SAILING Mag RSA August 2016 issue 385 to ZINIO

I ncorporating SA Yachting 

AUGUST 2016 | NO.385 

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CONTENTS 

2 East Greenland. Icy Untamed Beauty 

8 Sailor of the Month. William Edwards 

9 Technical. Osmosis Treatment of a 36’ Yacht 

13 Book Reviews 

14 Olympics, Rio 2016. The Time Has Come 

17 Olympics, Rio 2016. Checkmate! 

20 Olympic Recall. 

26 Tell Tales. Record Breaking Nautical Feats 

27 App Review. PredictWind 

28 America’s Cup World Series - Chicago 

30 Interview. John Robertson 

34 Anchoring part 5. Anchoring Made Easy 

36 Volvo Ocean Race. Returning to its Roots 

38 Volvo Ocean Race. Team AkzoNobel is First Entry 

39 Fisher @ Large 

40 America’s Cup Technology 

41 Fountaine Pajot NEW 47’ Added to the Range 

42 From the Archives. A Blast From the Past 

43 Letters to the Editor 

56 Comments by Rob Sharp 

SPEED & SMARTS 

44 Comparisons Upwind vs Downwind 

45 Strategy in Shifts 

REGIONAL, REGATTA, CLUB AND CLASS NEWS 

46 Take a Bow Madam Commodore 

47 Gryphon to Spread its Wings 

48 Junior J Regatta. A Pinnacle of Youth Sailing 

50 Hobie 16 Worlds. Edwards on the Podium 

51 Handicapping. Exciting News for RSA Keelboats 

52 Hobie 16 & Flying Fifteen KZN Provincials 

INDUSTRY NEWS AND READER SERVICES 

51 Harken Events Calendar 

53 Stow-a-Weigh 

54 Free Classifieds 

55 Advertisers Index 

OPINIONS expressed in this magazine or in advertisements appearing 

in this publication are those of the authors, and do not necessarily 

reflect those of this journal, its Editor nor its Publishers, SAILING 

PUBLICATIONS cc. The mention of specific companies, of products in 

articles or advertisements does not imply that they are endorsed or 

recommended by this journal or its publishers in preference to others 

of a similar nature which are not mentioned or advertised. While every 

effort is made to ensure the accuracy of editorial content, the publishers 

do not accept responsibility for omissions or errors or any consequences 

that may arise therefrom. 

COPYRIGHT of all material is expressly reserved, and nothing may be 

reproduced in part, or whole, either electronically, digitally or in print, 

without the written permission of the Publishers. 

SAILING MAGAZINE 

Tel: 031-709 6087 E-mail: sailing@iafrica.com 

www.sailing.co.za 

33rd 

YEAR 

CONTRIBUTIONS. Editorials and photographic contributions are 

welcomed. Contributions should be submitted via e-mail for 

consideration. Articles should be sent in a plain text format. Clear colour 

photographs must be supplied as unedited high-resolution digital files - 

in either jpg, tiff or pdf format. 

Submissions to: editor@sailing.co.za 

of Service to 

Sport & Industry 

RICHARD CROCKETT 

EDITOR 

I ncorporating SA Yachting 

Contrary to the rumours doing 

the rounds on social media and 

other electronic platforms, TNPA 

(Transnet National Ports Authority) 

has NOT stopped sailing events 

from happening in Algoa Bay. 

Rumours have been rife that 

TNPA has refused the Algoa Bay 

Yacht Club the rights to host the 

Laser Nationals on their waters. 

Rather, the ABYC have suggested 

the event not be held on their 

waters due to an impasse the Club 

has with TNPA regarding their lease. 

As they cannot guarantee that the 

event will be sanctioned by TNPA, 

they have withdrawn as hosts. 

I firmly believe that all 

watersport participants, whatever 

their discipline of choice, should 

have the right to free access to the 

water and launching. 

Throughout the world in 

commercial harbours, yacht and boating clubs share the water and respect 

each other. Regrettably in our country those who enjoy watersports are looked 

upon with some disdain by those who run the ports, and who put as many 

obstacles possible in place to simply make life difficult. 

Clubs in this country have been at loggerheads with the TNPA for some 

years with ABYC not being the exception. East London Yacht Club, Durban 

watersport clubs and even the Royal Cape Yacht Club all have threats of 

eviction hanging over their heads. 

Come on TNPA, get off your high horse and work with your fellow 

water-loving brethren. Whether running a port or simply boating, we all have 

something in common - that of being on the water. Let’s share it in a userfriendly 

manner as it’s the seamanlike thing to do. 

Cheating in sport is a subject which gets everyone, whatever sport they 

enjoy, very hot under the collar. 

Regrettably allegations of cheating were recently raised with regard to a 

boat which has competed in the Lipton Cup, and won it on two occasions. The 

allegations of cheating involve the class rules which have been transgressed 

(broken). 

Quite naturally there has been much comment and gnashing of teeth, with 

some demanding immediate action and rule 69 protests. Fortunately there are 

others with far cooler heads who have requested calmness as ‘the process’ is 

put in place to deal with this. 

There are four players in this process, among them being the L26 Class 

Association, South African Sailing (SAS) and the Lipton Cup trustees. The three 

mentioned will have to work through the issues, with SAS having to guide the 

matter through its relevant committee structures to ensure that, in terms of the 

Racing Rules of Sailing, it is handled 100% correctly. 

The fourth party is those accused. I would think that to prevent harsh 

criticism and abuse which is bound to continue, that they remove themselves 

temporarily from the sailing limelight, and keep a low profile in the sport until 

‘the process’ has been completed. 

This will take time as the last thing anyone wants is a kangaroo court 

decision. 

Allegations of cheating within the L26 class have arisen in the past, 

and have never been proven. With there being progress made towards a 

possible new Lipton Cup class of boat becoming available in this country, an 

opportunity now arises for the Lipton Cup Trustees to call time on the L26 class 

immediately - and move swiftly for a change, even if it means putting the event 

on hold for a year. 

Our Olympic squad is in Rio, ready for one of the most important regattas 

of their lives. Support them, wish them well, follow their progress and help 

them realise their Olympic dreams. Good luck, wishing you every success. 

The Editor reserves the right to shorten or modify any material 

submitted. 

While all submissions will be handled with care, the Editor 

and Publishers of SAILING (incorporating SA Yachting) assume no 

responsibility for the return or safety of artwork, photographs and 

manuscripts. 

COVER PIC 

Our Sailing Olympians who will be in Rio this month. Good luck! 

Main pic. Asenathi Jim and Roger Hudson. pic by Delta Lloyd/Sander van der Borch 

Inset pic. Stefan Marcia. pic by Pedro Martinez/SailingEnergy/ISAF 

www.sailing.co.za/gybeset.com | SAILING August 2016 1

Sailing expedition in Scoresbysund, East Greenland 

Anchord in the stunningly beautiful Scoresbysund area which is above the polar circle. pic by Rene Koster 

An insolent lump of ice scrapes against the 

bright green oxidized copper fixed to the 

bow of the schooner Opal. The sea is dead 

quiet. The black water appears stiff, but not 

frozen. As we sail deeper into the mouth of the 

Scoresbysund, the amount of ice chunks break 

the black colour of the water as white speckles 

grow. Captain Heimir Harðarson gives us the 

command to pull in the already reefed sails 

and pursues his course on noiseless electricity. 

The ice propagates quickly: like curious, white, 

sea creatures coming to inquire from all 

around. Chunks become ice blocks, ice plates, 

and then a majestic blue iceberg looms on the 

horizon. 

The ice is everywhere now. Slush scrapes 

playfully but slowly against the copper and 

disappears under the bow. Carefully we 

approach Solglacier, a twelve-kilometre long 

ice mass moving at the slow rate of ten metres 

per day, which is considered a fast moving 

glacier. The unstoppable pushing mass creates a 

continuous deafening spectacle. 

Shreds of mist drape against the black 

perpendicular basalt walls, which look down 

upon us like two thousand metres high 

gatekeepers on both sides of the ice mass. Over 

there, a blue icy avalanche breaks loose with 

a sound comparable to a jet fighter breaking 

through the wall of sound while the turbine of 

a 747 is warming up thirty metres further. Blue 

ice is old ice. On the right, a thousand lumps 

fall towards the water. Freed from the glacier 

2 August 2016 SAILING | www.sailing.co.za

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CONTRIBUTORS 

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Bob Fisher 

bob@fishersailing.com 

Icebergs as large as villages 

float by with an air of serene 

majesty. Scoresbysund lies ahead, 

untouched. The 350km deep 

fjord system is only accessible by 

boat three months a year. Which 

is now. “For the Inuit, everything 

has an Anirniq, a soul”. 

Text by Marco Barneveld 

Photography by René Koster 

Andrew Heathcote 

083 783 8805 / hethcot@iafrica.com 

Kirsten Veenstra 

082 926 3932 / kirsten@veenstra.co.za 

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083 655 2875 / ingridwillcox@absamail.co.za 

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to which they have belonged for thousands or 

maybe even tens of thousands of years. Opal 

quietly manoeuvres along, deeper and deeper 

into Scoresbysund. 

Overwhelming Nature 

Scoresbysund, Kangertittivaq in Inuit, lies 

in the northern Arctic Sea on the eastern coast 

of Greenland. The coordinates are 70° 32nd 

parallel north and 24° 21st parallel west which 

positions us above the polar circle. The area 

was named after an English whale hunter and 

explorer, William Scoresby. He mapped out 

the coast of the fjords in 1822. Scoresbysund 

stretches out three hundred fifty kilometres into 

Greenland, and is therefore the largest fjord 

in the world. Considering that there are sidebranches 

everywhere, it also represents the 

largest fjord system on the planet. The water can 

be as deep as fifteen hundred metres and the 

steep granite and basalt walls, which delineate 

the fjord, are sometimes as high as three 

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www.sailing.co.za/gybeset | SAILING August 2016 3

The soft light and stunning scenery make this area a photograher’s dream. pic by Rene Koster 

The low setting sun lighting up the ice. pic by Rene Koster 

thousand metres. This is enough overwhelming 

nature to make you feel the smallest you have 

ever felt. 

We sail from Constable Pynt, through Hurry 

fjord in the direction of Ittoqqortoormiit. It is 

the biggest city in East Greenland, with no 

less than 429 inhabitants. “Until around 1800 

the Thule used to live in the area, a people 

originating from the Inuit,” Þórður (Thordur) 

Ívarsson explains, technician and wiz-kid of 

Opal. “We may talk about global warming, 

but between 1650 and 1850 they were mainly 

talking about global cooling. This period is also 

known as the small ice age. The Thule, quite 

the tough type, used to icy cold, gave up on the 

area and for more than a century thereafter, no 

man would venture in these parts. The Danish 

and the Norwegians argued for some time about 

ownership of East Greenland and the Danish 

decided to expand their activities in 1925. So 

the Bureau of Colonization of Scoresbysund 

placed eighty-five Inuit from West Greenland 

here: because they found remains of a Thule 

settlement in this place.” 

Isolation 

To better illustrate how isolated this area is; 

from October to June the sea is frozen, making 

it impossible to travel here by ship. The closest 

village on Greenland, with a staggering ninety 

inhabitants, is situated eight hundred kilometres 

south of Greenland. In between, there is 

nothing. The closest inhabited world is Húsavík 

in Iceland, five hundred kilometres sailing on 

the northern Arctic Sea and the home base of 

the Opal. 

Ittoqqortoormiit means ‘place with big 

houses’. Those houses are placed there as 

bright coloured Lego-blocks with pointy roofs, 

dispatched against the dreary rocks. The dogs’ 

barking is deafening. There are three times 

as many dogs as humans living in this place. 

Someone needs to pull the sleighs. I climb onto 

the rubber-boat and we cross over a slightly 

aggressive sea to the jetty. Several carcasses of 

seals are attached to the ladder and are swaying 

in the water. The sea acts as a fridge, and the 

dogs of Ittoqqortoormiit love seal-blubber. 


Freezing water and barren icy mountains show just what a hostile area this is. pic by Rene Koster 

Nice Fatty Meat 

The family of Ingrid Anike heartily 

welcomes us. They are serving stewed muskox, 

nice fatty meat that resembles beef. Hunting 

is important here. The mouth of Scoresbysund 

presents an open water space between the ice 

in the winter, free of ice due to currents and 

winds, and therefore THE place for life. Birds, 

seals, arctic hares and foxes, muskox and the 

mighty polar bear reside here. Everything is 

prey for the Inuit. “For the Inuit everything has 

an Anirniq, a soul”, Ingrid explains. “Together 

they form Anirniit, the kingdom of spirits. The 

Inuit don’t honour anything, but fear all the 

more. This is not that surprising when the 

weather conditions are as deadly as they are 

here. As long as the Anirniit are satisfied there 

is prosperity. But if the spirits turn against you, 

oh boy…” An Inuit killed by a polar bear? This 

is the revenge of Nanoek, the master of the 

polar bears. The boy who drowned in the sea 

a few hours before we arrived? Swallowed by 

Sedna, the mistress of the sea. My personal 

favourite is Mahaha, a demon who terrorizes the 

entire Arctic area and tickles its victims to death. 

People who freeze to death are often found with 

a smile on their face, that’s why. 

We sail in Fønfjord. It’s the first time in three 

days that we are blessed with wind, and not 

just a little bit. Captain Heimir gives the order 

to set out all the sails. We hang onto the ropes 

until our hands burn and the sails are tight. In 

general the fjords of Scoresbysund are relatively 

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the sails, the silence remains undisturbed, which 

is huge in these parts. We only hear the rippling 

water and at times a small chunk of ice against 

the bow. Opal also serves for whale spotting in 

Iceland. Thanks to the silent movement, animals 

come closer to Opal than to any other ships. 

The ‘disco skies’ of Greenland. Stunning and absolutely bright and clear. pic by Rene Koster 

calm without much wind, but it can be haunting 

as nowhere else when the Piteraq blows. The 

Piteraq is a katabatic wind, which originates 

from the Greenland ice cap and streams through 

the fjords. The ice cap is truly immense. Nine 

percent of all the sweet water on the globe is 

frozen in this ice cap, which is more than three 

kilometres thick in some places. Due to the ice 

radiation, there is always a high-pressure area 

above it. When this runs into a low-pressure 

area at the coast, extremely fast winds may 

form, as strong as hurricane winds, in the fjords. 

Fønfjord is such an evacuation stream for the ice 

cap winds. Luckily the wind remains at a steady 

5 today. 

A beautiful, cloudless blue sky and a 

survival suit that defies the icy cold, black basalt 

towers above us and slowly transform in gorging 

hills, covered in moss and other small plants. 

A muskox is grazing by itself while its soft hair 

flaps in the polar wind. My lungs fill with icy 

salty sea air. The schooners’ rigging is tight. 

The world around me is the world as it has 

been since the beginning of time; shaped only 

by natural forces and polished by the ice and 

wind. What to do if you wake up here, on a 

beach of black sand? Where would you walk 

to? How would you survive? If the cold doesn’t 

get you and if you manage to catch an arctic 

hare, which are so tame that one dares to come 

as close as two metres from us, even then the 

chance of you surviving and seeing another 

human being one day is minimal. Nature runs 

the show here and she is not generous in these 

parts. 

Hybrid Sailboat 

As fast as the wind picked us up when we 

turned into Fønfjord, it let us down all the same 

when we sailed into Rødefjord. The beautiful 

sedimentary mountains with a high percentage 

of iron reside by the water, explaining the name. 

However, the sailing part is finished for today. 

The gaff rigged schooner Opal was built in 

Bodemweert, Germany in 1951. From 1970 to 

1983 it underwent her transformation to the 

elegant two-mast ship she is today, with her 

slender lines of oak wood and copper cladding. 

She was lovingly incorporated into the North 

Sailing Fleet in 2013 with whom I sail on this 

journey. “It’s a special ship,” tells Þórður, “It’s 

the first sailboat with a specially designed 

Regenerative Plug-in Hybrid Propulsion 

System. In short, she has batteries instead of 

ballast. These batteries can indeed be charged 

by means of electricity from the land, just as 

one would with a hybrid car. However, her 

batteries can also be replenished while she is 

sailing as the propeller acts as a dynamo. The 

faster the ship sails, the faster the propeller turns 

and the faster the batteries are charged. This 

technique has never been applied to any other 

sea vessel. I am on board to improve the system 

to perfection. Ideally you could do away with 

the diesel motors. I’m trying to figure this out.” 

The result is that when we have no wind in 

Disco Skies 

The night falls; clear as crystal. The amounts 

of visible stars in the polar night give me an 

almost melancholic feel. A glass of Icelandic 

brennivín, cooled by century old ice, which 

we have specifically chopped off a blue icelump 

for this purpose, enhances this feeling. I’m 

staring at the star-speckled sky when suddenly 

in a vague plop a small green explosion stands 

out in the dark night. The spooky green light 

moves quickly in the night, blurs and clears. On 

my left, another explosion occurs, then right, 

then left again. Pink and orange gusts of fog are 

moving high up in the sky, sometimes as bright 

as spotlights, sometimes fiery. It’s disco time in 

the Greenlandic polar night. 

This northern light is sun wind, containing 

a lot of energy. The energy is released when it 

collides with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in our 

atmosphere. It is then beamed at a height of 80 

to 1000 kilometres in the sky in the form of the 

colourful polar lights. I have seen northern lights 

before, but never like these. Never have I seen 

them so clear, so many, so often, and so long. It 

is also the first time that I hear them. The night 

lasts very long that day, as it is nearly impossible 

to withdraw from such a spectacle. Who knows 

when you will see something as beautiful again. 

In this case it was the day after, and then the 

day after that. Igaluk, the Inuit god of the moon 

keeps playing games with his brother, the god of 

the sun. 

Gold and Light Blue 

Beauty. Unsullied beauty. You are almost 

too afraid to turn your head to the right in fear 

of missing something on your left. As a travel 

writer and an avid sailor, I’ve been to many 

beautiful places on the seven seas of this planet, 

including Antarctica and Drake’s Passage. 

However, the waters of East Greenland are the 

most pristine, most beautiful waters I’ve ever 

sailed. I even prefer it to Antarctica because 

there is plant life here, where as the South pole 

is black and barren. 

When we set sail back onto Ittoqqrtoormiit 

we encounter the Bjørne Øer, the bear islands, 

named in this fashion because the crest 

resembles bear-claws, from the back. It is 

04h45 and the sun is appearing with a thousand 

colours. The sleepy, sharp mountaintops of 

Bjørne Øer are kissed by the pink sunbeams. 

The sea is flat, but made of gold and light blue. 

Far away, at the horizon an iceberg the size 

of a small city breaks off. The remaining ice 

behemoth has lost its balance and is slowly 

rolling around, creating rolling seagoing waves. 

Ultra-thin ice-pancakes have formed on the 

water during the night. This is a reminder 

that we must leave the Scoresbysund. The 

East Greenlandic wilderness is closing up 

and preparing for the ever-returning winter 

domination of a very harsh mother nature. • 

With our gratitude to North Sailing 

(www.northsailing.com) and WOW Air 

(www.wowair.nl) 


SAILOR OF THE MONTH 

SAILING, in conjunction with MDM Marine Services, North Sails 

and Southern Spars, continues to back the ‘Sailor of the Year’ 

Award. 

Monthly winners are featured in SAILING, with the 

overall ‘Sailor of the Year’ receiving a substantial 

cash prize. 

Who can make nominations? Anyone (individuals, clubs, class 

associations or administrators) may submit nominations. 

What are the criteria? The award is strictly for ‘sailing excellence’ 

or in exceptional circumstances, for ‘dedication to the sport’. 

What is the procedure? All nominations must be fully motivated 

in writing, and must be accompanied by a head-and-shoulders 

picture of the candidate, plus an action sailing pic aboard his/ 

her boat. Motivations must include current performances, a brief 

CV of the nominee, and other pertinent, personal background 

information (age, school, employment, home town etc) so that 

an interesting editorial on the winner may be written. Failure to 

submit the required material will result in the nomination not 

being considered. 

Deadlines Nominations must be received by the 1st of 

every month, although this may be extended at the Editor’s 

discretion, so it is recommended to submit them as soon 

as possible. 

Submissions should preferably be e-mailed to: The Editor (editor@ 

sailing.co.za), faxed to 

031-7096143 or posted to SAILING Publications, P O Box 1849, 

Westville 3630. Original prints can be supplied although hiresolution 

(300dpi) digital images are preferred. 

IN CONJUNCTION WITH: 

Sailor of the Month 

William Edwards 

After a really successful year 

last year when William won the 

Hobie Tiger Nationals and gold 

at the Hobie Tiger Worlds, after 

which he followed those up by 

winning the Tilt invitational 

Hobie World event in Germany. 

Continuing his incredible 

successful 2015, he is still on top 

form as he won the recent Hobie 

nationals, and won the ‘Sporting 

Team of the Year’ award in the 

Eden District. He has just returned 

from the Hobie 16 Worlds in China 

where he finished 3rd in the Hobie 

16 World Masters, and followed 

this with a 6th overall in the open 

event. 

William is a very talented all 

round sailor, who is passionate 

about the sport and is always 

encouraging, supporting and 

sharing his extensive knowledge 

with anyone who needs assistance. 

Youth sailors at the world’s event 

in China were always looking to 

Roll of Honour 

William for advice and his company 

as they enjoyed listening to his Hobie 

sailing stories - always told with such a 

sense of humour. 

Anyone who has met William 

knows what a kind, modest, talented 

man he is with a great sense of humour 

who gives back to sailing at every 

opportunity. Which is why he is so 

deserving of this accolade. • 

Agents for Raymarine 

Marine Electronics 

2016 Sailors of the Month 

February 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September 

October 

November 

December 

Phillippa Hutton-Squire 

Sibu Sizatu 

Mike Hayton 

Howard Leoto 

Rob van Rooyen 

Brevan Thompson 

William Edwards 

DON’T 

FORGET 

to submit your 

nominations 

Faster by Design 

MANUFACTURERS OF CARBON FIBRE RIGS 

AND SPARCRAFT ALLOY RIGS 

Sailors of the Year 

2015 Stefano Marcia 

2014 Blaine Dodds 

2013 Asenathi Jim 

2012 Roger Hudson 

2011 Stefano Marcia 

2010 Asenathi Jim 

2009 Taariq Jacobs 

2008 David Hudson 

2007 Dominique Provoyeur 

2006 Craig Millar 

2005 Shaun Ferry 

2004 Justin Onvlee 

2003 Dominique Provoyeur 

2002 Golden Mgedza 

2001 John Eloff 


Osmosis Treatment of a 36’ Yacht 

By Guy Fabre 

The hull being dried out with heat pads which are vacuumed on. 

The vessel in question is a Lavranos 36, 

built late eighties, and purchased 11 years 

ago by the present owner. It was diagnosed 

with the dreaded osmosis and treated in the 

conventional manner at the time. 

