From Scotland to the South Seas in a Shetland boat
Recently published on The Aegre Voyage website: Notes on Chpt 18 – Disaster; about the capsize of The Aegre; and more about how we worked out our latitude and longitude without a sextant. Also added to the website are the latest pics and name of the boat inspired by The Aegre being built in Glasgow. Plus another book added to the Lesser known but inspiring books page.
Nick Grainger – 1 November 2024
In this Post: Notes on Chapter 17: Tahiti Sojourn, in the book, The Voyage of The Aegre. Plus a link to the latest photos of the boat being built in Glasgow inspired by The Aegre; and a link to an interview with Peter Matheson, the builder of the Glasgow boat.
Julie and I paused in Tahiti to give The Aegre a refit. In Chapter 17, I tell of pulling The Aegre up onto the beach at Puna’auia and stripping the boat for a complete repaint and re-rig while continuing to live aboard her.
In the Notes on Chapter 17: Why Tahiti is French; How we were unwittingly radiated; The Aegre story in La Depeche de Tahiti; Our neighbours in Puna’auia, Varua and and Bobbes; breakfast with French yacht racing star Alain Colas; plus cruising companions and friends in Tahiti. Go to Chapter 17 Notes
Glasgow Visit: In September, I visited Clydebank, Glasgow, to meet boatbuilder Peter Matheson and see the boat he is building, inspired by The Aegre.
Later on this same morning, Peter, Murray and I visited the nearby studio of Sunny G Radio in Govan, Glasgow, where I interviewed Peter and Murray about the building of the boat. You can listen to this interview here: https://www.mixcloud.com/SunnyG103/book-boat-24-sept-2024/
You can see the latest photos of the boat being built here https://nicholasgrainger.com.au/the-aegre-inspires-a-new-build/
Thank you for your interest and support. A diminishing number of the First Edition of The Voyage of The Aegre book are still available; see How to Buy the Book
Nick Grainger 11 October 2024
Visit the Homepage of The Voyage of The Aegre https://nicholasgrainger.com.au/
In this Post: Notes on Chapter 16, in the Marquesas Islands and then our near-disastrous passage to Tahiti, 700 nautical miles south; progress on The Aegre inspired boat being built in Glasgow and details of ‘Meet the Author’ talks in the Netherlands and UK in late August and September 2024.
In the Notes: The Marquesas – some of the remotest islands on earth; what happened to solo circumnavigator Tom Blackwell? And the fate we so narrowly avoided in the Tuomotu atolls. See Notes for Chapter 16.
Glasgow update from Peter Matheson: I have completed the 10th plank now and… See the latest photos of the boat being built in Glasgow by Peter Matheson, inspired by The Aegre. See https://nicholasgrainger.com.au/the-aegre-inspires-a-new-build/
Meet the author of The Voyage of The Aegre: I will be in the Netherlands and the UK in late August and September 2024, speaking about The Aegre, the voyage and signing books:
Maybe I’ll see you there?
Nick Grainger
Notes on Chapter 15: 4,000 miles in 21 ft, are now available on the website for The Voyage of The Aegre: From Scotland to the South Seas in a Shetland boat.
In the Chapter Notes: More about how we got out of the windless Gulf of Panama, why The Aegre wouldn’t sail west, carrying water for 100 days, our deep-sea fishing secrets, and the landfall I’m proudest of.
See The Voyage of The Aegre: Notes on Chapter 15
Meanwhile, in Glasgow, Peter Matheson, building a boat inspired by The Aegre, reports, “I will have completed the ninth plank by Friday (12 July 2024). I’m fitting the engine seats just now, as I usually fit the engine before I finish the planking. Access to inside the boat is less of a problem then. I don’t have to keep jumping in and out of the boat; at 78 years of age, this has to be a consideration. I’m putting a 16 HP ‘Yanmar’ in the boat. If The Aegre could go halfway around the world without an engine, then 16 HP should be plenty.”
See progress on the building of the boat inspired by The Aegre for more photos
Visit the home page of The Voyage of The Aegre
Across the Caribbean and through the Panama Canal
Notes on Chapter 14 of The Voyage of The Aegre are now available on the book website. Chapter 14 tells of our passage across the Caribbean and through the Panama Canal. Rough, wet and windy, the passage led to some expensive breakages, and the requirement of an engine to go through the Canal added another complication. The Notes contain a little more information about these issues plus ten additional photos to those in the book. See Notes on Chapter 14 of The Voyage of The Aegre
Meanwhile in June this year Glasgow Boatbuilder Peter Matheson has been adding the frames and engine bearers to the 21 ft yohl inspired by The Aegre that he is building. Yes, the new boat will have an engine, anticipating a life fishing in the tempestuous waters of the Pentland Firth between the northern coast of Scotland and the Orkney Islands. See the latest build pictures.
Thank you for your interest and support,
Nicholas Grainger
Notes on Chpt 13 of the Voyage of The Aegre are now available: Sailing the Grenadines; more photos; can you help? Plus the book ranked as Best Seller on Amazon.
Visit the Notes on Chapter 13 of The Voyage of The Aegre: From Scotland to the South Seas in a Shetland boat. More background, links and photos. From Barbados to Grenada where we hauled the boat out for a bottom scrub and repaint. Then on, sailing north through the Grenadine islands to Bequia. Maybe you can help me trace an Ecuadorian yacht owner and the crew of a Canadian Navy ship who greatly helped us there?
