Storm Rolling In

The Young Crew Of A 16ft Open Boat Face An Impending Force 7 Gale Off The Coast Of Brittany – And It’s Getting Dark

I’m always delighted to find a book about high adventure undertaken with no sponsorship and nothing out of the ordinary in way of funds. The Sea Takes No Prisoners, recently written and now published by Bloomsbury, tells of voyaging in the late 1960s and early 1970s in a 16ft Wayfarer dinghy.

Peter Clutterbuck is a classic example of the understated seaman. When reviewing the book, John Mardal of Florida wrote: ‘The events described and the hardships not described are so extreme as to seem suicidal’.

Clutterbuck’s voyaging takes him to all manner of venues in the British Isles as well as such far-flung cruising grounds as the Mediterranean and the Baltic. Less famous than Frank Dye, whose Wayfarer exploits have also featured in these columns, Clutterbuck is at least his equal as a survivor. In this extract, he and his intrepid crew find themselves caught out by some shocking conditions in the Bay of Biscay. We join them as they set out for what promises to be a pleasant leg of their voyage. With only the shipping forecast on which to base a passage plan, things turn rapidly to the bad, leaving them torn between staying at sea to face probable disaster and running onto a lee shore where they may yet have a ghost of a chance. What follows is seamanship of the highest order.

On 15 August we managed to sail round from Port Maria to Port Haliguen, a rough passage in the turbulent waters offthe Quiberon Peninsula. This was the first we saw of the Atlantic seas which were to trouble us nearly all the way to Bordeaux. The waves kicked Calypso onto the plane, and she was often surfing along, throwing up sheets of spray from her bouncing bows. She was packed to the gunwales with equipment and provisions, so she did not lift onto the plane easily. The big waves helped.

When we arrived, we were dragged offto the yacht club, where the champagne flowed amongst much cheering and congratulations.