Piroska, my older daughter, was 12 years old when she christened Salammbo, my first solo circumnavigator boat. It's a good omen for me to see her with Puffin... The race of my life has become a race for my life. I feel what Jack London's gold digger heroes felt escaping south from the [...]
Dateline: Les Sables d’Olonne, France. The 2018 Golden Globe Race, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the original event back in 1968/9 which led to the first solo non-stop circumnavigation, will now start from Les Sables d’Olonne France on Sunday July 1st 2018. Les Sables d’Olonne, which also hosts the start and finish of the 4-yearly [...]
If— “…If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’…” —Rudyard Kipling The opening of my first book features Kipling's complete poem, which has been the main [...]
Don Casey has a chapter with this title in one of his books, This Old Boat, which has served as my bible in Puffin's restoration. But it somehow skips the most serious difficulty in the hose replacement, which is snaking the heavy, stiffly reinforced hoses through the labyrinth of an old full-keel sailboat’s bilges and [...]
Dateline: Plymouth 30th June 2017. One year from today, up to 30 sailors will set out from Plymouth UK to recreate history at the start of a solo circumnavigation in small traditional long keeled yachts using just paper charts, a sextant and wind up chronometer to navigate by. The Race marks the 50th anniversary of [...]
I have decided not to wear my wristwatch during this race prep period. I do a lot of manual work in confined areas of the boat where it's an obstacle, but more importantly I check off the days like minutes and the weeks like hours in my calendar. There is just one year to the [...]
British yachtswoman Susie Goodall has secured DHL Express as her primary sponsor for her 2018 Golden Globe Race entry. Goodall (27) from Bournheath, Worcestershire, is the youngest among a 30-strong entry list and one of two female competitors to take on one of the hardest challenges – to sail solo non-stop around the globe, starting [...]
--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AS OF 22 APRIL 2017-- 2018 Golden Globe Race to start from Plymouth UK on Saturday June 30… 3 new entrants… 5 vacancies on entry list The 2018 Golden Globe Race marking the 50th anniversary of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s victory in the Sunday Times Golden Globe solo non-stop round the [...]
The Rules of the 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race—the first ever solo circumnavigation race—were quite simple for both the sailors and organizers. But the 50th Anniversary Race next year is a heavily loaded obstacle course for all parties involved. In order to replicate the original race, the race management wants to preserve its main [...]
“You don’t win the race at sea. You lose it at sea. You win the race during the preparation…” Conrad Colman said this recently, after his impressive Vendée Globe finish under jury rig. He had all kinds of troubles during his circumnavigation, including having a fire on board and losing his mast. His well-phrased statement [...]
