Sailing Magazine
By Richard Crockett
I remember the word “kiting” from when I first started sailing on a Dabchick (fully crewed in those days!) as it was a term I recall being used to describe going very fast on a broad reach. It’s a term rarely used any more, and its meaning is not described in any of the several nautical dictionaries I have.
So if anyone can give a definitive meaning to the term “kiting” – please COMMENT here and share it with everyone.
The heading in today’s Blog therefore caught my attention as I was not aware that one could “kite” in keelboats, although an RCOD could really be a BIG dinghy at times!
This is what the report in the 1964 September/October issue of SA Yachting magazine said: “Did you kite on the bay this afternoon?” might be a very ordinary question to be heard among dinghy sailors, but on more boisterous days this question is now being heard amongst fortunate keelboat crews. The prospect of 1 ½ tons of yacht 30ft. long hurtling across the sea at speeds registering well into the teens in knots sounds impressive and certainly lures owners of tough, fast Royal Cape One Design yachts to sea on days when most other yachtsmen prefer to take their wetting internally before the club fire.”
READ MORE HERE: 1964 09-10 – SA Yachting – kiting in keelboats – OCR
