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  • Yachting Monthly

    Magic Dragon to the rescue

    Jul 21, 2022 5 minutes

    Craig, there’s been a Mayday, you have to get up,’ whispered nine-year-old Dorothy, almost apologetically, through the half-open door to my cabin.

    I mumbled incoherently while fumbling blearily for clothes. It was 0900. I’d only finished my watch at 0730ish and had been asleep for about an hour, but a Mayday is a Mayday.

    We were smack in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, some 10 days into my first transatlantic crossing as crew aboard Magic Dragon of Dart – a 1994-built, 55-foot Oyster owned and skippered by Rod Halling and his wife, Jane.

    Also aboard were Rod’s daughter from a previous marriage, Lizzie, a competent dinghy sailor, along with Dorothy, and four-year-old twins, Peter and Vera. A real family affair. We were sailing with the 2021 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), the so-called ‘friendly’ race from Gran

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