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Stormvogel has always been a cruising yacht as well as an exceptional racer.

As soon as you climb onboard there is a great sense of history. The Racing plaques in the pilothouse give just a small insight to her past glories. A revolutionary design, Stormvogel was created for speed, however at the owner’s request she was also fitted out to keep those onboard in comfort as she cruised the oceans.

Here is an extract form SA Yachting Magazine which owner, Cornelius Bruynzeel, recounts rounding the Horn……twice…….

December 31. The last day of 1967 and a memorable one. The favorable breeze holds on and in the early hours we see the typical shape of Cape Horn. We are well ahead of schedule, the weather is reasonable so we decide not only to round Cape Horn but also to climb it. We have Stormvogel ‘hove-to’, two crew members stay onboard and the others in rubber dinghy with outboard try to land. Our only difficulty is the abundance of seaweed that foul the propeller. Ashore, likewise, we have to cope with the abundance of nature, a kind of reed that grows man-high.

We cut a path through it till we reach a sandy area where the girls and I make ourselves comfortable, while the ambitious ones climb to the top of Cape Horn to plant a Dutch flag.

Back onboard we find a splendid following breeze and we celebrate with a Dutch gin. After the second gin I come with the proposition – this having been too easy, to go around Staten Island and round the Cape the difficult way: from east to west, after which we could sail through Straits of Magellan to Buenos Aires.

Everyone agrees!

January 2. We have made it! During the night a real westerly Cape Horn gale developed. With the stay-sail and reefed main and the wind at the strength of 40-50 knots, Stormvogel made good headway, but the going was rough. Bumping and bouncing, she forced her way through the seas; spray flying all the time….. At noon Cape Horn looms between two squalls. Again we make port tack and get some shelter from the high island, but we have to round the Cape and once again get the full force of the gale and the seas. Once round we can slack sheets on a northerly course to Beagle Channel….

Just how many miles Stormvogel has sailed is uncertain, but for nineteen years since 1987 Stormvogel was based in South East Asia, exploring the waters of the Indonesian Archipelago, Thailand, Malaysia, Burma and the Andaman Islands. Since 2006 Stormvogel has been racing and cruising in the Mediterranean & Caribbean participating in Classic Race events.

We wish to record the events and voyages from Stormvogels past, so please visit our LOGBOOK page if you have a relative experience to share.