That's the question Conrad Humphreys, sailing master of Bounty’s End in Channel 4’s Mutiny, asked himself as his inexperienced crew put their lives in his hands.
From the moment we were cast adrift 35 miles southwest of Tofua in Tonga’s Ha’apai archipelago, I could no longer access forecasts. As a sailor, that would mean navigating with a far wider margin for error. Bligh was cast adrift with some of his navigation equipment, including a sextant and a pocket watch. He would not have had any idea of the forecast. In the months before, I studied the weather every day to build up an understanding of its patterns in my head. Bligh had charted many of the islands around Tonga and Fiji during a previous survey, and was able to recall them in his head. I hoped to do the same with weather.
As the rope was cut and we were cast adrift, I knew that, within five days, the weather was due to turn. The trade wind’s southeaster lies that would blow us along at up to five knots would be replaced sooner or later by a strong southwesterly front and what looked likely to be a serious amount of rain.
This story is from the June 2017 edition of Yachting Monthly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the June 2017 edition of Yachting Monthly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Midsummer on Hanö
This wonderful little island in the south-east of Sweden is a real gem off the beaten track
ADVENTURE SAILING TO HAITI
After spending two months in the Dominican Republic, Andy Brown sails west to Haïti bringing medical and school supplies to the town of Mole Saint Nicholas
In celebration of bad sailing
New owner Monty Halls tests his sailing skills with his family aboard their Colvic 34 ketch, Sobek. A recently qualified Day Skipper, Monty faces a few unexpected challenges...
Winter brings excitement and opportunity
Oddity’s double glazing, insulation and heating create a warm, homely environment as I bash out this column.
ADVENTURE MAISIE GOES TO GOES
To depart or not to depart? That is the question. Is it safer to stay, or suffer the wind and weather of a rough North Sea?
'MAYDAY, GRANDAD OVERBOARD!'
When David Richards and his grandson Henry went out racing from lowey, they didn't expect their sail to end with a lifeboat rescue
VERTUE
For a 25-footer, the Vertue has a huge reputation and has conquered every ocean. So what makes this little boat quite such an enduring success? Nic Compton finds out
Sailing siblings
Mabel Stock, her brother Ralph, a friend Steve and an unnamed paying passenger passed through the Panama Canal in December 1919 on the sturdy Norwegian cutter Ogre. They were towed to a quiet anchorage in Balboa away from the boat traffic but within rowing distance of the shore.
TECHNICAL MAINSAIL MODIFICATIONS
Safety and performance improved hugely when Mike Reynolds reduced the size of his mainsail and re-configured the systems controlling it
PILOTAGE DONE PROPERLY
Chartplotters are an amazing aid, but can detract from your real-world pilotage if not used with caution, says Justin Morton