On the 1st June 2008 I shall set of to sail around britain singlehanded using the same navigation technique as were used thousands of years ago

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I shall try and keep this site updated as much as possible. But it's easiest for me to send updates and messages to you through facebook, check out the link below:

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Life is full of challenges, for some a challenge is to sail around britain, but for others it's to simply read. 
Challenge Life, Challenge yourself.
anon.

Thanks a lot for coming to this site. Here you'll be able to follow me as I embark on a voyage of a life time. The plan is simple. I shall set off from Southampton to sail single-handed in my little 19 foot hunter Europa around Britain in a clockwise direction.

But to make it a bit harder I’ve decided to get rid of my GPS and use basic navigation techniques, See what does the retro mean? On the right for more info.

This is something I've always dreamt of doing and can't wait to get going. It's not going to be easy and would really appreciate your support. The first struggle as ever is just to get to the start line. Please do have a look around the site and if you want to contact me please use my email address on the right hand side.

Thanks a lot,

als x

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bombayduck.org

Bombayduck;

In September 2006 my friend Gus contacted me about doing starting up a website where people could follow our charity events and activities of 2007. 

2007 was not the best of years for Gus and mixed in with the awful weather we are back in 2008 with an even better list of events and have increased our fund raising target to £30,000.

To see a list of our charities and for more information please got to the charity page

Other links: 

www.bombayduck.org

www.justgiving.com/bombayduck2008

How to contact me:

Please feel free to send me contact,  using the address below:

alasdair@alsboden.co.uk

what does retro mean?

It basically means I shall be doing away with some modern comforts and cutting back on others. The biggest sacrifice will be a GPS, I shall be navigating with a compass and sextant only. These techniques have been used for hundreds of years, but it is a lot slower to get a good fix on your position and is no where near as accurate. I shall have an autopilot on board, but my aim is to use old fashioned self steering techniques like sheet to tiller steering system using ropes and pulleys to steer the boat is a straight line while I navigate.

So why sacrifice all the comforts of sailing? I feel people rely on things like GPS and Chartplotters too much. I really like to navigate using only a compass. Throughout my trip I'll teach you all how to navigate using only the stars. This form of navigation is slightly more dangerous as it's not as accurate, which isn't to bad when you're mid atlantic but when you're as close to land and danger as I shall be it does mean I'll have to keep myself on my toes!