The boat has now been out of the water 

and in the owner’s yard for about 10 years 

now. It is a well appointed yacht which, after 

a recent comprehensive refit which included it 

being re-engined, all electrics rebuilt and more, 

represents a considerable asset. 

The classic osmosis treatment done six 

years ago included drying out the hull by natural 

exposure to the air, followed by two coats of 

a good quality epoxy. At the time this was 

deemed to be the best solution. 

Recent research done last year (2015) 

indicated that this was perhaps not the ideal 

system nor a long-term effective solution. 

Subsequent investigations revealed the 

possible true extent of the osmosis plus the 

correct procedures to eliminate further risk and 

correctly repair the damage to the hull. 

It must be understood that the original 

evidence of osmosis on this vessel was a 

multitude of small bumps that, when broken 

open for examination, gave off fluid with a 

characteristic smell of vinegar/acetic acid. 

Research Findings 

Chemists working with polyesters 

and peroxide catalysts are not always in 

agreement as to the real reasons for osmosis. 

The actual degradation process is hydrolysis, 

but convention uses the word osmosis. As a 

result I decided to combine two theories and 

to investigate the present best practices around 

Europe. Two theories were the most credible. 

Briefly, one school of thought states 

that resins cannot adequately cure at room 

temperature and therefore require a post cure 

to promote a full and complete reaction of the 

various components, ultimately resulting in a 

totally cured final product. Resin pockets for 

various reasons are formed in the laminates, 

and when water eventually gets to them, will 

start a reverse process (hydrolysis) that breaks 

down the polyester, leaving behind the fibres. 

When studied closely it actually looks as if there 

is resin starvation in the affected area. Thus it 

becomes apparent that gelcoats as formulated 

then, and possibly now, are not as impervious 

to water ingress into the substrate as originally 

thought! 

The other school of thought I looked at 

denied the above, although they did grudgingly 

accept that post cured GRP was not as 

susceptible to osmosis as the uncured. The 

decomposition of the polyester resin was, in 

their opinion, attributed purely to the action 

of water. Their solution was to separate the 

polyester resin substrate, which might contain 

some unreacted resin components, from 

the water. This was achieved by keeping the 

underwater hull encapsulated in an envelope 

of epoxy resin which has a far higher resistance 

to water ingress. This impervious barrier would 

prevent the commencement of hydrolysis. 

This opinion also stated that the boat should 

be dried out from the inside with fans. I failed 

to see how this could be practical as in any 

boat most of the furniture will not allow the 

air to reach the internal surfaces of the hull in 

any significant quantity. Any treatment with a 

dehumidifier would also do extensive damage 

to the furniture by excessive removal of moisture 

from any wood components. 

With the onset of osmosis and consequent 


development of blisters, major structural 

damage to the hull will result. All experts at least 

agree on that point! 

Once acknowledging that osmosis exists 

one can continue sailing, which could court 

disaster and is not very seamanlike, or sell. 

Selling the problem on to another party is an 

option unfortunately chosen by some, but 

surveyors who are qualified should reject any 

hull with blisters and should, in their report, 

indicate the need for repair. Surely anyone who 

buys a boat without a survey needs to examine 

the real costs of boat ownership? It must be 

taken as a given that any boat, however well 

appointed, will be practically valueless should 

osmosis (in reality ‘hydrolysis’) have advanced 

to such a degree as to seriously compromise the 

structural integrity of the hull. 

With a belt and braces approach and 

additional research I decided to combine the 

two processes and felt confident that the work 

accomplished was a very good insurance 

against further damage to the hull. 

The procedure that I finally adopted was a 

comprehensive programme that was costly and 

labour intensive, but ultimately, in my opinion, 

provided the optimum solution to preserve the 

asset. 

How Did it Work Out in Practice? 

I proceeded to remove the epoxy applied 

over the gelcoat together with the gelcoat. 

Several methods were proposed. Sandblasting 

was rejected because of the proximity of 

a neighbour, as was grinding off with a final 

polishing to smooth off the irregularities. 

However it is my view that sandblasting is the 

ideal method in terms of rapidity and surface 

finish obtained. 

The other option was a gelcoat peeler 

which is also quick, and with the right operator, 

will give a uniform surface finish. 

I eventually opted to grind. The fibre layups 

were revealed and moisture meter readings 

were taken off the entire hull. 

Getting back to the process, I then applied 

heating pads to the hull using a vacuum 

bagging method to firmly hold the pads to the 

compound curvature of the hull. The resin 

suppliers suggested four hours at a maximum 

of 90 degrees Celsius, as is presently done 

internationally in all ‘post-curing’ of GRP/FRP. 

A very careful log was kept of all the important 

parameters allowing strict control of the process. 

I measured temperature, ambient and heating, 

vacuum pressure, amps and also logged the 

position, date, start and finish times with a 

column for remarks on any issues, including the 

weather. 

Note that the heating pads used were quite 

large (600mm x 900mm) and that the set-up 

of the vacuum bagging took about one hour. 

As mentioned with this method the heating 

pads were firmly applied to the hull and were 

quite effective in maintaining localised heat. 

Temperature control was by thermocouple. 

Hysteresis levels were acceptable (5 degrees) 

and the heating was evenly distributed. On 

the odd occasion the faint smell of resin 

curing became apparent, ‘proving’ that some 

uncured resin pockets were still embedded in 

the laminate after 30 years. As I proceeded 

along the hull it became quite apparent that the 

heated areas were a darker shade of grey than 

the unheated areas. Again an indication that 

some curing was taking place? 

The entire hull was completed after about 

a month of heating. On weekends it was 

sometimes possible to do two ‘cures’, but 

generally it was one ‘cure’ a day done after 

normal work hours. On particularly cold days 

with high winds or rain, no heating took place. 

With the moisture meter readings I 

experienced some difficulty in determining a 

true indication of any changes. The fluctuating 

readings were disconcerting, although I believe 

that overall they were significantly lower than 

the original readings. However it is doubtful that 

moisture content and post-curing can be linked. 

The hull had been in the yard out of the water 

for some 10 years. Drying and curing are in 

Moisture readings being taken. 

reality two distinct and separate processes, but 

both necessary for the eradication of osmosis. 

As an aside on moisture meters, it is difficult 

to get an exact recommendation of what should 

actually be the moisture meter reading to 

indicate a dry hull. I eventually referenced our 

readings to the rudder, high at 15% to 24%, 

above the waterline, low at 1% to 4%, and 

the underwater hull itself at 6% to 10%. These 

readings were mapped on a chart. 

The next part of the process was the 

application of epoxy with two layers of glass 

cloth. The fairing off to remove joint ridges and 

any asperities was relatively simple as the hull 

was quite smooth. 

Subsequently another three coats of epoxy 

was applied to complete the entire process. 


The hull dried out and ready for final 

finishing. 

Was it Worth All this Work and Effort? 

There are some boats built in the ‘80s in 

South Africa which are notorious for having 

severe osmosis problems. The rapid curing in 

moulds from high ambient temperatures and 

lack of professional management control in the 

early days of boat building resulted in some 

osmosis prone hulls being produced. Whilst this 

particular boat was well constructed overall, it 

was still subjected to the osmosis problem. 

My conviction is that I correctly assessed 

the need and established the best solution based 

on current thinking. Likewise I have developed 

a procedure that is cost effective and efficient. 

I have in essence accepted the premise of good 

practice used in Europe, America and elsewhere 

to ‘post cure’ new builds, and I have likewise 

replicated the process used for the treatment 

of osmosis affected boats as is presently being 

done by the best boatyards in UK and Europe. 

About the Author. Of French extraction, he was 

brought up in Rhodesia and left Zimbabwe in 

2002. He sailed his home built steel Tahitiana to 

Port Elizabeth from Beira. With an engineering 

background and a passion for boats he taught boat 

building at the Boat Building Academy in Lyme 

Regis, and the Exeter College. Now resident in Port 

Elizabeth, he loves nothing more than working on 

boats. He is happy to offer his services, and invites 

comment on this article. Contact him at: peboats@ 

yahoo.co.za • 


Book Reviews 

Available from SAILING Books. 

Tel: 031 709 6087 or e-mail: books@sailing.co.za 

www.sailingbooks.co.za 

The Complete Day Skipper (5th) 

By Tom Cunliffe 

Published by Bloomsbury 

Cunliffe is one of those rare breed of people who not only know 

their subject, but can write about it too. 

Here he takes the RYA syllabus as a framework to support a 

skipper’s growing experience at sea. It begins with yacht handling 

under power, moves on to boat husbandry and sailing skills 

and then goes on to explore 

navigation, from steering clear 

of trouble to the practical use 

of modern electronic navigation 

systems. 

It is worth understanding up 

front that in terms of its title, ‘A 

Day Skipper is one competent 

to take charge of a small yacht 

on short daytime passages under 

moderate weather conditions, in 

waters with which he or she is 

familiar’. 

All illustrations are in colour, 

and there are useful highlighted 

sidebars of text explaining specific 

items - like up front in the book 

is the sidebar entitled ‘Engine 

Checks’. This and others provide 

valuable additional info for those 

acquiring skills and learning what is required for this certificate of 

competence. There are also sidebars of ‘Skipper’s Tip’. 

The thickness of the book may put some off initially, but believe 

me, it is crammed full of really good and practical information, all 

of which is necessary to become a day skipper. So don’t be put off, 

and simply take it section for section, chapter by chapter, and work 

through it logically. 

There is information on navigation, engine troubleshooting, 

weather, anchoring, mooring and boat handling, plus emergencies. 

Oh, and don’t gloss over the ‘Etiquette’ chapter - it’s as important as 

all the others. 

This is a good beginners book - use it and learn from it as it will 

stand you in good stead, of that there is absolutely no doubt. And 

keep it for reference on a reguar basis too! 

The Catamaran Book (3rd) 

By Brian Phipps 

Published by Fernhurst Books 

It is always important to present the credentials of the author in a 

book of this nature. Phipps has been involved in manufacturing, 

sailing and racing catamarans since 1978 and runs Windsport Cat 

Clinics - a specialist sailing school that provides an introduction to 

the practical business of catamaran sailing. 

There are very few books written on this subject, and while this 

was first published in 1998, it is now in its third edition - a testament 

to its usefulness and demand. For anyone new to day cat sailing, 

this book will most definitely assist as it covers the basics, then skills 

development, racing and finally gennickers and twin-trapezing. 

It’s easy to follow, is well illustrated and has many sidebars to 

further explain specifics. 

As cat sailing is seeing a resurgence in this country, there have 

to be many new cat sailors out there in need of tuition and sage 

confidence-building advice. Get it here rather than from around the 

pub! • 


OLYMPICS. RIO 2016 

The Time Has Come 

By Richard Crockett 

Stefano Marcia. 

pic byPedro Martinez/SailingEnergy/ISAF 

The Rio Olympic games 

are just around the 

corner now, and our 

sailing Olympians have 

been on the international 

sailing circuit for some 

years, honing their skills 

against the best in the 

world, gaining valuable 

experience, and simply 

preparing themselves 

and their boats for the 

Olympic competition. 

Some may view their 

lifestyle as glamorous, 

while others believe 

it may be fun and quite 

easy. It’s NOT, believe me 

as these three guys have 

sweated blood, sacrificed 

much, and personally 

given up a regular day-today 

lifestyle in their quest for a spot in the South African Olympic squad - 

and a shot at Gold! 

In these interviews, our team of Stefano Marcia (Laser), Asenathi 

Jim and Roger Hudson (470) reveal just what they have done to prepare 

themselves for what may be the biggest event of their sailing lives. They 

have revealed a side of the campaign few have known about, let alone 

thought about, or connected to what is an all-encompassing Olympic 

campaign. Readers now have a first time insight into the lives of our 

Olympic sailors. 

The Olympics are now 

around the corner. Have 

you done everything 

possible to maximise 

your possibilities in Rio? 

Stefano. I believe 

I went about my first 

Olympic campaign the 

right way and my focus 

is still on finishing in the 

top 15 at the games. There 

are still big flaws in my 

sailing, but I’m working on 

that everyday and trying 

my absolute best to be 

fully prepared when the 

time comes this August 

Roger Hudson & Asenathi Jim. 

to put everything else 

pic by Sander van der Borch 

behind me and focus 

solely on that week of 

racing. 

Asenathi. I feel that we have done a lot to get to where we are today. 

Most importantly moving our basic training base to Cape Town to do all our 

training from home, rather than in Europe, has been very positive. What I 

have learnt through campaigning is that you can never say you have done 

absolutely everything to prepare. There are so many things to optimize that 

you always have the fear something has been missed since every day there 

is something new and interesting to learn. 

Roger. I really hope so! I can say that we have given our absolute all to 

maximising the Rio result and simultaneously worked hard at building for 

the future beyond Rio. It has been a fascinating Olympic cycle, full of tough 

challenges, a few disappointments and some very sweet successes. We’ve 

certainly put together a campaign and wider project over the four years 

since London 2012 that we feel proud of. 

In terms of how we’ve tried to maximise it, the story is probably best 

told by the numbers: Since London 2012 Asenathi and I have re-located 

our campaign base from Europe to Africa, setting up two training bases in 

Cape Town. We’ve run 320 training days in South Africa in 470s, inviting 

and including a total of 35 promising young SA sailors in these sessions 

along the way. We’ve made 22 international trips, completed over 100 

training days overseas, and competed at 54 international regattas, 51 of 

them Olympic class events, as well as three other World Championships 

(SB20 class) where we finished 1st, 3rd and 4th. In terms of performance 

in the 470, over the last 4 years we’ve improved our world ranking from 

47th to 15th and qualified for Gold Fleet at all 8 of the World and European 

Championships over the 4-year cycle and posted 470 world championship 

results from 2013 to 2016 of 35, 32, 21 & 11. 

Alongside our direct Rio 2016 campaign we’ve opened our 420 SAbased 

training sessions to the best performing SA youngsters and we’ve 

invited and hosted 10 international Olympic-class sailors from Germany, 

France, Canada, Sweden, Greece and Angola to South Africa. We’ve 

developed a diverse RSA 470 training squad of eight committed talented 

sailors and set up mini-campaigns for nine diverse young SA sailors to 

compete at a total of 11 international championships (in addition to our 

campaign events), producing solid and at times spectacular results. We’ve 

also given four members of our 470 training squad the opportunity to be in 

the coach-boat, observing and supporting us at a total of 10 senior Olympic 

sailing circuit events in France, Germany, Denmark, USA, Argentina, Spain 

and Brazil - including at Rio 2016 itself. 

To fund the campaign, we’ve engaged six corporate sponsors, secured 

Operation Excellence contracts with SASCOC, proposed and initiated 

an objective results-driven funding mechanism with SAS for all South 

African Olympic class sailors meeting the performance criteria. This 

has enabled funding from SAS not just for ourselves but also five other 

young SA Olympic class sailors. We’ve also secured a dollar-based 

funding scholarship through the IOC. Through all of these partnerships 

and agreements we’ve steadily built up the funding of the campaign and 


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overall project from under R1 million in 2013 to just over R2.5 million in 

2016, enabling us to start to compete on a more level playing field with the 

major international Olympic sailing teams and also to develop and fund a 

future talent squad through these four years who have gained substantial 

international Olympic-class experience. 

When I was a 14 year boy in 1992 I watched in awe as the first SA 

Olympic sailing team since the Rome 1960 Olympics stepped out onto 

the Olympic stage at Barcelona 1992, and it was deeply inspiring. That 

inspiration really drives us today to try to make the best of every opportunity 

for this campaign and for those around us who are also prepared to think 

big and most importantly work hard at the coalface of Olympic sailing. 

I really hope we can maximise our potential in Rio, and then continue 

to progress SA Olympic sailing into the future. 

Would you do anything differently? 

Stefano. That’s a difficult one to answer and there are often many 

different ways to achieving the same goal, but I believe in my abilities and 

don’t think I would have done anything different as it was a tough task 

getting qualified for the games in less then two years. We all sometimes 

wonder “WHAT IF” we had done that differently, but these are all choices 

we make everyday. Being an Olympic sailor it doesn’t help wondering 

‘WHAT IF’ but rather why you made that decision. 

Asenathi. If I look back on it now and see where my decisions at the 

time have put me right now, I can say that I would do one thing differently. 

After the London 2012 Olympics I should have moved myself out of the 

township earlier because it’s such a big challenge trying to balance yourself 

between two different worlds which made our campaign really hard to 

function. Also trying to make new friends and be part of their group was 

hard because I didn’t fit in with their lifestyle. 

Roger. We could have set up a base in Rio earlier, as many teams 

did two, three or even four years ago, in an attempt to work more on 

understanding the Rio conditions. Instead we stayed 100% on the circuit, 

concentrated on improving and qualifying, and then focussed our last 100 

days intensively on understanding Rio. I’m very pleased with how that has 

gone. 

With the help of some excellent members of our team, we’ve managed 

to access some detailed and very useful tide and wind data and we’ve 

now competed in several regattas in Rio, testing it all and building our 

understanding. We’ve done around 30 days training in Rio, although some 

teams have probably done 120 days or more. Some big teams sent brand 

new boats and full equipment to Rio four years ago and have been back 

and forth continually. But then again some teams set up bases in Rio and 

didn’t actually manage to qualify, which is the other side of that coin. The 

campaign is full of these kinds of situations where you have to think very 

carefully and balance two separate agendas. It’s just one of the things that 

makes this whole process so interesting. 

Is there anything you would have liked to do that you have not done, or 

that funds simply did not permit? 

Stefano. Funding is always an issue and often doesn’t permit for a lot 

of things to work out in the campaign. I really would have liked to have 

sailed the last world cup event in Weymouth before the games to just 

redeem myself and get the confidence back. Also not having a full time 

coach makes it hard to keep progressing at a steady rate, and coaching is 

the main cost of the Olympic budget. New gear every season would have 

made small, but substantial differences, and having new sails for most of the 

regattas would have also made those small differences. My budget didn’t 

allow for that and I looked to work around solutions which often didn’t 

always work out the way I would have wanted it to. 

Asenathi. Roger has made sure that we were never short of funds over 

this cycle by securing six private sponsors. These sponsors have helped us 

do all the necessary events, and have the right equipment for this level of 

competition. 

Roger. If we’d had double the funding I think I probably would have 

tried to hire a really top 470 coach. But there are not many out there who 

really are the real deal, and the best ones are typically locked into very juicy 

contracts with big sailing teams. They can cost $750 per day or more and 

you need them for 100 plus days a year, so you’re looking for over R1m 

per year before you start flying them around and accommodating them. 

And then, vitally, you need the chemistry to work between the coach and 

the team. It is astounding how many teams on the circuit sign top coaches, 

battle to connect properly with them, produce worse results than they 

have before, and then split up, often acrimoniously. So instead we have 

primarily spent our funds elsewhere, focussing on being at as many toplevel 

competitions as possible, and on training hard. We’ve taken it upon 

ourselves to build our technical understanding internally, occasionally 

drawing on an international expert as a consultant, which I would say 

overall has been very good for us and for SA in many ways. Few other 

teams have made the progress we have over the last four years, so I believe 

our approach has been efficient and worthwhile. 

If you could have changed one single thing in your campaign what would 

it have been? 

Stefano. Having the funds to base myself in Sydney and receive 

coaching everyday. 

Roger. I would have helped Asenathi to move out of the Township 

sooner. It is one thing to transform yourself from a talented young sailor into 

a top-20 player in Olympic sailing. And this is anything but easy. But it is 

quite another thing to transform yourself from township life to cosmopolitan 

living along with international travel, sophisticated work and the constant 

demands of professional sport. 

As much as we love our roots and the people who form them, these 

things can hold us back from adapting to the challenging worlds into which 

we are striving to move and establish ourselves. These themes exist for so 

many sports people and professionals, but I can’t think of a more radical 

scenario than trying to transition from a South African township to the 

international world of Olympic sailing and all that goes with it. We tried for 

18 months to keep Asenathi sort of 50/50 with a foot in his township home 

for comfort, but we just got dragged backwards every time we thought we 

had progressed, and eventually took the tough, but firm decision to move 

on. With the generous support of Mike Hayton and the social help of 

special people like Alexa Brown, Alex Burger, William Crockett and Brevan 

Thompson, we came up with a beautiful solution in Green Point, just 

minutes away from our training base in Granger Bay. It has done wonders 

for the campaign’s progress, and also for Asenathi in general as he has 

formed a network of genuine, and I suspect lifelong friends. It has not been 

an easy process, but as ever Asenathi’s inner steel is strong enough to cope 

and his character is able to do what needs to be done. 

What is the single highlight of your campaign that sticks with you most at 

this point? 

Stefano. The day I was sitting in Mike Hayton’s office and he gave me 

his full support and backing to get to the Olympics, That day will forever be 

a highlight in my life and sailing career. 


OLYMPIC SAILING By Daniel Smith 

Checkmate! 

In sailing, a slight lapse of concentration is often the 

difference between first and tenth place. It’s vital 

that sailors keep their focus, look ahead and plan 

their attacks. This is the key to success but it’s all 

good and well saying that, but how can you train 

for that? 

A sports psychologist? Perhaps a well renowned 

coach? Or a spot of yoga? 

For two South African sailors, Asenathi Jim 

and Roger Hudson, the answer is simple and it’s the 

world’s most popular board game, chess. 

A game of strategy, critical thinking, emotional 

intelligence, logic, mathematics and efficiency, the 

characteristics needed to be a chess grandmaster are 

incredibly similar to those required to become a great 

sailor. 

It keeps you thinking at least one step ahead of 

your rival whilst also provoking a rivalry, something 

the South Africans thrive on. 

“We compete in everything,” smiled Hudson. 

Jim added, “We play a lot of chess against each other 

so it makes things a lot more competitive.” 

Hudson continued, “[Chess] is very good for 

focussing and concentrating. It’s part of what we do 

and we have many competitive aspects, but you need 

some good healthy competition amongst yourselves 

as a team and also amongst the whole South African 

squad to try and sharpen each other as much as we 

can. 

“Chess is about thinking many steps ahead, 

about having a good strategy with clever tactics 

on top of your strategy. It’s about focus and 

concentration so it’s a natural fit for the mental part of 

a sailor’s game. 

“We also enjoy it. It’s a great way to spend time 

in airports and wherever else we have time around 

the world.” 

Jim concluded, “We’re playing chess when 

we’re waiting for planes to arrive or when we’re 

waiting to sail. Sitting in the sun sometimes and 

chatting to people waiting to race drains and kills your 

energy. Chess keeps us more focussed.” 

Jim and Hudson have been focussed on their 

chess, as well as their sailing, ever since they teamed 

up for their first regatta, the 2011 Delta Lloyd Regatta 

in Medemblik, the Netherlands. 

