Messing About In Sailboats

It was 40 years ago today...

Robin Knox Johnston set out on the Golden Globe. He was the least known of the competitors, racing in a heavy relatively small teak boat. Ten months later he was a national hero. Here is a release today from Clipper Ventures c/o Sailworld.

On 14 June Sir Robin Knox-Johnston celebrated the 40th anniversary of the day he set off to set the record for the world’s first ever solo and non-stop circumnavigation on Saturday. Sir Robin left Falmouth with his 32-foot Bermudan ketch Suhaili on 14 June 1968 and returned 312 days later on 22 April 1969 to become the first person to sail single handed and non-stop around the world.
 
Last year Sir Robin completed another solo circumnavigation at the age of 68 in the VELUX 5 OCEANS, this time in his Open 60 SAGA INSURANCE. Earlier this year Sir Robin was awarded the Yachting Journalist Association’s prestigious Yachtsman of the Year Award for an unprecedented three times in recognition of his achievements over the past 40 years.
 
Speaking from Sydney in Nova Scotia, Sir Robin said: 'The difference between when I set off to sail around the world non-stop 40 years ago and today shows a period of intense development in sailing; the equivalent to the difference between the era of the bi-plane and Concorde.
 
'Psychologically then there was the worry of not knowing whether a non-stop voyage was possible. Nor did anyone know what sort of boat was right for the task. We navigated as Captain James Cook had 200 years before, had no weather forecasts, no emergency beacons and no reliable communications. You judged the weather to come from barometer readings and studying the clouds.
 
'Today we have very fast boats designed for the purpose and made from modern materials like carbon, only just heard of 40 years ago. We know the voyage can be achieved non-stop, which removes the psychological pressure.
 
'We have GPS instead of the sextant so we have accurate positions every three seconds instead of sometimes having to wait five days to see the sun. We have instant communications via satellites and these communications enable us to download accurate weather information that can predict the meteorological conditions up to ten days in advance allowing tactical routing.
 
'Clothing is much better, freeze dried food has replaced tins, and water makers replaced large tanks or rain from the mainsail.
 
'Still, as I had no idea that all these treats were on the horizon as none had been invented and as satellites were in their infancy, I did not miss them. We have moved on and the game is different. That is sad in a way as the raw adventure of those days has gone,' Sir Robin added.

Golden Globe - The Competitors: Robin Knox Johnston

Robin Knox-Johnston was born in Putney, London on March 17th, 1939. He had a traditional, English middle-class upbringing. He didn't especially excel at school and wasn't much of a sportsman. An average sort of chap.

Although he grew up in the age of rock and roll and the swinging 60s, RKJ was a traditional bloke. His heroes were historical figures like Frobisher and Drake.

At 17, he tried to enter the Royal Navy but failed the exams and joined the Merchant Marine instead, as an apprentice to the British India Steam Navigation Company. He learned his nautical craft, over several years, working the routes between London, East Africa and India. The British Merchant marine was tough place to grow up. Run along 19th century lines, it was everything you could imagine  about a stodgy, uptight and disciplinarian  environment to work in.

While stationed in India, RKJ and 2 fellow officers, commissioned the construction of sturdy, bluff-bowed double-ender based on the style of a Norwegian lifeboat. Constructed by hand in Indian teak, she was heavy, solid and anything but like the newer sleek fiber glass yachts. More like a small dhow that the shipyard was used to building They named her Suhaili after the wind in the Arabian Gulf.

This should have been joyous time for RKJ but it was anything but that. His marriage had fallen apart and his partners lost interest. RKJ soldiered on, buying out the partners. He, his brother and another officer sailed Suhaili back from India, with stops to work ashore and a final leg, 8,000 mile 74 day leg back to England.

Back home, the news was all about sailing. Francis Chichester was two months from home. In addition, Eric Tabarly, a Frenchman had just won the OSTAR transatlantic race. RKJ and his father were discussing it over breakfast and speculated that Tabarly might go after Chichester's record or go round non-stop "That's about all there's left to do now.." his father speculated.

The prospect that anyone but an Englishman would achieve this rankled RKJ. In his view, this should be a record set by an Englishman. Could RKJ be that Englishman?

Suhaili had proved to be seaworthy but slow - too slow for a race around the world. RKJ started to wonder what sort of boat he would need and whether he was personally suited to the task.  Like a brutal prison sentence - solitary confinement, hard labor and the possibility of death - the prospect of a non-stop, solo circumnavigation was awesome. Would he go mad?

These days, we take a circumnavigation for granted, maybe even a solo one but in 1967, it had not been done. The prospect was hard to imagine, even terrifying.

In April 1967, RKJ decided that he would do it. This is something about RKJ. He thinks it through, sees the shape of the voyage, makes a decision and irrespective of what others say, he gets on with it. There is no turning back.

His first order of business was to get the right boat. He put Suhaili up for sale and then began discussion with Colin Mudie, a well-known yacht designer who was enthusiastic about the venture.

Mudie's design was a 53 ft long yacht, simple and lightweight although made from steel.  The construction was so unusual that it took a while to find someone who would build it. Even the cheapest possibility of getting the boat built and ready for sale was 5,000 GPB about $100,000 in today's money.

The problem was that RKJ had no money, nobody would sponsor him and Suhaili was not selling. RKJ was undeterred by this and started to think about what it would take to ready Suhaili for the job. She wasn't fast but she was seaworthy enough. She would need a refit, new sails and need to be loaded with a year's  supply of food. This was still more than he could personally afford.

