Our annual Easter Regatta at the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town Harbour was always featured in SA Sailing,this time we got the front cover.My thanks to Justin,the HBYC IT Officer for formatting this picture for me.
A Venus design.
Sailing a Dix Design dinghy in Hout Bay harbour,thats Pier Malan,a TBA member sailing with his daughter and son,SA Sailing often used traditional pictures and gave us good reports and cover.
This group,known as the TBA for short, was formed in Cape Town around fifteen years ago in response to an SA Sailing issue featuring a traditional Gaff rigged design in steel by Paul Johnson,Ankon Marine had won a contract to build four such hull and deck units and sent the news with drawings of the boat and its sail plan to then editor Neil Rusch (where is he now?) Neil published the news and the sail plan in the magazine and such was the rush of mail to the editor,that later issues proposed a meeting to form a group of people with traditional ideas?
The meeting held later at the then V & A Maritime Museum (now closed for good to make money from the land it stood on) saw a gathering turn up at the 6.30pm posted time that shocked everyone,some one hundred and twenty (120) people arrived! this was close to being revolutionary,it was said that 'real' yacht clubs were seriously concerned and it all thanks to Alan Craxton of Ankon Marine and Neil Rusch of SA Sailing,thanks guys.
I think Neil himself took the table and threw open the meeting to ask what was expected of this very mixed group,it was a great event,many at places like the Royal Cape Yacht Club scoffed at the very idea such a group would ever get off the ground,time has prooved them wrong of course.A call for those persons who would take up a committee post was called for,I was one of ten on the night who agreed to accept the position,at least forty put down a nominal sum,was it R50? to get the ball rolling,and before we knew it the Traditional Boat Asscociation was formed!
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