TWENTY FOUR FEET OF ADVENTURE IN REBEL

by Eve Barber, Peter Barber (Introduction)

Eager to escape the shortages and drab austerity of post-war Britain, Eve and Lloyd Barber set out for sunny Rhodesia to begin a new life amidst the wild beauty of Africa. There, among vast open spaces and untamed landscapes, they found both freedom and purpose. Later, now with two sons, one day from their humble campsite, the sight of a yacht gliding into a coastal lagoon sparked an audacious they would build their own small ocean-going sloop. Five years later, Rebel was launched in an estuary on the Mozambique coast. They spent several idyllic years living aboard before returning to Rhodesia, where they bought a triangular strip of mountainside, made bricks, built their own home, and established the country’s first pineapple farm.

For a time, life seemed close to perfect. But Africa was changing. Politically driven conflict rolled relentlessly southwards, forcing Rhodesian farmers to fortify their homes and spend long periods away in the armed forces, defending the very land they were trying to cultivate. Mozambique, too, was descending into its war of liberation, and just days before the border with Rhodesia was sealed, Lloyd made a daring lightning dash to the coast to rescue Rebel.

As the security situation deteriorated, Eve and Lloyd made the wrenching decision to sell the farm for whatever they could get and set sail for Australia, Lloyd’s country of birth, across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Crippled by sanctions and denied access to foreign currency, they loaded Rebel to the gunwales with enough locally produced tinned food to last several years. Yet the yacht was tiny, their resources meagre, and they possessed not even the essential equipment required for such a voyage.

This is the true story of their gritty and determined quest to reach the far side of the world. Lloyd bore much of the punishment. Thrown from the dinghy while landing at St Helena in gigantic Atlantic swells that hurled Eve bodily to safety above, he was dragged through the surf and pounded among shoreline boulders. Barely recovered, they pressed on past Brazil, through the Caribbean towards Panama, only to be caught in a week-long storm that capsized Rebel off the San Blas Islands, costing them their mast, boom, steering, and almost their boat and their lives.

Refusing to surrender, they emptied the boat of water, effected makeshift repairs, and somehow nursed her on to Panama. There, misfortune struck Lloyd was mugged, then later narrowly survived being knocked down by a car. Their first attempt to escape Panama and claw free of the contrary Peruvian Current ended in failure, forcing them back after forty-five seemingly never ending days at sea. Their second attempt succeeded, though only after seventy-two gruelling days before the lush peaks of the Marquesas finally rose from the horizon.

From there they sailed westward to Fiji, where they sat out six menacing cyclones before seizing a narrow weather window for the final leg to Queensland. Shortly afterwards the most savage storm of the entire voyage struck them. Far too distant for any possibility of rescue, they battled on alone, repairing damage as best they could and persevering against overwhelming odds. At last, when the seas relented, they made their final landfall at Noosa Heads on Australia’s east coast.

This extraordinary voyage was undertaken in the spirit of an earlier age of with no electronic navigation aids, scant safety equipment, and precious little by way of radio communication. It is a story that epitomises the essence of true adventure — indomitable courage, dogged determination, and a steadfast refusal ever to admit defeat.

272 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 28, 2026