Richard L. Crockett

1 week ago | sailing.co.za | Richard L. Crockett

By Richard CrockettFollowing the report I shared yesterday, and the robust responses it solicited, it’s as if by magic there is another sea rescue in the waiting. This one though is from 57 years ago in the OSTAR race in which Bruce Dalling was competing aboard ‘Voortrekker’. Joan De Kat, 27, was forced to abandon his self-designed yacht, the 50-ft. ‘Yaksha’. Rough seas had destroyed his rudder and mast and he had abandoned his vessel.

1 week ago | sailing.co.za | Richard L. Crockett

By Richard CrockettThe first day that Abby Sunderland was stranded in the Southern Ocean, Australia’s rescue agency chartered a jet to fly over the area where her emergency beacon was activated. The 11-hour flight cost an estimated AUS$110 000. The second day, after locating her, the agency sent another plane to coordinate her pick-up by ships that were racing towards her damaged and drifting yacht.

1 week ago | sailing.co.za | Richard L. Crockett

By Richard CrockettMy apologies for the break in transmission last week, but some miserable sleaze ball hacker was the cause. Thanks to a diligent backup regimen, all is not lost and I’m back on the bus and raring to go again. It’s uncanny that last week I intended to share info about Bruce Dalling battling with coms, as did most of the fleet. The Baldock radio station had hear Dalling but could not get his position as reception was so bad.

2 weeks ago | sailing.co.za | Richard L. Crockett

By Richard CrockettAt just 19 years old, Marvin Sampson, an Electrical Engineering student from Grassy Park, temporarily left his studies for Mauritius where he joined the fleet of Clippers for the 5th leg of the Round the World Yachts to race to Cape Town. He also sailed the next leg to Salvador, Brazil, a distance of 5 800 nautical miles. The City of Cape Town sponsored his participation as they used the race as an opportunity to promote sailing as a sport within the community.

2 weeks ago | sailing.co.za | Richard L. Crockett

By Richard CrockettIt was 35 years ago today when both John Martin and Bertie Reed started the Two-Star transatlantic race from Plymouth to Newport. This was the first real test of their new hi-tech yachts, so besides being a major shake-down race, it would also show them first-hand just how their trusty steeds fared against the world’s best shorthanded racing yachts.