Part 2. At the far end of the spectrum of the relationship between Man and Boat are the tragic affairs. In a perverse way, they are probably the most interesting. One of the most famous examples were the cases Donald Crowhurst and Nigel Tetleys relationships with their trimarans Teignmouth Electron and Victress in the Golden Globe race of 1968 . They were identical boats and considered cutting edge speed machines that theoretically would win the race. Crowhurst mortgaged his house and bet his business in constructing the boat that he thought would bring him fame and fortune. It was tricked out with the latest in marine technology manufactured by Crowhursts own company. To the outside world, his boat was a floating advertisement for Crowhursts genius, his business and the future of sailing. Behind the scenes, it was a different story. The boat was constantly, behind schedule, not built to Crowhursts specifications and certainly not ready to cross the start line of the Golden Globe race by the October 31 st 1968 cut-off.  Underway, the electronics never worked properly and the boat started to delaminate early in the race. She leaked like a sieve taking on water, very seriously in one pontoon. He knew early on that his boat would fall apart in the Southern Oceans. It was desperate. He just couldnt do it and his boat as well his own abilities had let him down. Rather than face the shame and financial ruin of abandoning the race, Crowhurst had a different strategy. He stayed in the relative safety of the Atlantic radioing in false positions. These showed him still in the race. His aim was to sail in circles till the other racers returned to the Atlantic and then rejoin the race taking second in the prize for fastest time to complete the race. Well, that was his plan.  read more »

I am a Natural Navigator!

On Friday was lucky enough to learn the principles and practice of natural navigation at the first public course of its kind, run by my old sailing chum Tristan Gooley.

There were six of us around tables at the headquarters of the Royal Geographical Society, the building where legendary explorers like Shackleton made their plans, pouring over maps in the great library.  read more »

Judge Audio Visual Solutions, a subsidiary of The Judge Group, specializing in the design, integration and service of audio visual technology, has announced its partnership with Atlantic Marine Electronics, a subsidiary of Viking Yacht Company. The partnership between ...