Tristan Gooley Explained

Tristan Gooley

Tristan Gooley (born 1973) is a British writer on natural navigation.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Early life and education

Gooley was born in 1973; his father is Sir Michael Gooley, the founder of Trailfinders, who was knighted in 2021 for services to business and charity.[6]

Gooley has a BA in history and politics (1996) from Newcastle University.[7] [8] He climbed Mount Kilimanjaro while in his teens, and, aged 19, he spent three days lost on the slopes of Gunung Rinjani, an active volcano in Indonesia.[9]

Travel and navigation

Gooley has walked with the Dayak in Borneo,[10] and in 2009 studied and practiced natural navigation methods with the Tuareg in the Libyan Sahara.[11] In 2012 he led a short-handed small boat voyage, from the Orkney Islands into the Arctic Circle, to test Viking methods and determine whether nature can help a navigator estimate their distance from land.[12] He has walked from Glasgow to London and parachuted off a building in Australia. After years of extreme journeys, aged 36 he turned towards smaller journeys and studying nature.[13]

In 2008, he became the second person, after Steve Fossett (1944-2007), to have both sailed solo and flown solo across the Atlantic;, he is the only living person to have done so.[14]

Gooley specialises in interpreting nature's signs,[15] and has been referred to as the "Sherlock Holmes of Nature".[16] [17]

He has identified a type of path, which has been recognised by the Royal Institute of Navigation. The "smile path" is a (smile-shaped) curve, formed when walkers avoid an obstacle or, during Covid, seek to preserve safe distance from other people.[18] [19]

Writing

Gooley has written for the New York Times, the Sunday Times, the Wall Street Journal and the BBC. He is the author of books[20] which have been translated into 19 languages,[21] and have been referenced by artists including David Hockney.[22]

Recognition

Gooley is a fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation and of the Royal Geographical Society.[23]

In 2020 was awarded the Harold Spencer-Jones Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of Navigation in recognition of an outstanding contribution to navigation.[24]

Personal life

Gooley is married to Sophie and they have two sons. They live in Eartham, West Sussex.

Gooley is vice-chairman of Trailfinders, the travel agency founded in 1970 by his father.[25]

Selected publications

Books

Articles

Notes and References

  1. News: Cox . Tom . My lesson in countryside detective work – and how not to get lost . 10 April 2023 . The Guardian . 18 July 2014.
  2. News: Barrell . Sarah . Natural navigation: an expert reveals how to read the weather on your next trip . 10 April 2023 . National Geographic . 11 May 2021 . en-gb.
  3. News: Who is 'natural navigator' Tristan Gooley? . 10 April 2023 . Sussex Life . 17 December 2020 . en.
  4. News: Phillips . Adrian . A guided tour with the Natural Navigator . 10 April 2023 . The Independent . 10 March 2012 . en.
  5. News: Hamilton . Chloe . Meet the man who has ditched maps and uses nature to navigate . 10 April 2023 . inews.co.uk . 1 February 2019 . en.
  6. News: Trailfinders founder Mike Gooley knighted . 10 April 2023 . Travel Weekly . 2021 . en.
  7. Book: Gooley . Tristan . How to Read a Tree : clues & patterns from roots to leaves. . 2023 . Sceptre . London . 978-1-5293-3959-8.
  8. Web site: Inspirational Alumni . www.ncl.ac.uk . Newcastle University . 10 April 2023 . en.
  9. Book: Gooley, Tristan . The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way, Predict the Weather, Locate Water, Track Animals—and Other Forgotten Skills . 2015-08-26 . The Experiment . 978-1-61519-242-7 . en.
  10. News: Arbuthnot . Leaf . A puddle whisperer plumbing the depths . . en . 2023-05-05 . 0140-0460.
  11. Web site: Natural Navigation with the Tuareg in the Libyan Sahara . 2023-05-05 . The Natural Navigator . en-GB.
  12. Gooley . Tristan . March 2013 . Nature's Radar . The Journal of Navigation . en . 66 . 2 . 161–179 . 10.1017/S0373463312000495 . 128428067 . 0373-4633. free .
  13. Web site: Extreme rambling . 2023-06-26 . www.telegraph.co.uk. 23 March 2012 .
  14. News: Gooley . Tristan . Double Atlantic . 10 April 2023 . Yachting Monthly . April 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130526145947/http://www.atlanticchallenge.org.uk/YMarticleApril08.pdf . 26 May 2013 . 60–64.
  15. Web site: 2021-05-11 . Natural navigation: an expert reveals how to read the weather on your next trip . 2023-06-26 . National Geographic . en-gb.
  16. News: Kerr . Michael . 2016-07-11 . Drawing inspiration from Australia's wild places . en-GB . The Telegraph . 2023-06-26 . 0307-1235.
  17. Web site: Gooley . Tristan . 2023-06-19 . Reading Trees on Sunday Brunch . 2023-06-26 . The Natural Navigator . en-GB.
  18. Web site: New 'Smile Path' identified and named by natural navigatoer Tristan Gooley - Royal Institute of Navigation . 2023-06-26 . rin.org.uk.
  19. Web site: Gooley . Tristan . 2020-07-23 . The Smile Path . 2023-06-26 . The Natural Navigator . en-GB.
  20. Web site: 2019-04-24 . Tristan Gooley . 2023-06-26 . Hachette UK . en-US.
  21. Web site: Tristan Gooley . 2023-06-26 . The Natural Navigator . en-GB.
  22. Book: Gayford . Martin . Spring Cannot be Cancelled: David Hockney in Normandy . Hockney . David . 2021-03-25 . Thames and Hudson Limited . 978-0-500-77669-8 . en.
  23. Web site: Tristan Gooley . The Natural Navigator . 10 April 2023.
  24. Web site: Awards - Royal Institute of Navigation . 2023-05-05 . rin.org.uk.
  25. Web site: Tristan Gooley . Sophie Hicks Agency . 10 April 2023.

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