THE CLOUD

• A Wilding (10). 1964

Mysterious and lonely wanderer of the sky, 
Pass on quietly through the night;
Above the earthly squalor travelling high
Silently cruise, phantom ruler of the skies in flight.
Bathed by the sun at dawn in a ruby glow
Changed by the winds and currents to every shape,
Sometimes    scuttling   across   the   heavens, sometimes slow
You   bring water and coolness to farmlands and lake.
Reaching   down   to   mountain   peaks   with wispy hands
With   no force of your own, your path set by fate.
You cross the countryside, towns and many lands,
Never knowing the frustration and restraint of a gate.
Across the open   places on your unknown errand bent
You   pass on your mysterious way until  all moisture is spent .
A Wilding (10).

Found this in my Stellenbosch   ( Paul Roos Gimnasium )  high school year book of 1964.

50 year reunion this week on Friday!

Alan Richards found on the Chesapeake

Alan Richards, pictured on the right of the Photograph, Calypso's first owner has been found on Chesapeake Bay.

" I was very excited to hear she is in new hands now and might once again sail around the world.Even after selling her 32 years ago, she is still a very big part of my life and I have such wonderful memories of my life spent with Calypso."

"I am the original owner of calypso and I spent 2 months in Hong Kong watching the final touches to the boat and then preparing her for the trip to South Africa. I sailed her in the 1976 Cape to Rio Race and then continued with my circumnavigation. I figured that I sailed her 40 000 miles! On the trip from Mauritius to Durban we were caught in a cyclone for 5 days, which was quite an experience. In 1976 while crossing the Saba Bank south of Saba Island we were dismasted due to the failure of the port aft lower rigging toggle. The aluminium mast was built in Marblehead Mass in 1976."

March saw Calypso on the RCYC slipway for antifouling and general inspection of all underwater skin fittings, prop and shaft and replacement of sacrificial anodes by me.

A few gellcoat repairs and buffing by a contractor.

She had been bought without a survey having been done and thankfully there were no surprises!
Cecile is seen above managing a last minute touchup.

Good friend Braam du Toit with family having a lunchtime snack in Calypso's spacious cockpit.

One of the first visitors to Calypso in the V & A Waterfront Marina in January 2010 was Elizme' with son Adriaan out from Paarl. Thats me sitting in front of the closed companionway hatch - I had left the keys at home! There is a secondary hatch further forward which I was able to open.

Calypso under first ownership of Richards did the 1976 Cape to Rio South Atlantic Yacht Race.

The original Cheoy Lee Makers Plate listing Calypso as built as Yard No. 2097 in 1975 in Hong Kong.