Around the World in 312 Days

   

   In the summer of 1968, nine sailors left the British Isles in an attempt to make the first non-stop solo circumnavigation of the globe by sail and without assistance. If our friend and neighbor Jerry Solom had his boat Indian Summer ready back then, he might have joined the race.

   The Canadian-American Joshua Slocum was the first to circumnavigate the globe solo between 1895-98.  He took a leisurely three years with many stops along the way. In 1966 Francis Chichester made a solo circumnavigation, but he stopped in Sydney and took a 30 day break. His actual sailing time was 266 days.

   In 1968 the London Sunday Times sponsored a non-stop round-the-world race, hoping a British sailor would be the one to do it. Six of the nine competitors were British, two French, and one Italian. The Times realized it would be impossible to have all nine leave at the same time so they offered two prizes: one for the first to finish and a second for the boat with the fastest time. A racer could start anytime between June 1 and October 31.

   As you would expect, most of the competitors had lots of long-distance sailing experience, but two of them were duffers. Donald Crowhurst was a weekend sailor. He owned a small navigation equipment  company that was in financial trouble. He thought if he won the £5,000 prize ($150,000 in today's money), he could save his business. Chay Blyth had no sailing experience at all, though he had rowed across the Atlantic with a friend. When this Blyth was setting off, he had friends rig his boat for him then sail ahead of him in another boat so he could see how sailing was done. Unbelievable.

  The first three boats left the British Isles in June. The two men who had rowed across the Atlantic got off first. John Ridgeway, once out in the Atlantic, realized his 30' sloop was not up to the rigors of the race. Instead of turning east around the bulge of Africa, he kept going south and landed in Brazil.  His friend Chay Blyth meanwhile had figured out how to sail, but the fuel for his generator had gotten contaminated which meant no radio. He stopped at an island for repairs and clean fuel which disqualified him from the race. He decided to continue on, but his boat was suffering from the hard wear and he retired from the race in South Africa.

   Next off was Robin Knox-Johnson. He was a merchant marine officer who had taken time off to build a 32' wooden ketch in India, which he sailed to England mostly single-handed. His boat was so heavily loaded with canned food when he started the race that he was very slow. But the boat  was well built and he had only minor problems such as leaking seams which he could dive down and repair on calm days. 

   In August the two Frenchmen set off along with another Briton. One of the Frenchmen and the Briton had their boats damaged in an October storm and had to retire. The other Frenchman, Bernard Moitessier was an experienced ocean racer and had a fast boat. He kept going, gaining on the leader Knox-Johnson.

 The final three boats left in September and October. Nigel Tetley left in September in a 40' trimaran.  A triman has a narrow central hull and two outriggers. They're known for speed, but preform poorly in headwinds.  On October 31, the last permissible day to set off, the Italian and the weekend sailor Crowhurst left. Crowhurst also had a trimaran which he had built in a rush, mortgaging his business and the boat itself to pay expenses. 

   After two weeks, the Italian's ulcer started acting up and he retired from the race in Portugal. Crowhurst needed to make repairs almost immediately but had left a lot of repair equipment behind in his rush to meet the deadline.

   By the end of November there were only four boats still in the race. Tetley and Crowhurst in their trimarans, the Frenchman Moitessier, and  Knox-Johnson in his 32' ketch. All were having problems due the pounding they were taking, but except for Crowhurst, they were able to make repairs as they headed around the Cape of Good Hope and across the Southern Ocean toward Australia. Crowhurst in his trimaran remained in the North Atlantic.

   By December Crowhurst had realized his boat was not up to the conditions he would meet in the Southern Ocean, but he badly needed the prize money for his debts. He reported by radio that he was keeping up with the other boats even though he was still in the North Atlantic. He started a second log of his false locations.

   The name Southern Ocean sounds balmy but those latitudes are known as the “roaring forties” and the “furious fifties” due the brutal storms that blow up from the Antarctic. 

   By February Moitessier had made it around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America.  The French government assumed he would be the winner and planned to escort him with a fleet of warships from England to France where he would be a national hero. But Moitessier was a mystic. He was put off by the celebrity stuff and instead of sailing to England continued east around the Cape of Good Hope to Tahiti.

  It now appeared Knox-Johnson would win the race, but Tetley in second place would have the fastest time and would win the £5,000. His trimaran was in bad shape, but if he took it easy, he knew he could make it back to England. But where was Crowhurst? Crowhurst was hanging around off the coast of Argentina. He had not been around the world at all. His triman was badly in need of repairs, but he had left his supplies back in England.

   Crowhurst slipped into a village in Argentina and purchased supplies without arousing any publicity. He now reported by radio that he had rounded Cape Horn and was headed for England. This alarmed Tetley who started pushing his trimaran harder causing one of his outriggers to tear away which tore a hole in the main hull. He was rescued before his boat sank.

   On this day in 1969 Knox-Johnson arrived in Falmouth after 312 days alone at sea. As the first one to complete the race he received the Golden Globe trophy. Since Crowhurst had left four months after Knox-Johnson, he would certainly win the cash prize for the fastest time. But Crowhurst was wishing he could just slink away unnoticed. He realized there would be a huge reception on at his arrival, but he knew his false log would not stand up to scrutiny.

  He let his boat drift at sea.  He began studying Einstein's Theory of Relativity. He wrote a long philosophical discourse. On July 1 he wrote a suicide note. When his boat was discovered, he was not aboard.

   So Knox-Johnson as the only finisher won both the trophy and the prize for fastest run as well. He donated the money to Crowhurst's family. Tetley, whose trimaran had sunk, was given a £1,000 consolation prize. The Golden Globe race was held again in 2018 on the fiftieth anniversary of the original. Entrants were limited to the types of boats and equipment used in the original race. Of the 18 entrants, only five finished. I know Jerry Solom would have finished if he had entered. And if it wasn't a solo race, WannaskaWriter and I would have volunteered as crew. Right WW?

Robin Knox-Johnson was knighted for sailing around the world.