Rozelle Raynes (1925–2015)

This is the story of a dedicated sailor, Rozelle Raynes, and her Folkboat, Martha McGilda . It vividly describes their adventures together for over forty years, during journeys along the south coast of England, and to France, North-West Europe, Scandinavia and Russia. Although much of the book concerns a woman alone at sea, the author's natural friendliness and good humour and the warmth of many of the characters she encounters in the community of sailing makes the book highly readable. A Boat Called Martha also contains memories of the author's experiences at sea before she purchased her Folkboat. Trained as a Wren Stoker in the Royal Navy, she made some exciting voyages on her first boat, a converted ship's lifeboat, before turning to sail. Cross-Channel races were to follow, then long cruises on Martha , working as a purser on a Townsend Ferry, and, for the past twenty-five years, using her Folkboat to initiate children in long-term care, many from the East End, into the joys of seamanship and navigation under sail. Rozelle Raynes' writing is dramatic, knowledgeable, frequently poetic and humorous and sweeps the reader along with ease.… (mehr)