Richard Crow on Stormvogel 1962

Ailsa Crow       June 11, 2020

Please note that I am sending this e-mail on behalf of my husband, Richard Crow. Photos from 8mm movie taken onboard. I sailed with Stormvogel on the 1962 voyage (approx 9 months) with skipper John Goodwin and, co-incidentally, there was an article by John, referring to some of our escapades, in the December issue of SAILING. By the way … the ‘brief summary’ of Stormvogel’s racing career was a little too brief as it omitted the Bermuda Race in 1962 – that was the main reason for leaving Cape Town in the first place. We finished second overall to Northern Light, owned by Alfred Loomis who was, I believe, editor of ‘Rudder’ or ‘Yachting’ magazine. On board Northern Light were the Mossbacher brothers – Emil Mossbacher having skippered Americas Cup winner ‘Columbia’ in 1958. Northern Light and Stormvogel were becalmed for approximately 3 hours on the second day out in that race, otherwise Stormvogel may have been the first non-American boat to win the Bermuda race. I still have the programme and crew lists of that race. Winner on handicap was a schooner ‘Nina’ – built in 1928, owned by DeCoursey Fales and a previous winner of Class A in 1934. We crossed the line at roughly 9:30 in the evening and Nina was only about 100 metres behind us – we couldn’t believe it! Three Americans joined us in Newport prior to the race, one of whom, Richard W Enersen, (San Francisco), sailed on Americas Cup winner ‘Constellation’ in 1964. I still have lots of pics and info relating to the launch of Stormvogel in 1961 (SA Yachting) and could send you copies if you advise me of your postal address. I was also the only crew member who took 8mm movies for much of the trip – shot on a wind-up Yashica. This material was eventually viewed by C.B. and other crew members in Stellenbosch (probably Easter weekend 1964).