Atlantic pioneer

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

- Julia Jones

When Nicolette Milnes Walker was 28, she set herself to be the first woman to sail solo and non-stop across the Atlantic from the UK to the USA. This was in 1971. Ann Davison had crossed single-handed in 1952 in her 24ft wooden yacht Peggy but she’d taken more of a cruise approach, pausing several times along the way. It had been a remarkable achievement by a remarkable woman. Almost 20 years later, Nicolette was planning something different.

Boats and equipment had changed during the boom years of the 1960s. Like thousands of other people Nicolette had built a Mirror dinghy from a kit. She’d been living in a Bristol University student flat and had to get it out through the window. By the end of the decade mass production using GRP had revolutionised sailing as a leisure activity. There was much more stuff on the market and many more people ready to have a go, even if they didn’t have a big bank balance or generations of sailing experience. Practical Boat Owner, founded in 1967, was just the magazine they needed.

Spark of an idea

In January 1971 Nicolette had been to the International Boat Show at Earl’s Court and had become fascinated by the variety of equipment available.

The year before she’d sailed to the Azores with friends. Now she began collecting catalogues, making lists and calculating what she’d need to sail to America alone.