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STORMVOGEL - 1978

STORMVOGEL - 1978

Jacek Pałkiewicz
2006-06-17 14:59:41

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Only one man survived, a man condemned to life imprisonment, whose cell was underground. He was afterwards pardoned.

If the islands are enchanting, the Caribbean people are just as beautiful : tall, slim, Fine-boned, with slanted eyes and thin noses. They are the descendants of slaves, who were abducted from the coasts of Ghana, Senegal and the Ivory Coast and brought to the West Indies to work in the sugar plantations. Most can claim Ashanti origin, which explains their good looks, since the Ashanti are well-known for being the most handsome of Africa's tribes.

The principal attraction, however, is the sea, which is so clear that one cannot judge its depth. A couple of dolphins joined us, swimming slightly ahead, with their backs arching above the light waves which rippled around the ship. The sun beat down, forcing us to wear singlets over our bathing costumes to avoid being burnt. Whenever we felt like a swim, we simply dived off the deck and into the emerald green water, gambolling around the boat like children.

We didn't have a care in the world. All our doubts and fears were forgotten, leaving us with a sense of perfect peace of mind. It seemed that nothing would ever disturb this newly-found serenity. It was a welcome sensation for me. I usually travel the world in a more arduous manner, and I felt the benefit of taking a real holiday, free from all commitments.

The food was somewhat different from usual too. We ate fish we had just reeled in ourselves, or fruit bought from the little villages which dot the coast. The cook, a cheerful and obliging cahp, prepared us all kinds of local specialities, which are influenced by classical French cuisine as well as the spicy flavour of Creole cooking.

The "Stormvogel" had a generator which provided us with enough light to eat dinner by. While we ate the table rocked slowly, as the boat moved in the swell. Those of us who were not used to this, had some difficulty ...

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I sailed in Stormvogel from Cape Town to Grenada in Oct- Dec 1973 with a crew of about 8 or 10 mostly South Africans. Skipper was Malcolm ???. Yacht was coming off a charter in the Far East and heading back to the Caribbean for more chartering in Jan/Feb.
Very enjoyable and fast for the time with daily runs of about 200nm. I remember being on watch at the wheel in the middle of the night surfing down large swells at 15/16 knots. Pity it had to end in Grenada.

Hamilton Mcdermott, 2008-11-12 15:24:09

I can clearly remember the Stormvogel being built in the General Box factory of Kees Bruynzeel in the outskirts of Stellenbosch in 1960-61. I climbed aboard the unfinished boat several times as a young child.

I remember the Stormvogel, 2008-05-03 07:34:34