The regatta was the start of their journey to the 

London 2012 Olympic Games that stemmed from a 

conversation Hudson had with Jim on the water in 

Cape Town. Hudson asked Jim what his dream was 

and Jim answered, “To be an Olympic sailor.” 

Jim, originally from a rural Eastern Cape 

township, had struggled in school and eventually left 

prior to their first regatta together. Shortly after Jim left 

school he teamed up with Hudson through the Race 

Ahead Foundation, set up by 1992 Olympian Dave 

Hudson, father of Roger. 

The Race Ahead Foundation aims to motivate 

young, talented, hungry sailors from underprivileged 

backgrounds, giving them the sailing equipment and 

coaching required to succeed. 

Less than one year after Jim and Hudson 

partnered up, they had qualified for the London 2012 

Olympic Games. They finished 26th out of 27 at 

London 2012 but their story had only just begun. 

Over the Rio 2016 quadrennial they have 

made significant strides, moving up the rankings and 

claiming podium finishes along the way. A sharpened 

up campaign where they’ve focussed on items such 

as concentration and tactical astuteness, all things 

required in a game of chess, have enabled them to 

achieve their goals. 

On the mental side of the game, Hudson 

concluded, “If you take care of all the various aspects 

of preparation such as your equipment, your physical 

preparation and sailing preparation, and you do a 

really good job of it, then the mentality falls into place. 

“If you can get yourself into that position and 

then normally, having your mind relaxed is something 

that falls naturally. If you take care of all the things you 

can take care of the best you can, then you normally 

enter an event in a great state of mind.” 

The South Africans’ strong state of mind, 

exceptional relationship and continued progression 

has propelled them into a team firmly in contention 

and a top ten, or even top five finish is certainly not 

beyond the pair at Rio 2016. • 

Asenathi. It’s actually one of our most recent events in Argentina when 

we were leading a world championship half way through. What happened 

on that day will forever be in my mind. To wear a yellow jersey! 

Roger. Winning Medemblik in 2014 was amazing, as was making our 

first major medal race at in Miami in 2015. There was a race at Marseille 

in 2015 that we won whist keeping Mathew Belcher (London 2012 Gold 

Medallist) behind us in second place all the way. Qualifying for Rio 2016 

under immense pressure at the 2015 Israel Worlds, was also very sweet. 

But I’d have to say that the single highlight of the campaign (so far!) 

for me was winning race five of the 2016 Argentina Worlds and taking the 

lead overnight at the mid-way stage. It was just surreal the way that it all 

happened. We were pretty amazingly in third place overall after two days 


and three races, and then we made a ridiculous bungle on the tow out to 

the start on day three, sailing over the tow-line as it went slack in a moment 

when the coach-boat slowed down, and then getting it hooked behind 

the centreboard as the coach-boat re-accelerated. We damaged our Mylar 

gasket in the centreboard casing quite badly and with almost no time before 

the start, we had to cut away the damaged parts with the boat on its side, 

out on the water, just before the start of race four. Somehow, boat on its side 

bouncing in the waves, I got the gasket into half decent shape with a pair of 

scissors, but in honesty it was a mess for something that needs to be 100% 

perfect for the boat to be fast at this level. Anyway, we closed our eyes, took 

a deep breath and went to the start. Somehow we had a decent first race 

and then we won race 5, chasing down the German Olympian all the way 

round the track from second place, and then nicking him on the gybe-set 

on the final downwind to win it. I thought we were going to have a disaster 

that day with a badly damaged gasket, yet we went and took the lead of the 

world championship with a race win. It was crazy. The next day we were in 

the yellow jerseys and I don’t even have a photo of that to remember it! 

Who has had the most influence on your campaign, and in what way? 

Stefano. Rudolph Holm and Gareth Blackenburg, Rudi had starting 

taking me to my first overseas events and from there we have always linked 

up for training and coaching when I’m back in SA. Gareth has always 

offered his help and guidance through my campaign. Rudi and Gareth have 

always been willing to help me out all the time and given up so much of 

their time to train or reply back to my sometimes annoying questions. 

Asenathi. Roger Hudson for sure. He is the person who believed in me 

and who has been a role model. I don’t think I would be who I am today 

without him and his hard work. 

Roger. In the big picture, my Dad for sure. The way he qualified 

for Barcelona in 1992 at 45 years-old sparked an inspiration in me that 

drives this project today. He is a unique treasure. More immediately, 

Asenathi is a major key to this project, because of the sheer scale of the 

challenge that he has risen to. To me he has redefined the meaning of the 

word ‘transformation’, performing an astonishing self-adaptation from one 

extremely harsh and difficult world, the South African Township, to another 

extremely harsh and difficult world, International Olympic sailing. He has 

endured the pain of this transition with a strength that is truly Olympian. 

His success brings a relevance to this project that enables it to be so much 

more, and to do so much more. 

And then, on a daily basis, Lucia, the love of my life and mum of my 

little children, who backed this project 100% from the start and throughout, 

even though it meant that we would spend many years living on a very 

tight budget. She supports and works for the project in all sorts of ways that 

almost nobody even knows about. Her sacrifice is greater, and her upside 

is less than any of the others involved, and she does it all with a grace and 

unflinching commitment that is inspiring. If anyone deserves a medal after 

all of this, she does. 

What are your realistic expectations in Rio? 

Stefano. At this stage being 40 odd days out of the Games a realistic 

finish would be in the top 25 which isn’t a horrible result, but isn’t what 

I want to get, so I’ve set my goal higher to finish top 15 by the time the 

Games finish. 

Asenathi. We made a goal right after London 2012 Olympics which is 

to be in top 10 in Rio. It is not easy to reach, but we are doing everything 

we can to live up to our goal to be in the top ten allows us to challenge for 

a medal. 

Roger. We’ve said since London 2012 that our goal for Rio is a top 

10 finish. It seemed a very long way off for a small African sailing team in 

September 2012 when we were ranked 47th in the world. Today we are 

ranked 15th and finished the 2016 Worlds 11th, so on paper we are close, 

but not quite there. 

Nonetheless, I believe 100% that if we perform at our potential 

between August 10 and 18, we will achieve this goal and maybe more. This 

in spite of the fact that I know that the top 20-odd 470 teams in the world 

are all utterly exceptional sailors and have all run brilliant campaigns, some 

for 20 years. But I do believe in our potential. And I know at this stage that 

the key is simply to do the things that will put us in a position where we can 

perform at our potential in Rio. It may sound simple, but this is the biggest 

sailing week of our lives. Half of it will come down to years of preparation, 

and we have prepared very well, as have the others. The other half will 

come down to rising to the occasion. 

What is your wildest dream for Rio? 

Stefano. Winning a race at the Olympics and being in a position to win 

a medal for the country would be a fairy tale finish to this Olympic cycle. 

Asenathi. A Gold Medal. 

Roger. It involves shiny metallic discs clinking together as Asenathi and 

I hug one another. 

What do you hope to bring back from Rio? 

Stefano. I would love to come back with a medal, but that’s a little far 

fetched. I know I will learn a lot from taking part in such a prestigious event 

and I hope to encourage the youth to chase their dreams and be the future 

of the sport in our country. 

Asenathi. A Gold Medal around my neck. 

Roger. More hope and belief in a great future for SA Olympic sailing. 

And shiny metallic discs. 

Any thanks you would like to express? 

Stefano. There are so many people I need to thank so apologise if I’ve 

left anyone out. Firstly I would have to thank my dad for being very pushy 

and supportive. He has always taken me training or to places I’ve needed to 

be, no matter the time of day. Evelyn and Malcolm Osborne who started me 

out in sailing and gave me my first lessons on Benoni Dam. Rudolph Holm 

and Gareth Blanckenberg for being the mentors any up and coming sailor 

needs. Then there are Mike and Barbara Hayton who have given up so 

much time to help organise and fund my Olympic campaign - thank you for 

the support and for backing AMTEC Racing. 

Asenathi. I would like start off with my team mate and mentor Roger 

Hudson for all the things he has done for me. Then there’s everyone else 

that’s involved in our team, who have helped me get to where I am right 

now. Not only in terms of sailing, but in all parts of my life. David Hudson 

who has supported us wherever he can since the beginning of this seven 

year campaign. Then a big thanks to team RaceAhead and all the people 

who are involved to make things happen behind the scenes, especially 

Lucia Grundlingova. To our Federation, a big thanks for getting boats 

into the country to allow the campaign to be based in South Africa and 

making it possible for us to include young South African talent. Finally to 

our sponsors who played a big role in making this campaign work and for 

being behind it all the way to the Rio. They are: Southern Charter Wealth 

Management; Open Box; Homechoice; Synergy; Macsteel; AMTEC; SAS; 

SASCOC and the IOC. And a big thank you to all our followers and 

supporters. 

Roger. Many, unfortunately too many to mention them all here. But to 

everyone who has followed and supported us through this campaign, you 

should know that every word of encouragement floats us a little higher and 

moves us a little faster. 

I must especially thank those who have backed us financially and 

enabled the campaign. To South African Sailing, particularly Rob M’Crystal, 

who got behind us and the 470 project immediately after London 2012. 

More recently Philip Baum and Peter Hall, for driving forward Lotto 

funding at SAS and for having the courage to implement South Africa’s first 

objective - a results-based Olympic sailing funding structure. To SASCOC 

for strongly and consistently supporting us through Operation Excellence 

since April 2013. To the IOC for supporting us with funding since August 

2014. To Southern Charter and Mark Thompson. OpenBox Software 

and Malcolm Hall. Synergy Income Fund, especially William Brooks and 

Sedise Moseneke for sponsoring our project for the full four-year cycle. To 

HomeChoice and Rick Garratt. Macsteel Maestros and Gill Marcus. Lastly, 

and not least is AMTEC, especially Mike Hayton who has supported us 

since 2014 with funding and other vital support to our campaign. Together 

you’ve made it all possible. 

Finally, What message would you like to give to those thinking about an 

Olympic campaign? 

Asenathi. If you want to campaign you need to go all out and be able to 

accept disappointments along the way, but the rewards are huge. 

Roger. The Olympics is about brilliance. About seeking and finding 

your own special ability to be brilliant and measuring that brilliance against 

others from all over the world. All in the name of doing yourself, your 

family, your community and your country proud. In pushing for this we 

find ourselves under immense strain and pressure at times. But amazingly, 

whether your brilliance ultimately falls short of the competition, or proves 

to be victorious, there is the most incredible contentment in the knowledge 

that you truly gave your best to such a cause. What really stands out to me 

is how the process of struggling and striving to one’s maximum tends to 

teach the secrets to a happy life. As Aristotle said, “the roots of education 

are bitter, but the fruits are sweet”. The same could be said for Olympic 

campaigning. • 


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OLYMPIC RECALL 

Thoughts from Post 

1992 Olympians 


The 1992 team which was selected immediately after the trials. 

BACK. William Tyson; Martin Lambrecht; Dave Hudson; Eric Cook; Bruce Savage; Ian Ainslie & Marina Ceruti. 

FRONT. Alec Lanham-Love; Dave Kitchen; Geoff Stevens; Rick Mayhew & Giles Stanley. 

With our team on their way to the Olympics, and their interviews carried 

elsewhere in this issue, it is worth looking back at our Olympic teams 

which competed in The Games since South Africa’s re-admission. 

That was a very emotional time as for so long South African athletes had 

been denied the opportunity of competing against the best in the world. But 

after being in isolation for so long, many athletes were simply overawed by 

the occasion or realised how severe that isolation period had been as they 

were simply starved of international competition and were not in the frame - 

not by a long shot anyway . 

Our sailors were no exception either, but in true ‘Jaapie’ style they 

soldiered on, flew the flag high and with pride, and did their absolute best in 

difficult circumstances, especially as some had qualified in boats that were 

not Olympic class boats. 

For the 1992 Games, a tough selection series was held off Durban 

over a week-long period in an attempt to replicate the real life sailing of the 

Olympics. It was a 12 race series with two discards. Plus all competitors had 

to go through the rigours of complete boat and sail measurement plus crew 

weigh-ins. 

So keen were our local sailors to compete and earn a place in the 

Olympic squad, that new boats were acquired internationally and imported 

specially. Four new Solings were brought in by Sandy Ord; Geoff Meek, 

Chris King and Bruce Savage. Early form showed that the Chris King, Rick 

Nankin and Gary Holliday combination were the ones to beat, but in the 

end, and with just the final race to sail, it was a duel between King and 

Savage that would determine the final result. Positions changed regularly, 

until on the final beat King made a decision to go for Sandy Ord who was 

leading the race, and try to win it, as Savage was back in fourth spot. He left 

Savage alone and failed to catch Ord, slipping into third spot with Savage 

ahead. So it was Savage with Giles Stanley and Rick Mayhew who ended 

winning selection. 

In the Finns Ian Ainslie won all but one race, with Dave Collins and Ali 

Serritslev runners-up. 

The Fireballs, as a substitute for the 470, was hotly contested, although 

Greg and Malcolm Hall and Martin Lambrecht with Alec Lanham-Love 

were the hot favourites. Lambrecht and Lanham-Love were fourth overall 

after seven races, but fought back to win all the last races, and with it 

selection. The final race was just a three boat affair in what was really a 

showdown between the Halls and Lambrecht/Lanham-Love. The Halls were 

the overall leaders with just the final race to go. Lambrecht capsized on 

the start line, but fought back to capture the lead at the halfway point, and 

eventually take the gun and Olympic selection. 

The FD was no exception in terms of money spent and effort invested. 

Having just returned from the FD worlds in new Zealand, Rob Willcox and 

his crew Grant Davidge-Pitts were favourites, with few people appearing 

to rate Dave Hudson/Dave Kitchen as contenders. By halfway, Willcox/ 

Davidge-Pitts were convincingly ahead in each race, and overall. Hudson 


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looked out of it, but he is someone who never gives up, and fights hard 

when down. After much thought and analysis he planned his comeback and 

won the final four races to put him back in contention. The final race was a 

match race with the lead changing regularly. Hudson came back to win by 

48 seconds and scrape into the team by just 0,4 of a point! 

The value of those trials cannot ever be underestimated as they were 

tough and unrelenting, and at that time undoubtedly the correct choice in 

terms of selecting a team. 

I managed to track down most of our post readmission Olympic sailors, 

and posed some questions to them. Their answers are varied and interesting, 

but with space limited, selected responses have been used. 

What is the most poignant Olympic moment you have from the Games 

you attended? 

Ian Ainslie. Walking into the stadium for the opening ceremony in 

Barcelona, feeling very proud that we were part of the world again (even 

with no flag or anthem). Watching Elana Meyer, track side, winning a 

silver medal. Leading for most of my first ever Olympic race, when I was 

completely clueless, thinking “this seems to be quite easy”! 

Rick Mayhew. Entering the Olympic Stadium to a standing ovation for 

the ‘92 Opening Ceremony after 26 years of isolation from the Games was 

incredibly emotional given the significance for South Africa and such an 

awe-inspiring experience that I will never forget. 

Dave Hudson. The thunderous welcome that the spectators gave South 

Africa when we entered the packed stadium for the opening ceremony will 

be with me forever, but there was a moment of sadness when I thought 

of the generation of top young SA sportsmen and women who had been 

denied the opportunity. 

Dave Hibberd. The opening ceremony and the first race as I rounded 

the first mark in second place. 

Gareth Blanckenberg. Walking into the stadium for the opening 

ceremony at Sydney in 2000: it brought this overwhelming sense of 

realisation of where I was at, and what I had achieved. 

Dominique Provoyeur. I guess, not making the medal race. This was a 

sad moment, knowing that our two year campaign had come to an end. We 

achieved more than many expected by qualifying, but I just assumed we 

would get it right when it counted and finish in the top 10. 

Penny Alison. The races are all a blur in my memory, I just remember it 

being very light wind, lots of current and us doing really well to the first top 

The Soling Team on the road in Europe way back in 1992. 

mark, but then struggling downwind with a spinnaker that did not want to 

fly with current against us. But the best moment would have to be walking 

on stage at the Qingdao Sailors Opening Ceremony flying the SA flag. 

Clynton Wade-Lehman. I guess it was that we under achieved. We had 

won regattas in the lead up against the same people, but just had a bad 

week. 

Alec Lanham-Love. Walking into the stadium for the opening ceremony 

with South Africans from all political spectrums coming together as a 

“nation” for the first time prior to the elections. 

Was the Olympics the pinnacle of your sailing career & if so, why? 

Dave Hudson. Yes. Competing in the Games was a unique experience 

and no other sailing I’ve done comes close in that sense. I’ve always enjoyed 

racing in classic events like Cowes Week, Kiel Week, Antigua Week and 

Cork Week, and the 16 World Championships I’ve taken part in were all 

memorable, but the Olympics is completely different. Partly it’s the history, 

partly the all-out intensity of training and competing at that level, partly 

the reality that the Olympic Games is the highest goal of most sportsmen 

in most sports. Whatever the reason, you come away from the closing 

ceremony feeling that you’ve been part of something that goes far beyond 

sport itself. 

Dominique Provoyeur. The Olympics was most definitely my highest 

achievement in sailing. I am sure that holds true for any sport. But having 

said that, I have fond memories of the J22 Worlds in Durban in 2007. Racing 

against Dave Hudson, Robbie Wilcox, Dave Rae, Ian Ainslie when we were 

all in top form and surfing down some huge off-shore Durban swells. 

Kim Rew. Yes, I had not sailed competitively before, let alone 

campaigned, so campaigning for the games was the only reason I started 

sailing competitively 

Ian Ainslie. Ha ha, don’t think my career is over yet, I am only 50, 

years young! But the Olympics and racing in Olympic classes was the best 

and most challenging racing I have done. The America’s Cup was more 

technical and involved different skills. 

Penny Alison. Yes absolutely, it was a dream and goal that was 

achieved after a lot of dedication and sacrifice. It was also a journey with 

friends. It was not an easy road, but well worth it. 

Clynton Wade-Lehman. Yes and no. Yes because it was a fantastic 

experience, but just another regatta. It’s what everyone aspires to being 

part of and allows us to be included in a select group. The lifelong friends I 

have made through sailing and the opportunities it has given me and lessons 

taught that I have taken into life. 

Alec Lanham-Love. Yes and no. Yes in that you knew that the best in 

the world (from each country) in every class were participating. No, we 

were lacking knowledge and time in the 470 class having never sailed that 

type of boat, and chartering a boat was not ideal. 

Rick Mayhew. Yes, competing in the Olympics was the highest level of 

achievement for me. There is only one regatta every four years and you are 

competing against the best of the best, it’s a true test of your ability. 

Dave Hibberd. It was the pinnacle of my racing career, and currently 

sailing around the world with my family is the pinnacle of my cruising 

career. As to why, I had dreamed about the Olympics since a kid, so 

everything I did was always aimed at ultimately getting to an Olympics. 

Gareth Blanckenberg. The Olympics are certainly the pinnacle of our 

sport, but I believe my sailing career is still in progress! I’ve had so many 


onto port on the pin boat, but was mad and fast and passed everyone. 

Misjudged the current on last bit and got passed by one boat. 

Dave Hudson. Our best race was a 5th place, and we finished 19th 

overall. 

Alec Lanham-Love. I cannot think of a race that stood out other than 

the first race because it was the first race! Best position in the 20s. 

Rick Mayhew. Best race was a second in one of the fleet races in 

Atlanta ‘96. 

Dave Hibberd. I finished 16th out of 54 overall. Apparently in the 1996 

Olympics the Laser class had the biggest representation of any sport in 

that particular Olympics with 54 countries competing in one sport - says 

something of the life appeal of the Laser. I don’t remember individual race 

finishing positions but believe I had a few in top 10. 

Gareth Blanckenberg. Race win in the fifth race in Sydney 2000. I 

finished 9th overall. 

Earlier this year Rick Mayhew attended the Australian Prime Minister’s dinner in 

support of their Olympic team. He proudly wore his South African Olympic blazer 

and is seen with Brooke Hansen who won a swimming gold medal in Athens for 

Australia. 

amazing opportunities and experiences along the way, but the Olympics 

definitely rank extremely highly. 

What was your best race and finishing position? 

Dominique Provoyeur. On Penny’s birthday, 10 August 2008, we 

finished 2nd in an Olympic race – Race number 2 I think. 

I do have to mention our last race in the 2007 Yngling World 

Championships in Cascais, Portugal. We needed to beat a number of teams 

to qualify for the Games. After a number of attempts to get the race going, 

an abandonment and a 180 degree wind shift, they finally started - and we 

won the race. This was one of the happiest moments in my sailing career. 

Kim Rew. position? Winning the race that qualified us for the games 

Ian Ainslie. In Atlanta (Savannah) I got two second places in races. One 

race was in big waves and wind and I got tangled with a guy who tacked 

What advice would you give our current Olympians for Rio 2016? 

Dominique Provoyeur. One month to go... - make sure your body and 

equipment are in perfect condition. And then check them again. And again. 

Rest. Concentrate on what you know and what you do well, accept what 

you don’t and let it go. Do your routine, from the moment you wake up, 

whatever it is. Strange things are known to happen to the best athletes in 

the world at this event – so keep focussed. You have earned your spot, fight 

every second that you are racing. If you sail a boat with a teammate – this 

person is your partner, your friend – look out and protect each other. 

Ian Ainslie. The advice I give my team: your build up should allow you 

to have the most focus, inspiration and energy for the medal race (not just 

race 1). Now is the time to focus on perfecting things, not thinking you still 

need to find a magic bullet. You should make things really simple. 100% 

focus on execution at this time. This builds confidence and sharpness. 

Dave Hudson. It’s a particularly tricky venue. Time for cool heads and 

brave hearts. 

Penny Alison. Enjoy every minute of the event as it is what you have 

worked so hard to achieve. Sail your heart out, and don’t be too hard on 

yourself if you do not achieve your goal at this event. You have already done 

the hard work to get there and everyone is proud of you for representing 

South Africa. 

Clynton Wade-Lehman. Enjoy the experience, take each day and 


ace one at a time. Remember it’s just another regatta against the same 

people you have been training and racing against for four years. Don’t be 

intimidated. 

Rick Mayhew. It’s one of the best experiences you will ever have and 

an enormous honour to represent your Country. Train hard, prepare well 

and try to treat the regatta as you would any other major competition. 

The pressure of the Olympics is immense, and you don’t want to take 

unnecessary risks and make regrettable mistakes because of the event 

significance. Be confident in your ability and rely on your training. The 

margin of error is very small amongst the competition at this level. Above 

all enjoy yourselves and know that making it this far is already a huge 

achievement. - of course returning with a sailing medal however would be 

historic! Good Luck. 

Dave Hibberd. Enjoy the entire experience and don’t take it too 

seriously - by being relaxed and in good spirits you will likely sail your best. 

Most importantly never give up no matter how bad something may go! 

