1984 Vasco. Assegai under bare poles traversing a steep wave as the sun rose after a tough night at sea. pic by Richard Crockett By Richard Crockett It’s a good time now to wrap up the memories of the 1984 Vasco da Gama storm with a personal account from a competitor. But before that, I would like to pay my respects to the crew of ‘Rubicon’ and their families who were traumatised by their respective losses. Siggie Eicholz had selected a good and competent crew, and I doubt whether it entered anyone’s mind that in the conditions which prevailed, if anyone was to succumb to the conditions that n ..read more

By Richard Crockett Today I will share some newspaper reports from the 1984 Vasco da Gama Race, as they offer additional insights into the drama and conditions experienced by crew. It also includes a response from the Sunday Tribune newspaper after both David Cox and Chris Bonnet objected to their reporting. Here are the 10 headlines from the selected newspaper cuttings. (CLICK on the link following the headline to open the report): 2 Children on Missing Yacht:  1984 04 27 – Daily News – 1984 Vasco – 002160 – REDUCED – OCR_Redacted Copter Pilot Tells of Daring Sea Rescue:  1984 04 27 ..read more

Sensation after running aground during the 1984 Vasco da Gama Race. By Richard Crockett Over the years there have been many discussions around various “Teak Reefs” as to what happened to ‘Sensation’ in the 1984 Vasco da Gama Race. The stories mostly were second, third or fourth hand accounts all embellished as they made the rounds, and some not particularly savoury, possibly even libellous, about crew and even the construction of the boat. I knew her owner, Neil Baily, very well as he was a business partner for some years, plus I sailed with him quite extensively after the ‘Sensation’ incident ..read more

The crew of Rubicon before leaving East London. L-R. Sally Fletcher; Siggie Eicholz; Trevor Christopher & Steve Sykes. Missing from this image is Tony Holst. By Richard Crockett Below I have combined several editorials I have written over the years, into a single one attempting to answer the question in the headline. 1984 was a year that every single crew who competed in the Vasco da Gama Race from Durban to East London will remember forever. Hurricane force winds and massive towering seas with breaking crests appeared, unforecast as the sun set on the first night of the race. For all crew ..read more

The sea state from the cockpit of ‘Orca’ a Lavranos 36. pic by Mike Rushworth There are two ‘sharp ends’ to every yacht race. One of these, the cold, tiring, often uncomfortable and sometimes storm-ridden end, is the lot of yachtsmen themselves, to whom the exhilaration and rewards of racing more than make up for the mental and physical strain. The other ‘sharp end’, perhaps stormier than the first, is the lot of the race organisers, the middlemen who stand between the sometimes temperamental yachtsmen on the one hand, and the watchdogs of public safety, especially the newspapers, on the other ..read more

Transformer, a Petersen 33, home safely after the storm with broken mast and damaged stanchions. Not visible is that she had lost her rudder too. pic by Richard Crockett Some of the Many Questions Asked Post-race – Answered Here Should the Race Have Started? The question has been asked ad infinitum and the answer is definitely yes. Yacht Inspections Every single craft that put to sea was thoroughly inspected prior to the race, not once, but in some cases, four or five times. In Durban, every yacht is inspected before it is launched. Before the yacht is granted permission to proceed to sea, the ..read more

1984 Vasco da Gama Race from aboard Assegai. pic by Richard Crockett by Richard Crockett (aboard ‘Assegai’) Today, 26 April, marks the 40th anniversary of the 1984 Vasco da Gama Race, when the fleet was devastated by big winds and massive seas. For me, all these years later, I feel it’s time to share a reminder that the fateful 1984 race had two starts – one on 25 April at 16h00 for the cruising yachts, with the racing yachts starting the following day, 26 April, 18 hours later at 10h00. Why does it matter? Simply because had everyone started on 25 April at 16h00, a good proportion of the flee ..read more

1977 Vasco. Crew of Rubicon. Jubilant winners of the 1977 Vasco da Gama race to East London were the home-town crew of ‘Passat’, an 11 m Hartley sloop which took 40 hrs 15 mins for line and handicap honours. She finished the 253 nautical-miles six hours ahead of Sea Jade . L to R: Lionel Lategan, Colin Hay, Rainer Weithoff,  Siggy Eichholz (skipper). Werner Eichholz, Tony Holst. pic by Mike Rushworth1977 Vasco. The crew of the Miura ‘Outre Mer’. L-R. Howard Fairbank; Richard Crockett; John Swain; Brian Tocknell & Neil Tocknell who was a very young schoolboy at the time. pic by Mike Ru ..read more

Spray. By Richard Crockett Following on from yesterdays Slocum Centennial, there is more in this part about the man, his yacht and the places he visited. He stopped in Durban and Cape Town where he spoke about celestial navigation, and interestingly how to obtain longitude without an accurate time piece. As a result he was given a free rail pass to tour the country and tell people about celestial navigation. In Pretoria he met President Kruger. The president, who believed the world was flat, greeted the Captain cordially, but when told by Captain Slocum that he was sailing round the world, the ..read more

By Richard Crockett The headline is misleading as there was no devastation, mayhem nor Mayday calls, but rather a Tornado catamaran setting the Round the Island Race alight on the Vaal Dam. It was Garth Boshoff who took line honours in 1991, setting a new course record time, and also taking the rare double of winning overall on corrected time too. Today’s feature is all about the photos in this 4-page report, plus all the names mentioned in the report and results as combined they bring back memories from yesteryear and remind us all of who was sailing back in those days. As always, comments ar ..read more