NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: What do offshore recreational navigators really do?
From: Peter Fogg
Date: 2005 Jun 9, 07:01 +1000
From: Peter Fogg
Date: 2005 Jun 9, 07:01 +1000
> From: Courtney Thomas > I wasn't there :-) but my perception is that Guzzwell is what saved 'em. > Yes, I think there is a fair bit of truth in that statement. Having cut the story to its bare bones I made no mention of John, who accompanied them from Melbourne to Valparasio and was invaluable in rebuilding the boat, both enroute under jury rig and later in the naval shipyard. He wisely declined to sail off with the Smeetons towards Cape Horn again. John was a boatbuilder, and even in the Southern Ocean a line of screws would be meticulously installed - no roughshod methods for him. Last had news of John only a few years ago, which vaguely surprised me - it all seems so long ago now, although John was a young man then. A photo and a brief article in a sailing magazine showed a brand new boat he had just completed (in California I think) for a new girlfriend or wife, and I was impressed at what a modern craft it looked - John had obviously kept up with the times.
