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. 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.
The stature of his towering presence comes from his phenomenal competitive success always underscored by scrupulous fair play and sportsmanship. He truly walks in the hall of fame of sailing in South Africa.
All at SA Sailing congratulate Bruce on his elevation to being made an honorary life member of Knysna yacht club, and salute the club for its foresight in singling him out for this great honour."
To fully acknowledge SA Sailing’s respect for Bruce, the pedigree of Paul Elvstrom should be noted. Paul won four Olympic gold medals, three over 12 years being in the tough Finn class.
So if Paul wrote that Bruce was the best heavy-wind Finn sailor in the world, that’s a mighty tribute to KYC’s Bruce McCurrach.
Read a previous article here: Kudos for sailing icon
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