‘Rubicon’ and Siggie well, I firmly don’t believe that they did anything unseamanlike – so whatever happened was unavoidably catastrophic, and instantaneous.
A Passionate Plea
Over the years I have been given a lot of material about the 1984 race, and in fact many other Vasco races, to have accumulated a burgeoning archive of material from newspaper cuttings, original photos, reports, magazine features and even personal accounts.
I cherish each and every one of these, and have sufficient to write a book about the 50-plus years of the Vasco da Gama Race – something I will ultimately do.
I already have in excess of 15 000 individual Vasco Race files.
But as always, there are gaps that need filling in terms of full results, photos, reports, personal accounts, scrap books, newspaper cuttings and basically “anything Vasco” that individuals, Clubs and organising authorities have on the race.
So I am making a plea to anyone, and everyone, who has any material on this tough ocean race to consider lending me their personal records of the race for digitising. My promise is that they will be returned in good order – and with digitised files of their material too.
From the files I have so far, I have been able to compile a results database, starting with the earliest races when the race was from Maputo to Durban.
I have a complete database of all the trophy winners in the Vasco da Gama Race.
Every single written word, every single photo, and every single memory of the Vasco race is important to me.
Should you have any material you would lend me, please contact me via email at: editor@sailing.co.za
