PALAWAN was designed by S&S and built in Germany for Thomas Watson Jr. in 1952, the same year Watson was elected IBM's second president.

A splinter of the era, PALWAN is 47' long and scarcely wider than 11'. The typical low sleek Greyhound of her day, below, she has 2 settees and pilots outboard in the saloon, and vee berth forward.

The nearby NOAA buoy was reading flukey North winds maxing to 8 knots. PALAWAN was out for an easy daysail, lightly powered under jib and jigger. 4 knots through the water felt good beneath the October Blue sky.

PALAWAN glided by our bow, smooth as silk, exactly as the eyes at S&S design team envisioned, 62 years ago.

We tacked into their wake with a full set of sails and eventually caught them. None of my doing(I took photos). At the helm was an artist, David, from New Zealand, and on the winches, a good friend, Aled, from Wales, both life long sailors.

We had just met at the docks and went out for a 'social sail'. Sailors don't need much introduction. They simply pick up an ongoing conversation that is spoken world wide, and off they go. We enjoyed a very good sail.