“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. ‘SOS’ From Molly: Panties Overboard!

By Richard Crockett

Results Today. Line Honours:
1 Ocean Spirit
2 Graybeard
3 Striana

Corrected Time:
1 Hamburg
2 Striana
3 Ocean Spirit

The first SOS in the race, fortunately sent in jest to the Guardship, was from Molly Warr, the skipper of ‘Sprinter’ asking yachts behind them to look out for floral panties lost overboard on washing day!

Richard “Thirsty” Bertie was mentioned in despatches for being the man aboard ‘Jakaranda’ who went over the side to inspect the damaged rudder and attach a line to it. Well done “Thirsty”.

“Stormkaap’ was due to leave Port Nolloth with her crew looking for strong winds in order to catch up. While back in Cape Town it was very clear that Bruce Dalling would re-enter the race after “Jakaranda’s’ rudder was repaired.

As the fleet appears to be more settled with life at sea, so the stories are rolling back from the media contingent aboard ‘Tafelburg’.

“’SOS’ From Molly: Panties Overboard!”  Somewhere in the mid-Atlantic is something to distract the attention of even the most disciplined of Rio race crews as a pair of flower-patterned panties from Sprinter, the woman-crewed yacht skippered by Molly Warr of Cape Town.
READ MORE HERE:  1971 01 21 – Rio 1971 – Dave Elcock Collection -000425 – OCR

“Crews Are Settling Down”. ‘Guia’, ‘Three Bears’ and ‘Matchless’ gave their first radio reports yesterday. This is a sure sign that boats and crews are settling down to a sea routine and are able to spare time from the main job of sailing the boat at peak efficiency.
READ MORE HERE:  1971 01 21 – Rio 1971 – Dave Elcock Collection -000528 – OCR

“Lighter Winds Slow Down Big Rio Pack”. The leading yachts in the Cape-to-Rio race have already reached the halfway mark, but the main pack through which we are now passing about 1 600 miles from Cape Town has been slowed considerably by lighter winds than have been experienced so far.
READ MORE HERE:  1971 01 21 – Rio 1971 – Dave Elcock Collection -000553 – OCR

“Yachts in North Favoured”. With the Cape-to-Rio front-runners nearing the halfway mark between Cape Town and Rio, indications are that the yachts farther north are going to have better winds than those taking a more direct southerly route.
READ MORE HERE:  1971 01 21 – Rio 1971 – Dave Elcock Collection -000552 – OCR

“SA Yachts Improve”. While the top five yachts in the Cape-to-Rio race hardly changed their order yesterday, the Durban ketch ‘Cariad’ and ‘Voortrekker’ improved their positions vastly.
READ MORE HERE:  1971 01 21 – Rio 1971 – Dave Elcock Collection -000496 – OCR

“Shackleton’s Eye View of the Yachts”. A Shackleton reconnaissance aircraft of South Africa’s Maritime Command yesterday located 20 of the yachts competing in the Cape-to-Rio race – and two that were not.
READ MORE HERE:  1971 01 21 – Rio 1971 – Dave Elcock Collection -000495 – OCR

“Cariad Has Averaged 7.5 Knots”. Three days of sailing under full canvas came to an abrupt end for ‘Cariad I’ shortly before dawn today when we were hit by a sudden rain squall.
READ MORE HERE:  1971 01 21 – Rio 1971 – Dave Elcock Collection -000237 – OCR

“Stormkaap Now Needs A Good Blow to Catch Up”. With Cape Town’s crack yacht ‘Stormkaap’ now back in the Cape-to-Rio race, skipper Dave Abromowitz (28) will be hoping for a good down-wind blow to help him make up for his two-day stopover at Port Nolloth for repairs to his rudder.
READ MORE HERE:  1971 01 21 – Rio 1971 – Dave Elcock Collection -000332 – OCR

“Crippled Jakaranda Chugs Into Harbour”. Anti-climax just about sums up, in a word, Bruce Dalling’s return to Cape Town in his crippled yawl ‘Jakaranda’ at 10.30 yesterday morning.
READ MORE HERE:  1971 01 21 – Rio 1971 – Dave Elcock Collection -000305 – OCR

“Jakaranda Off to Rio in Day Or Two”. The yawl ‘Jakaranda’ will be back in the Rio race to-morrow or Saturday, according to skipper Bruce Dalling.
READ MORE HERE:  1971 01 21 – Rio 1971 – Dave Elcock Collection -000306 – OCR

“Rio-Bound Tomorrow, Says Bruce”. Skipper Bruce Dalling, smiling confidently, said today he hoped to have the Pretoria yacht Jakaranda Rio-bound early tomorrow.
READ MORE HERE:  1971 01 21 – Rio 1971 – Dave Elcock Collection -000307 – OCR

 

 

 

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