Crossing The Atlantic Before GPS

Crossing The Atlantic Before GPS

- Laurel Cooper

Laurel Cooper looks back to a first Atlantic crossing before the days of mass rallies and easy navigation.

The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) started in 1986, but we did the first of our Atlantic crossings in 1981. After five years exploring the Mediterranean end to end we had learnt to trust our stoutly built 58ft steel ketch Fare Well; and to trust each other to get out of trouble. That summer, we cruised Greek waters, the Adriatic, Sicily and Tunisia.

In those days, we had very little by way of ‘modern’ technology. For navigation we had a sextant, binoculars, a gyro compass and a hand bearing compass, paper charts, pilot books, an anemometer and a through hull log. We had a VHF radio but not a long range radio. We also had radar and an autopilot. Communications home from shore was by snail mail, or pay-phone using a kilo of coins. For weather forecasts at sea, we called passing ships. We had no computer, no electronic charts, and no smartphones. We did not use Decca or Loran; GPS was only rolled out in the mid-1980s, and it was years before it become affordable for the average yacht.

Our seamanship skills were good and for first aid, as an ex-naval officer Bill had done the Ship Captain’s Paramedical course, and was allowed to carry an appropriate medicine chest, containing morphine, to be kept locked at all times. I had done a Red Cross first aid course and we carried a Ship Captain’s Medical Guide, which even told you how to amputate a limb. We were one of the first yachts of our size to have a fridge-freezer on board, but for washing we relied on laundrettes ashore.