Colin Smith: School days

I was never any good at anything at school except drawing.

Colin Smith b 1921, who in 1949, with his brother Stanley, sailed the Nova Espero, a 20 foot boat they had designed and built, across the Atlantic from Nova Scotia, in 43 days. They did this without chronometer, bunks, lifejackets….in what remains one of the smallest boats to cross the Atlantic.

The arrival of the Smith brothers in Yarmouth harbour in 1949

Boats greeting the Smith brothers in Yarmouth Harbour after their 43 day Atlantic crossing in 1949 ; photo Sue Russell