interview with a world sailor 24th July 1934

interview with a world sailor 24^th July 1934

“Skipper” Peter Dohm talks about his plans.

The adventurous knows no country boundaries. There stands a young man in our re-action, light-haired , brown-barked by the sun and wind. Peter Dohm is called, born in Cologne, a polytechnic student, unemployed through many years as so many of his peers. The problem he was facing was whether he could get lost in unemployment and unemployment benefits or get out into the world. Outside lay the fairy and the lure. He went on a hike and came — along with a friend, among others, to Copenhagen. As he walked and operated, he read about young men who had broken off all the bridges and given themselves the adventure of violence. Names like Alain Gerbault and Erling Tambs shone in fire-writing for his inner gaze, and he thought: If I tried the same thing now? One day he was in Copenhagen marina watching the sailboats there.

.Many of them were heavily built and looked like they could withstand a craving with a riotous ocean. Imagine having such a boat. But how would a wandering, unemployed student come to possess such a boat? That, he thought bitterly, is harsh for wealthy people and not for unemployed, adventurous youth. But the mystery did not last long. A decision arose in him: I want the boat. And he got it after two years of turmoil, where he pervaded all of Europe and a good part of Africa and sold prospectuses for income for his big plan.

We had musical instruments with us and sang old folk tunes, we met people, who hid in the same dream as ourselves, and who showed us a unique understanding.

Many of them wanted to join us on our trip – and the trip was of course a world tour.

Then they returned to Copenhagen. They got hold of a boat, the 10 meter yawl, which today sails outside House of the Sailing Association at Dokkeskjaeret. But thus, the problem was not solved. The boat was in poor condition and it had to be put in proper condition if it was going on a trip like the one they had planned. There was over a year, because they had that difficulty, a year full of abandonment, but also of excitement. And on May 25 this year the course stood out from Copenhagen  for a favorable wind. One thing we agreed, we wanted to., See Norway, the land of the Vikings, because we headed for the big voyage,, It set in with a violent northwest, and we had to search port on the Swedish coast. For three days the storm lasted, As long as we could not wait, and then it left again. We crossed and fluttered and finally we came to Oslo.

We then visited Colin Archer’s family in Larvik and I Erling Tambs in Nevlunghavn. It was an experience for us to meet him, and he gave us many good tips, which we hope to benefit from. The journey from Nevlunghavn around the coast to Bergen has given us many good and interesting memories.

– And where does the trip go now? We will see Lofoten, Norway. And then we head for the Shetland Islands and England. From there to the Mediterranean, where we will be staying in the winter. And then we hit the Atlantic. And finally the South Sea.

this afternoon the three young people are sailing from Bergen, the adventurous, know no borders. And it overcomes all obstacles.