Having spent time yesterday scanning every single black & white photo I have of Sprogs, I will share 18 of the older ones today to give “Sprogites” an idea as to what the equipment and sails looked like way back in yesteryear.
The captions used today are those as supplied with the image, unless there was not one and I have had to improvise.
There’s more to come, as I have Sprog Class documents still to scan, and the daunting task of digging through the files to find the colour images to scan.
The consensus yesterday was that the Class is worth saving, so let’s go out there and put “bums on boats”. By the way does anyone remember who coined that phrase?
Surprisingly it was Princess Anne – who would have “thunked”!Enjoy the images, SHARE, LIKE and COMMENT please.
Stan Midlane in ‘Shambles’ gets round No. 2 followed by ‘Such Stupidity’ (W Combrink) and Harry Watson-Smith in ‘Sortie’. Coming up behind is Molly Warr in ‘Skirts-O’.‘Sortie’ sailed by Harry Watson-Smith heels to a sudden squall off the clubhouse on the first round.Any clues on who this may be and the boat name?A fleet of Sprogs racing at Loch Vaal, Bethlehem.Norman Oliver sailing ‘Sabu’ with his crew Brian Webster. Norman is Natal’s reigning Sprog champion. At the Easter Regatta he won the trophy for the fourth year in succession.Stan Midlane in ‘Sampan’ about to gybe round the mark with Barry MacKellar in ‘Semiramis’ close behind. They are followed by Eric Budd and Gerry van Willingh who took the Port Light Trophy for the first boat from the Boland.‘Spielereen’ sailed by J M Miszewski of ZVYC.Is he singlehanded or not?Unknown venue, but many an old Sprog competing in this regatta.A Sprog fleet on Durban Bay.Possibly an Emmarentia boat?This looks like Zeekoe Vlei?SpiegelThe Channel Race was a severe test of tacking ability for most crews. Behind ‘Spasm’ 352 (J Lamb) is Shirley Fitton – 630 – who is having trouble with a broken forestay followed by 381 ‘Skirts-O”.Looks like Hermanus?Boats crowd up around No. 4 on the first day while ‘Soria’ sailed by C van Zyl of UCTYC gets away into the wind.Okay, what did she snare?!!
Sailing Magazine
