Sailing Magazine
By Richard Crockett
Back in days of yore and long before GPS and electronic navigation replaced traditional navigation methods, the navigator was, besides the skipper, the next most important crew aboard a yacht.
When the 1971 Cape to Rio Race was announced there was a mad scramble for competent navigators who could wield a sextant and plot, with precision, a position on a paper chart.
So, in a shout out to old school navigators, I am sharing the story of Mary King who was thrust into the spotlight as navigator of the all-girl crew aboard ‘Sprinter’ in the 1971 Rio Race.
This is how the Cape Times introduced her 55 years ago today: “A 53-year-old Cape Town grandmother, Mrs Mary King, has taken on the exacting job of navigating one of the smallest yachts in the Cape-to-Rio race across the South Atlantic in two months’ time.
“She has joined the all-women crew of the 10m. (32 ft.) sloop ‘Sprinter’, to fill the vacancy caused by the withdrawal ,of, Priscilla Cairns, a British yachtswoman who was to have been navigator.
“Miss Cairns wrote to Sprinter’s skipper, Mrs. Molly Warr, to tell her she had become engaged to be married and would not be able to join her crew.”
Mary first learnt to navigate while serving with the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in Britain in World War II.
The crew of ‘Sprinter’ were feted on this race due to the fact that an all-woman crew was something unheard of in those days. Their’s was a fascinating story.
READ MORE HERE: 1970 11 18 – cape times – 1971 Rio – Frans Loots – 271 – OCR
