Sandefjord To Visit Norwegian 'Home'

Owners also plan more trips

SANDEFJORD - the Durban-based round-the-world yacht - is going back to its birthplace, the town of Sandefjord, in Norway.

The 43ft. craft has a history going back 53 years to when it was a lifeboat. Owner-skipper Barry Cullen (29) and his brother Pat (26), both of Durban, are planning this back-home venture after they have produced and shown the film they took during their 21-month circumnavigation. It ended when Sandefjord returned to Durban on Tuesday.

Barry said today: "I have been asked a few times if I was selling Sandefjord. She is definitely not for sale. She has become an institution - part of our lives. We will not be parting with her. "One of our plans is to sail Sandefjord back to her home town for a visit."

SHORTER

Barry and Pat are also planning more trips in the famous yacht. "We will take shorter trips. Staying away from home for nearly two years is a bit too long."

The film has already been sent to London for processing. Barry and Pat will go to Johannesburg to see the cutting prints and will edit the film there.

About 20,000 ft of 16 mm film was taken. Only 3,000ft. will be shown. And Barry has a plan to share the profits with the crew - “they paid for their passages and the magnificent help they gave me with the film must be rewarded," he said.

Featured in the film is Pretoria girl Jenny de Wet (22). She and crewman Fanie Louw (23), of Boksburg, were engaged on Thursday Island.

HIGHLIGHTS

“Our first star was Mary Clayton, a New Zealand school-teacher, who left half-way round to go home. So Jenny flew to Australia to meet us and she appears in the film from there."

Highlights of the film will be the Panama independence celebrations ("really hectic!"), the isolated Galapagos Islands in the middle of the Pacific, underwater swimming shots of Jenny in the Great Barrier Reef (Australia) and the Fanie-Jenny romance.

Journalist Tim Magennis, one of Sandefjord's crew, is thinking of writing a book on the voyage.