Sailing Magazine
by Richard Crockett
Staying with the RCOD thread today, well almost anyway as today’s feature covers ‘Zeeslang’ which was the forerunner to the RCOD and considered by most to be an RCOD until she proved to be faster.
This feature article was written by in 1998 Colin Farlam who stated the following in the opening blurb and first paragraph:
The annals of yachting in South African include boats which have become household names. The 30-foot sloop ‘Zeeslang’ is one and she proved that a light boat built from marine plywood could not only race offshore, but beat bigger and sturdier boats at their own game. Colin Farlam turns back the clock to review this Van der Stadt-design.
As a light displacement offshore racer she was ahead of her time and analysing her dimensions and concept one doesn’t have to stretch the imagination too far to realise that today’s hi-tech Whitbread 60s are largely doubled-up ‘Zeeslangs’ and that her achievements along the South African coastline in the 50s and 60s are not unlike their record-breaking 24- hour runs on today’s oceans.
This is another fascinating look at an amazing little yacht.
READ IT ALL HERE: 1998 09 – SA Yachting – OCR 2 copy
