Why am I here?
When a teenager, I read a book titled – ‘By way of Cape Horn’ by Alan Villiers. An Australian living in Melbourne who wanted to sail in the few last commercial sailing ships visiting Australia. He and his friend joined the Grace Harwar in Melbourne in the mid 1920s. Grace Harwar was a 3 m full rigged ship owned by Erickson of Finland bound for Europe with grain. During this voyage, his friend Walker on the way to Cape Horn fell from the rigging and died. His story and other books on square rig and fore and aft kindled that interest and now I am on my way to Cape Horn.
When we pass Cape Horn I shall give tanks to Mr Villiers for starting me on a lifelong interest in sail.
Mountaineers have Everest
Astronauts the stars
Sailors have Cape Horn.
