ADVENTURE: BACK TO BASICS

Simon van Dam relies on celestial navigation to sail to the remote South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha

- Simon van Dam

According to our fix, we were within 40 miles of Tristan da Cunha. Even though the island’s highest point, Queen Mary’s Peak, is 2,016m above sea level, we still could not see it, our vision partly hampered by the thick band of low cloud. As darkness fell, everyone assembled on deck trying to get a glimpse of land, but when the light finally faded we realised we would have to trust our calculations.

There were 11 of us onboard Skip Novak’s 74ft expedition yacht, Pelagic Australis. After completing a five-day RYA Astro Navigation course followed by a 10-day shakedown sail around the Falkland Islands to put into practice what we had learned, we were ready to take responsibility for the ship. This was when the real challenge started. On our way from the Falklands to Cape Town, we had been tasked with finding the small volcanic island of Tristan da Cunha, a speck in the middle of the South Atlantic, navigating only by the sun, moon, stars and planets.