KNYSNA NEWS - Bruce "Moose" McCurrach retired to Knysna after lengthy innings of top-notch yacht racing, mainly under the burgee of Durban, Royal Natal and Point yacht clubs.
Bruce was at the sharp point of Knysna yacht club's (KYC) famous Lipton Cup victory in 2010 as team manager. KYC awarded honorary life membership to Bruce at its AGM on July 22.
When the SA Sailing president Philip Baum heard of this award, he was quick to pen a congratulatory note on behalf of SA Sailing.
An extract from his letter follows:
"Bruce McCurrach is a national sailing icon and a personal life hero. It is my privilege to count him as a great friend of many years' standing and my first boss when as a student I worked in the Elvstrom retail outlet in Johannesburg.
We met for the first time when I was not even a teenager in the mid-1960s. He arrived at the Flamingo yacht club in Welkom with an upturned Finn strapped to the roof of his Volkswagen Beetle.
This was a few years after he had won the hugely prestigious Kieler Woche regatta in Germany in 1961 in the Finn class. He did this as a complete unknown, winning multiple races in strong winds sailing in the Baltic in a pair of shorts and a rugby jersey.
Desperate to emulate his performance, some of his fellow competitors ill-advisedly took to the water similarly stripped down and froze on the water.
Subsequent to this he met Paul Elvstrom and became a business partner, opening an Elvstrom sail loft in Durban and a training mate to the Great Dane. These sailing experiences caused Elvstrom to laud Bruce as the “best heavy-weather Finn sailor in the world” in his book Elvstrom Speaks on Yacht Racing – no mean accolade from arguably the world’s most successful yachtsman ever.
His many sailing exploits have seen him win multiple national and provincial championships around the country as well as regattas internationally.
A champion and his boat: Bruce McCurrach after winning the 1964 national trials regatta for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He is pictured here alongside Mrs J Bechet of the then Durban Info Bureau. South Africa was later isolated from the 1964 Games. Photo: Outdoor Life, June 1964
In 1974, sailing with Paul and another international star Hans Fogh, Bruce became a world champion at the Soling Worlds in Palm Beach, Australia.
Bruce has always been a larger-than-life figure in the sailing world. His quiet approachable presence coupled with an impish sense of humour and a ready chuckle is a magnet. Not for him to seek the limelight or push volubly for the publicity moment."
Read more in Thursdays Knysna-Plett Herald or online.
'We bring you the latest Knysna, Garden Route news'
