Golden City (SA2)
- 12.2m / 40ft - Sloop - Cal 40: stock fibreglass design - Previous Owners: Johannesburg Syndicate / East Rand Yacht Club; Jannie Strydom, Keith Stewart - Current Owner: Johnathan Hawkins This remarkable set of pictures shows the joys of sailing at full stretch before the wind, the bows dipping into and cleaving the swell as every breath of force in the sails is exerted to pull the yacht forward. The full picture shows bows plunging down and the wave seems about to overwhelm her, but it is magnificently breasted in the bows-on view image. Seen from the port side, spinnaker flying very high, `Golden City' churns along with the bows well up and the sea crashing alongside. This view also shows her radio aerial sticking straight up at the stern. She has the Merbok emblem at the bows, and her inflatable life raft is carried on the coach roof immediately behind the mast. |
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`Golden City' is a stock fibreglass design; the Cal 40, a class which has notched up many successes. In the Rio '71 race, `Golden City' helped to win for South Africa the team award for the three best yachts by coming fifth on handicap. [Extract from: Rio '71. Wilhelm Grutter & Gerhard Last, 1971]
In 1971, the Rhodesian Flying Dutchman ace, David Butler, skippered 'Golden City' in the Cape to Rio Transatlantic Race, competing for the prestige of being the first South African boat home and a chance for selection for the Admirals Cup team racing in Britain. David Butler had been told to win the race, and stopped at nothing. His crew were worked to exhaustion, and to lighten his boat he took to throwing off anything that was not needed overboard. That meant the departure of surplus victuals, reserve fuel, deck planks - everything that stood in 'Golden City's' way. Of the fifty four yachts that completed the race, she finished tenth on line and fifth on handicap.
In 2018, Johnathan Hawkins completed a major preservation exercise to include 'Golden City' as a floating luxury suite in his five star Wild Horses Lodge, a Drakensberg Mountain Retreat in the Sterkfontein Dam Nature Reserve near Harrismith, Fee State, South Africa; and where visitors can book to either live aboard or charter this amazing piece of history first hand. Showcased below in 2019, she still sails beautifully ...
In 1971, the Rhodesian Flying Dutchman ace, David Butler, skippered 'Golden City' in the Cape to Rio Transatlantic Race, competing for the prestige of being the first South African boat home and a chance for selection for the Admirals Cup team racing in Britain. David Butler had been told to win the race, and stopped at nothing. His crew were worked to exhaustion, and to lighten his boat he took to throwing off anything that was not needed overboard. That meant the departure of surplus victuals, reserve fuel, deck planks - everything that stood in 'Golden City's' way. Of the fifty four yachts that completed the race, she finished tenth on line and fifth on handicap.
In 2018, Johnathan Hawkins completed a major preservation exercise to include 'Golden City' as a floating luxury suite in his five star Wild Horses Lodge, a Drakensberg Mountain Retreat in the Sterkfontein Dam Nature Reserve near Harrismith, Fee State, South Africa; and where visitors can book to either live aboard or charter this amazing piece of history first hand. Showcased below in 2019, she still sails beautifully ...
