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Sea Fever, an Eclipse 43, found a spot at the Town Dock last week. The boat is named for the Maesfield poem — which Hans Landolt began reciting.

I must go down to the seas again,
to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship
and a star to steer her by.

The poem may have a particular resonance for Hans Landolt who hails from landlocked Switzerland and seems to have taken the words to heart. He and his wife Marjatta — who is from Finland — have lived aboard Sea Fever for 7 years, four of them in the Mediterranean and the past 2-3 yeas in Trinidad and the Caribbean. The couple, who were married in Nassau in May, came to the US for the first time this summer. When we spoke in Oriental, they were headed south as their cruiser’s license was expiring.

One piece of equipment on their boat had TownDock.net and others wondering. Up near the spreaders and the Finnish courtesy flag, was an orange light. Was this some safety equipment required by the Swiss?

“It is a burglar alarm,” says Hans explaining that it would be tripped off if intruders crossed a laser beam inside the boat. In all their time sailing Sea Fever, though, it had never gone off, he says. Not even in areas prone to piracy.

Hans says that when he was living in Switzerland, he would “read about crime in our lovely town of Zurich. “ and that in his years sailing he found less crime in the Caribbean Or even in the US.

He says they’d liked their stay in Oriental. “We appreciate the courtesy bicycles,” he said, pointing down Hodges toward the Provision Company. Then he paused, a polite visitor weighing his words. “But there is one thing you could improve on. Internet access.”

He started to explain that boaters can use cell phones to get on the Web while on board their boats but that the cell phone he had — his was a Motorola — wouldn’t work here. Hans seemed to be blaming the European configuration of his cell phone until a TownDock.net staffer gently interrupted him to say that even phones designed for use in the US can’t get a signal in Oriental.

Before they left, Hans took part in on of the first flashcard judgings, having been swept in to the action by the Porch Pirates who came to the Town Dock to score a motor vessel’s departure. Then he and Marjatta took off.

Posted Wednesday October 30, 2002 by Melinda Penkava

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