Down to the Seas Again

This book is about the generation of small boat sailors in Britain whose main achievements took place between 1945 and the mid 1960s. These included circumnavigations of the world as well as Atlantic crossings, and a variety of distances and destinations between. Some voyages were full of drama, others were simply (or perhaps not so simply) supremely competent feats of seamanship.

All in one way or another pushed boundaries, even if few records were broken or indeed aimed at. In most cases the voyages were carried out without the glare of ­media attention, but to devotees of small boat sailing the names of the crews and boats still resonate powerfully: Eric and Susan Hiscock (Wanderer III), Peter and Anne Pye (Moonraker), ­Adlard Coles (Cohoe), Edward Allcard (­Temptress and Sea Wanderer), Humphrey Barton ­(Vertue XXXV), Stanley Smith, Colin Smith, and Charles Violet (Nova Espero), George and ­Isabel Millar (Truant, Serica, Amokura), Ann ­Davison (Felicity Ann), Patrick Ellam and Colin Mudie (Sopranino), Miles and Beryl Smeeton (Tzu Hang), John Guzzwell (Trekka).

The experiences of these sailors conjure up a particular moment in the history of small boat voyaging. Most were born in the first two decades of the twentieth century and learned their sailing between the wars. Though several served in the Navy or related services, the war brought them a sudden enforced abstinence from pleasure sailing which stoked an appetite for a new start once the war was over.