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Cape Town to The West Indies
Cape Town to The West Indies
Sandefjord's crew enjoy a great time in Cape Town! (Yes, every night a party.) We slip at the Victoria and Albert waterfront - bottom checked and a fresh coat of anti-fouling before our ocean voyage - it'll be a long time before we can slip again! Painter Walt.
Voyage stores. We varnish the cans for protection. Unfortunately, the stains remained for years! The Royal Cape Yacht Club were extremely decent about it. "You are part of our history!" they said.
We did our best to ensure that sufficient provisions were loaded to keep six hungry crew satisfied for months! Tim and Wally.
"Heave Ho me Lads!" Six happy weeks in Cape Town.
Now, Sailing Day has finally arrived.
Patrick heaves the main up with gusto. No one does it like Patrick!
Excitement. The forecast is fresh south-easterly. We would like this wind to speed us rapidly northwards to the South East Trades proper. Barry and Fanie.
Patrick is elated. We are finally off on our Voyage Around the World. Bill Holmes' beautiful "Haloween", with "Dolphin" further behind, give us a wonderful send-off. 13th April 1965.
The wind is free! "Sandefjord" in her natural element. We have a fresh tradewind and are heading north west toward St. Helena.
Great swells march up from astern, lift Sandefjord bodily; her speed increases as they run under the hull. She is sailing well.
Every now and then...
...an extra heavy swell causes her to roll heavily, pillows fly from bunks and don't leave anything loose down below! These conditions demand care - we cannot relax. A gybe would be dangerous and very unpleasant. The wind is about 20° on the port quarter. Master helmsman Tim at the wheel.
A few days later in similar conditions to these, Mary slid overboard. This amazing story is told on the RS 28 Sandefjord Wall.
Two weeks at sea, we have got over the shock of nearly losing Mary, the trade is easing and we enjoy fine sailing.
West Indies, here we come! 1st May 1965.
A welcome and pleasant call at St. Helena.
5/9 May 1965.
Patrick is fashioning a model of Sande for his son, Sean.
Three days out of Barbados! Wally receives a haircut from Tim.
Sande is now ghosting down the coastline of St. Lucia,
21st June 1965, to arrive at...
...beautiful Marigot Bay, about 11 miles south of Castries, capital and principal port of St. Lucia.
Drifting into a new and strange harbour is always exciting!
Marigot Bay hides one of the finest hurricane harbours in the West Indies. We have moored just next to the spit of land protecting the inner harbour.
Great fun lies ahead. Old friends Mike and Paddy Briant arrived before us in their Chinese Junk "Ying Hong". They landed a job running Marigot Bay's resort hotel. There are no guests - at sundown we have the waterside cocktail bar to ourselves. Mike and Paddy are gracious and understanding hosts.
Sandefjord and crew spend a pleasant week here. Life is hard!
Sandefjord continues south along the Windward Island Chain, bound for Grenada...
...and the fine harbour at Georgetown a pleasant anchorage for many yachts.
We anchor close to the Grenada Yacht Club, gracious hosts for our stay. Sandefjord was a happy ship and our crew made friends easily; were always well received at whatever harbour or anchorage we found ourselves in.
Mary relaxes on the veranda of the welcoming Grenada Yacht Club.
Fanie in reflective mood.
We are ready for the next stage of our voyage. "Sandefjord" lies at anchor off Sunset Beach, just outside the harbour.
The Panama Canal and out into the Broad Boundless Pacific coming up next.
Next: Panama to Tahiti
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