Sailing Magazine
By Richard Crockett
Last week I wrote about the first South African boat to circumnavigate, that being Cariad I. But who was the first South African to circumnavigate under the new South African flag?
It was none other than the redoubtable JJ Provoyeur – a remarkable man in every sense.
I first got to know JJ during the 1980 Fireball Worlds off Durban where he finished runner-up. What I did not know until researching this editorial was that during the final race as JJ put it, “an inopportune wind shift cost us first place and the world championship”. And to make matters worse the team that passed him and his crew Terry Twentyman-Jones, on that final beat said after that race that as a complete “outsider” he would have held back had he known it would cost JJ the world title!
But JJ is made of stern stuff as he put that result behind him and his sailing career took off and saw him reach great heights, with his participation in the 1994/95 BOC Challenge one of the highlights.
The boat he sailed was in fact the one he built for Bertie Reed named Grinaker. As Frenchman Christophe Augin in the foreword to JJ’s book – “Solo with A New Flag” – and winner of that race, said, and I quote verbatim: “The BOC is a very difficult race indeed. The legs which follow on each other all through the race create a tough rhythm which never lets up.
“Jean Jacques is a member of this new type of sailing breed who has not lost his appreciation for the beauty of the sea and sky, nevertheless is a racing yachtsman of note.
“During this around the world race where stop overs allow the skippers to get to know each other well, while staying keen adversaries at sea, Jean Jacques came across as a sensible, gentle man but especially as a very efficient competitor once at sea. His yacht, well used and slow, a generation too old as we say. I know and am convinced that if Jean Jacques had a modern yacht as fast as his own level of competence, it would be in first place that he would play.”
From the man who won the 1994/95 BOC Challenge, that’s praise indeed.
JJ finished 5th overall in that race.
JJ presented the flag he sailed solo around the world with to Steve Tshwete, the Minister of Sport at that time.
There is just so much that one could say about JJ, but that should be left for another occasion as this editorial is simply about his solo single-handed around the world race with a new flag.
In 1996, Grinaker for Bertie Reed and Novell for JJ Provoyeur, while on a delivery voyage under the command of two delivery skippers, sunk about 150nm west of the Azores!
READ: “Provoyeur Takes Up the Challenge” HERE: 1994 07 01 618 2
READ” “Provoyeur Set to Maintain Proud Tradition” HERE: 1995 04 26 942 2
READ: “JJ Beats the Worlds Best” HERE: 1995 05 07 324 2
