Background
His father was a private scholar.
His father was a private scholar.
The family lived in many places around Europe. In World World War II, he served in the Air Force (Luftwaffe) as a photographer. In 1956 he bought his first boat, Solveig I (Swedish: sun-strength).
With this dinghy he sailed to the Red Sea.
With his wooden Solveig II he crossed the Atlantic in 1963 single handed. SY Solveig III was his third boat, actually a yacht.
He did two round the world cruises single handed with that from 1967 to 1970 and 1975. Soon after in 1991, he founded a Society for dolphin conservation.
From 2001 to 2003, he did a Europe-Russia-Europe cruise with his 7th boat Solveig VII, a Dutch-built motorcruiser.
He published several books about his trips and about sailing itself.