The UK should have stopped Eric Hiscock and Wanderer III

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flensdorf

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Hello this is my first posting here.
Just finished "Around the world in Wanderer III". Reading all the other books.
To my dismay the UK authorities did not stop Mr and Mrs Hiscock leaving the UK for a circumnavigation 1952-1954!! I was one years old when they started.
Only a
30 feet wooden yacht!!!
NO ais
NO ssb radio
NO gribfiles
NO sat-com
NO fridge
NO vindwane steering
NO roller headsail
NO shower
NO ipad
NO computer
NO diesel engine
NO aux. generator
NO solar panels
NO vhf
NO gps
NO ....
No ....
But they had (only)
a sextant
a ships clock
a walker trailing log
a shortwave reciever
a 2 stroke engine 4 HP generating 40W
no reverse gear only forward.

The Hiscocks, Eric and Susan remains a big inspiration for me!

Was the waves and weather different in the 1950ies??

Lets see what you sail gurus think?

Have a happy and healthy 2012 lots of fun and lots of sailing!
Erland
 
Eric and Susan Hiscock -sailing superstars

Fully agree with your views. The Hiscocks were sailing superstars.

Cannot remember exactly but one of them was colour blind but working as a team they adjusted to this. Remember watching an early BBC film, shot by the Hiscocks, as they approached a navigation buoy off a south american estuary and passed the buoy within feet - this after thousands of miles crossing the emptyness of the north and south Atlantic using "only" a compass, sextant, chronometer and belief in their skills. Awesome.

More people should read the Hiscocks books - they would learn so much.

Seasons greetings to all forumites.
 
...and Queen Isabella of Spain should never have financed Columbus' expedtition too! They had even less equipment than the Hiscocks and weren't even 100% sure the earth was even round! She was leaving herself wide open to a compensation claim...

Tch...
 
Avocet said:
...and Queen Isabella of Spain should never have financed Columbus' expedtition too! They had even less equipment than the Hiscocks and weren't even 100% sure the earth was even round! She was leaving herself wide open to a compensation claim...
Click to expand...

+1

What whould have happened when they fell off?
 
Welcome!

You will do well to remember also that many on here will not cross Southampton Water let alone the Solent without all those gizmos, plus the AIS must be a transmitting version, there should be an active radar transponder and of course a full radar set with MARPA, all capable of being overlaid onto a colour plotter with stations at the wheel and the navigation table.:eek:
 
Nobody would stop you doing the same thing now - least of all the UK "government".

They (and a few others) did what they did with what they had - because that is what they had! But if you follow their whole careers you will find that they were not averse to taking on new ideas, and you can be sure that if they were doing the same thing now, they would take advantage of many of the things on your list.

By all means admire them, but there are people now who still push the boundaries - just that the boundaries are different.
 
I wonder if the Hiscocks had even passed their RYA Day Skipper or had an ICC. We are reliably informed that you cannot leave past the 3 mile limit without one, suitably endorsed for inland waters just in case of course.
 
Unless I can get more of my 'to do' list crossed off before May I could well be copying him !

I'm determined to at least be at the start - and hopefully at the finish !!!!

David
 
Don't forget that, as recently as 1968?, RKJ circumnavigated the world solo, non-stop, without all the teckie you list. I think even his radio packed up for a long period.
 
I am a great admirer of Eric Hiscock (and his wife) and have all his books (plus a well-thumbed extra copy of 'Cruising Under Sail' which I keep on board). Also the video of one of their circumnavigations.

But Hiscock was an engineer and not averse to using the modern technology of his day, if he could afford it. He had Brookes and Gatehouse instruments, which were then 'state of the art', including echo-sounder and D/F. Also he had a gas-powered fridge. However, he was perfectly capable of managing without any of it.

In addition to his skill as a sailor he was also a gentleman and I don't remember ever reading anything by him that sneered at other people's shortcomings.
 
Tranona said:
Nobody would stop you doing the same thing now - least of all the UK "government".
Click to expand...

Agreed - and glad of it.

Tranona said:
you can be sure that if they were doing the same thing now, they would take advantage of many of the things on your list.
Click to expand...

I haven't read the Hiscocks' books, so don't know whether they were deliberately minimalist or simply limited by what was available/affordable. But I think the only things on that list that one would be foolish to ignore today are the windvane and GPS.

Pete
 
John Caudwell (Desperate Voyage) didn't even know how to sail when he bought his boat to sail home to Australia after getting stuck in Panama after demob in 1946 ish. He learned to sail & navigate on the way. But ended up wrecked on a Pacific island when pushed off course by currents. Lots of people "just do it" & many of them survive.

Anne Davison hove-to every night on her transAtlantic in 1955 (first woman solo) & her previous experience of boating ended in disaster off the S coast when her husband drowned.
 
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