Gareth Blanckenberg. Asenathi and Roger have been there before 

and know what it’s all about. For Stefano Marcia: the Games is just such 

an incredible experience, take the opportunity to really soak it all up. He 

knows the rest. 

What message would you like to give to those thinking about an Olympic 

campaign? 

Dominique Provoyeur. You will never regret a campaign for the 

Olympic Games. The road is long and lonely and expensive, but it is worth 

every second of sacrifice that you will make. If you have a dream and the 

dedication, you will have the ability to be an Olympian. 

Kim Rew. Campaign? Plan, plan, plan…and fundraise! 

Ian Ainslie. Enjoy. Whatever you do with full attention and awareness, 

you can never have regrets. 

Dave Hudson. Talk to the current Olympic sailors and make sure you 

understand what’s involved. If you’re serious about it, be prepared for a 10 

year programme of really hard work. But the experience you’ll gain and the 

fun you’ll have as you work your way up the world rankings on the Olympic 

Classes circuit is reward in itself. 

Penny Alison. I think it is a dream that every young sailor should have 

and know that it is reachable, but you have to be dedicated and you will 

need help along the way. Use every resource on offer and make friends with 

the other teams campaigning as they will be your support on the journey. 

But don’t forget the people, friends and supporters back home as they will 

also help you achieve your goals. 

Clynton Wade-Lehman. It’s a huge sacrifice and needs to be 

approached as a full time job. You will experience both highs and lows. You 

need to remain disciplined and organised. 

Alec Lanham-Love. Go and live where the competition is unless your 

class is very strong internationally. 

Rick Mayhew. The commitment is significant and doesn’t come without 

some sacrifice, but when you achieve your goal the outcome is incredibly 

rewarding. Even beyond the Olympics there will be an ongoing benefit 

in business of having managed the pressures and challenges of Olympic 

competition. If you have the opportunity I would encourage you to certainly 

give it a no regret best shot. 

Dave Hibberd. It’s not easy, at least when I did it. You are your own 

coach, fund-raiser, travel agent etc, but despite that it’s well worth it. The 

people and places you meet and see along the way are worth every bit of 

heartache. Even if you never get to the Olympics the journey to get there is 

well and truly a ride most will never experience and well worth the effort. 

My motivational movie was “Cool Runnings” which means “peace be the 

journey”. 

Gareth Blanckenberg. If you believe you have what it takes and can 

make it happen, don’t hesitate. It is an incredibly hard road, but extremely 

rewarding. 

Dave Kitchen. 

Kitchen, who crewed for Dave Hudson in 1992, is a man I expected 

short responses from, but how mistaken can one be! He made his feelings 

about having competed in the Olympics very clear, so I shared his highly 

edited (due to space) contribution below: 

As all Olympians know in their creed: “it’s not in the winning, it’s in the 

taking part”. 

He also says that the Olympics is ‘the supreme sporting privilege’. 

Competing at the Olympic Games may or may not define you as a 

person. When David Hudson and I went as amateurs in 1992 it was an 

honour and a privilege to represent South Africa at the pinnacle of the sport 

I have loved and enjoyed most of my life. It was also a privilege to sail with 

David, one of the most accomplished yachtsmen in the country. 

I learnt a great deal from him about campaigns and preparation and 

have carried some of those habits forward over the past 25 years. 

I have fond memories of my Flying Dutchman days and the Barcelona 

Olympics which I sailed with David Hudson. Our best result was a fifth in 

the first race if I recall correctly. 

To our new Olympians I offer the following: 

• know yourself, identify your strengths and weaknesses. 

• there are always people better, luckier and more fortunate than you. 

No excuses, you have to shape up to the challenge. It’s a huge social, family, 

emotional and financial challenge too. However on the day preparation, 

preparation , preparation will count. It’s not all luck nor skill. 

• How well prepared are you, your boat, your tactics, your physique, 

your knowledge of the region and competition, and your knowledge of the 

tides and wind conditions? Time on the boat, and teamwork are critical. 

• do you have good coaches, yes plural! Tactics, sail trim, strategy for 

the event. Mental coaching and communication will stand you in very good 

stead. 

The Flying Dutchman team on the road with Dave Kitchen sitting on the roof. 

These are our South African Olympic sailors since readmission: 

1992 - Barcelona 

Solings 

Bruce Savage; Richard Mayhew & Giles Stanley 

Tornado 

Eric Cook & Geoffrey Stevens 

Flying Dutchman 

David Hudson & David Kitchen 

470 men 

Martin Lambrecht & Alec Lanham Love 

Finn 

Ian Ainslie 

Lechner Sailboard 

William Tyson 

1996 Savannah USA 

Finn 

Ian Ainslie 

Laser Men 

David Hibberd 

Soling 

Bruce Savage; Richard Mayhew & Clynton Wade-Lehman 

2000 - Sydney 

Finn 

Ian Ainslie 

Laser 

Gareth Blanckenberg 

2004 - Athens 

Laser 

Gareth Blanckenberg 

2008 - Qingdao 

Ynling 

Dominique Provoyeur; Kim Rew & Penny Alison 

2012 - Weymouth 

470 men 

Asenathi Jim & Roger Hudson • 


Record Breaking Nautical Feats 

It’s that time again when the news is awash 

with over-achievers in peak physical condition 

getting accolades, trinkets of gold and their 

names written down in history books. It’s the 

Olympics and there will invariably be records, 

hearts, limbs and betting odds broken at the 

event. 

Unfortunately for sailing enthusiasts the 

Olympics is not really the place for records 

because of the nature of the races and the 

conditions. So if it’s the fastest, furthest, longest, 

biggest or whatever superlative you’re into you 

probably need to look elsewhere. 

Luckily there’s a host of records out there, 

official and unofficial, that will either make you 

humble or make you thank your lucky stars you 

are not that mad nor that unlucky. 

The fastest around the world yacht voyage 

was completed by Banque Populaire V in a 

mere 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 

seconds in the prestigious 2012 Jules Verne race. 

(Way faster than it has taken Telkom to come 

and fix my telephone line.) The speedy 130 

foot maxi-trimaran averaged a speed of 26.51 

knots over the 29 000 miles. The yacht which 

has beaten a host of other records including 

transatlantic crossings has also recorded speeds 

in excess of 40 knots at other trials. Again, way 

faster than my Telkom internet, which is 0 to 0 

on a good day. 

Sailing has definitely come a long 

way since the three-years it took Joshua 

Slocum to complete the first recorded solo 

circumnavigation in the 1890s. 

And just to emphasise that sailing can be 

more exhilarating and efficient than speeding 

tell tales 

by Sue Kintyre 

about with an engine, it is interesting to note 

that the fastest powered boat took 60 days, 23 

hours and 49 minutes to circumnavigate the 

globe. 

Thanks to new technology in alternative 

power, Earthrace, a 78 foot trimaran which 

cost 1.5 million pounds to build, took just a 

few hours more at 61 days in 2008. Which 

is amazing considering it did this using 100 

percent biodiesel fuel and with zero carbon 

footprint. 

The longest recorded single sea voyage 

was undertaken by American, Reid Stowe, 58, 

who spent 1152 days at sea aboard his 70 foot 

schooner without stopping and without being 

re-supplied with food or fuel. A GPS tracking 

system was used to prove that he had not 

approached land until he tied up in New York 

in 2010 where he met his toddler son who was 

born when he was away on his three year jaunt. 

The longest time at sea record is apparently 

held by octogenarian cruisers Bill and Laurel 

Cooper from the UK who hung up their wellies 

in 2012 after 36 years of cruising. Following 

their epic 100 000 nautical mile trip which took 

them around the world four times they now 

live on a 50 footer specially designed for their 

geriatric years. If you were wondering if you 

could also afford to do this they advise that it 

has been a very ‘cheap life’. 

Others have taken to the seas for epic 

voyages in all sorts of vessels from barrels to 

deck chairs; including the longest stand up 

paddle board (SUP) journey of 420 miles by 27 

year-old Justin de Bree, an American surfer in 

2008 off the Florida coast. 

But even using a boat can’t be seen as an 

easy way out as two brothers in their fifties, 

Ralph and Robert Brown, set out to prove. They 

hold the record for the smallest power boat to 

cross the Atlantic when they journeyed over 

7000 miles from Florida to London via Canada, 

Greenland, Iceland and Scotland. The former 

US marines were exposed to the elements in 

their 21-foot flat-boat (no keel, no cabin). This 

is quite incredible considering they had to carry 

their own fuel and fished for supplies while 

dodging icebergs in the northern Atlantic. It’s 

also quite remarkable that siblings could spend 

that long together without someone ending up 

overboard. 

So long with one person could definitely 

make you go crazy. In 2014 an El Salvadorian 

fisherman was rescued after a record breaking 

438 days lost at sea drifting 6700 miles in a 

25-foot open fishing boat from Mexico to the 

Marshall Islands in the middle of the Pacific 

Ocean. He claims his young crewmate died 

during the journey after eating a dead bird, but 

the dead fisherman’s family are now suing the 

survivor for $1million claiming that he ate him. 

If it’s true (although he has passed a polygraph 

test) this might have been one of the most 

expensive meals ever, in more ways than one. 

The only ‘record’ that really makes me a 

little envious is the one cracked by two middle 

aged friends who sailed around the UK in a 

5m Wayfarer dinghy in 33 days. Yes, it might 

have been cold and rough at times, but this 

intrepid pair warmed themselves up with stops 

for local beers and pub lunches along the way. 

Surely that was more fun than spinning across 

the ocean at lightning speed? Unfortunately, the 

feat has apparently too many variables to be 

considered an official record. 

If it’s an official record you are after you 

have to go through the famous Guinness Book 

of Records which will record all manner of 

wacky, big and superlative things. One of my 

favourites in terms of sheer imagery is the 

largest sailing regatta of a single class when 

1055 kids aged from 9-14 and representing 27 

countries took to their optimists in Riva Del 

Garda, Italy, in 2012. What a way to promote 

sailing to the youth. 

If it’s a serious official sailing record you are 

after, the World Sailing Speed Record Council 

(WSSRC) which was established in 1972 in the 

UK is the place to go. They also publish a list 

of recognised routes around the world and all 

the current speed records. So you can take your 

pick and make a challenge. 

If all these records have given you the 

urge to reach for a stiff nautical drink – I would 

suggest a visit to Smugglers Cove at Liverpool’s 

famous Albert Dock which has a record 

breaking 151 rums to choose from. That’s more 

than enough to keep your average sailor happy 

in record breaking fashion. • 


APP REVIEW 

PredictWind - 

Stunning New 

Forecast Map 

“When developing the Offshore App, we had to rethink maps for 

offshore sailors, so we rebuilt the mapping technology from the ground 

up to be faster, have smaller downloads and be able to smoothly animate 

PredictWind’s advanced forecasts” is what their announcement said. 

Following the success of the Offshore App, they have released this 

unique display technology across all other platforms, including the forecast 

website for Android and iOS Apps. 

Previous interactive maps have been replaced with the new mapping 

technology, as well as other maps that used to be static, such as isobar, 

swell, cloud and rain maps. 

Better Graphics 

The new mapping technology does a great job of highlighting wind 

speed variations, and smoothly animating between the time periods. This 

coupled with the new wind display formats makes reading and interpreting 

the PredictWind forecast easier than ever. 

Wind forecasts are now available in 3 different formats; 

• Arrows colour coded by wind speed 

• Wind barbs with wind speed gradients 

• Black arrows with wind speed gradients 

Better Control 

You can now fully zoom and pan all forecast maps - wind, swell, 

rain, cloud, isobar, air and sea temperature maps to see your exact area of 

interest. Use pinch zoom on your trackpad, or your mouse wheel, or the + - 

buttons on your keyboard. 

The new maps allow you to really see the power of high resolution 

forecasts like never before. Check it out now at: PredictWind.com now. • 


AMERICA’S CUP WORLD SERIES - CHICAGO 

Artemis Wins 

By Bob Fisher 

Overall Results - Chicago 

1 Artemis Racing 

2 Land Rover BAR 

3 Softbank Team Japan 

4 Emirates Team New Zealand 

5 Oracle Team USA 

6 Groupama Team France 

Overall standings after six regattas: 

1 Emirates Team New Zealand 

2 Land Rover BAR 

3 Oracle Team USA 

4 Artemis Racing 

5 Softbank Team Japan 

6 Groupama Team France 

The rigours of super-fast competition in highly mobile cats does sometimes result in the odd man-overboard situation. pic by ACEA 2016/Ricardo Pinto 

The sixth in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup 

World Series of regattas was blighted by the 

absence of wind on the first of the days when 

the wind was too light or totally absent on the 

first racing day and saved by Chicago living up 

to its soubriquet – The Windy City – to some 

extent on ‘Super Sunday’. It also helped that 

on the practice day, a ‘substitute’ race was 

held whose results to be used if there was no 

racing the following day during the scheduled 

hours of the television coverage. An almost 

full schedule was thereby completed. 

Prior to the ‘substitute’ race on Friday, there 

had been a full three-race programme and two 

rounds of match races in which Land Rover 

BAR beat Groupama Team France; Softbank 

Team Japan beat Artemis Racing; and Oracle 

Team USA beat Emirates Team New Zealand 

when the Kiwis capsized on a bad gybe with 

the leeward runner still on. 

There was a keenly contested start of the 

‘substitute’ race with Groupama stalling at the 

leeward end, but BAR ahead and faster at the 

windward end of the line took the initial lead 

from Artemis in 13-15 knots of SSW breeze. 

There were however streaks in the breeze and 

after rounding the first gate ahead of Artemis 

and Softbank, Ainslie’s next challenge was from 

Barker in Softbank. 

Upwind ETNZ took over the lead from 

Artemis with BAR holding off Softbank for 

third place. After rounding the gate BAR passed 

Artemis , then ran out of wind on the right 

side of the course while Artemis and Softbank, 

out on the left side, went ahead. On the next 

upwind leg, Softbank closed to be just five 

seconds behind Artemis, and BAR was a further 

23 seconds in arrears and being chased by 

Oracle. Just prior to the final downwind gate, 

before the finish, Oracle fouled BAR and was 

penalized. Softbank won from Artemis by nine 

seconds after 28 minutes of racing with BAR 

in third place a further 35 seconds behind. 

Groupama was next followed by ETNZ and 

Oracle, after taking her penalty was last. 

On Saturday the time limit for racing ran 

out, but Race Officer Iain Murray kept the 

boats on the course area and if a race were to 

be held, its points would only count if there 

were no racing on Sunday. 

The substitute race was a triumph for Peter 

Burling and the crew of ETNZ. They hit the 

starting line at full tilt and were never seriously 

challenged. Behind them the order was Oracle, 

Artemis, BAR, Softbank and Groupama. These 

results weren’t used as the Windy City came 

good on Sunday as racing began on time with 

a fresh breeze of around 18 knots from the 

North-north-east. Sometime back the Protocol 

had been changed to remove the upper wind 

limit for racing, leaving the decision to the 

Chief Race Officer. 

When Ben Ainslie took the start, hopes 

were high that he could retain the initial 

advantage. His early challenger was Jimmy 

Spithill with Oracle, but after the starting reach 

and the downwind leg to Gate 2, BAR was 

10 seconds in front. That lead was doubled 

upwind and the British team seemed very much 

in control. Oracle was under fire from Nathan 

Outteridge in Artemis and on the sixth leg 

Oracle was penalized for fouling Artemis. The 

penalty allowed Softbank to close and pass the 

‘local’ team. 

BAR finished the race in 17’36”, 51 seconds 

ahead of the fleet. 

Finishing last appeared to spur Franck 

Cammas into activity and the French boat was 

fast out of the starting blocks for the second 

race of the day, but there the French advantage 

began to evaporate and by the second mark 

Groupama had been passed by Artemis, Oracle 

and ETNZ. Softbank and BAR were bringing 

up the rear. While Artemis and Oracle held 

their places there was some shuffling among 

the tailenders, notably that BAR moved up 

to fourth behind ETNZ, skippered by Glenn 

Ashby, and Softbank went to the back of the 

pack. 

The start of the last race was very level, 

but Dean Barker edged out BAR and Oracle 

at the turning mark to go upwind, but here the 

boundary was closer than it should have been 

and both Oracle and BAR went over it and 

were penalized allowing ETNZ and Artemis into 

the leading mix. Softbank retained her lead to 

the finish, but a fast finishing Land Rover BAR 

snatched second place with ETNZ third ahead 

of Artemis, Oracle and Groupama. • 


INTERVIEW 

John Robertson 


Robertson & Caine boatbuilders celebrate their 

25th anniversary this year. John Robertson, 

Executive Chairman of the company speaks 

to Richard Crockett about his career in boat 

building, and the success of his company which 

is recognised internationally. 

How did you get into boat building? 

I grew up at Zeekoevlei which was the 

nursery of many of the top sailors in South 

Africa. We grew up one house from the yacht 

club and my father was into sailing and built 

his own Sprog. I have a vague memory going 

back to when I was two or three, wearing a big 

bulky kapok lifejacket while positioned near the 

centreboard while sailing around the Vlei. So I 

literally grew up in boats. 

Later on when I grew up, and after some 

reprobate gap years I went to Cape Technical 

College and got my engineering diploma and 

did the practical with de Beers Diamond Mines 

in KleinZee - up in Namaqualand just south of Port Nolloth. I was earning 

quite good money, and I figured out that if I wanted to retire when I was 

35 years I would have to start my own business. 

Although everyone thinks boat building is mainly carpentry and 

joinery, it is not really as it is about engineering and systems. I realised I 

was qualified to run a boat building business, so that’s the route I went. 

I had a motorcycle accident when just out of high school and I received 

insurance compensation which I used to start John Robertson Yachts. 

Gary Lyttle and myself started the company and we built the Charger 33s. 

I had built boats previously, like dinghies and Dabchicks, and then also the 

Impact with Bobby Bongers - who taught me most of my boat building. 

What is it that most interests you in boat building? 

Production boat building for sure - which is probably due to my 

engineering background. To me it is so easy to build a custom boat as you 

just open a cheque book and you write cheques until the boat is finished. 

Production boat building isn’t like that as it has so many different facets. 

You have to build a beautiful boat which has to be the right price, and it 

has to be of the right quality. Plus it has to be built on time - you simply 

cannot be late with production boats. 

There is so much that goes into making a production boat which 

makes it really challenging, and that is what excites me about boat 

building. The best thing about boat building to me is all the systems behind 

it which contribute to make this beautiful product. 

How and why was Robertson and Caine established? 

John Robertson Yachts carried on for about 10 years. Jerry Caine 

joined me mid-way through that when we started building L34s. Gary 

Lyttle in the mean time left boat building and was bought out by Jerrold 

Salamon. I should have seen the light, instead I carried on hitting my head 

against a brick wall. Ultimately Jerry and I bashed our way through that 

wall! We had the success of our Holiday 23 which we started in 1983 with 

Jerrold - who at the time gave me one of the best pieces of advice I have 

ever had in my life! He said: “John why don’t you get off your high horse, 

forget about racing boats, forget about all this Admiral’s Cup stuff, and 

build a ‘mom and pop’ boat” - and that is why the Holiday 23 was born. 

We built about 180 of these little boats and followed that with the L34. 

Unfortunately others joined the business and this ultimately resulted 

in an unpleasant breakup. Jerry and I decided to go it alone as by then we 

were minor partners. We had a good bond and that’s when the two of us 

started Robertson & Caine. 

We started with a custom build, the Richleigh 63 project. We then 

did Broomstick, a 70-footer which won the Rio Race. The problem with 

John Robertson. 

custom building is that every time you finish a 

boat you sweep out the workshop and wait for 

the next order. That’s a bit hair raising, so we 

decided to get back into production boats and 

did projects like the Fast 42. 

Obviously Robertson & Caine is a success story 

as 25 years later you are still going strong. What 

do you attribute this to? 

I think our values. I really believe that we 

run a really honest company. We try to have 

very good and honest relationships with all our 

suppliers. In addition to that we have a policy 

of not compromising on quality. Jerry Caine was 

fanatical on quality. 

Obviously we have had times when quality 

does sometimes dip, and it is really painful. If 

we grow too quickly quality can dip, and it is 

horrible. We have just recently been through a 

situation like that which we have now fortunately 

corrected. 

Do people still ask about the ‘Caine’ connection in the Company name? 

Yes they most certainly do. Tragically Jerry was killed in a motorbike 

accident when a pedestrian stepped off the road into him. It was a time 

in our business when we spent long hours together building the business. 

He is still remembered strongly by us all because of his non-compromising 

attitude and the fact that he was such a likeable guy. 

It is a tough industry and it is one in which you have survived. What is 

the secret to surviving the tough times in this industry? 

It is a roller coaster ride. The worst ever time, and it still stands out 

above all the bad times, was in 2003. We were building a really bad 

product. When I say bad product, don’t take it the wrong way as it was a 

learning curve. It was the first power cat that we were involved with which 

we called the Lion 46. It was a good boat, but it was a bad product for our 

business as we were learning about power cats and we were losing money 

on every single boat that we delivered. It was terrible, and there was 

nothing we could do about it. At the same time we were finishing our new 

factory expansion as things were going well, plus it was the end of the year 

- and at the same time the Rand had really strengthened. The bank called 

us up and they said they were really worried about our export business 

selling in Dollars, and informed us they were cutting our overdraft. 

At that point I had already moved to the United States so I flew out 

immediately to work our way through it. How we worked through it 

shows just how being straight and honest with suppliers works as we went 

to each and every one of them, explained the situation, and every one 

extended our credit terms. 

I went to The Moorings and informed them of our situation and gave 

them our plan to recover from it. They immediately agreed to pay us for 

two boats in advance. It showed the relationship we had with them, and it 

shows that integrity in business is so important. 

Since then we have had a few minor hiccups, but nothing like that. I 

learnt another lesson from this, and it’s very relevant right now - and that is 

not to grow fat when the Rand weakens. You must always imagine that the 

following year the rand will strengthen and you can’t be artificially buoyant 

through currency fluctuations. 

Why did you base yourself in the USA? 

As we grew we realised that we were becoming an international 

company and that product support was important. At that stage 80% 

of our equipment came from Europe and 20% from the USA, and the 

follow-up we needed was in the Caribbean and United States. As a result 

we needed to source more from America, so we planned to open an office 

there to start sourcing parts and equipment. At the same we realised that 

our link with The Moorings was exceptionally close, and that we needed 


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to camp on the doorstep of their head office in Clearwater, Florida. 

Funnily enough, 15 years later, we are still buying more from Europe! 

Robertson and Caine are ranked in the top three in the world for 

building catamarans. Is this something you aimed to achieve or is it 

something that has come with your growth automatically? 

