Racundra's Last Cruise Published by Marine Quarterly

The article was published by Marine Quarterly in the Spring 2015 edition and Mixed Moss The journal of the Arthur Ransome Society 2016


The wind was howling around the roof of my house in Penzance one stormy day last winter, and I was feeling happy to be safe on dry land.  I was in the attic sorting through some boxes when I came across a couple of letters that my father, Rod Pickering, wrote to my family about the beautiful sailing boat Racundra.

            Racundra was built for Arthur Ransome of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ fame in Riga in 1922, and is immortalised in his wonderful book ‘Racundra’s First Cruise.  Adlard Coles bought her, renamed her Annette II, and wrote about her in his book Close-Hauled. She was renamed Racundra after Adlard Coles sold her. She passed through various different hands and fell into obscurity.  My father was her fourteenth - and last - owner.

The only photo I have of Racundra.  This is the pic my father took when he 'found' her in Tangiers, Morrocco.

Canaries to Cape Verde by JoJo

Passage Canaries to Cape Verde, January 2015

We have been late ever since we left England on 2nd September, last year. Most yachts leave the Canaries at the beginning of December for the Caribbean.  I did not want to cross the Atlantic until after Christmas so as to ensure that the trade winds were well settled in. So I did not particularly want to be early, but we now found ourselves in Mindelo, in Cape Verde in mid-February.  The main reason for this has been waiting for good weather windows.  Not perfect weather, but trying to avoid big swell and strong winds.  Despite this, we have had strong winds since leaving Madeira!

Arriving at Cape Verde.