Sailing Magazine
By Richard Crockett
It’s interest to read just how many people were circumnavigating in the mid-fifties, and the different types of yachts they chose. Today we feature some of those who reached Durban at the beginning of the 1965 Indian Ocean cruising season.
Written by Bianca Lavies, the feature opens like this: “South Africa, happily sits across the round-the-world route taken by deep-sea yachtsmen. Every year we are pleased to be able to welcome these tried and proved cruising men, and this summer in particular Durban has already had a remarkable invasion by the doughty midget Magellans, young and mature, spruce and weather-worn …
“It does not often happen that a yachtsman with seven single-handed Atlantic crossings to his record sails into Durban harbour. But Jean Gau, in his 30-ft ketch ‘Atom’ on his second trip round the world has called at Durban for the second time.
“His arrival ended the longest stretch in all his 28 years of sailing – 113 days from Thursday Island to Durban without stopping.
“Why did he take so long?”
FIND OUT WHY VIA THIS LINK: 1965 12 – SA Yachting – midget magellans in durban – OCR