Finally, Thank you for your support. On Amazon Australia The Voyage of The Aegre was ranked ‘#1 Best Seller‘ in the Sailing (Kindle) category, and #2 in Sailing (Books) on 11 June 2024.
Rankings on Amazon are based on a combination of sales, customer reviews/ratings, and other factors. Rankings are fluid and vary every day. A higher ranking leads to more people seeing the book. So if you enjoyed The Aegre story and would like to share it, please rate and/or review it wherever you bought it. Thank you!
Notes on Chapter 12: Barbados, are now available on the The Aegre Voyage website.
In the Notes to Chapter 12 there is more about how the purchase of a high quality inflatable dinghy in Barbados influenced our survival thinking. Also more about two other boats similar in size to The Aegre with solo skippers, who sailed into Carlisle Bay from the other side of the Atlantic and anchored near us, plus more photos that aren’t in the book.
Also new on The Aegre website are more pictures of the building in Glasgow of the yohl inspired by The Aegre, by Peter Matheson, aided (and hindered) by his two killer cats. Peter is now onto the 7th plank.
Meanwhile Fathers Day is fast approaching in the UK and US (16 June 2024). But there’s still time to send Dad a copy of The Voyage of The Aegre. Available in paperback, eBook and on Amazon Audible. With Chapter Notes coming out every few weeks, it’s much more than a once off read. See How to buy the book.
Thank you for your support,
Nick Grainger
Visit the home page of The Voyage of The Aegre
Notes on Chapter 10: On to the Canary Islands and Chapter 11: TransAtlantic passage, are now available on The Aegre Voyage website.
In Notes on Chapter 10 there’s more about the Sirocco wind that hurtled in off the Sahara one clear night, and the Selvagen Island gold that we decided to give a miss, plus pictures of Santa Cruz harbour long before the marina. Also the trial setting of the square sail we’d planned for the NE Trade Winds.
The Notes for Chapter 11 on the transAtlantic passage contain four additional photos not in the book. Plus the little-known story of another vessel that had passed this way in 1890, Il Leone Di Caprera.
This 10 metre flush decked Italian schooner was sailed from Montevideo to Italy (well, nearly) by 3 Italian emigres living in Uruguay. Not a well known story outside Italy. I came across the story and photographed the boat in Milan in 2018 and have included it in the Notes on Chapter 11.
Also new on The Aegre website is an update with photos of the boat inspired by The Aegre being built in Glasgow by Peter Matheson and his volunteer helpers. Definitely worth a look.
And don’t miss this … Peter Matheson built the Orkney fishing boat Boy Peter which his daughter Lorraina uses for creel fishing for langoustine on Loch Fyne captured in a beautiful video – with views of Dunderave Castle, Inverary and Loch Fyne. The music is by Shetland fiddle sensation Steven Spence. For more of his music go to spenciestune.shop
Book availability: With a new agreement, The Voyage of The Aegre book can now be ordered easily through bookshops throughout North America, EU, Australia, New Zealand and more, in addition to bookshops in the UK, and of course Amazon. See how to buy the book.
Thank you for your support.
Nicholas Grainger
Notes on Chapter 9 of The Voyage of The Aegre are now available on The Aegre voyage website.
Chapter 9 is about our seven-week stay in Madeira in mid-1973, during which we waited for the optimal seasonal winds for our trans-Atlantic passage. The Notes include a then-and-now look at Funchal Harbour, more on some of the yachts and people we met there, photos of our haul out to raise the waterline, and a day sail with the Ridgways to swim in water 2.5 miles deep.
The Aegre Voyage: Chapter 9 Notes.
Meanwhile, in Glasgow, Peter Matheson and his team continue building the yahl inspired by The Aegre. They’ve completed the third plank and are working on the fourth. See the boat build inspired by The Aegre.
Back to The Aegre website home page.
Notes for Chapter 8 of The Voyage of The Aegre are now up. This chapter tells of our first passage (1,800 miles, 34 days) from Scotland to Madeira, how we settled into living on the boat, sailing 24 hours a day with the relentless bad weather for the first few weeks, and navigating to Madeira, 440 miles west of Morocco.
In the Chapter Notes, I expand on the following:
Also new on the website:
Update on the Yohl inspired by The Aegre being built in Glasgow
Peter Matheson and his team at Clydeside Traditional Boatbuilders have added the second plank. See video and photos sent by volunteer boatbuilder Sandy MacDonald.
2nd video of Ireland to Iona curragh voyage
Another video featuring the re-enactment of the 563 AD St Columba Curragh voyage from Northern Ireland to Iona was recently found by my website co-researcher Gene Carl Feldman. The voyage, instigated by my Uncle Jack (below) in 1963, was one of the early inspirations to me to go sailing. I created a page on this website about the curragh voyage and have added a link to the new video (towards the end of the page). The first half of the video is an introduction to St Columba. Film of the 1963 re-enactment of the voyage is from about 19 minutes on.
Not got the book?
The Voyage of The Aegre can be purchased as a paperback from bookshops in the UK, Australia and NZ, and from Amazon worldwide. A Kindle and eBook version is also available. An Audiobook version I narrate myself is available from Amazon Audible, Spotify and all the other major audiobook distributors.
The paperback will soon be available in bookstores in the US, Canada, the EU and most other countries.
Signed copies of the first printed edition of the book are available from this website here.