Fortune smiled on RKJ in the form of George Greenfield, a literary agent who specialized in adventurers, including Francis Chichester. Greenfield's instincts about RKJ was that he was made of the same stuff as Chichester and gave him an advance on the rights to a book about the voyage. This was enough for the refit. He still needed more to get the boat ready.

RKJ approached the Sunday Times who had backed Francis Chichester but they felt that his prospects were not good enough and had backed another, "Tahiti" Bill Howell. Ironically, Howell dropped out before the race started. Greenfield persuaded the Sunday Mirror to step up.

RKJ had the funds he needed to get Suhaili ready for the venture. It was early 1968 and although the race had not officially been announced, RKJ was getting ready.

   

Sources: Wikipedia, RKJ's site and Peter Nichols' Voyage for Madmen.

Forty Years Ago - The Golden Globe Race is announced

On March 17th, 1968, the Sunday Times announced the race for the world's first solo navigation. Plans had been brewing for a year. After Francis Chichester completed the fastest solo circumnavigation with one stop, a young merchant seaman, Robin Knox-Johnston concluded that the only thing left was to do it solo, non-stop.

By January 1968, several other sailors were getting interested and finding sponsors. This included more accomplished  and already famous sailors such as Bernard Moitessier. Plans were brewing across the sailing world for something big.

The Sunday Times had profited well from their sponsorship of Francis Chichester's circumnavigation. They had been approached by a number of the potential circumnavigators but they were worried about backing the wrong horse. Instead they came up with the idea of a sponsored race, The Golden Globe trophy.

There would be cash prizes - 5,000 GBPs (equiv to $100,000 today) for the first solo non-stop circumnavigation and another 5,000 GBP for the fastest time. To minimize the chance that someone coming in and scooping the record without entering the race thus stealing their thunder, they made automatic entry.

This created obvious safety issues, given that competitors did not have to have to demonstrate any ability to complete a single-handed passage. The only concession to safety was that competitors had to start between June 1st and October 31st to pass through the Southern Ocean in the summer.

The one other significant condition was that racers had to start from England. Bernard Moitessier planned to leave from Toulon for his circumnavigation. The Sunday Times clearly did not want to lose the opportunity of having a celebrated guy like Moitessier take part so they approached him about changing his plans. Moitessier was horrified about the idea of a sponsored race.  He felt passionately about the spirituality of the venture and that money was toxic to the whole thing. He rejected the whole thing outright.

A few days later he came back and said that he would take part but if he won, he would claim his prize, sell the trophy and not say a word of thanks.  He refused to do radio interviews or give any progress report throughout the race but he would take photos.  God I love the French!

On the day the race was announced there were 5 competitors: Moitessier, Knox-Johnston, John Ridgway, a British Army captain with little sailing experience but who had rowed the Atlantic,  Bill King, a Royal navy officer and his junk-rigged schooner Galway Blazer and "Tahiti" Bill Howell, an Australian cruising sailor. Howell later dropped out.

Four days later a new and ill-fated entrant joined the race, Donald Crowhurst. Crowhurst was in it for the fame, the money and what it would do for his small marine electronics business. He had ambitious plans for a trimaran that would be rigged with the innovative gear his firm manufactured.

It was still 3 months till the start but the venture was afoot.

Deep Water - The Movie

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the start of Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. The winner, Robin Knox Johnston was at sea for 313 days, becoming the first person to sail around the world single-handedly non-stop*.  A documentary about the race came out last year. It didn't get widespread distribution in the US, so I bought it on Amazon. I would recommend it to anyone who loves sailing. Here is the trailer.

It has great footage of RKJ, Moitessier and many of the other competitors. Although it does a great job of telling their story, the focus of the movie however, is Donald Crowhurst; a man who risked everything to compete - his business, his home and his family. Crowhurst was in over his head. He wasn't experienced enough, his boat was not ready and he barely left England in time. (Good post at Captain's JP's blog about his trimaran)

After struggling through the Atlantic and clearly out the race, he stopped radioing in positions. Everyone gave Crowhurst up for dead. Suddenly Crowhurst's positions re-started showing him gaining distance on the others. It looked like he might finish with the fastest time. Then just as suddenly as they had re-started, his reports stopped again.

His trimaran was found floating in the Caribbean - abandoned. It was clear from his logs that Crowhurst gave up making the circumnavigation early on but could not afford not to finish. It would have ruined him and his family. He floated around the Atlantic radioing false positions showing him chasing the others round the globe. It is believed that the guilt drove him mad and he killed himself rather than face the shame.

Crowhurst is always believed to be fraud - The cunning guy who got caught cheating. The movie takes a different angle. Crowhurst's ego blurred his common sense and he cornered himself. His family and best friend recount what happened and why he drove himself into the situation. It's heartbreaking listening to his wife and son talk about him, wishing that they could have stopped him, knowing in their hearts that he was going to his death because of the situation he had put himself in.

Rather than creating lame-ass re-creations of the events, they used actual footage and other material from the race, as well as interviews with his family, RKJ and others involved in the race. Unfortunately the movie is a little long so towards the end you get a little sick of the same pictures and shots being repeated.

All that said, a great way to spend a cold winter's Saturday. You can buy it here.

* In my initial post I neglected this last point. Thanks to Tillerman for pointing it out