Sir Ernest Shackleton died suddenly; so suddenly that he said no word at all with regard to the future of the expedition. But I know that had he foreseen his death and been able to communicate to me his wishes, they would have been summed up in the two words, “Carry on!”

The thing about old, iron-fastened, softwood timber boats like this, built in cold climates, is that once you take them into warmer waters it becomes an endless struggle to maintain them.  Patrick found it a losing battle, and the poor ship was starting to deteriorate again rapidly.  But Sandefjord has always been a lucky ship, and once again a saviour appeared.

If you don’t know something of Bill Nance, you should. Between 1962 and 1965 aged 25, Bill Nance completed a southern circumnavigation via Cape Horn in his Laurent Giles CARDINAL VERTUE. He was the first Australian to complete this journey singlehanded. In recognition, the Americans awarded him the Joshua Slocum medal, the International Award for Sailing Achievements. Australia hardly noticed, except for the die-hard yachting fraternity and the odd newspaper article.

Rules? Barely there. Engines? Forget ‘em. Outside support? Don’t count on it. It’s you, your craft, and the cold rush of the sea. We nail $10,000 to a tree in Ketchikan and dare anybody with a boat and basic common sense to come and get it.

It’s not recorded whether Dick was the sort of bloke who would have enjoyed a 420nm bluewater cruise to have an informal BBQ on the beach, but there are obviously plenty of sailors out there who do, as the Lord Howe Island BBQ plans for its 22nd iteration

Thanks to his 1895–98 solo circumnavigation in his 36′9″ sloop SPRAY and his 1900 book about the experience, Sailing Alone Around the World, Slocum would become a famous man, and he was called upon at times to sit for a portrait. When he did so, Slocum usually, though not always, presented his scar-free right side to the camera. One can only guess what Slocum thought about as he awaited the shutter’s click.

From its earliest days, the Ocean Cruising Club has celebrated those who dared to brave the ocean in small boats, and many of its early members are now legend.

“I’d like to live to be 100 and die at sea,” Peter Mounsey says. The way he's going he'll live well beyond that. And why isn't he a “National Living Treasure” I ask?

The trio of rafts travelled 14,000 kilometres across the Pacific Ocean from Ecuador to eventually and accidentally arrive at Ballina on Australia's east coast.

When I first became interested, I thought that this taciturn Englishman was working in a space where eccentricity meets the counterculture…. Well-meaning hippies, who were fun to follow, but not to be taken too seriously. But the more I learned the more appreciative I became.

The other most noticeable aspects of the vessel is that she's tiller steered and what a tiller! 12 feet long and a huge piece of red gun and although she was responsive in light airs, off the wind and with a beam sea, she was a handful for two.

Waves crashed onto the little craft and her crew while they manned the pumps. The helmsman was lashed to the wheel, while other members of the crew blistered their hands as they man the pumps for hours on end.

The goal of the voyage is to ignite a movement of 10 million “planetary navigators” by developing young leaders and engaging communities around the world to take part in navigating the earth towards a healthy, thriving future.

We all know what happened to the WINSTON CHURCHILL. But her accomplishments in life have been eclipsed by her tragic demise. Many might not know of her whirlwind circumnavigation in 1967. A time in history when the word “laconic” began to be owned by Australians

So we continued with the big dog leg left, rain coming down, rolling gunwhale to gunwhale, making 7 knots. We ran watches during the night of one on two off, which just about worked, but you get a lot of practise getting in and out of you wet weather gear, PFD and sea boots!

The 2023 Rolex Fastnet Race will be the 50th edition of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s premier event and excitingly, there’s a significant number of classic yachts are entered such as these young trainee sailors competing on board the 1963 aluminium classic Germania VI.

At a time when personal liberation and rebellion against authority were prevalent many expressed their individualism through new outlooks on religion, popular culture, and sexuality, and a handful through making slow and mindful voyages around the world in under prepared small boats.

Perhaps rowing is a metaphor. As we age we seem to spend more time looking back than looking forward, and we risk stagnation. If we don’t row we go nowhere.

“As the latest custodian of Māori Lass, I’ve often tried to visualise the people who’ve sailed her before us, the far-flung corners of the world she’s been to and the rough weather she’s survived. Rounding the buoys in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel during twilight racing with the Kettering Yacht Club just doesn’t seem a suitable enough challenge for her.”

After two years of planning thirteen Couta Boats travelled from Melbourne along with two crews from Perth for the 2022 Sydney Harbour Gaffers Regatta.