Seaflight

Launched	25/1/78 (date of contract)
Owner	Pat and David Dicks
Purchased
Contact
Configuration	Single spreader rig
Colour	White hull with white and beige deck
Berthed	RPYC
Sail Number
Australian Registration	385807
State Registration
Call Sign
Builder	Swarbricks
Hull Number	52
Fit Out
Previous Owners	Seaflight was originally owned by David’s parents Dr Harold and Mrs Patricia Dicks
Previous Names	Nil

About the Owners

DAVID DICKS when 17 years old SET THE RECORD for the youngest to sail alone and non stop around the world via Cape Horn.

David’s 1996 Voyage

Sunday February 18	David leaves Fremantle aboard Seaflight.
Sunday February 22	Returns to Fremantle after water damages his radio.
Monday February 26	Sets sail again after making repairs.
Tuesday March 5	Seaflight is knocked down 120 degrees by a large wave and loses a spinnaker pole.
Sunday March 17	David is washed overboard but is saved by his safety harness.
Tuseday April 9	Seaflight’s wind generator is lost, GPS and radar broken and engine soaked.
Monday May 13	A bolt holding shrouds breaks and the self steering unit is damaged.
Monday May 20	David becomes the youngest person to round Cape Horn alone.
Friday May 24	The Royal Navy delivers mail and a bolt for Seaflight’s mast.
Friday July 19	David rounds Bermuda, the halfway point. Jon Sanders and Pat Dicks deliver mail.
Tuesday August 6	David encounters balmy weather with an occasional violent storm
Monday September 30	Seaflight rounds the Cape of Good Hope.
Wednesday October 16	Waves of eight metres broke over Seaflight.
Saturday November 16	David crosses the official timing point off Fremantle at 7:02pm.
Sunday November 17	David is welcomed home by 60,000 people and a flotilla of 600 boats.

Quotes from David

Highlights

“I liked the really bad gales and the knockdowns. They’re amazing. It’s exiting sailing – you just watch the waves and they are just so powerful. I don’t really get frightened in storms. I was a bit frightened when the bolt broke because I thought I was going to lose the mast. That was a little bit scary, the adrenalin was pumping because I was right down in the Southern Ocean.”

“I’d never seen snow before and I saw snow round Cape Horn. There was snow on the deck. It was extremely cold.”

Lowlights

“When my friends rang for my birthday I really wanted to be with them. I didn’t ever really feel lonely, just missed my friends. I don’t really mind being on my own.”

When David was off the Falkland Islands the Royal Navy took some photographs of Seaflight. These were displayed at Fremantle Sailing Club which inspired S&S34 owner and association member Jane Laws to pen a ballad in tribute.

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