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Mini blog..
S/Y Raja Laut - Built in Phuket, registered in Germany.
Raja Laut - 65' Wooden Junk Rigged Schooner - Durban - Recife NE Brazil
In the early eighties I had the incredible opportunity of sailing aboard the stunning all wooden yacht Raja Laut - a fully battened schooner rigged, hand constructed chenga wood marvel built on the beach in Phuket in Thailand - 1979. German flagged.
Raja Laut is a full-on block and tackle ship - no winches and no electronics - only paper charts and sextant - Durban - Cape Town - St. Helena - Recife, Brazil.
With a crew of 5, we suffered two serious hidings - one night along the Wild Coast and 3 full days long in the South Atlantic where we experienced 50kts plus in 20m seas. Our old paper charts recorded insane 7 000m deep water, yes 7 kilometres deep - it's all part of crossing the mighty Atlantic ocean!
Upon anchoring in Jamestown harbour we inspected our rigging and were stoked our wooden masts had held fast without any signs of stress. Other damages like broken battens we managed to repair during our couple of weeks in St Helena, which is like living 20 years back in time. The majestic isolated green island is home to Jonathon the giant tortoise who turned 200 years old while we were there! Nothing much in St Helena though other than snorkelling over the fascinating shipwrecks.
What followed was 12 days perfect sailing conditions before we arrived and checked in to Recife, north eastern Brazil where I met Bettina, a newly qualified doctor who I spent most of my free time with when not surfing...to be continued...
IGNORING YOUR PASSION IS SLOW SUICIDE. NEVER IGNORE WHAT YOUR HEART PUMPS FOR. MOLD YOUR CAREER AROUND YOUR LIFESTYLE, NOT YOUR LIFESTYLE AROUND YOUR CAREER.