Flying Dutchman: 'On the track of Windvinder'

Here's another photo of Yellowfin;

Wipke comments :

Little Yellowfin with 9000 meters of water under the keels... I swam towards him - we didn't want to come so close with the big canoe - it was crazy. Such a boat on such an Ocean! The water is so clear that you have to be afraid you could fall down. Nine thousand meters! And then this fantastic creature, in the middle of nowhere. Like a jewel.
I wrote last year that such a windmill could not be very effective, nor seaworthy. That's what I imagined. I was wrong: These creatures are the most seaworthy things I have ever met on the ocean! And they are fast - incredible.

Thor

An older photo of Thor

Thor, looking aft.

Possible route



all photos and other material courtesy Wipke Iwersen

Wipke has sent me another photo of Yellowfin and an account of her introduction to him, please read above. She is also very concerned that the coming expedition aboard Thor is correctly presented here.
She has written me that:

"Windvinder goes to the origin of the wind, unmanned, and we sail around the world ON THE TRACK OF THE WINDVINDER, to collect the stories which the mysterious "ghost ship" creates with its voyage. We will meet the makers of his life journey! And who knows what else... People can still JOIN THIS EXPEDITION !!! Creative, enthusiastic, seaworthy people, of course...

We want to leave end of this summer. Thor is a 14m classic steel yawl, built in 1957/58 on the island Norderney in the North Sea.
By the way: While Windvinder is sailing against the wind all the time, we sail DOWNWIND with Thor. We have no windmill on board!
Luckily the world is round; so probably we will meet at the other end of the world.

From the Windvinder website,

"We will follow the trail of stories, rumors and legends that this unmanned ghost ship leaves behind on the islands – and MEET THE MAKERS OF ITS LIFE JOURNEY.

These stories and encounters will be made into a book.

Windvinder is on a journey to make the intangible tangible. Our voyage will be to reap what he has sown - and continues to sow. Messages from islanders and fishermen, sketches on bits of paper, models from driftwood and drawings in the sand: interviews overcoming language barriers to communicate about that which knows no barriers... the breath of an invisible creature, a whiff of an idea. The purpose of our expedition is more than “just” the reconstruction of the voyage of an unmanned vessel that is driven and piloted across the world’s seas by the wind alone. More than anything we want to use the collected fragments to reconstruct the journey of a living, growing saga: the rumor of the impossible, which may turn out to be less impossible than we think."

Anyone wishing to participate in this fascinating adventure should write to Wipke here:
info@windvinder.com