No, we never aimed for this. I had a very immature vision that I 

wanted to retire when I was 35, and when that came along I said what 

about 45, and then 55? I finally got to a point when I could retire and I 

thought what the heck is this retirement all about? I think I retired for a day 

and then I realised that I would never retire. I think this immature thing at 

the beginning was about financial success, but then I realised that as we 

were building really nice boats we would obviously make money doing it. 

The whole reason you are in business is to make money and be financially 

successful, and it was never to be the biggest in the world. We simply 

aspired to build the best boats possible. 

What you are really saying is that you have got to this position of being 

one of the top boatbuilders, well catamaran builders, in the world purely 

by being the best? 

Yes I would like to think so. 

The biggest turning point was our association with The Moorings and 

Tui Marine. 

One of my previous ventures before John Robertson Yachts was with 

Ton Cup Yachts and Lex Raas and Rick Nankin. Lex and I had a very 

strong relationship, and in the mid-1980s he left South Africa and went 

to work with Beneteau. From there he became the operations director 

at The Moorings. In about 1995 Lex had the vision that catamarans were 

the future of yacht charters. We didn’t know anything about cats other 

than finishing off two cat HDBs. At the time South Africa was one of just 

two countries which were quite advanced with multihulls, the other being 

France. Lex persuaded The Moorings to increase the number of cats in 

their fleet. He brought the decision-makers onto one of our Richleigh 63s 

at the Annapolis Boat Show where the CEO was so impressed with the 

quality that he asked Lex to investigate the company who built it. Because 

of my relationship with Lex the rest is history. 

So basically your reputation went before you in terms of 

uncompromising quality? 

Yes, that was a stamp of approval, although there was a second one 

too. Ellian Perch had joined us the previous year and he was into this 

whole Mumm 36 thing. People from the Bruce Farr design office came out 

to visit us and they gave us the stamp of approval and licenced us as one 

of only four builders in the world who could build the Mumm 36. That 

gave us an international stamp of approval - so we were no longer just this 

little South African company on the southern tip of Africa. We had a boat 

on the Annapolis Boat Show and a stamp of approval from the Farr Design 

office. So when you say our reputation preceded us, it was these two 

events that really helped us sign off on The Moorings contract. 

Robertson & Caine is a massive operation in South Africa now. How 

many boats will you be building this year. 

I think it is about 183 for this year. 

That’s a lot of boats and looks as if you will be launching about four 

boats per week? 

We do things differently in South Africa. We launch boats in the 

harbour and commission them there, whereas a lot of the international 

builders have test facilities in their factories and then they shrink wrap the 

boats and they go off on low beds. We have quite a strain down in the 

harbour with a boat arriving every day or so to be commissioned. Our new 

factory has a pool in it so we can commission in-house now. 

As a company what have you done to promote the local industry and 

maintain jobs? 

We haven’t got formal social programmes as we just try to be really 

good to our staff and we try to make sure that we have good jobs for them 

and we do try and contribute to the community. 

We have stayed loyal to South Africa as we think it is a great place to 

build boats. We have had ventures in other countries, but those petered 

out which made us realise that Cape Town is a really nice place to build 

boats. 

Obviously you are teaching your guys a lot of good skills to keep them 

with you? 

Well that is something interesting. Cape Town traditionally was a good 

centre for building boats because we have a huge population of really 

good craftsmen and ‘old style’ tradesmen. We now employ 1350 people 

and about two years ago we suddenly discovered that the pool of skilled 

labour had completely dried up, which was a huge problem. 

My personal belief is that the old tradesmen are clocking out and 

retiring. Plus worldwide, the youngsters today want to be computer 

experts, and experts in other fields, and they don’t want to be blue collar 

workers. 

To address this we have a huge programme in place and we hire 

people three months before they are needed on the line - and we train, 

train, train. These people are learning some really good skills. 

How active a role do you play in the company these days? 

The problem with our company is that it has always been something 

of a family business. I have always had my finger in everything, and it 

was quite difficult for me to stop micro-managing. I have slowly extracted 

myself and concentrate mostly on the technical side and the development 

of new models. So I am playing more of a mentoring role these days. 

Of all the catamarans you have built, which is the cat you rate as your 

most favourite? 

The very first Leopard 45. It was a really great boat for a number of 

reasons. It was profitable for both ourselves and The Moorings. It launched 

their catamaran fleet and I would like to believe it was the catalyst for a 

change in the whole world charter industry - led by The Moorings. 

Of all the boats you have ever built which is the one you remember 

most? 

There are two, The first being the Holiday 23. It was a very profitable 

boat which was the same price as a small car. In those days it was the 

price of a Ford Grenada and later the Toyota Cressida. We purposely kept 

the price to match those, and it was still profitable. More importantly it 

fulfilled its role as a ‘mom and pop’ boat which everyone in the family 

could enjoy. The Leopard 45 was similar as it too fulfilled everything 

perfectly. 

Those two boats equally, in my mind, are the two greatest boats, and 

one isn’t better than the other! 

And in terms of the Holiday 23, obviously winning the H23 ‘Worlds’ in 

1988 must have been the highlight of your sailing career? 

(Laughs) Yeah, despite having challenges with my crew members who 

were none other than Jerry Caine and yourself!. That was a great time 

and exactly the spirit envisaged by all who developed the boat. It was a 

fun event in every way as we had racing at sea, an overnight sojourn up 

the Berg River which included dropping our masts, and a host of other 

fun events and parties. This was a family event in which everyone who 

competed went away as winners. 

Funnily enough I was quite proud to win that as we beat the likes of 

Dave Hudson and Rick Nankin who were crewing on other boats. 

It’s still an active class some 33 years later. 

What advice can you give people in the industry - especially those new 

and trying to establish themselves in boat building? 

My first advice would be to go into another business - seriously. It is an 

incredibly difficult business to get into. In South Africa the entrepreneurial 

spirit is brilliant and I draw the parallel between rugby and American 

football. In rugby you have to think on your feet as if there is a breakdown 

you ‘maak a plan’. In American football if there is a breakdown you have 

time out and the coach refers you to a move in the playbook! 

My first real advice is to think very carefully about it. Secondly, be true 

to your principles and unwavering with quality and business ethics. 

What legacy will you leave boat building in South Africa? 

I firmly believe that I have always done the right thing in business by 

being honest and straight, and being loyal to staff. I constantly think about 

quality and constantly innovate. So ultimately I would like to think that 

what I leave behind me is a business that is straight up and down. 

I have often said that you have always been uncompromising in terms of 

quality, which is your strength. So that is probably also a legacy that you 

are leaving, as boatbuilders have aspired to meet your standard, in this 

country anyway? 

That is a good point which on reflection is something I am very proud 

of. • 


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ANCHORING PART 5 

Anchoring Made Easy 

“Anchoring Made Easy” was to have been the title of our anchoring 

book, had the publisher with whom we wanted to work had his way. 

Instead we named it “Happy Hooking – the Art of Anchoring”, as 

hooking your boat to the bottom in a lovely spot should always be fun 

and easy. Sadly, there are still some people out there who are clearly 

not having fun when they try to set their hook. We suppose they have 

not read the book – and their boat may not necessarily always stay put 

either. 

As our cruising takes us ever further afield, and we check the cruising 

guide for the anchorage in the harbour we would like to visit next, we 

often see statements like “anchorage marked on the chart has poor 

holding”. I write this as we are (very securely) anchored in hard sand 

just below a picturesque castle in a beautiful bay on the west coast of 

Ireland. Once again the guide notes that this spot has poor holding. It’s 

at this point that it occurs to us that perhaps it was not the bottom that 

provided questionable holding, but rather the anchor being used when the 

observation was made that was at fault. 

Ultra anchor. 

As anchoring is perhaps the single most important part of boating, 

any mention of anchoring or gear preferences in the company of sailors 

is always sure to stir up a storm of commentary from all sides – even 

from people who may only rarely leave the dock. So when word of 

Quickline’s introduction of the Turkish manufactured Ultra Anchor to 

the US marketplace trickled into our consciousness, we just had to take a 

closer look. 

With the sole exception of the Fortress anchor which weighs very 

little and holds so very well in a soft bottom, we now use only scooptype 

anchors. For several years we have had unconditional success with 

a Rocna finding it sets extraordinarily well in virtually all types of bottom. 

The Ultra shares some characteristics with the Rocna, but it lacks the roll 

bar and has a lead weighted tip. These characteristics are shared with 

the Spade, one of the original scoops, and another of our favourites. The 

Rocna does not require the weighted tip as the roll bar does a fine job of 

orienting the anchor correctly. 

By Alex & Daria Blackwell 

The Ultra has some interesting sounding features. Like the Spade its 

shaft is hollow. This is supposed to help orient the anchor as it drops to 

the bottom. Perhaps the hollow shaft of the Spade and Ultra will indeed 

orient the anchor on an all rope rode, but with our all chain rode we have 

watched it land randomly, usually upside down, on the sea floor. It is quite 

easy to watch the anchor drop as the water here is crystal clear. But read 

on, for this random orientation does not appear to get in their way. 

One elegant feature unique to the Ultra is the downward curved tip, 

which is said to facilitate a more rapid set – and set rapidly it does. The 

first time we dropped it was in a very tight harbour with rocks and cliffs 

on all sides. I watched as it went down and landed upside down – not 

quite as advertised. Bearing in mind that we always plan for contingencies 

and this was its very first test, I alerted my wife Daria via our Motorola 

walkie-talkie, and told her to stand by for a possible anchor change. It 

was blowing quite hard and the boat started to drift back. I could hardly 

believe my eyes as I watched the shiny stainless steel anchor flip over, 

catch and reflect the gleam of sunlight through the aqua water, and with 

virtually no scope disappear instantly into the hard sandy bottom. This 

was just like the videos we have all seen promoting the newer anchors. I 

let out some more rode while Daria slowly backed down. When I hit the 

brake on the windlass the boat literally came to a shuddering halt – we 

were hooked! Hey, perhaps anchoring really has been made easy these 

days. The Spade and Rocna both also bring our boat to a sudden stop, 

though the Spade does initially like a bit more rode than the others. 

Proponents of the Ultra and Spade anchors state that the lack of a 

roll bar, an important feature of the Buegel, Rocna and Manson Supreme 

anchors, will help it go deeper. They claim that the roll bar impedes 

these anchors from digging below the surface – something which our 

experience does not necessarily corroborate. It does, however, make the 

anchor more streamlined and easier to stow on the bow roller. Instead 

of the roll bar, the Ultra sports a ‘non-foul chain bar’ to stop the rode 

from wrapping around its anchor shaft when tossed overboard. However, 

readers of our book (“Happy Hooking – the Art of Anchoring”) will know 

better than simply tossing their anchor and rode overboard. Any way you 

cut it, tossing an anchor haphazardly overboard is simply not a good idea. 

We have now been using the scoop type anchors for a couple of years 

Rocna anchor with roll bar. 

and can recommend their use to all boaters. We must admit that the Ultra 

is the prettiest anchor we have seen, but they all hold very well if sized 

and used correctly. 

The scoop type anchors set quickly, dig deeply, and hold well. In a 

couple of nasty squalls with sharp wind direction changes, these anchors 

simply dig deeper. In one sustained night of near gale force winds, we 

didn’t budge an inch. The only down side is that since they like to dig 

deep, they will bring up loads of sediment (mud, etc.) when you weigh 

anchor. So we would recommend using them with a windlass and a wash 

down pump. 

Spade anchor. 

Alex and Daria Blackwell are the authors of ‘Happy Hooking - The Art of 

Anchoring’. It covers every aspect of anchors and anchoring in a fun and easy 

to read format with lots of photos and illustrations. It is available from SAILING 

Books - books@sailing.co.za • 


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VOLVO OCEAN RACE 

Returning to its Roots 

Tough, intense, and featuring almost three 

times as much Southern Ocean sailing as the 

previous edition, the Volvo Ocean Race 2017- 

18 will be contested over the longest distance 

in race history at around 45,000 nautical 

miles, crossing four oceans and taking in 11 

major cities on five continents. 

That’s a welcome change to the more recent 

courses where the sailing aspect of this classic 

ocean race was swopped for commercial gain 

as cities bid to host the stopovers. Of course, in 

this modern age where commercial decisions 

often far outweigh decisions of the heart, it is a 

welcome change. 

It has taken a new man at the helm, Mark 

Turner, to make this call and breathe new life 

into a race which was fast becoming somewhat 

‘hum drum’. 

The 43-year-old race around the world - 

the ultimate ocean sailing marathon, pitting the 

sport’s best sailors against each other across 

the world’s toughest oceans - will start from 

Alicante in late 2017 with a 700-nautical mile 

sprint to Lisbon, Portugal that will provide the 

first test of the form guide. 

From the Portuguese capital, the fleet will 

plunge south towards Cape Town, before an 

epic few weeks racing through the Southern 

Ocean and then back north across the equator 

to Hong Kong, China in what will be one of the 

longest legs in Race history. 

After a non-scoring transition to 

Guangzhou, China where an in-port race and 

full set of stopover activities will be held, the 

ocean racing will resume from Hong Kong to 

Auckland, New Zealand. 

The fleet will then head back through the 

Southern Ocean, around the most famous 

landmark of them all, Cape Horn, and up 

through the Atlantic Ocean to the southern 

Brazilian city of Itajaí. 

From there, as in the last edition, the boats 

will head back in to the northern hemisphere 

to the Eastern seaboard of the USA, Newport, 

Rhode Island before a blast across the North 

Atlantic on the blue riband transatlantic leg, 

which will see them make a first return to British 

shores in 12 years. 

The fleet will arrive in Cardiff, capital city 

of Wales, in May 2018, before beating its way 

P.O.Box 30525, Mayville, 4058 • Tel: 031-208 8238 • Fax: 031-207 5799 

www.stateline.co.za • e-mail: saza@iafrica.com 

around the top of the British Isles on a short 

but potentially brutal leg to the penultimate 

stopover in Gothenburg, Sweden. The 2017- 

18 race will end with a grand finale into The 

Hague, Netherlands. 

The total distance of the racetrack is the 

longest ever - but while the teams will sail 

more nautical miles than ever, the race itself is 

scheduled to be one month shorter than in most 

of the last 12 editions. 

“More action, more speed, more tough 

miles and more host venues, but a shorter race 

– it’s an evolution in the right direction and a 

move that takes the Race closer to its original 

roots and heritage, while improving its strong 

commercial value and excellent business case 

for sponsors,” said Race CEO Mark Turner. 

Around 12,500nm of the race will take 

place in the Southern Ocean, the fast-moving, 

ice cold waters around the Antarctic where, 

unhindered by land, some of the deepest 

weather depressions circle the bottom of the 

globe, generating giant waves and punishing, 

heavy winds that can peak at over 70 knots. 

In the previous edition, the teams spent 

around 4,500 nm racing in the Southern Ocean. 

Richard Mason, Operations Director for 

the race said: “In the last edition we welcomed 

over 2.4 million visitors and over 70,000 

corporate guests to our host city venues. We’re 

determined to offer even more exciting sailing 

in 2017-18, while making the race village 

experience even better for our fans, guests and 

partners.” 

Mason, himself a five-time Volvo Ocean 

Race sailor, admitted: “I’m pretty tempted to 

return to the sailing now I’ve seen this amazing 

new route, but my new CEO has banned me!” 

The Southern Ocean has played an huge 

role in the history of the Race. In the early years 

of The Whitbread, the fleet would head as deep 

into the Southern Ocean as possible, braving 

the icebergs and ferocious winds of the Roaring 

Forties and Furious Fifties in order to shave as 

much distance off the route as they could. 

In more recent editions, the boats have 

raced north through the Indian Ocean, towards 

the Middle East - and have only returned to 

the south and its more extreme weather for the 

shorter leg across to Cape Horn. 

“Of course, safety remains paramount,” said 

Phil Lawrence, incoming Race Director. “With 

state-of-the-art tracking systems and satellite 

communication, alongside access to in-depth 

route information, we can stay one step ahead 

of the conditions and limit the exposure of the 

sailors. 

“But ultimately, there will always be danger. 

Sailors know they put their lives on the line 

when they take on ‘the Everest’ of professional 

sailing. That’s what the Volvo Ocean Race 

is all about – taking the toughest conditions 

that Mother Nature can throw at you, and 

overcoming them.” 

This is again going to be a fascinating race, 

testing man and machine against the elements - 

and the Southern Ocean too! • 


Exhibit at the 2016 Boat Show. 

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14 - 16 OCTOBER 2016 

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The whole show in one venue.

VOLVO OCEAN RACE 

Team AkzoNobel is First Entry 

Dutch campaign, Team AkzoNobel, has been 

announced as the first entry of the Volvo 

Ocean Race 2017-18. 

Backed by AkzoNobel - a leading global 

paints and coatings company headquartered in 

Amsterdam, Netherlands, and whose portfolio 

includes well-known brands such as Dulux, 

Sikkens, International, Interpon and Eka. The 

boat will be led by first time skipper Simeon 

Tienpont who will be racing in his third Volvo 

Ocean Race. 

Having made his debut as a rookie onboard 

ABN Amro Two in 2005-06, he returned to the 

world’s toughest offshore race to join Team 

Vestas Wind for the final two legs of the 2014- 

15 edition – and is delighted to be leading the 

Dutch campaign. 

“I’m honoured and incredibly excited to be 

skipper of Team AkzoNobel,” said Tienpont, 

34, who has also been part of two winning 

America’s Cup teams - BMW Oracle Racing in 

the 33rd edition, and Oracle Team USA in the 

34th edition, in an illustrious sailing career. 

“We’re both focussed on high performance 

and share the same passion for success,” he 

continued. “I can’t wait to start racing.” 

Conrad Keijzer, ExCo member, AkzoNobel, 

said: “The Volvo Ocean Race offers an 

unparalleled storytelling and brand-building 

platform over a prolonged period of time. 

The company can raise awareness for its 

capabilities; excite and captivate both new 

and existing audiences and customers; develop 

business opportunities; attract talent and 

create a sense of pride and excitement among 

employees.” 

Team AkzoNobel represents a nation with 

not only a rich maritime heritage, but a special 

connection to the Volvo Ocean Race, with 

Dutch teams having lifted the trophy three 

times, in 1977-78, 1981-82 and 2005-06. 

Indeed, Dutch sailing legend Conny van 

Rietschoten remains the only skipper in the 

history of the race to have won two editions in 

a row, and Tienpont, who won the prestigious 

Conny van Rietschoten trophy – the highest 

honour in Dutch sailing - in 2013, is proud 

to be following in the ‘Flying’ Dutchman’s 

footsteps. 

“The Netherlands are very fond of this 

race and that’s all because of Conny van 

Rietschoten,” he explained. “He brought the 

event, then called The Whitbread, to an entirely 

new level. He built his boat in an excellent 

Dutch boatyard and recruited professional 

sailors from all around the world.” • 

THE NEWSLETTER OF HOW-TO TIPS FOR RACING SAILORS 

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Fisher at Large 

BY BOB FISHER 

The founder of the modern Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin 

many years ago stated quite clearly: “The most important thing in 

the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part, just as the most 

important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential 

thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well.” His philosophy 

is not being observed by Yachting New Zealand, and others for the 

Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero. 

The Kiwis’ national authority, whose sailors have qualified in every 

one of the disciplines for the upcoming Olympics, has decided not to send 

its representatives in either of the Windsurfer classes and the Laser Radial, 

seemingly because it believes they do not have the ability to reach the 

podium, so it is denying the three sailors the opportunity to take part after 

they have struggled for the past four years to reach qualifying standard for 

their country. 

One could forgive JP Tobin, Natalia Kosenska and Sara Winther for 

being upset at this ill-mannered action and even cheer at Tobin’s move 

to turn his back on his own country and accept a contract to coach the 

Brazilian windsurfers, but it is impossible to understand the action of 

Yachting New Zealand. The authority has the necessary money to fund 

these three athletes, so why should it deny them their once-in-a-lifetime 

opportunity in defiance of Baron de Coubertin? 

Yachting NZ is not alone. There will not be representation for the 

Australian team in the Laser Radial and the 49erFX classes. The sailors 

have been deemed not to be ‘medal capable’. Just how this is judged 

defies comprehension - the Olympic Games provides a special stimulus 

to some - but to rely on result spreadsheets displays unmitigated dullness. 

How can these dullards predict performance? Who, for example, would 

have given the Irish pair, David Wilkins and James Wilkinson, a chance 

of a silver medal in the Flying Dutchman at Tallinn in 1980? But they 

produced the surprise of the sailing events that year. Maybe any of the six 

Antipodean sailors could have done so this year. 

In Britain we can praise the continued resurgence of the Quarter 

Ton class – the promise is for more than 20 entries this year for the Cup 

races under the aegis of the Royal Yacht Squadron in July. Thankfully, 

for the competitors, the races are all over inshore courses. It was not so 

back in the day. The 1973 edition, which I sailed with fellow columnist 

Jack Knights on Odd Job out of Weymouth, included the then mandatory 

offshore races – one of 150 miles and the other of 250 miles. 

We enjoyed the first, I remember, and the second went pear shaped 

soon after rounding the Needles Fairway. We were headed for CH1 (a 

regular rounding mark back then) and I was steering as Jack had gone 

below to get some rest. Suddenly we broached. It was dark. From below 

came the call: “Can’t you keep this boat on course?” My negative reply 

was prompted by the fact that the tiller had become detached from the 

rudder head! Jack was on deck in a flash, brandishing a massive Stilson 

wrench, but all attempts to fix it as an alternative tiller proved impossible 

– it would only grip the rudder head at 45 degrees to the centerline. We 

tried, but eventually had to give up. 

And that’s where the problem really began. The engine that Jack 

had installed (in order that the boat could complete the engine trials, 

aka the P-bracket Grand Prix) was of the air-cooled lawnmower variety 

and this was mid-summer. We downed sails and made our first attempt, 

but it didn’t last long. We anchored and allowed the engine to cool. I 

have no idea how many times we did this before we reached Yarmouth 

somewhere about midday. I left and caught the ferry home across the 

Solent at Lymington. 

Five years later I was back in the class again. After a great race in 

Cowes Week aboard Wings (previously owned by David Robinson), I 

was asked to sail her in the World Championships. Only drawback, they 

were to be held in Sajima Bay, Japan. I had secured the services of Hugh 

Welbourn to assist the two owners and we were all slightly intrepid as the 

boat was set to obtain age allowance two months later. 

We hadn’t perhaps allowed for the long courses and the strong winds 

– the short offshore race finished as the second night was starting, and 

the long offshore was into the third night! Nevertheless everyone enjoyed 

themselves and we finished a respectable fourth in a highly professional 

field of sponsored boats. It is little wonder therefore that there is a special 

place in my heart, so, while no longer competing, I shall go to see this 

year’s One Ton Cup off Cowes. • 


AMERICA’S CUP TECHNOLOGY 

The Answer my Friend is 

Blowing in the Wind 

Skipper and Team Principal Ben Aisnlie at the helm. pic by Harry KH/Land Rover BAR 

Imagine running in a storm. The wind is blowing over 50mph, and the rain is 

driving sideways into your face. Now imagine trying to tell someone fifteen feet 

away that there’s a hurricane coming and they need to get off the street. It’s only 

going to happen if you run right over to them and yell in their ear. 

