Sailing Magazine
By Richard Crockett
Here’s something very different today – a feature on how to build your own starting cannon – a quarter scale model of a British quarter-pounder.
Plus, as a bonus read, there is a enlightening feature on Beken of Cowes – the world famous yachting photographer.
This is some blurb on the starting canon; “One of the oldest traditions of yacht racing is the starting gun. It is an effective tool for the job, but of course its real associations go back to the time when ships went out to sea and, with their guns, kept the enemy at bay and the national honour high.
“The little quarter-scale model of a British nine-pounder shown in the illustration has been specially designed by S.A. Yachting to do the job of the sawn-off shotgun, using the same box of 12-gauge blanks, while at the same time adding a bit of dash and daring to the clubhouse scene and tickling the imagination of the Jack Tars of dinghydom.”
The shared image today os ‘Westward’, taken by Beken of Cowes, is captioned as follows: “Frank Beken gave this magnificent shot of the South African-owned topsail schooner ‘Westward’ to S.A. Yachting when he passed through Cape Town recently. It recalls the palmy days when T. B. Davis of Durban was the most colourful figure in the Solent season, and raced against King George V’s cutter ‘Britannia’ and all the other “greats”. Davis was, of course, one of the first great sponsors of the University of Natal. ‘Westward’ was taken to sea and ceremoniously sunk after his death.”
READ BOTH FEATURES HERE: 1965 03 – SA Yachting – brace of bangers & beken of cowes – OCR
