Blog Archives

The captain who sailed without a chronometer


Captain Joshua Slocum is a well-known seaman in nautical tales and history, yet one of his most extraordinary exploits remains little known. Slocum had been master of many fine square-rigged …
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Twin Towers in 1976

How I saw the Twin Towers from the Hudson River


In all innocence I took that picture on the 4th of July 1976. With my schooner that you can see on the homepage, I had participated in a Tall Ships …
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Us Capeys and the Rest of the World


My oversea’s readers might wonder who ‘us capeys’ might be and it’ll be my pleasure to enlighten them. Capeys are the people that live around the Cape of Good Hope, …
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The Hurricane that Flopped


Well, the thing did do some damage, after all it was still a tropical storm since its demotion but for all the people that hoped that New York was going to …
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A Tale of the Sea


More than fifty years ago I began to make my living as a fisherman. I was employed as mate on a whale-catcher, I dived for abalone, I caught pilchards on …
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Of Pirates and Razor Wire


I have a  friend in Cape Town who often functions as a good Samaritan for stricken sailors who limp into port for repairs. As he can repair anything these chaps are …
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Another Capsize


In these blogs it was never my idea to go into competition with the yachting magazines but so many sailing adventures have occurred lately that I cannot leave them out of …
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From ‘Velsheda’ +70 years Yacht Design to ‘Rambler’.


As I told you, my son Jan is a professional yachtsman and, evidently, spends a lot of time at sea. But such is the world today that he is obliged to spend …
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Blog for my French friends


If you check out the description of  Steel’s Mastmaking that I have on my ‘for sale’ list, you’ll see that I cut  and shaped my masts in France. As my …
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100feet yacht ‘Rambler’ capsizes just south of Ireland during Fastnet Race


     This is my second blog and I wrote it somewhat sooner than anticipated. You may remember that I said that I was setting sail for the cyber seas at the …
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How I saw the Twin Towers from the Hudson River

Read my Blog: Weekly comment on the Human Condition


Sink the Birkenhead

Sink the Birkenhead!

SINK THE BIRKENHEAD ! which is the story of Maqoma´s Last War

by Nicholas Dekker

This is the story of a lone Xhosa Chief who destroyed a British Navy troopship that threatened to annihilate his nation in 1852. This is the story how the attack was carried out by a few African black people. [...]

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