But these are the conditions that the Land Rover BAR sailing team have to 

operate in when they are racing; sailing at speeds up to 43 knots, kicking up a ball 

of spray that can mean living in a permanent vertical deluge. This is not the ideal 

environment for communicating in a high pressure, time intense situation, so a 

solution for improving communications on board was required. 

The sailing team member tasked with finding a solution to this problem for his 

crewmates is bowman, Matt Cornwell. He’s been racing in the America’s Cup since 

2003, and has seen the problem of onboard communication simultaneously get 

more difficult to solve, and escalate in importance. 

“It’s something that we have now identified as a real performance 

differentiator,” said Cornwell. “It’s vital to get the comms right, we have certainly 

Explaining bone conduction technology. 

had to step up the game from the pre-2010 era when it was nice to have it, but it 

wasn’t absolutely essential - and you could get the job done with some fairly basic 

kit. Now we are having to get much more sophisticated. 

Cornwell had one technology in particular that he was interested in, and he 

enlisted the Technical Innovation Group (TIG), powered by PA Consulting, and 

Project Manager, George Sykes to see if the team had any partners who could help. 

It so happened that the BAE Systems Applied Intelligence Laboratories were 

world leaders in bone conduction technology. The technology, which uses the 

body’s natural ability to transmit sound through bone conduction, provided a 

potential solution as a way of dramatically improving communication between the 

crew on-board and the support boats. 

Cornwell and Sykes began working with Mohammed-Asif Akhmad, Principal 

Scientist and Research Engineer Daniel Black. 

Mohammed-Asif Akhmad explained, “Bone conduction involves a surface 

transducer creating physical vibrations from an audio signal. The transducer must 

be touching the head of the user to conduct vibrations directly to the inner ear. The 

inner ear then translates these vibrations into nerve impulse signals sent to the brain, 

allowing the user to hear audible sound.” 

The first challenge was to get the radio right, there were several requirements 

from being the right frequency, to being robust and marinised for the on water 

environment, as well as having enough range, so the support boats can talk to the 

race crew - that means over a couple of hundred metres. 

The next challenge, the microphone. As Akhmad explained, “The main 

challenge for bodyworn headset microphones in harsh marine environments is 

having to deal with loud background noise, as it can affect the clarity of the speech 

being transmitted. Similarly, they need to be rugged to operate in extreme conditions 

whilst still being comfortable and ergonomic for the user.” 

And then there are the headsets.... 

“The headsets fill with water and it doesn’t take a lot of water in a microphone 

before the sound gets very muffled. And the same with the ear pieces, they fill 

with water and die pretty quickly when they get wet with salt water every day. We 

also need some sort of noise cancellation. It’s not just all the noise that is coming 

from the boat - wind noise, the whistle from the foils, I think a lot of people will be 

surprised how loud that is - but people also raise their voices sometimes, and a lot of 

comms systems don’t deal with that very well.” 

If that wasn’t all hard enough, there are other issues. “And you also need clear 

communication outside the headset, since you still need to have a conversation with 

the guy who is stood right next to you. Not all the crew will be talking on the comms 

all the time. So now we need solutions that take the speakers out of your ear.” 

Daniel Black confirmed the advantages of the new system, “The fact that both 

ears are free and open means that external sounds can be heard and positioned – 

this is key when sailing as you need to not only hear what is happening around you, 

but also to know the direction that the external sounds are coming from; something 

that’s impossible with traditional headsets.” 

“The team have been testing the raw technology and are very happy with their 

progress. Once they have settled on the microphone and speaker specification, they 

will look at customising its installation into the helmet. “We’re definitely going in 

the right direction,” concluded Cornwell, “I’m very happy that we’re going to have a 

great solution this time around.” 

“They deal with the military market and there are a lot of parallels with a similar 

environment to ours,” said Cornwell. “They need their kit to be waterproof and very 

robust, and with a certain level of simplicity. They also need noise cancelling; their 

environment is louder than ours, and of course the kit needs to be really robust too. 

BAE have been looking at those solutions for the military market and we were able 

to tap right into that.” • 


FOUNTAINE PAJOT 

- NEW 47 ANNOUNCED 

Dynamic 

Elegant Lines 

French catamaran builder Fountaine Pajot is one of the few boat builders to have 

continued growing in the current market. They recently held their global dealer 

meeting and used the event to introduce two exciting new model releases. Derrick 

and Suzanne Levy of Boating Word, the South African agent, attended the event. 

At this meeting they also released their new corporate colours and an exciting 

new logo, while setting out their plans for the future. 

For sailing types, the new Fountaine Pajot 47 sailing cat is what many 

circumnavigators have been waiting for, especially as it balances immense space, 

light and 360° vision with increased comfort. She has been designed not just for 

comfort, but performance too. 

The 47 is the result of a collaboration between yacht designer Pierangelo 

Andreani, whose career included stints at Jaguar and Ferrari, and Naval Architect 

Olivier Racoupeau of Berret-Racopeau. She is designed to be the perfect yacht 

for circumnavigating, and is considered light displacement at just 13,8 tons. The 

performance comes from its 75m 2 mainsail area which combines with a genoa of 

52m 2 . And when the wind disappears one has the option of either 2 x 40hp or 2 x 

55hp engines. 

When it comes to adding more relaxing areas, clever is not the word. 

The extended swim platform between the hulls at the transom acts as a 

swimming platform as well as a tender lift as it its easily lowered or lifted. The 

front sundeck covers a massive 5.5m², while the large cockpit table seats eight with 

comfort, and comes with extensions making it possible to easily host twelve people. 

A large settee close to the integrated barbecue is an ideal spot to watch the lobsters 

cooking! All areas of the yacht are bathed in natural sunlight, as huge emphasis has 

been placed on the new shapes and placement of portholes, hatches, windows and 

skylights. 

In the interior, the large salon has deep and very comfortable sofa seats. 

The galley has a standard oven four-burner stove, a 190 litre fridge and plenty of 

storage for the longer trips. Microwaves and freezers can be added based on owner 

preference. 

Given the emphasis on space and comfort, new owners can opt for the ultraspacious 

3 bedroom x 3 bathroom lay-out, or for the more conventional 5 bedroom 

x 5 bathroom suites, all with airconditioning and heating. Laundry can also be done 

on-board. 

Suzanne and Derrick Levy were struck by the amazing professionalism of their 

French hosts. “They were even dressed in shades of their new corporate colours, 

and their state of the art website is up there with the very best. Fountaine Pajot are 

professional and know their market and their planning is as meticulous and precise - 

the way they build their yachts” said Derrick. 

One of the more appealing aspects of ownership of this brand is that new 

owners have an option to attend training sessions of their Fountaine Pajot cat in the 

Med, prior to taking delivery. For a nominal fee the new owner is taken through 

every step necessary to enjoy a long, happy and successful sailing experience. Some 

of the topics covered include mooring techniques, engine servicing, weather and 

maintenance - all aimed at completing the Fountaine Pajot experience. 

Boating World. 0861 324 754. • 

A render of the new Fountaine Pajot 47, recently added to their range of sailing cats. 


FROM THE ARCHIVES 

BY RICHARD CROCKETT 

A BLAST FROM THE PAST 

On this page are pics from our archives that we think may be of interest to readers as they may have made it into the pages of 

either SAILING or SA Yachting magazines. We invite readers’ comments, information about the pics and even clarification on 

information we may have regarding the pics, the people and the boats featured. All comments to: editor@sailing.co.za 

Responses to Previous Issue Pics 

May 2016 issue pg 18. Pic 2 

Willem van Deft - Pretoria Sailing Club 

Finn Sail number 6 is at present sailing at Pretoria Sailing Club. 

Sail number 6 and the Finn sailing with this number as far as I know was first 

owned by Ernie Morrison from Durban. Jan Jansen (Pretoria Sailing Club) sailed SA 

6 for many years. Regrettably he passed away a short while ago. Jan sold the boat 

to someone whose name I can’t recall. The next owner was Willem van Delft of 

Pretoria Sailing Club. At present I do not know who owns the boat but Sail 6 is still 

sailing. 

The present Finn sailing with number 6 is a Morrison Hull. The picture no 

doubt is a wooden Finn. Perhaps built by Fairey Marine from Knysna. I do not 

know how sail numbers were allocated in the early days, but maybe there is some 

kind of record that can show the voyage of Sail 6 for the Finn class. 

June 2016 pg 40. Pic 1 

Harry Braun 

To be precise, the year was 1980. But it all started earlier in 1971 when at the Royal 

Cape Yacht Club we started the SA Fleet of the International Yachting Federation 

of Rotarians (I.Y.F.O.R). There are over 50 fleets worldwide of Rotarians active in 

sailing. The fist South African Commodore was Dr Ken Warr, followed by me, 

and that association carried on into the Nineties and was for many reasons then 

‘retired’. 

To answer your specific questions: 

1. The statue was made of bronzed metal and modelled exactly on the 

original Albatross. The Norwegian pioneers who settled in Knysna built boats for 

many years, and also planted forests in the area. They were the ‘timber kings’ of 

Knysna during the Eighties - and George Rex was there. 

2. The first Cape to Rio Race started at RCYC in January 1971 with a fleet of 

almost 100 yachts. It’s all on record at RCYC. 

Incidentally, and at a similar time, Trevor Wilkins was heavily involved in 

another project, the NSRI, of which Rotarian Pat O’Sullivan was the founder 

chairman and keen yachtsman and administrator. 

3. The statue of Albatross was to commemorate the exceptional example of 

Rotary commemorating an international event which featured the City of Cape 

Town. It’s location was at the main Cape Town Railway Station just across from the 

large fountain, separating it from another statue to explorer Scott of the antarctic. 

This shows that the Mother City is also the home of international adventurers and 

sailors, unless they are made of steel and destined for scrap dealers! 

4. Where is it today? During 1990 when there was a rash of stealing, melting 

down and exporting by scrap dealers, first the bronze sails were stolen, then the 

hull until only a concrete plinth remained. 

5. From memory I recall (but it will be on record at RCYC) that the original 

boat which came from Norway with the original Thesens in 1800 and something 

was named Albatross, hence the name when the boat built specially for that first 

Rio race was launched. • 

Last month I revealed some of the old classic yachts of this 

country, and continue this theme again as I was unable to unearth 

some which I finally found tucked carefully away in the archives. All 

these boats were Cape to Rio Race entrants in the very early races, 

and with the next race starting in January, their inclusion is timely. 

If readers have any insight into these yachts, please let me have the 

info. 

Pic 1. Stormkaap, another Cape to Rio Race entrant, and well 

known throughout the country. She was designed by van de Stadt 

and skippered in the ‘71 race by David Abromowitz. She was 

described as a lightweight downwind flier with a pronounced clipper 

bow. 

Pic 2. Omuramba, another iconic local South African yacht. She 

was a Swan 43 and was co-owned by Hans Berker. 

Pic 3. Golden City, another ‘City’ sponsored yacht. She is a 

Cal 40 design and was skippered by David Butler, an Olympic 

yachtsman and a former leader of the Opposition in Rhodesia! 

Pic 4. This is Mainstay, a former Admiral’s Cup competitor in 

1972, which was entered in the 1973 Cape to Rio Race. She was 

skippered by David Cox. 

Pic 5. Verwoerdburg was sponsored by the city of that name, 

one of several cities which sponsored yachts in the early Cape to Rio 

Races. She was originally called High Tension when she represented 

Britain in the One-Ton Cup. She was designed by Jac de Ridder and 

skippered in the 1976 race by Noel Mallinson. • 


LETTER TO THE EDITOR 

Have something to say? Write to the Editor: editor@saiing.co.za 

Two-Star Accolades 

Sir 

I have just received the June issue of SAILING Magazine 

and want to tell you I enjoyed the article about the ‘epic’ 

Two-Star transatlantic race aboard Voortrekker II. Both John 

Martin and Rob Sharp made an outstanding effort and sailed 

a smart race to win in a very convincing fashion! Even though 

you were both Officers and Gentlemen of our Navy, you both 

demonstrated true ‘mongrel’ toughness when the chips were 

down. A true high point to tell the Grandchildren about some 

day. 

The whole ‘de-clutchable’ steering arrangement was 

a violation of the KISS principle, just so a vane gear and 

rudder trim tab/linear autopilot would work properly! All that 

happened too late to be properly tested. Even the specialist 

Mechanical Engineer needed more ‘oversight’ over the 

manufacture and testing of the system to ensure it was fit for 

purpose. 

Poor old Voortrekker II was not the kind of boat the SA 

Navy should have tried to look after. In every race she had 

maintenance issues, not least on the BOC Race immediately 

afterwards! That fine solo effort by John Martin, winning two 

out of four legs was also one ‘for the books’! 

Angelo Lavranos 

New Zealand • 

Response to ‘Letter to the Editor, 

July 2016 issue 

Sir 

Roger Cady is quite correct about the elongated Buccaneer from 

Simonstown venturing up the Breede River. Whether it was the first 

yacht to do so, might be challenged however. 

I did my National Service in 1975/1976 in Simonstown with Bertie 

Reed as my Chief. In those days the Buccaneer class was very strong in 

False Bay. One day Bertie pointed out the stretched Buccaneer to me 

and told me about the young couple who, according to Bertie, were 

making numerous trips from Simonstown to the Breede. 

What bothered Bertie was that they were making the trip with their 

little baby onboard, but not so much having the kid on board, but that 

he (Bertie) had spotted the kid on the boat in winter without wearing his 

baby bonnet! 

But yes, I recall the boat. It was red with a white deck and the cabin 

top was extended all the way to the gunwales. Way back then there was 

a ‘FOR SALE’ notice on the Club notice board for the boat. The notice 

had two pictures of the boat, showing it tied up to the bush on the river 

bank. I am sure the older False Bay Yacht Club members will know more 

about the adventures of the young couple. 

During the early 1980s there was a feature article in SA Yachting 

about the Compass 47, Smirnoff also venturing into the Breede. It must 

be noted that the River served as a busy port for the Overberg during 

the 1800s. The ship which called there most often was the SS Kadie 

belonging to the Barry brothers. 

Frans Loots • 


Ladder rung 

Comparisons Upwind vs Downwind 

What’s the Best Way to Play Wind Shifts? 

If there’s one place where the best strategy for sailing upwind is perfectly contrary to the ideal 

strategy for sailing downwind, it’s in the realm of playing windshifts. On a beat you should 

usually sail toward the next shift you expect, but on a run you should do the opposite – sail away 

from it. 

The reason for this dichotomy is that you have completely different goals on beats and runs. On 

a beat your goal is to move to windward as quickly as possible. This means climbing up the ladder 

rungs so you make progress in a windward direction. If the wind is going to shift, you can get to a 

higher ladder rung simply by being closer to the direction of the shift. 

On a run, however, your goal is to move to leeward by climbing down the ladder rungs. Sailing 

toward the next shift is not a good idea because you’ll end up on a higher ladder rung when the 

wind shifts. Sailing away from the shift is the way to end up on a lower ladder rung. The goal is to 

maximize VMG, like upwind, but the way you must do it is opposite. 

UPWIND: Sail Toward the Next Windshift 

When you are expecting the wind 

direction to change (as it almost 

always does), the basic principle 

for upwind strategy is to sail in 

the direction of the anticipated 

windshift. If you think the wind will 

veer (shift clockwise, to the right), 

sail on port tack toward that shift 

(see diagram). If you think the wind 

will back (shift counterclockwise, to 

the left), sail on starboard tack. 

By sailing toward the next shift, 

you will be closer to the new wind 

direction and will therefore end up 

on a higher ladder rung when the 

shift comes. This means you will be 

farther upwind and more advanced 

in racing toward the windward 

mark. 

Shifts are usually more valuable 

on beats than runs, so work hard to 

figure out where the next shift will 

come from. When you’re not sure, 

sail the longer tack first. 

Ladder rung 

‘Ladder rung’ 

WIND 

1 

2 

3 

YES 

‘Ladder Rungs’ 

Ladder rungs are imaginary lines drawn 

on the water surface perpendicular to the 

wind direction. On a beat or run, boats on 

the same ladder rung are equal in the race. 

Upwind you want to climb up to a higher 

rung while on a run you want to get to a 

lower rung. If the wind changes direction 

the angle of the ladder rungs (and therefore 

the boats’ positions in the race) will also 

change. 

DOWNWIND: 

Sail Away from the 

Next Windshift 

On a beat you should sail toward the next 

windshift, but on a run the opposite is true 

– sail away from where you expect the next 

shift. If you think the wind will veer (shift 

clockwise, to the right), sail on starboard 

gybe away from that shift (see diagram). If 

you think the wind will back (shift counterclockwise, 

to the left), sail on port gybe first. 

By getting farther away from the 

direction of the next shift you will end up 

on a lower ladder rung when that shift 

comes. This means you will be farther 

downwind and more advanced in racing to 

the leeward mark. 

Be careful about this rule if the next 

wind shift may bring an increase in velocity. 

Pressure is critical on runs, so think twice 

before sailing away from it. This isn’t a 

problem on beats because you sail toward 

the next shift which also takes you toward 

the pressure. 

‘Ladder rung’ 

1 

YES 

WIND 

2 

3 


Strategy in Shifts 

UPWIND: Tack When You Get Headed So You Sail 

on the Lifts. 

Most sailors know that when the wind is 

oscillating you should tack when you get 

headed. This will put you on the lifted tack, 

which will bring you more directly up the 

upwind ‘ladder’ toward the windward mark. 

Tacking on the headers is also very 

consistent with sailing toward the next shift. 

If you are sailing on port tack and you get 

headed (i.e. you sail into a right shift), the 

reason why you tack on that shift is because 

the next shift you expect is a lefty. When 

you expect a left shift, sail on starboard tack 

toward it. 

Of course, if you get headed on port 

tack and you think the wind is shifting 

persistently, don’t tack. The next shift will 

come from the right, so keep sailing on port 

tack. 

DOWNWIND: Gybe When You Get Lifted So You 

Sail on the Headers 

When the wind is oscillating downwind, 

gybe when you get lifted. This keeps you on 

the headed tack, which will bring you more 

directly down the downwind ‘ladder’ toward 

the leeward mark. 

Jibing on the lifts is also consistent with 

sailing away from the next shift you expect. 

If you are on port tack and you get lifted (i.e. 

the wind shifts to the left), the reason why 

you gybe to starboard is because the next 

shift you expect is a righty. When you’re 

expecting a right shift on a run, you should 

sail away from it on starboard gybe. 

Remember that you are sailing with the 

wind on a run so you won’t see as many 

oscillating shifts as you do on a beat. 

WIND 

Race-course Implications 

This section is already full of things to remember 

about shifts on beats and runs, but here are a few 

reminders: 

• The correct strategy downwind is to sail away 

from the next shift you expect, but be careful about 

doing this if you see better pressure coming with that 

shift. 

• Since you normally see fewer shifts on runs 

than beats, it’s more likely that you may treat some 

downwind shifts as persistent (rather than oscillating). 

There is a point during any run (and this is relatively 

early compared to beats) where you are not going 

to see any more shifts. It’s important to treat that last 

shift as a persistent one and not assume it will oscillate 

again before you get to the leeward mark. 

The Danger of Sailing Away From the 

Next Shift on a Run 

In theory, the right way to play windshifts downwind is to sail away from 

the direction where you expect the wind to shift next so you’ll be on a 

lower ladder rung when the shift comes. But this doesn’t always work out 

best in practice. 

The problem is that changes in wind direction are often accompanied 

by increases in wind velocity. If you sail away from the shift, you may also 

be sailing away from the best pressure. 

Since additional wind is so valuable on a run, the gains from getting 

into better pressure often outweigh the loss that comes with sailing toward 

the shift. This means the choice of which way to go is often difficult. • 

1 

ONLY SAILing IS CLEANER 

We have taken smoke and smell out of our new D1 and D2 

marine diesels. Particle emissions are down 50% and overall emissions 

comply with the world’s most stringent regulations. And the redesigned 

combustion chambers also contributes to lower noise. 

WIND 

To get it cleaner and quieter, you need to hoist sails. 

The Green boat is going the right 

way to play the windshift, but the 

Red boat will have better pressure. 

Who’s right depends on how much 

the wind shifts and how much more 

pressure there is on the right side. 

2 

3 

D1/D2-SERIES: 12-75 HP. 

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF 

THE VOLVO PENTA GREEN COMMITMENT. 



Editorial and picture submissions are welcomed & encouraged. Contributions to: editor@sailing.co.za 

DEADLINES ARE THE 1st OF EVERY MONTH 

REJUVENATION OF WITS YACHT CLUB 

Take a Bow Madam Commodore 

by Ingrid Willcox 

A university yacht club is unlike any 

conventional sailing club in that the members 

are only there for some four to five years 

and then they graduate and move on in life. 

Conventional clubs have people joining who 

remain members for a long time and in many 

cases for life. This goes on from generation to 

generation. This makes it easier to establish 

and maintain because the members are just 

always there. 

WITs yacht club has certainly had its ups 

and downs depending on whether the students 

are already keen active sailors or not. Ten 

to fifteen years ago there happened to be a 

large bunch of very good sailors attending 

Wits, so the club did well. They always had 

representation at the regattas and they even 

managed to enter a team to sail in the Lipton 

Cup Regatta. 

The focus has changed since then. They 

moved away and the focus of the club changed 

from serious sailing to occasional sailing and 

then to a predominantly social scene with 

some really hectic parties. There is absolutely 

nothing wrong with having parties, but the main 

purpose of the club was lost. This all changed 

two years ago when the responsibility of 

Commodore was taken up by a young second 

year physio student, Alison Bradfield. She had 

absolutely no idea what she was taking on, but 

Alison Bradfield - the inspirational WITS Commodore. 

she felt the need for change and the need to 

bring sailing back as the main focus of the club. 

She ran with it for a year as it was and could see 

that it was dying. No longer could they rely on 

sailors who might be attending WITS as these 

numbers had dropped off. A drastic change had 

to happen if they wanted the support from the 

university. 

Change started with her second term as 

Commodore. She surrounded herself with a 

strong committee and has now completely 

overhauled the way the club is run and has 

changed their approach to sailing in general. 

They have shifted the entire focus of the club 

to getting more students involved in the sport 

of sailing by not only focusing on the social and 

fun aspects, but also by teaching people to sail 

and to be able to compete at regattas. 

At the beginning of the year they went all 

out to attract members. One of their campaigns 

was to rig a Laser and put it on the Wits 

swimming pool. The girls all donned their 

bikinis in an attempt to attract new members. 

