The Voyage of The Aegre is a dramatic true account of how a plan to sail a little fishing boat from the Highlands of Scotland down the coast to England turned into a trans-oceanic odyssey for Nick and Julie Grainger. It was the 1970s and their simple wooden boat was equipped with none of the aids modern yachts enjoy. Navigation was by sextant and compass, food cooked on a Primus, and weather forecasting by guesswork. Diligent preparation before they set sail eventually saved their lives in the violent storms and dangers they encountered, vividly described in this absorbing narrative. Their capsize at night in a fierce storm south of Tahiti and subsequent survival makes a gripping climax to the story. A born storyteller, the author has produced a stirring tale that ranks among classic sea adventures.
表中的内容
Foreword by Paul Heiney, Royal Cruising Club
Prologue
Learning to live
Ardmore adventure
A London winter and Scottish summer
The perfect boat
Another London winter
Fitting out The Aegre
Sea trials
First Passage: Scourie to Madeira
Madeira sunshine
Sailing to the Canary Islands
Transatlantic passage
Barbados
Grenada and the Grenadines
Across the Caribbean to Panama
4, 000 miles in 21 feet
The Marquesas to Tahiti
Tahiti sojourn
Disaster
Sailing on to where?
High and dry on Pago Pago
Postscript – What happened to The Aegre?
Acknowledgements
关于作者
It started with a sail on a soapbox cart, an uncle who dressed up as a monk, and sea stories in the back of a Mini. For Nick, it became a passion for sailing and led to the thrilling Aegre voyage to the Pacific. And later, in 2003-4, to sailing around the world via Cape Horn on the 57 ft ketch English Rose VI with adventurers John and Marie Christine Ridgway on the Save the Albatross Voyage. In between sailing, and another passion, bicycle racing, he applied lessons learnt from his time at sea to a corporate and later an academic career. He lives with his wife, Tomoko, in Melbourne, Australia. They have two daughters and two granddaughters who, he says, keep his feet firmly on the ground.