Tania Aibi and Shane Acton

[rex_seadog]

The thread on Nicollette Milnes Walker has got me wondering - does anyone know what happened to Tania Aibi and Shane Acton who both wrote books describing their circumnavigations in small boats. A Contessa 26 and 17 ft Caprice, respectively, if I remember correctly. I have also read Shane Acton's sequel, 'Shrimpy Sails Again', recounting his transatlantic voyage to the West Indies, but I am not aware of anything else from Tania Aibi.

 

[coliholic]

A quick search on Amazon for Tania Aibi came back with no author of that name, however there is one called Tania Aebi.

There's two books listed to her, The Folkboat Story : From Cult to Classic - The Renaissance of a Legend by Dieter Loibner and Tania Aebi
and
Maiden Voyage by Tania Aebi, Bernadette Brennan though this one is due to be published in April.

They're both boaty books so could it be your spellings out a bit and this is the author you're after? Try the search yourslef, www.amazon.com. Even got 10 or so pages of excerpts of the first book on their website. And a pretty good read too.

 

[janie]

I received and read Maiden Voyage at least two Christmases ago, so can't understand April publishing date! This must the book which is being discussed, but I haven't heard of a follow up. Janie

 

[coliholic]

Oops my mistake, just checked again and I got them the wrong way round, it's the Folkboat book that's not published yet. And they're now listing a third book to which she's contributed, but it wasn't there earlier so???

Women Explorers of the Oceans : Ann Davison, Eugenie Clark, Sylvia Earle, Naomi James, Tania Aebi (Capstone Short Biographies.

 

[HenryB]

The great adventurer Shane Acton gets a mention, and a photo,
at http://www.ms-starship.com/smvjournal3/jan06,99.htm

 

[jeanette]

Tania Abei provides a lot of articles to sailnet.com.

Apparently, she now runs a yacht delivery/charter business.



Jeanette

 

[rex_seadog]

Re: Tania Aibi (Aebi) and Shane Acton

Many thanks for all the replies. Many interesting articles by Tania Aebi (correct spelling) on sailnet.com which I look forward to reading. Briefly looked at one entitled 'Sailing Myths and Reality' which is an interesting commentary on the modern indispensible fully integrated gizmos on which we all seem intent on spending our hard earned money. Particularly apt considering the resources available to Tania and Shane. Seem to remember Shane Acton knocked up some Heath Robinson self steering gear from an old car leaf spring he found on a beach in W Africa. Apparently having sailed there single-handed from Falmouth it seemed like a good idea to have some help in helming the boat across the Atlantic! His only navigational instruments came from a schoolboy's geometry set. Half way across the Pacific he obtained a secondhand Seagull O/B which he found 'useful' when making landfall through some of the treacherous reefs. Prior to that he would anchor off, sometimes for several days, awaiting suitable winds/tides for the final approach. Tania Aebi found Bermuda by homing in on the commercial radio station by twiddling her tranny.
Anyway, both books are good reads and thoroughly recommended. I've also enjoyed reading Tristan Jones although I gather he indulged in a fair bit of literary license when describing some of his adventures. Nevertheless these sailors make me feel like a big wussy when I delay my departure from a cosy MDL marina just because of a little rain and a F6 on the nose.