It is with deep respect that we mark the passing of Alan Gordon Lucas OAM, one of the Southern Hemisphere’s most influential maritime authors, who died peacefully on 10 July 2025 at the age of 89. Though based in Australia, Lucas’s name is etched into the logbooks of thousands of Kiwi sailors who relied on his carefully crafted cruising guides when making passages to Australia, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and beyond.
From seasoned bluewater voyagers to coastal cruisers taking their first leap offshore, Alan Lucas OAM was a trusted voice in the wheelhouse—quiet, assured, and full of practical wisdom.
Lucas’s earliest cruising guides—Cruising the Coral Coast (1968) and Cruising the New South Wales Coast (1976)—quickly became mainstays aboard vessels preparing to cruise the Australian coast, and beyond, to the Pacific Islands. Their hand-drawn charts, sketches, and personal observations revealed not just safe anchorages and local knowledge, but the spirit of a man who walked the coastline, took the soundings, and spoke to locals himself.
That hands-on approach was no affectation. A trained commercial artist, Lucas brought his love of accuracy and aesthetics into every chart and illustration. He was not a desk-bound author. He was a surveyor, a sailor, a photographer, and—most of all—a true documentarian of Australia’s diverse and often treacherous coastlines.
Across more than 60 years, Lucas published nearly 40 books and wrote prolifically for magazines including Afloat, Cruising Helmsman, Australian Sailing, and The Coastal Passage. Many of his books, including the Australian Cruising Guide, Cruising New Caledonia and Vanuatu, and Red Sea and Indian Ocean Cruising Guide, were reprinted and revised over decades.
He also penned volumes on small boat building and fitting out vessels, which became bibles for amateur and professional builders alike. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Boating (1977) and Just Cruising (1969) reflected the breadth of his work—from hands-on boat construction to philosophical reflections on life at sea.
Notably, Reefed in the Coral Sea (2016) chronicled more than 500 shipwrecks, offering a sobering perspective on navigation and tragedy in the tropics.
His work played a role in countless passages to around Australia and beyond.
