Dear friends, if any of you are ever tempted to sail in one of these monstrosities, get yourself a decent bottle, do a bit of thinking and then tell yourself that the Kruger Park is not a bad idea at all. Far better than to board such a craft that could drown thousands of passengers even between Cape Town and Robben Island. How these vessels are given sea-worthy certificates is a total mystery for me because no amount of mechanical power applied to the propellers can overcome the tremendous wind resistance that this block of flats would present in a moderate gale. You wouldn’t even need a skipper who has his sextant dangling between his legs, a five minute powercut would have this vessel on her side without a hope of striking a single lifeboat.
From now on I promise to keep my mouth shut but I did have to show you this.
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. [...]
OCEAN ADVOCATE by Nicholas Dekker
All the campaigns of ‘Save the dolphins, albatrosses, whales´ have made people aware of the plight of these animals but have not saved a single life. My friend Jeff decides to take drastic measures against plundering fishing boats. He builds a 32 meter sailing trimaran that can attain speeds of more [...]
WINE TIME or The gentle art of wine tasting and the making of a natural wine by Nicholas Dekker
Wine Time, why I wrote this wee bookDear reader, you have already read about my book ‘Sink The Birkenhead’, maybe you even read it. I have explained why I wanted that story to be known but before a story is [...]
You are quite right Nic! These things are about as safe as those “houseboats” on the
Kavango river, safer upside down than the right way round!
Always had a suspicion about these things and never showed any interest in being trapped in one of those with thousands of other people in a relatively confined space. The Oceanos confirmed my suspicions. After the latest fiasco you won’t get me on one of those for all the money in the world.