Sailing Magazine
By Richard Crockett
All old salts will remember the massive support there was for the Voortrekker project and their entry in the 1968 OSTAR race. And today ‘Voortrekker’ and Bruce Dalling are still revered.
The October 1967 issue of SA Yachting magazine carried a report on Dalling’s selection as skipper of ‘Voortrekker’, and progress on the build of the boat. This is what was written:
Highveld-born, Durban-based, Bruce Dalling, 29, is the man to sail South Africa’s single-hander in next year’s race across the North Atlantic – the first out-and-out Springbok venture into ocean-racing. He was given the job by a selection committee which sat all week-end early this month before arriving at a unanimous decision.
Their voice was then ratified by a full meeting of the national organising committee.
The selectors were Gordon Graham, chairman of the executive committee of S.A.Y.R.A., Judge Louis van Winsen, president of the Royal Cape Yacht Club, Colonel Don Ord, chairman of the Transvaal Sailing Association and of the Federation of Aquatic Sports, Gordon Webb, Stormvogel’s first skipper, Reg Ashman from Bloemfontein and Dick Prior from Durban, chairman of the Offshore Committee there.
READ MORE HERE: 1967 10 – SA Yachting – bruce dalling is SA’s lone springbok sailor – OCR
