Virgulino Ferreira
Super Anarchist
The pioneering sailor you've probably never heard of: Nicolette Milnes Walker - Practical Boat Owner
Nicolette Milnes Walker was the first woman to sail solo and non-stop from the UK to the USA. Julia Jones charts her trailblazing achievement
www.pbo.co.uk
Awesome story, remarkable person, thanks for posting it, huey!
A little bit more:
Later she would joke that she’d almost looked forward to things going wrong at sea because having something to fix relieved the monotony.
She was also young and fun-loving. She enjoyed the freedom of summer days without clothes.
She daubed herself with scent, dressed up and drank brandy for special, solitary celebrations. (She also used the alcohol to fix her steering compass.) (...)
Being presented with a painting of Aziz by Robin Knox-Johnston
When Nicolette decided to retire from the fray, she did so thoroughly, packing away her notes, cuttings, photos and memorabilia and setting herself up not only to make a success of motherhood, but also to be a successful bookseller with her husband, Bruce Coward, at the Harbour Bookshop Dartmouth.
She never spoke about her achievement and most people have never heard of her.
Now she is about to be 80 and has been persuaded to unpack some of those packages as a new edition of her book is published.
When I Put Out to Sea is released on 15 March 2023
She has written a brief Afterword. “I have often been asked to give a talk about the crossing, but always declined, as I felt that I was no longer that girl who had set out with such excitement to challenge herself. “But re-reading this book after very many years makes me realise that I am indeed not that girl, but a new version of her. I have changed my opinions on a number of the views expressed in the book. But I do remember her and I know that her experience gave me the confidence to accept who I am and to be delighted in the life I have.
“That seems almost as important an achievement as sailing the Atlantic.”
