Heart-Stopping Tale of Nighttime Incident

Heart-stopping tale of nighttime incident

In this extract from Susan Smillie’s book, The Half Bird, she describes, while sailing her Nicholson 26 Isean on the Mediterranean Sea, an incident with a boat overloaded with African migrants on a dark night: Isean and I were 40 miles east of Alicante, equidistant from mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands, flying along under the moon at 0400. The constellations were at their brightest and best, Ursa Major keeping us on course, and I was exci…

The heart-stopping tale of one yachtswomen's encounter with a migrant vessel at sea

A heart-stopping encounter when a migrant vessel collides with a cruising yacht leaves Susan Smillie shaken but thankful. Tom Cunliffe introduces this extract from The Half Bird Susan Smillie’s book The Half Bird tells the story of a former Guardian journalist who commits to a life at sea in the immediate wake of Brexit. Her boat is the Nicholson 26 Isean, which she acquires for little money and much work – a scenario many readers will recognise…