Recently, much of the news has been focussed on an utterly ridiculous proposal by some woolly-brained, incompetent minister who believes that only the SA Weather Bureau should be entitled to issue serious weather warnings. It is a joke. The proposed legislation looks at multi-million Rand fines or jail terms calculated in tens of years for issuing private or unauthorised weather warnings.
Huh! Many a Government official has been found guilty of fraud, theft and more serious crimes, yet they get off comparatively scot-free, or languish in relative luxury in ‘hospital’ sections of prisons - yet for offering advice on the weather you go to jail!
Something is seriously wrong; another step towards being a ‘nanny state’. I just hope that all yachties, and indeed anyone who can put pressure in the right places, will please do so, to have this absurd legislation quashed long before it becomes more appealing to the pea-brains out there in government.
This country has a fine reputation for building quality yachts and is regarded as one of the top catamaran builders in the world.
There is always an exception to this rule in that there are those who will let us down in pursuit of a quick buck.
But Robertson & Caine is a company which has always been revered as the industry standard locally, so it comes as no surprise that they have won yet another Boat of the Year (BOTY) award from Cruising World magazine in the US. A panel of judges who go through all boats with a fine tooth comb, and even do sea trials, voted the Leopard 44 cat as the Import Boat of the Year as well as the Best Multihull.
These accolades are not to be sneezed at - they do not come easily, so high are the standards.
In with a sniff right to the end was another local builder, Nexus Catamarans, with their 60-foot Nexus 600. To be in the running is an achievement in itself, and if Nexus can continue to produce an innovative and quality boat they, too, may well win a BOTY award in the future.
The Cape Town stop-over of the Volvo Ocean Race may now be a fading memory for most, but for me it still stands out as a highlight of 2011.
The obvious reason is that I was invited to sail aboard Telefonica in the Pro-Am Race, and to be amongst the best offshore sailors in the world, especially Spaniards Iker Martínez and Xabier Fernández, who had, during leg one, been announced as the Rolex ISAF Sailors of the Year, was something very special.
But more than that, I firmly believe that Volvo has given the sailing fraternity a lesson in sports marketing and promotion. Their attention to detail in every single aspect of this race is phenomenal, and something all yachties involved in sponsorship, marketing and the PR of our sport should take note of - and digest! •