Numskull Navigator

Once upon a time there was a man named Davies. Mr. Davies lived in Belfast. Belfast is in Ireland. One day, Mr. Davies decided to sail to Plymouth. (The one in England. Not the one way across the ocean!)

You see, Ronald Davies was suspected by the UDA Protestants of working for the IRA. Meanwhile, the IRA suspected Davies of working for the British Intelligence. (Trust me! I couldn't make something like this up and make it sound believable!)

Anyway, with things as they were in Ireland, Davies thought to himself that, perhaps, it may be best not to stick around. So, in 1974, with girlfriend Brenda Collopy in tow, he boarded his sloop Calcutta Princess and set sail for the Isle of Man. In the months that followed (yes, I said 'months'!) they garnered no less than six coastguard alerts, four lifeboat rescues, the assistance of a Royal Navy Helicopter, and help from the aircraft carrier Hermes. A trip which should have taken less than a week took a total of two years to complete!

Their first encounter came as they got lost on their way to the Isle of Man and had to be guided into Douglas by a lifeboat. From Douglas, they made it to Holyhead and then set sail for Fishguard, but when they failed to arrive, the coastguard mounted a search for them. The search was called off when the missing sailors showed up in Waterford across the Irish Sea. Setting sail again for Fishguard, Davies and Collopy ended up in Holyhead once more! On their third attempt, the actually made it to Fishguard.

Somehow they managed to make their way to the Devon coast. Whether or not this was intentional is unknown. However, when they got there, they needed the assistance of radio operators to guide them into Clovelly. Their next port of call was Padstow, which they intentionally managed to find. From there, the set out for Newquay (and found it) but couldn't figure out how to get into the harbour, so back to Padstow again. This time, though, they got caught in a storm and had to be rescued by the Padstow lifeboat.

For reasons known only to herself (he says with tongue firmly planted in cheek!), Miss Collopy decided to stay in Padstow. So, Davies set out on his own.

After being rescued by the Padstow lifeboat a second time, Davies made it all the way to the waters off St. Ives, but, true to form, he required a tow by lifeboat to make it into the harbour. Really, would you have expected anything less?

And so, here is our hero... still miles away from Plymoth. He finally got there in 1977...

Overland!