Sailing Magazine
By Richard Crockett
The youth nationals are currently underway at Hermanus so there’s no time like the present to bring back the past and share the SA Yachting report on the very first Dabchick Nationals which were held at Zeekoevlei.
“The first official National Dabchick championships were at Zeekoevlei over the week December I5 to 20. A satisfactory entry of 47 was received and six races were sailed in fairly strong breezes. The weather was extremely kind to the sailors (unlike the F.D.s in False Bay) and they had three days of perfect Cape weather, sun shining with not a cloud in the sky and with the typical Cape southeaster being quite kind and blowing steadily between 10 and 20 knots.”
Sounds like a great regatta, but sadly the report does not list the results, and I have not been able to find them anywhere. However the names of Steve Meek, Frank van Baarsel, Brian Downham, Robin Thorpe, Charles Bongers, David and Louis Herridge were mentioned in the editorial being at or near the front of the fleet.
If anyone has a set of results, please share them with me (editor@sailing.co.za) as I will add them to this report.
READ MORE HERE: 1970 01 – SA Yachting – OCR
