First Round the World Sailing Race
Copyright 1996 - 2009 Michael Kasten
The Story
During the first round-the-world race for single handed sailors, Robin Knox-Johnston is credited as having been the first person ever to sail around the world single handed without stopping. Depending on one's interpretation of the situation, this is probably not in fact the case...!
Consider the following.
Nine vessels started out. Three vessels completed the circumnavigation by crossing their out-bound track. Robin's Suhaili was not the first to do so. Ahead of him was Bernard Moitessier in his steel ketch, Joshua.
Between the two other vessels -- Nigel Tetley in Victress, a plywood trimaran, and Robin Knox-Johnston in Suhaili -- it was a very close race.
It turns out that Nigel Tetley crossed his outbound path on March 22, 1969 at 18:00 Local Time at Long 30 degrees 38 minutes W (or 20:00 GMT).
Knox-Johnston crossed the finish line in England the same day, four and a half hours earlier, at 15:25 GMT, never having crossed his outbound path until that moment.
Two weeks prior to that day, on March 8, 1969, aboard the steel ketch, Joshua, Bernard Moitessier crossed his outbound track. In so doing, Moitessier became the first human ever to circle the globe under sail, single handed, without stopping.
This exposes two firsts:
- A steel boat was the first vessel to carry a human around the world under sail without stopping.
- It was accomplished by a Frenchman, not a Brit...!
Moitessier, having spent some 250 days alone at sea was evidently disgusted at the mere thought of being fawned upon by acres of British media people. With that in mind, Moitessier hung a right in mid-South Atlantic and continued onward, again rounding the Cape of Good Hope, again crossing the Indian Ocean, again sailing across the Pacific, landing finally in Tahiti, all without stopping!
A fourth contestant, Donald Crowhurst, sailed aboard a second Victress trimaran. Crowhurst carried all the electronics he could find. After departure from England, Crowhurst listened to the progress of the race on his radio set, as well as the worldwide weather. In a massive deception, throughout the race Crowhurst radioed in false positions, which were gauged to be always just a little bit ahead of the fleet. Meanwhile, Crowhurst actually only sailed around the Atlantic at a leisurely pace...
Tragically, in his attempt to stay ahead of the falsified positions radioed in by Crowhurst, Nigel Tetley sailed his plywood trimaran so hard that his boat broke up in the Atlantic almost immediately after he crossed his outbound track.
Tetley was rescued, but he never did receive proper credit for his feat:
Nigel Tetley was the first human ever to circle the globe under sail single handed without stopping in a multihull.
Later that year, Donald Crowhurst's boat was found drifting in the Atlantic. Two log books were discovered onboard: One, a falsified log; the other, the real log. The last entry in the real log was, "It is the Mercy."
After writing those words, Crowhurst, unable -- or unwilling -- to face his own deception, jumped into the sea, never to be found.
This race is a classic tale of the tortoise and the hare. Knox-Johnston's Suhaili, a very slow boat, although not in fact the first vessel to accomplish the circumnavigation, did at last actually sail back to the pre-arranged finish line in England, and therefore claimed the prize.
Very much to his credit, Robin Knox-Johnston donated the prize money he received to Crowhurst's widow.
The Lessons
In the late sixties when this bizarre race was accomplished, several of the contestants (except for Crowhurst) sailed with just a hand-crank radio.
Moitessier was another exception, though in the opposite direction. Moitessier claimed, "A good slingshot is better than all the transmitters in the world." Moitessier even left his engine behind in order to make room for more food..!
A number of years ago Robin Knox-Johnston wrote an article in Cruising World magazine about sailors who choose to sail solo. The main thrust of it was to suggest a list of devices and equipment which any solo sailor could not possibly do without.
It's true that if we enact laws requiring that we have every known electronic device aboard, there would be fewer problems with collisions and rescues - albeit largely because there would be far fewer sailors...! After all, not everyone has a bevy of wealthy sponsors, and fewer yet have an unlimited bankroll.
A few questions arise:
- Should we mandate the acquisition of a full array of devices, the cost of which may approach or possibly exceed the cost of one's entire vessel...?
- With the various radio voices, printouts, readouts, displays, dials, knobs, buzzers, alarms and horns, would then one really be sailing solo...?
- A few simple but adequate tools, a well-found vessel, and a spirit of adventure... Has this become obsolete...?
No, I think, to each of the above... although the latter question is difficult to judge. If we are to make requirements, let them be reasonable.
For example, before an airplane pilot can fly solo he must log enough hours to qualify. Experience is therefore the necessary ingredient, the lack of which cannot be compensated for by instrumentation, certification, laws or what have you.
Crowhurst's electronics did not save him. It was lack of experience, media expectations, and a rushed preparation that caused his ruin.
Above all, we should observe that the solo sailor seeks mainly to be left alone.
Michael Kasten
Metal Boat Quarterly #7 - Summer 1996 Editorial - Updated 2003 & 2006
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