By Richard Crockett
For years I have been told how wonderful the Lourenco Marques dinghy regattas were “back in the day”. They were exciting, highly competitive and entertaining, with a little adventure in travelling through two different countries to the venue to add spice to the mix.
Just recently an old sailing mate demanded info on these regattas, and especially pics from them.
So to slake that thirst, here is the full report on that regatta.
Sadly, many yachties won’t know most of the “names”, but most of the big name stars of the time were there. Like – Don Ord; Fred Raas; Hellmut Stauch; Bruce McCurrach; Johan Louter – and simply too many others to keep that list flowing. So read the text to get the other names.
What did interest me was the Inter-Club Team Racing, with 8 teams, competing in Flying Dutchman; Sharpie; Finn; Snipe and a Sprog, entered. This was won by Victoria Lake Club (VLC).
This is how the introduction reads:
“The Clube Naval in Lourenco Marques included for the first time a South African Winter championship in their annual July regatta, and what a success it proved! They had the largest number of boats since the National held there in 1961 – a total of 98 boats, of which 70 were visitors, and 58 from South Africa.
“From Beira there were four Dabchicks and two Flying Dutchmen. From Angola there were four Snipes and from as far as Portugal came two more Snipe skippers. One of them, Jaime Sacadura, was champion of Portugal last year and Lisbon champion this year.
“Added festivities because it was the club’s 50th anniversary, made it a regatta not soon to be forgotten.”
It’s another wonderfully historic read. Enjoy.
READ THE FULL REPORT HERE: 1963 10-11 – SA Yachting – pgs 26-27-28-29