It worked and their membership grew. They did 

not stop there. They organized sailing days at 

the Victoria lake Club. 

They have started ‘learn to sail’ sessions to 

attract non-sailors. This is done every fortnight 

with Megan Eccleston coaching from a rubber 

duck. The new sailors go out on one of their six 

Sprogs with an experienced sailor who gives 

them some instruction before they are allowed 

to go it alone. All this is offered completely free 

of charge to the new members. Any expenses 

are paid for from the funds raised at their 

student parties. 

Alison has not limited the sailing to 

dinghies. She has organized a weekend at Vaal 

Dam where Denneysville Aquatic Club and 

Aeolians have offered to host the students. This 

exposed them to a different type of sailing, 

namely keelboat sailing. 

All this hard work has paid off. WITS 

sailors are once again seen amongst the entries 

at regattas. They competed in races such as 

Round The island and we have seen them at 

various national and provincial championships. 

The highlight of last season was their victory 

at the King of Clubs Regatta where they totally 

demolished the more experienced Pretoria 

Sailing Club in the final. 

WITS is the King of Clubs in the SAS 

Northern Region. 

Their next project was to compete in the 

Inter Varsity Match Racing Regatta, hosted 

by Point Yacht Club. After the July break the 

committee will start to teach the members the 

ins-and-outs of team racing in preparation for 

the 2016 USSA regatta at the end of the year. 

In addition to growing the Wits Yacht Club, 

Alison has been trying to promote sailing in the 

other Gauteng Universities. The long-term plan 

is to get them to revive their sailing clubs, but 

until that happens she will encourage them to 

join WITS as external members. 

Her committee has worked unbelievably 

hard over the past six months to renew their 

image in the sailing community. Next year they 

hope to attract even more new faces to sailing 

and to continue with the positive work they are 

doing with regards to transformation. 

You know it’s all working when one of the 

brand new members passes a comment whilst 

sailing at a grand slam event that he has never 

had so much fun and he wishes he had learned 

to sail earlier in his life.” 

Take a bow madam Commodore. None 

of this would have happened without a strong 

leader to guide an enthusiastic and willing team. 

Well-done Alison Bradfield. • 





TRIUMPH FOR DEVELOPMENT SAILING IN RSA 

Gryphon to Spread its Wings 

A team of talented and skilled Cape Town sailors, 

evolving from Development Sailing backgrounds 

have very proudly launched their campaign to 

race the yacht Gryphon, newly purchased and 

renamed, in local regattas and with their sights 

firmly set on racing in the Cape 2 Rio 2017 yacht 

race at the end of this year. 

Truly representative of our rainbow nation, 

and so committed to the promotion, support and 

nurturing of development of youth in sailing, 

the team founded The Hout Bay Youth Sailing 

Development Trust (HBYSDT), and using their 

initiative and a portion of their own finances, have 

purchased the 43’ racing yacht Gumption, now 

named Gryphon (a legendary creature with the 

head, talons and wings of an eagle and the body of 

a lion) aptly reflecting the spirit of the team. 

The Gryphon Team bring to this project all 

the elements of empowerment, achievement, 

determination, hope, pride and success as 95% of 

the team have progressed from development sailing 

programmes and schools, moving up the ladder 

and proving their worth as competent, competitive 

sailors. 

Their goals are to compete at the highest level, 

against the best sailors in the country and to develop 

young sailors predominantly from the Hout Bay 

Yacht Club Youth Programme and the Zeekoevlei 

Sailing Centre. 

To race in the 2017 Cape 2 Rio Yacht Race, 

which starts on 1 January 2017, is their ultimate 

challenge and they will be seeking sponsorship to 

support their campaign, goals and ambitions. Post 

Cape 2 Rio, the yacht will be used for the continual 

development and transformation of sailing. 

The iconic and popular yacht race from Cape 

Town to Rio de Janeiro is a fascinating tactical race 

over a distance of 3,300 nautical miles, taking some 

16 days, and poses a real test of skill, character, 

leadership and seamanship. 

The yacht, a highly modified and optimized 

state of the art racing sloop boasts an impressive 

track record having raced in all the major events in 

South Africa and offshore, posting numerous wins 

and podium positions. 

The 8 crew racing Rio 2017 range in age 

between 17 and 49. They are committed and 

competitive and have travelled the path from grass 

roots to become seasoned sailors competing both 

locally and Internationally. 

They boast participation in many of the major 

regattas and races on the circuit in South Africa and 

abroad, and between them can include previous 

Cape to Rio Races; the China Cup; Maxi World Cup; 

America’s Cup; Lipton Cup; Cowes Week and more. 

Qualified Boat Builder, Andre Julius with 35 

years sailing experience is the Crew Manager for 

the project. He has competed in many international 

sailing events and ocean crossings and is perfectly 

placed to lead his team to victory. Hout Bay Yacht 

Club Sailing Manager, Theo Yon has been sailing 

for 16 years and will skipper Gryphon to Rio, with 

co-skipper Clarence Hendricks, a Marine Technical 

Sales Manager who has 21 years sailing experience. 

All the crew members have a wealth of experience 

between them and two youth development sailors 

will be given the opportunity to participate with 

their peers in this awesome adventure to Rio. They 

will be selected by HBYSDT on performance and 

commitment. 

Mentoring the team is legendary South African 

Yachtsman, John Martin, who has long played an 

influential role in normalizing sailing as a sport for 

L-R. Theo Yon; Leroy Rudolf and Andre Julius. 

everyone. He pioneered transformation of sailing in 

the SA Navy and is passionate about the development 

of youth in sailing, with many success stories 

emanating from his various development sailing 

projects. Aside from participating in five Transatlantic 

Races himself, he was Chairman of the Cape to Bahia 

Race; raced twice with a full development crew to 

Bahia and Rio; and was instrumental in organizing 

the famous Voortrekker with a full development team 

from Izivunguvungu, to race to Salvador in 2009. As 

Chairman of the Cape to Rio Race in 2011, he also 

managed and mentored the winner of the Race, the 

youth entry aboard City of Cape Town. 

“I really believe that this project is the 

culmination of many people’s dreams, including 

mine. It would be an insult to call Andre Julius, 

Theo and Clarence and other members of the crew, 

development sailors. They independently hold down 

top positions in sailing and its associated industries, 

as men who were given the opportunity and made 

it work for themselves. They are living proof that 

transformation in sailing has taken place and 

by involving these young men in leadership, they 

will change the face of yacht clubs, and what was 

perceived to be an elitist white sport. It is amazing 

that this team have put their hands in their pockets to 

buy the vessel. Now all they require is sponsorship to 

cover their campaign costs” said John Martin. 

“I personally have known Andre since he was 

22, when we introduced people of colour to sailing 

at RCYC. I have the utmost respect for his skills and 

abilities – he is a true Ambassador for South Africa 

and I am proud and honoured to be involved with 

their project.” • 


21 Years ago Bernard Funke had a brainwave. 

He decided that it would be a good idea to let 

the Juniors sail an Inter-club event on keelboats 

There was only one class to choose from then, 

and that was the J22. 

He got together with Manuel Mendes and 

between the two of them they managed to 

persuade the owners of the J22s to lend their 

boats to a bunch of junior sailors many of which 

were hardly ten years of age. This must have 

taken some convincing and smooth talking, but 

they did it. This wonderful initiative on their part 

was the beginning of what was, and still is, the 

highlight of the Junior sailing calendar. 

Originally just one team from each club 

was allowed. This created a problem, as there 

were more enthusiastic juniors at most clubs. 

They soon used their initiative, as it was not long 

before every club in the region was represented. 

This has now changed and each club can enter 

two teams. The owner’s rep has to sail on the 

boat. He was not allowed to assist, but just has 

to be there in case anything happened. It wasn’t 

long before they could see just how competent 

the little guys were and were happy to get off the 

boat and leave them to it. 

Fortunately over the years there have not 

been any major incidents, much to the relief of 

the owners who lend their boats. 

The regatta has gained National Youth status 

from SAS and is now called the SAS J22 Youth 

Regatta. It’s a great event where youth from all 

around the country spend a few days together 

forming great friendships. 

Ten Clubs were represented at the 2016 

event. The organizers took advantage of the 

public holiday on 16 June and held the regatta 

over four days. Eleven races were sailed in winds 

that varied in strength from a mild 3 knots to a 

good 12 knots. The mist on Saturday morning 

was so thick, you could not even see the end of 

the jetty. This only cleared around midday once 

the wind came through. 

Day one, and everybody was keen to get 

started, but there was very little wind. Eventually 




Vasco da Gama Ocean Race 

Durban to Port Elizabeth 

Starts 27 April 2017 

Classes: IRC; PHRF; 

Multihulls & Rally 

Information from: 

sailing@pyc.org.za 

JUNIOR J REGATTA 

A Pinnacle of Youth Sailing 

Pic caption 

The winning Royal Natal team. 

race officer, Ronnie Gurnell took the fleet to the 

middle of the dam where he found a light 3 to 

6 knot westerly breeze and racing began. The 

experienced crew from DAC, Damian Muller, 

Tyrone Smith and Owen Diesel got off to a 

good start to win the first race. It was not long 

however before the RNYC team consisting of 

Michaela Robinson on the helm, Benji Daniels 

and Chad Stevenson found their feet to win the 

second race and to top the over night leader 

by Ingrid Willcox 

board. DAC was a close second with the Boskop 

team (Yvonne and Joshua Gerber and Gerhardt 

van Niekerk) hot on their heels just one point 

behind. 

On Friday morning the dam was flat and 

calm. Up went the postponement flag and it 

was time to wait for the breeze. The forecast 

did not look promising and it was going to be a 

long wait. TYC’s youth committee had organized 

an open day, giving the children from the local 

schools the opportunity to experience the 

atmosphere of a top youth regatta, and to try 

this amazing sport of ours. Anthony Engelbrecht 

brought the SAS trailer and dinghies so there 

were plenty of boats for all to try. It was only at 

15h00 that a whisper of breeze came through, 

the postponement flag came down and the fleet 

had just 30 minutes to get to the start. Seven 

of the fleet made it on time. The rest were late 

starters. 

The DAC team enjoyed the light breeze as 

they won both races putting them first overall 

and four points ahead of RNYC. Boskop were 

just holding onto third spot with Algoa Bay Yacht 

Club (Jordan van Zyl, Jenna Bailes, Bronwyn van 

Wyngaardt and Chad Bilsbury) and Point Yacht 

Club (Jethro Brophy-Tintinger, Sam Lombard and 

Dylan Albert) very close behind. 

Saturday was a good day for sailing. It had 

a misty start, but a good 10 to 12 knot breeze 

cleared the mist and by the end of the day five 

races had been added to the scoreboard. Team 

Royal Natal revelled in the stronger breeze. They 

won all five races placing them very clearly at 

the top of the standings. The local TYC team 

sailing on Jolly Roger, skippered by Rowan James 

with Grant Kastoor, and Tiaan Damstra as crew, 





had a very good seventh race as they finished 

second just behind the RNYC team. It was a long 

successful day as the fleet sailed home just as the 

sun was setting. 

Sunday was a beautiful day, typical of 

Hartebeespoort Dam, with not a breath of wind. 

The race officer was under pressure. The cut off 

for racing was 13h00 and he wanted a tenth race 

to give the second discard. Gurnell was adamant 

that the breeze would blow out of the Poort at 

11h00 and that there would be plenty of time 

for the tenth race. Well he has sailed at TYC for 

many, many years and he was absolutely right. 

At 11h00 the flags fluttered, the postponement 

was lowered and by 12h00 racing was underway 

in what was probably the steadiest breeze of the 

weekend. ABYC got a really good start to lead 

the fleet from the start to the finish. RNYC was 

well ahead on points going into the last race, 

and all that was required of them was to sail 

conservatively and finish in the top half of the 

fleet. They came in second with the team from 

PYC third. 

It was a great event. A huge thank you must 

go to the sponsors E 10 Petrolium, the Kormorant 

and Amtec Racing. • 





HOBIE 16 WORLDS 

Another RSA Podium 

The Hobie 16 World championships were 

held in Dapeng, China in a beautiful bay 

surrounded by hills and white beaches. 

Over 300 teams came together to do 

battle in the various disciplines. Knysna Yacht 

Club sailors William and Lucinda Edwards 

(Clemengold Sailing) were entered in the 

Masters where they were defending their title. 

The Masters was the first event and the 

Edwards sailed hard to hold on to their title, 

but it was the two Australian teams, sailing on 

Australian built boats, who took the top two 

places with William and Lucinda third. 

The Open event started once all 

the qualification races were completed. 

Clemengold Sailing set off with a great start 

only to be protested on the second leg, with an 

exaggerated port/starboard claim by a young 

New Caledonian Team, and were penalized 14 

points. 

“We were very disappointed and clearly 

would have to be vigilant not to incur more 

penalties with only one discard. That night 

there was a lot of reflection and a new game 

plan was hatched and we managed to win the 

next race. With our confidence restored we 

then posted consistent results which put us in 

11th position going through to the finals” said 

William Edwards. 

The forecast for the finals was looking good 

with stronger wind and thunderclouds which 

did not disappoint with big gusts and torrential 

rain, combined with lightning bolts and violent 

claps of thunder which tested the nerves of even 

the most experienced sailors. 

Willian and Lucinda Edwards - on the podium again in the Hobie Worlds. 

“Just before a massive squall hit we 

managed to orientate ourselves and sailed round the last mark for the finish, The last race of the finals was sailed in 5 - 8 knots with all the 

and from then on it was a white-out, but we hit the finish line at a perfect teams wanting to make the most of it to improve their overall standings. 

angle and gained many places” said William. 

William and Lucinda held their nerve and got a good start and spotted a 





William and Lucinda Edwards in action in the China Worlds. 

wind shift up the middle of the course, and took advantage of it, putting 

them third at the first mark, and held this position until the finish. Some 

good races and consistent finishes put them into 6th overall in the open 

finals. • 

HANDICAPPING 

Exciting News for 

RSA Keelboats 

As an introductory offer running through until June 2017, any yacht 

in South Africa can apply for an ORC Club certificate without the 

standard certification fee payable to the rating organization. This is 

an incredible opportunity to trial the ORC rating system, without the 

associated certification fees! 

The ORC Club certificate includes the yacht’s hull, rig and sail 

measurements; a variety of powerful rating options suited to specific 

and general racing applications; and an incredibly useful speed guide 

derived from the rating system’s Velocity Prediction Program. 

There are 27 South African yachts with current ORC Club 

certificates, and a number of additional yachts have shown strong 

interest in getting certified. 

If your yacht has been measured previously and has not been 

altered, you can use the recorded measurements (i.e. from an endorsed 

IRC certificate) with just a few more relatively simple measurements 

required. 

If the yacht you sail has not been measured, you will need to 

organize a complete measurement with a recognized measurer 

(measurers capable of undertaking the measurements for the endorsed 

IRC certificate will be qualified to undertake this). If you do not have 

a recognized measurer in your area, there are two options: either 

get an established measurer to come to your region to perform the 

measurement, or identify someone in your area to become a measurer 

and let’s explore ways to get them appropriately trained. 

The costs associated with measurement (crane; scale; measurer, etc) 

are separate from the certification fee, and will vary from place to place. 

This is payable by the owner, club or region, depending on how you 

choose to structure it. 

There is a lot of goodwill and support coming through from ORC, 

and if we can build the use of this rating system in South Africa, we can 

ensure exciting, affordable and fair ratings for racing. The South African 

region is being supported directly and highly efficiently by the central 

office. Once there is a critical mass of certified local yachts, we can 

establish a local rating office, able to issue certificates directly on behalf 

of ORC. 

There are long term benefits for sailing using an internationally 

recognized, standardized and scientific rating system. The ORC system 

is an excellent option, and there are cost advantages associated with 

adopting this rating system widely as a national club rating system, over 

other international systems currently available. 

Information: rating@orc.org.za • 

August 2016 

6 August Hobie 14 KZN Champs PYC 

13 -14 August Northern Region Keelboat Champs LDYC 

21 - 22 August Northern Region Keelboat Champs LDYC 

20 - 21 August PSC Youth Regatta PSC 

27 August Ron Roseveare Night Race PNYC 

27 - 28 August Finn Winter Challenge & 505 Highvelds PSC 

September 2016 

23 - 25 September Spring Grand Slam FBYC 

23 - 25 September Keelboat Regatta DAC 

17 - 18 September Laser; 505; Dabchick & Optimist Provincials AYC 

23 - 25 September DAC Keelboat Week DAC 

23 - 25 September FBYC Spring Regatta FBYC 

29 September Mossel Bay Race - Simonstown to M/Bay FBYC 

October 2016 

1 - 4 October Laser Nationals ABYC 

1 - 4 October Eastern Cape Laser Provincials ABYC 

6 - 9 October Halcat Nationals HYC 

6 -17 October African Optimist Champs 

14 - 16 October Cape Town International Boat Show V&A 

15 - 16 October VYC Tour de Vlei VYC 

21 - 23 October Hobie 16 Nationals LDYC 

22 - 23 October GLYC Inter-Club GLYC 

29 October MAC 12-hour MAC 

November 2016 

4 - 6 November IRC V & A Regatta V & A 

19 - 20 November Summer Regatta VYC 

December 2016 

4 - 16 December Fireball Nationals & Worlds MBYBC 

10 - 17 December Youth Nationals TSC 

15 - 20 December RCYC Cape Town Race Week RCYC 

16 - 18 December RCYC Summer Regatta RCYC 

21 - 22 December Port Owen River Race POYC 

26 - 31 December Sonnet Nationals 

27 - 31 December West Coast Cruise POYC 

26 December Cape to Rio Race - start 1 RCYC 

January 2017 

1 January Cape to Rio Race - start 2 RCYC 

17 January Port Owen River Race POYC 

February 2017 

10 - 12 February Fling Regatta RCYC 

24 - 25 February Mykonos Offshore RCYC 

March 2017 

18 - 19 March MAC 24 MAC 

April 2017 

27 April Vasco da Gama Ocean Race - DBN to PE PYC/ABYC 





HOBIE 16 AND FLYING FIFTEEN PROVINCIALS 

Offshore Durban Still the Best 

by Sophie Thompson 

For a number of sailors, the Youth Day long 

weekend was spent on the water competing 

in the Hobie 16 and Flying Fifteen Provincials 

offshore Durban with the two teams of 

experienced campaigners taking the win in 

their classes. 

For long time partners, Garth Loudon and 

Robbie Eduard Betsy, it was a faultless regatta 

for the two in the Hobie 16 fleet. The team who 

have been sailing together for the last two and 

a half decades, re-joined forces after an eight 

year break to compete in the two-hander Hobie 

16 class. From the get-go the combo of Loudon 

and Eduard Betsy topped the log in every single 

race, with a convincing lead over the rest of the 

boats in the nine races. 

Father and son team, Peter and Matthew 

Hall also had an impressive time on the water, 

finishing second with six seconds and two thirds 

and a fourth which was their discard. They 

ended their regatta ten points behind Loudon 

and Eduard Betsy. Another father and son team, 

Brandon and Mark Wijtenburg won the final 

spot on the podium, ten points behind the Hall 

team. From Johannesburg, The Wijtenburgs 

relished their time on the warmer waters, 

notching up two seconds, two thirds, two 

fourths, two fifths and a sixth spot which was 

their discard. 

“Garth and Robbie were untouchable, they 

sailed phenomenally, a world class display! We 

only got to see the back of them the entire 

time we were on the water. Congrats to them.” 

Commented second placed, Peter Hall. 

In the Flying Fifteens, another formidable 

team of Patrick Harris and Jeremy Kriek walked 

away with the top honours. Harris and Kriek’s 

names both appear a number of times on the 

provincial trophy, being long time campaigners 

in the class. Entering the regatta, they were 

unbeaten in the last provincials. The duo scored 

six firsts out of the 11 races in the 2016 edition 

with some fiery young blood adding to the mix 

this year, giving the experienced competitors 

a run for their money. Previous winners Paul 

Changuion and Tim Duguid finished five points 

off the winners, with Rudy McNeill joining 

forces with Byron Watt pushing the leaders all 

the way and ending their regatta in third spot. 

The final class to compete were the Hobie 

Tigers, with just three boats. Local lads, Struan 

Campbell and Murray May walked away 

victorious by winning all but one race in which 

they retired. Dylan Albert with Riaan Botha 

were second, with Kobus Fourie and Jaco 

Labuschagne third. 

Rear Commodore of Dinghies from the 

Point Yacht Club, Myles White commented, 

“We had a seriously awesome time on the 

water. We managed to get three days of racing 

in, with the Flying Fifteens racing on Thursday 

as well and the Hobie guys only sailing the 

two days. I’d just like to thank all the teams 

that travelled for the regatta. 19 guys travelled 

from Johannesburg and Cape Town to race this 

weekend, so well done!” • 

Results 

Hobie 16 

1 Garth Loudon & Robbie Eduard Betsy 

2 Peter Hall & Matthew Hall 

3 Brandon Wijtenburg & Mark Wijtenburg 

4= Sean Fennessy & Rudi Fokkens 

4= Mark Kopel & Liam Fennessy 

Flying Fifteen Fleet 

1 Patrick Harris & Jeremy Kriek 

2 Paul Chanuion & Tim Duguid 

3 Rudy McNeill & Byron Watt 

4 Campbell Alexander & Ralph Thomas 

5 Anthony McMillan & Lorna Daniel 

Flying Fifteens enjoying the great sailing conditions 

during their Provincials which took place offshore 

Durban. pics by Sophie Thompson 

YACHT SALES 

M: 083 415 6799 • See our full selection at: 

E: rjbowman@xsinet.co.za • www.bowmanyachtsales.co.za 

Holiday 23’ - includes road trailer | R135 000 

Fast 42’ | R780 000 

Prout Cat 36’ | R1 mil 


Raymarine: New i70s Multifunction 

Instrument 

Newly launched are Raymarines latest 

version of their popular colour multifunction 

instruments, the Raymarine i70s which 

features a large, ultra-bright 4.1” LCD screen 

with enhanced LED backlighting for superior 

visibility day and night. The LCD is optically 

bonded to the i70s’ front window for high 

contrast and a wide viewing angle. 

Packed full of powerful features, they 

still remain exceptionally easy to use. Plus 

they compatible with SeaTalkng as well as 

NMEA2000 networking. User-selectable data 

source selection allows for easy integration on 

multi-sensor networks. 

These instruments are sleek, low-profile in 

design and complement the latest Raymarine 

multifunction displays. Each i70s instrument 

ships with 2 snap-on bezel options in the box 

featuring the latest eS Series square-cornered 

design. One bezel is black, complementing 

eS and gS Series systems while the other is 

gunmetal (silver) to complement aSeries and 

eSeries MFDs. The i70s also includes a snap-on 

sun cover. 

