The unlikely voyage of Jack de Crow

A.J. Mackinnon was born in Australia in 1963. He got a Diploma in Education and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, Linguistics and Anglo-Saxon from the University of Adelaide. His teaching career started at Westminster school, Adelaide, where he taught English and Drama for four years. After this time he traveled overland England by yacht, hitch-hiking, river-canoe and even horseback - spending a brief time in a Chinese prison after accidentally swimming into China and being attacked by Komodo Dragons, amongst other experiences. In England he taught at Sherborne and Cheltenham before becoming Head of Drama at Ellesmere College, Shropshire, where he also taught English. From Ellesmere he launched his unlikely voyage aboard his dinghy Jack de Crow. He is currently teaching English and Drama at Geelong Grammar School in Australia where he also coaches sailing.

 

Truly hilarious books are rare. Even rarer are those based on real events. In "The unlikely voyage of Jack de Crow" A.J. Mackinnon, charming and eccentric guide, takes you on an amazing voyage in a boat called Jack de Crow.

A couple of quiet weeks sailing the River Severn was the intention. Somehow things got out of hand – a year later he had reached Romania and was still going ... Equipped with his cheerful optimism and a pith helmet, this Australian Odysseus in a dinghy travels from the borders of North Wales to the Black Sea – 4,900 kilometres over salt and fresh water, under sail, at the oars, or at the end of a tow-rope – through twelve countries, 282 locks and numerous trials and adventures, including an encounter with Balkan pirates. Along the way he experiences the kindness of strangers, gets very lost, and perfects the art of slow travel.

 

Read the book online at archive.org
or listen to a pre-"listen" of the audiobook here.

 

It's just the sort of book to read on a quiet and peaceful Easter morning, tucked away in "Melbourne" and surrounded by the river on two sides.

 

 

Even though a Mirror is to the sailing world what a Volkswagen Beetle is to the world of motoring, the nearest I ever owned to a Mirror dinghy was a Heron, and that was in Lae in New Guinea just before I left for landlocked Rangoon in 1975. It's such a long time ago that I've racked my brain to recall the name of my little boat but to no avail. Not forgotten are the many days I sailed the empty Huon Gulf, far away from land and without even a lifejacket let alone an EPIRB. The things I did when I was still young and foolish and felt immortal (these days I am only foolish!)

Googlemap Riverbend

 

P.S. I've only just remembered the name of my little Heron: it was called "Flipper". How flippant of me not to have remembered it!

P.P.S. I had parted with my beautiful hardcover copy of the book when the "bookthief" Peter Johnson, skipper of SY EKAZA, visited "Riverbend" - click here - because that's what I do: I read book and I pass them on - and it was nice to find another copy at Vinnies to read again over Easter.