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.
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