Stormvogel ("Storm Bird") is the ketch used in the Australian movie White Calm. Before being a movie star, this yacht was the first very light maxi, inaugurating a new era. It was built in 1961 in South Africa.
This boat was commissioned by Cornelis Bruynzeel. This man is known for having invented marine plywood. For Stormvogel, he had three architects work according to their availability. Van de Stadt designed the hull and appendages, John Illingworth the sail plan and the deck layout, Laurent Giles the interior layout.
This yacht was a precursor with a very light displacement (barely 31 tons for more than 22 m) and above all a rudder separated from the keel (a first for the time which is now used on all modern yachts). The hull is made of molded wood (4 layers of mahogany glued with the resin invented for the CP Marine) but the deck is made of plywood. Later on, this plan was used to produce production sailboats in polyester under the name Ocean 71.
Since its launch, the sailboat has won the major races in real time. The Fastnet in 1961, the Buenos Aires-Rio Race in 1962, the Bermuda Race and the Trans-Pacific in 1964, Sidney Hobart in 1965. Light, it is fast (especially downwind) and the facilities with a huge aft cabin are designed for the owner. The owner has a small aft cockpit with a private access to his cabin. Currently, despite its more than 60 years, the yacht is still sailing in impeccable condition. She is used for charter, often in Asia.
But it was not his racing successes that made him famous, but rather the use of the boat in the film White Calm shot in 1989, which was his finest hour. The difficulty in shooting a sea film is to find the same sea conditions between the different shots. With White Calm, which was shot on the open sea in the absence of wind, there was no problem with the connections. The big problem of the film was the interior scenes. Indeed, the boat is narrow (4.88 m) and it is difficult to fit the cameras inside. That's why it was decided to reconstruct the interior of the boat with the saloon and the cabin in a studio. That's why we only see one side of the saloon in the whole film. The other side was open to place the cameras.
If you haven't seen the movie, we're deliberately not telling the story. This film is a huis clos between a couple (Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill) who sails on Stormvogel to forget the death of their son and who takes in a castaway (Billy Zane) who will turn out to be an evil killer. The film is set aboard the Stormvogel and is full of suspense. It has left its mark on many generations and is still relevant today.
