Page
1 | Page 2
|
Page 3 | Page 4 | Page
5 | Page 6
This is Page 1 of 6
On
Thursday afternoon a tree farmer and former steeplechase rider
from Statesville sailed in to the harbor in Oriental and completed
a very big circle he began in November of 1998 in Oriental.
Bernie Harberts had circumnavigated the globe. Around 12:30
Thursday, he tied up at the Oriental Marina, hugged his mother
and rest of his family and then, as a gentle rain fell, leaned
against the pulpit of his boat and cried.
| 
Bernie hugs Mom, embraces Aunt, Mom & Dad....and the
family dog too.
|
|
An emotional momemt
|
Harberts
figures that in the last 4-1/2 years he’s put about 24,000
miles under the keel of his 34 foot Colvin steel cutter.
And yet Bernie says, “I’m not a sailor.”
“I’m a damn farmer,” he laughs, and explains,
“I just travel from land to land by boat.”
Those lands include St. Thomas, Colombia, French Polynesia,
Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. Bernie says
he’s working on a map of the world showing the various
places where he “chucked over the fridge, and radios”
and other boat parts and things he said he no longer needed
and learned to live without.
Along the way he did not lose his tendency toward seasickness.
But he did return to NC with a New Zealand variation on a NC
accent. And a greater appreciation for what a luxury time can
be.
A Lake Norman Start
Bernie, who celebrated his 35th birthday in South Africa in
January, says he got the idea of sailing around the world 15-20
years ago. He built small boats while he was working as a steeplechase
rider and trying to keep his weight down; sitting around and
watching TV was not an option, he says, so he set about building
a boat in a barn, finding the hayloft a perfect place for laying
out sails.
About 6 years ago, his steeplechase days behind and working
a job in sales, Bernie bought a house on Lake Norman near Charlotte
and within a day or two of moving in, he saw Sea Bird, “just
sitting in the muddy water, semi-abandoned.” He decided
at that moment that this is the boat he would take around the
world.
>>>
the story continues on Page 2
