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Softly up the mighty Nile without an engine
As the wind got up, I watched closely as an Egyptian sailor, barefooted, shimmied up the huge yard-arm attached to the mizzen-mast, to shake out the sail furled to it. This was our January adventure, sailing up the Nile in a dahabiya with 14-16 friends. Our boat Mary Rose is a 43-metre boat of the…
Read MoreBook talks – Blown away at the yachtclub
We didn’t realise the strength of the wind till we were on the walkway, when I had to clutch my armful of materials and struggle to avoid being blown away. I was crossing a floating marina walkway in Blythe to give a talk to the Royal Northumbrian Yacht Club about my Mediterranean sailing memoire, Crab’s…
Read MoreWhere to sail in the Med if you want adventure.. and if you hope to avoid it
Why is the Mediterranean such an amazing place to sail, when for many holidaymakers and in most postcards it looks blue, beautiful, calm and placid? It is also a fickle host, prone to violent winds and storms, as we experienced in our unsinkable sailing boat and some of the most scary parts of my sailing…
Read MoreWhat an honour! Telling Seaham lifeboat supporters about Crab’s Odyssey
Great fun yesterday (15 November) as I gave a presentation on my memoir book Crab’s Odyssey: Malta to Istanbul in an Open Boat about sailing in the Mediterranean. I am very honoured to be at the Heritage Museum at Seaham, home of the famous Seaham lifeboat, 2 days before tomorrow’s 55th anniversary of the tragedy.…
Read MoreEvents – Corbridge Farm Women’s Club
Many thanks to Corbridge Farm Women’s Club! One of my most responsive audiences for some readings from Crab’s Odyssey was the Corbridge Farm Women’s Club. It was exciting to travel up to that beautiful historic Northumberland town and tell them about my sailing adventures in the Mediterranean, 60 years ago. It seemed such an unlikely…
Read MoreCrab’s Odyssey featured in Somerville magazine
I enjoy so many memories of university when I read Somerville Magazine from my college Somerville. So I am very delighted and honoured that an article about my book of sailing adventures in the Mediterranean is featured in their 2017 Somerville Magazine, the Global Issue. Many thanks to the editor, Sarah Hughes (probably no relation!).…
Read MoreAuthor survives Greek sailing adventure – Alexander McCall Smith 6 Sept
It’s amazing how sailing in Greece lures authors. It has sudden storms and danger, then dazzling beauty mixed with kindness, love, life and hospitality – all the ingredients your characters can surprise you with when you are trying to write them into an orderly story. Will they even survive a night of disaster, being cast…
Read More60 years ago today, how we nearly drowned
Our lifeboat Crab was unsinkable, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t be thrown out and drown in heavy seas as we sailed the Greek Islands. Here is the entry from my memoir Crab’s Odyssey about running a storm from Preveza in Epirus, Northwest Greece, to Levkas Bridge on the Island of Levkas. If you want…
Read MoreLove and kindness – Greek sailing adventures 60 years ago today
Sailing a small boat in the Greek islands brought many lovely encounters, including the hospitality of the Greeks. People were often ready to share what they had, however poor they were in those years of rebuilding Greece from the devastation of World War II. Their kindness ensured we could sleep easy, after even the most…
Read MoreA modern trireme – Olympias managed 16km/hr with 170 rowers
Some of our sailing adventures in Crab were in the tracks of the famous triremes. In classical times, these were the most advanced warships of the day. So I was fascinated to read more about the Trireme Trust and the Hellenic Navy‘s reconstruction and trials of trireme Olympias as a modern reconstruction of a boat…
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