Sailing Magazine
by Richard Crockett
The first Stannic Southstar race to St Helena Island and back in 1986 was a singlehanded affair, with the second race in 1989 being a two-handed race. Adding the extra crew added to the entry numbers, albeit marginally.
Favourites going in to the race were Bertie Reed and Tony Abbott, both singlehanders from the previous race, and both sailing with and extra crew this time. However it was not the favourites who romped home for victory.
The report in SAILING Mag said this: “The fact that the Press favoured previous race winner Bertie Reed, and Tony Abbott in his brand new boat, was also a great motivating factor for Patrick Holloway and Gary Farrow.
“They basically didn’t give us a chance, we had an old boat … we were the underdogs, but that’s what really made us want to get out there and nail them from the start. And there was also the fact that we had no sponsorship until the day before the race. I believe this contributed to our campaign being very much a team effort” said Holloway.
For Gary Farrow (19) and Patrick Holloway (24), by far the youngest of the fleet, winning the race wasn’t due only to good boat preparation. Rather it was a part of a total preparedness both mentally and physically for the race. Physically they got fit by running, cycling, swimming and even yoga (for Patrick) and undertook an intense study of weather patterns and tides for January over the past 20 years.
There are 3 really good features to read about this race.
READ “WINNING BOAT IN TOP FORM” HERE: 1989 03 – SA Yachting – OCR
READ “ON A WINNING HIGH” HERE: 1989 04 – SA Yachting – OCR-2
READ THE “1989 STANNIC SOUTHSTAR RACE” REPORT HERE: 1989 04 – SAILING Magazine – OCR-2