Information from MDM Marine Services. Tel. 

021-671 6751. 

New Jeanneau 54 

Latest in the Jeanneau range of sailing yachts 

is the new 54-footer. Soon after its launch it 

very quickly took the ‘Croatian Boat of the Year’ 

award for yachts over 36’. 

This new 54-footer claims to have been 

designed for the way you live. Never seen before 

solutions are found throughout, from the clever 

VIP interior layout to the spacious living cockpit 

and the easy and discreet management of the 

tender and the innovative aft terrace. Every detail 

and function has been considered to enhance 

life aboard and the cruising experience. 

Perhaps the most fascinating part of 

this Phillip Briand design is how cabin space 

below decks can be reconfigured based on the 

individual owner’s preference and needs. 

The cockpit is large and equal to almost onethird 

of the length of the yacht. All sail controls 

are led to the aft portion of the cockpit within 

reach of the helmsperson, leaving the forward 

section of the cockpit available for those more 

content to relax. For those relaxing there are two 

lounging seats providing good bracing protection 

and comfort. A dropleaf table in the cockpit 

allows for the whole crew to eat al fresco. 

There are many more innovative ideas, 

including the helm section folding out to become 

loungers and dropping down to a swimming 

platform, as well as the clever way of storing the 

dinghy out of sight. 

If you are in the market for a yacht designed 

for luxury sailing, you would be remiss not to 

look at the Jeanneau 54. Apart from its Croatian 

laurels, it has also been nominated for 2016 

European Yacht of the Year. 

Boating World. 0861 324 754 

Lewmar Glazing Expansion 

Lewmar recently announced the completion 

of its ultra-modern tempering plant for marine 

STOW-A-WEIGH 

Industry & new product news is welcomed. 

Contributions to: editor@sailing.co.za 

glazing. Now more state of the art equipment 

has been added, a rotary press bending plant to 

bend glass. This unit can bend glass 2.2m wide 

by 2.4 metres deep, thermally toughening for 

single and double curved glass along with a new 

NRG direct drive glass grinder. 

The press bender is a three stage machine 

capable of running either short run single bends 

or three bends on three load stations for OEM 

volumes in a continual cycle. Both cones and 

tubes shapes are possible in thicknesses ranging 

from 4mm to 19mm. 

A second high-speed grinder has also been 

added allowing a higher volume of glass to be 

prepared for toughing, printing and laminating. 

Central Boating. 021-424 8026. 

Xylem Launches New Microsite 

Responding to the needs of marine industry 

professionals and boat owners, Xylem, a global 

water technology leader, is launching marine. 

xylem.com, a new website that provides industry 

professionals and marine enthusiasts with access 

to extensive product information and solutions 

for recreational marine vessels. 

The website hosts the entire range of 

Xylem’s Rule and Jabsco brand marine products, 

including ballast and submersible bilge pumps, 

accessories and replacement parts, searchlights, 

shower and sink drain pumps, toilet and water 

pressure systems. Videos, images, catalogues, 

brochures are all accessible via a user-friendly 

and highly visual interface. Rule and Jabsco 

products are found in more than 10 million 

marine vessels worldwide.. 

The site’s video library section, also available 

at JabscoTech.com, offers more than 50 how-to 

videos on Jabsco and Rule product installation, 

maintenance and troubleshooting. 

Xylem recently released a new, Jabsco Lite 

Flush Toilet video. The highly efficient electric 

toilet offers low power consumption, is stylish, 

lightweight and easy to install. It is fitted with 

a new, quiet flush pump, which has large 

clearances to help prevent blockages. 

Manex & Power Marine. 021-511 7292 or 

marine.xylem.com 

Sika i-Cure for Marine 

Sika’s groundbreaking i-Cure polyurethane 

technology is now incorporated into adhesives 

and sealants for the Marine Industry. 

The term i-Cure stands for ‘intelligent curing’ 

and is the chemical base for the patented crosslinking 

technology for polyurethane sealants and 

adhesives. The Benefits of i-Cure include: Proven 

technology combined with latest know-how; 

Excellent workability to promote good aesthetic 

appearance; Neutral pH curing mechanism 

does not promote corrosion; Suitable for both 

professional and DIY markets; Wheelmark 

approved; Does not form bubbles during 

curing, even when applied on large areas; Good 

adhesion performance, a prolonged working life, 

and quick adhesion build-up promote superior 

workability; Excellent physical properties, high 

mechanical load capacity, and the ability to 

paint over, guarantee dependable and secure 

applications. 

www.sika.co.za • 

TEDDER 

YACHTS 

Brokerage | Charter | Project Management 

Multihull specialists since 1996 

Dudley Dix 39 Schooner ZAR 950,000 

› The most beautiful sailing yacht in South Africa › 

Original owner › Potential Prix de Elegance winner 

Lagoon 42 Owner or Charter ZAR 5.85m 

› 2017 model › 140 sold in 4 months › Call for 

brochure and specs › view at Cape Town Boatshow 

Voyage 440 

SOLE MANDATE 

NEW MODEL 

ZAR 4.65m 

› 2006 › Original owner › Blue water equipped 

› Proven ocean cruiser 

SMG 50 ZAR 4.15m 

› 2011 › Perfect downwind Rio fl yer › Unique “A” 

Frame Rig › Forward cockpit › ZAR 7m to replace 

Catana 582 

SOLE MANDATE 

ZAR 11.8M 

› The Rolls Royce of catamarans › Owner version 

› ZAR3.5m refi t › New mast, sails and engines 

There is no substitute for experience. 

Contact: Bruce Tedder 

Ground Floor, Marina Centre, West Quay Rd, 

V&A Waterfront, Cape Town 

Tel: +27 21 421 5565 | Fax: +27 21 421 5529 

Mobile: +27 82 658 3644 

Email: tedder@intekom.co.za 

www.lagoonsa.co.za | www.seaindependent.co.za 

www.sailing.co.za/gybeset | SAILING August 2016 53 

TY Ad #8 June 2016-D2.indd 1 

2016/05/24 3:58 PM

FREE CLASSIFIEDS 

Ads are strictly restricted to a maximum of 25 words. Ads must be e-mailed to freeclassifieds@sailing.co.za - and will not be accepted telephonically 

Ads will be inserted once only. This service is only available to private advertisers and not to any commercial enterprise or service provider. 

The decision of the Editor whether to publish adverts or not is final, and no correspondence will be entered into 

FOR SALE 

16’ Cherry 16 trailer sailer on licenced road 

trailer at Pretoria Sailing Club. Pelin design. R14 

750 ono. Willem. 079 785 5489 or 012-993 0570. 

willemvandelft@gmail.com 

19’ C-Sharp yacht. 4hp motor. Road trailer, Full set 

of sails including spinnaker, VHF, radio, compass, 

life jackets. Vaal Dam. R32 000 onco. Marian 082 

559 8674. 

22’ Viking. 8hp motor. New gearbox. Moored 

Hartbeespoort Dam. All sails in good condition. R45 

000. marcweldhagen@gmail.com or 082 879 9857. 

24’ Melges 24. Fast fun day-sailer or racer. On 

registered trailer. Lying Manten Marina, Vaal Dam. 

R160 000. DMace@Nous.co.za or 083 4000 444. 

25’ Racing Flamenca. Moored at Manten Marina, 

Vaal Dam. Main with stack pack, 3 x Genoa, Jib, 

Spinnaker, Gennicker, 4 Life Jackets. Sailed on 

regular basis. SA 300. R75 000. werner.hecker1@ 

gmail.com or 083 431 3812. 

26’ Sadler 26. Fully equipped, good condition. 

Moored in Simonstown. 079 621 4294. 

31’ Miura. New Nanni diesel 21hp with 190 hours. 

New Lewmar electric windless, spare anchor, 

chain & rope. Spare main, s/s braai, all cushions, 

life jackets, etc. COF. Vaal Dam. R250 000 onco. 

Duncan 082 897 1194. 

35’ Simonis, Zing. Maintained in full racing trim. All 

in good order & with safety compliance certificate 

issued November 2015. R450 000. Gavin 082 444 

9090. 

40’ Bruce Roberts Spray with walk-on & garage. 

Richards Bay. R500 000. Inventory & photos on 

request. vreindl@gmail.com or 082 355 1204. 

41’ Formosa 41. Masthead ketch. Built 1980. 15 

tonnes, full keel. GRP hull, coach roof & deck. Full 

cruising inventory. R530 000. A lovely yacht in good 

condition. andy@prinfo.co.za or 082 770 8749. 

45’ Bruce Roberts Charter 45. POA. coconut. 

islander@hotmail.com 

49er Olympic racing dinghy with trailer & many 

spares. Multiple set of sails, carbon tiller extensions, 

fully race ready. R40 000. Arno.daehnke@ 

standardbank.co.za or 083 408 4518. 

Anchor. Genuine Danforth. Model 22S. 083 265 

3885. 

Boom & Mast. 9m mast complete with winches & 

3,5m boom. Boom has rolling option. R10 000 for 

both. Mike 082 388 2173 or mikehein10@gmail.com 

Boom & sail. Removed from my boat. Fairly good 

condition. tqtimquin@icloud.com or 083 755 5881. 

Dabchick. Boat in good condition with one set of 

racing sails, extra main sail with two extra jib sails. 

Dolly is galvanised with blow up wheels. R10 000.00 

onco. ggreyling@mweb.co.za or 083 555 9283. 

Enterprise dinghy sails. Main & Jib. R950 

ono. Willem 079 785 5489; 012-993 0570 or 


Enterprise dinghy boat cover for rigged boat. As 

new. Orange. R2 500 ono. Willem 079 785 5489; 

012-993 0570 or willemvandelft@gmail.com 

Enterprise dinghy boom with basic fittings. R500 

ono. Willem. 079 7855489; 012-993 0570 or 


EPIRB. GME MT403. craigcbos@gmail.com or 083 

259 1121. 

Fireball Mast, rigging & sails - never used. R500 ono. 

Buyer to collect JHB. kejba@outlook.com or 083 280 

9674. 

Genset. Hatz genset with belt driven 4KVA 

generator. Mike 082 388 2173. 

Gypsey 2-man family dinghy. Has outboard motor 

capability. Dolly, trailer, cover & sails. Jhb. R12 000 

ono. Gavin 083 601 2464. 

I550 sportboat building material. 20 x 6mm marine 

ply, oak stem post, Oregon stringers, metal build 

cradle, clean lead for bulb, casting equipment, WRC 

keel & rudder blanks. Start your build now. Dan 084 

491 1128. 

Jib by Halsey Lidgard Sails. Excellent condition. Luff 

4572 mm . Leech 4420mm. Foot 2185mm. 4,309sq. 

meters. R500 ono. Willem. 079 7855489; 012-993 

0570 or willemvandelft@gmail.com 

Life Raft. 10 person. R4 000. Michael 082 873 6280. 

Liferaft. Viking 8 man RescYou. Bought new 

in March 2013. First service now due. Spotless 

condition. R9,000. Rod 072 066 4073. 

Mast & boom with sails & rigging. 9m mast with 

boom, rigging, winches, halyards & sails. Also 

insulated rigging for SSB aerial. R15 000.00 for the 

lot. Mike 082 388 2173 or mikehein10@gmail.com 

Mirror dinghy. Top competition boat with new mast 

& sails. R25 000. Anton. msb@mweb.co.za or 083 

456 4812. 

Mirror dinghy with 3 sails & trailer. Working 

condition. R5 500. Owner no longer sailing. 083 

325 3189. 

Mooring. D Class mooring SH25 at RCYC. Only 50m 

walk from car park. Price negotiable. Suitable for 

yachts up to 14.5m. 083 324 0253. 

Perkins 4108 marine diesel engine. Four cylinder 

50hp. Rebuilt with new piston rings, diesel pump 

& injectors, paints stripped back to bare metal 

& repainted in Perkins paint colour. Can be seen 

running. R39 950. Hout Bay. roy@ckdboats.co.za 

Sail. Jib by Halsey Lidgard Sails. Luff 4572mm; 

Leech 4420mm; Foot 2185mm. 4,309sq.meters. 

R550 ono. Willem 079 785 5489; 012-993 0570 or 


Sailing Books. Various titles & subjects. 

Boatbuilding, boat maintenance, yachting travel, 

world cruising (Jimmy Cornell). 9 books in total. 

Good condition. Peter 082 333 6599. 

Trailer. Large box trailer with racks on top. Built by 

Jonesco trailers. R10 000. 083 265 3885. 

WANTED 

Flying Dutchman mast. Wood or aluminiun. peter@ 

jhbfin.co.za or 082 900 5933. 

Magazine. SA Yachting mag - December 1968 issue. 

skippervaliant@gmail.com or 071 883 5521. 

Roller furler for 30ft yacht. ronaldjohncln@yahoo. 

com or 073 399 3333. 

Roller Furler for Jaguar 22. TYC based. trevor. 

watkins9@gmail.com 

Wooden Finn mast & boom for a restoration project. 

Alex Divov. 082 773 4287 or divov@tiscali.co.za 

CREW 

Late 50s couple with ocean going monohull ready to 

sail across oceans. Looking for a couple with sailing 

experience to join us & share the daily costs. Boat is 

in Cape Town. usat pt_llamedos@yahoo.com • 


ADVERTISERS’ INDEX 

43 2 Oceans Maritime Academy 084 511 2726 

55 Action Yachting 021-419 4835 

Professional Yacht Repairs 

9 Atlantic Yachting 022-772 0718 

46 Baltic Timber 021-448 4600 

19 Boating World - Jeanneau 0861 324 754 

21 Boating World - Fountaine Pajot 0861 324 754 

52 Bowman Yacht Sales 083 415 6799 

37 Cape Town Boat Show 021-531 5703 

Shop inside the Royal Yacht Club 

7 Central Boating 021-424 8026 

55 Current Marine 082 926 2278 

IFC David Abromowitz & Associates 021-419 0722 

55 du Toit Design 021-975 2580 

44 Dudley Dix Design 

50 Edward William Marine Services 

55 Falx Trading 021-712 1787 

52 Fonz Marine 031-368 5222 

31 Global Marine Systems 021-555 1574 

49 G-Wind Spars 031-700 4525 

27 Harken 021-511 3244 

51 Harken 021-511 3244 

25 Manex & Power Marine 021-511 7292 

16 Maverick Yachts 021-552 7752 

OBC MDM Marine Services 021-671 6751 

14 National Luna 011-452 5438 

11 North Sails 021-511 2154 

55 Peter Randle - The Yacht Lab 021-702 0720 

17 PowerSol 021-552 1187 

29 Robertson & Caine 

42 Ronden Marine 021-703 3050 

35 Roy Dunster 083 661 6522 

22 Royal Cape Catamarans 031-700 5165 

13 SAILING Books 031-709 6087 

5 Seaport Supply 031-304 1624 

23 Seascape Marine Services 021-511 8201 

41 Seascape Marine Services 021-511 8201 

55 Southern Ocean Clothing 031-301 7524 

45 Southern Power 021-511 0653 

26 Southern Spars 021-555 3470 

38 Speed & Smarts 

36 Stateline Braiding 031-208 8238 

55 Supa Sails 011-465 8448 

53 Tedder Yachts 021-421 5565 

47 The Tyneside 031-337 7005 

IBC Tui Marine - Leopard Catamarans 021-200 1825 

33 Tui Marine - Yacht Ownership 021-200 1825 

15 Two Oceans Marine 021-448 7902 

48 Vasco da Gama Ocean Race 031-301 4787 

54 Yacht & Power Sales 083 444 3630 

55 Yacht Haulers 021-988 8626 

40 Yachtmaster Ocean Sailing School 021-788 1009 

12 Yamaha 031-710 6400 


The Big Step 

Much like the opening phrase of a soliloquy in the ‘Nunnery Scene’ in 

Shakespeare’s highly revered play ‘Hamlet’, which for those of you who 

cannot remember that far back starts with: “To be, or not to be....”. 

Punters find themselves mumbling a similar question “To buy, or not to 

buy? 

I say similar, but it ends there because in the ‘Nunnery Scene’ speech, 

a despondent Prince Hamlet contemplates death and suicide while waiting 

for Ophelia, the love of his life. So when “To buy, or not to buy?” crosses 

your lips, nothing can be further from your mind than death and suicide. It 

should be a simple easy and swift decision. But is it? 

Sailing is a hugely multi faceted sport and there are boats for all ages 

and boats for all wallets. It should be a simple answer, but as in life, most 

things aren’t simple and if it were that simple everyone would be doing it. 

So where to start? What boxes need to be ticked? For the sake of 

simplicity I am going to leave the dinghy and windsurfer segment out of 

this and apologise to those who are part of those exciting disciplines. 

The splits are numerous. Cruising, racing, monohull, multihull, 

shorthanded, fully crewed, classic or modern – you can see where I am 

going with this. Some people are born into the sport much like some 

people are born into the horse and manure set, however not all sailing 

parents produce sailing kids. So, if you haven’t grown up in the sport and 

now decide that the old Mainstay or Peter Stuyvesant adverts have finally 

hit home - it’s now time to get into the game. And it’s not a bad game to 

be in. 

Unlike real estate, boats in whatever form, tend to depreciate. An 

immediate conundrum for some, but not for all. You have to get your head 

around the fact that this game is a lifestyle investment and a fine one at 

that. “To buy, or not to buy” could mean get in completely or stay out of 

the game, but it could also mean if you don’t buy, you can charter, and 

‘to buy’ has options as well. Buy on your own, or if you’re ‘cash rich and 

time poor’ buy with some mates or purchase shares in a professionally 

managed existing vessel. Whatever you do, and sorry to do this, but as 

Nike once said, JUST DO IT. 

With reference to my point ‘tend to depreciate’, one can argue this 

point with regards to at what extent does my investment depreciate. 

Does it lose 20% as it splashes into the water on launch day? Does it 

lose 10% per annum? Well there are a couple of factors pertinent to this, 

firstly, maintenance, or more bluntly put – take care of your boat, look 

after it, maintain it and above all use it. You will find that depreciation 

does indeed flat-line, but on the flip side maintenance increases to keep 

that value. When boats aren’t used don’t be fooled that they are better 

off alongside the dock than being put to sea. Systems tend to ‘fall asleep’ 

onboard with no usage, plus the overriding factor not to lose sight of is the 

reason you first bought the boat was to use it. 

Secondly, currency fluctuations: With our current currency 

conundrum it is rather daunting when one looks at boats offshore. 

Multiplying by R22, R17 and R15 to the Big Three is enough to put you 

off for life. But with currency fluctuations could this be seen as a Rand 

Hedge? People have ‘made money’ when they sell their boats purely on 

currency differentials, how neat is that? Much like a balance sheet if you 

wish - inevitable depreciation on the one hand and possible appreciation 

on the other. You see – it’s not all doom and gloom, so get into the game! 

In addition, putting off the decision to get in because you feel you 

can’t afford your dream boat, think of a couple of things, the crystal clear 

waters are the same, the dazzling sunrises and sunsets are the same no 

matter what boat you’re on. Again, the quaint seaside villages you visit and 

the bars on the beach are the same – it doesn’t matter what your boat is, 

don’t let ego get in the way of making that first step, you can always trade 

up when the margins increase and the dividends are meaningful! 

With race boats, bigger is not always better, and by this I mean, you 

don’t have to think big to win big as there is a handicap system in place 

wherever you go in the world. However, on the flip side of that, I once 

BY ROB SHARP 

About the Author 

Rob Sharp is a former Navy Officer 

and Springbok Ocean Racer who has 

been through the ranks of boating from 

an early age - from two-handed sailing 

to fully crewed boats. Today he is a 

Boat Broker with David Abromowitz 

& Associates, and likes nothing better 

than matching people to the boat of 

their dreams. 

heard somewhere in the world that ‘handicap is for the poor’. Just in case 

you take umbrage on this one, what it means is that the guy who bullishly 

spat that out, probably in the bar after a few too many Mount Gay and 

Tonics, was that Line Honours was merely bragging rights. Biggest cheque 

book, biggest boat, and if sailed properly Line Honours, but then again, 

if the stars align, you could get handicap honours as well. Gets confusing 

sometimes, but with the right crew, for once size, doesn’t matter..... 

Crew 

Once you have made the big decision and cut the cheque for the boat 

of your dreams, there are the obvious things that are needed to be done, 

things that spring to mind immediately: mooring, registration, insurance, 

certificate of fitness and of course, crew. Now there’s a challenge all on its 

own, never mind the fact that you have just spent a small or large fortune, 

there is that one demanding requirement that is essential to ensure success 

on the leader board and the silverware on the mantelpiece – crew. 

Love them or hate them I don’t care, but you need them. (Unless of 

course you are chasing the single handed dream). The ones that do and 

grow up in the sport progressing up the ranks as follows: start on the bow 

(adventure land) slide back to mid-bow, get in the pit, trim the jib and the 

kite, trim the main, (dreamland) and then if you’re real lucky, get behind 

the mainsheet track and end up steering (fantasy land). 

Of course this really applies to racing and for sure has got nothing 

to do with cruising, and again, of course you can ignore all of those 

steps and just buy the boat and get behind the wheel instantaneously. 

Money talks they say. What it doesn’t mention is the immeasurable 

experience one gains from starting at the front and working your way 

back, sometimes however, these steps are a real challenge for some 

dinghy sailors as they, from a young age, are in charge of their own 

destiny at the helm of their Oppie, Laser and Finn, and with no crew they, 

quite simply put, are the Boss. 

Climbing onboard a fully crewed boat for a race season having come 

out of the dinghy ranks and being placed at the mast to hoist halyards all 

day doesn’t quite cut it for the previously advantaged ‘best helmsman’ on 

the dinghy course. Tough call to keep that kid onboard as his aspirations 

are huge and doesn’t see himself packing kites and packing up boats, he 

wants to steer! Management onboard has to deal with these egos carefully 

and constantly. Of course this is a huge generalisation and not all the kids 

are responsible for this, those that acknowledge the learning curve go a 

long way as great all-rounders. 

“The times have a-changed” thanks to Bob Dylan circa 1964, and kids 

these days demand instant gratification and satisfaction, but what they and 

you need to learn or rather, be aware of, is that an experienced helmsman 

should know all about everything onboard and be able to do any job on 

the boat. So when the helmsman screams forward “is this a new stuff up 

or part of the old one” and you’re the bowman, it would give you comfort 

knowing that he himself started on point. Look after your boat and look 

after your crew, the two as they say, go hand in hand. 

So, when “to buy or not to buy”, crosses your lips, don’t hesitate! 

Get in the game and get the crew on the tools, life on the water is 

irreplaceable and an investment in your lifestyle is immeasurable. • 


+27 21 200 1825 

www.leopardcatamarans.com 

southafrica@leopardcatamarans.com

SAILING Mag RSA August 2016 issue 385 to ZINIO

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