of Captain Cook
Hi Ted . . . When a list has to be reduced to only 10 I understand it is diffuclt to chose, but I believe you left out one of my sailing heros, Robin Knox Johnston. Sir William Robert Patrick "Robin" Knox-Johnston, CBE, RD and bar (born 17 March 1939) is an English sailor. He was the first man to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe and was the second winner of the Jules Verne Trophy (together with Sir Peter Blake). For this he was awarded with Blake the ISAF Yachtsman of the Year award. In 2006 he became at 67 the oldest yachtsman to complete a round the world solo voyage in the VELUX 5 Oceans Race.
David - RKJ is certainly worthy of my list, but as you said, I had to cut it off somewhere. (FYI - While Ted Brewer has written several guest posts on my blog, unless otherwise noted, all the content here has been authored by me, Kevin Walters.)
OK Kevin, I misunderstood whose blog it was. Ted Brewer sent me the link. Now I understand . . . anyway, it is a great blog. Thanks for sharing. I was captain of the yacht Mystic for two different owners, including the original owner Marvyn Carton. You can see my biography at http://www.inteconlaw.com/about/index.htm
I, personally, was touched by Robert Manry.
Ah yes, Manry and his boat Tinkerbelle. He's definitely worthy of mention on a list of inspirational sailors. Thanks for sharing!
I'm sorry, Mr. Walters, but I can't help noticing that every person you have on this list is white. You would be wise to either revise or give reasons as to why this is.
As I menionted in the opening paragraph, these are merely the sailors who have influenced and inspired my own life. I didn't mean to put this out there as a definitive list for all people, but rather my opinion on the matter. Feel free to share your own most influential and inspirational sailors here in the comments. In any case, thanks for reading and commenting!
A sailor is a sailor........who cares about the skin colour....!
Don't forget about the legendary Vito Dumas
Thanks for the addition! I hadn't heard of Vito before, but I just read the Wiki page and wow...single handed circumnavigation of the Southern Ocean a 31-foot ketch in 1942...very cool!
1) Piri Reis
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Famous yachtsman and sportsman Pete Goss recently made a boat with his own hands! Let's talk about the Oddity boat and what makes it special.
Pete is quite widely known outside of the purely yachting and sports "party", but if someone does not know about him yet, then now we will tell.
Pete Goss is one of the most famous British yachtsmen. He has traveled a total of 250,000 nautical miles or 460,000 km in his career and is not going to stop there. Pete is a retired Marine. He was awarded the Légion d'honneur for rescuing fellow yachtsman Rafael Dinelli during the 1996 Vendee Globe solo round the world race.
Together with his wife Tracy, he has been traveling together on yachts for many years. The heroine of today's article is the sailing yacht Oddity - their new boat, on which they continue to sail, rediscover already known regions and search for untouched places. However, the history of the unusual homemade yacht is much more interesting than it might seem.
Literally a few years ago, no one could have thought of Oddity. Then, in 2017, Pete and Tracy got their brand new sailing yacht Pearl. This yacht was a Garcia 45 Exploration. Pearl was named in honor of Pete and Tracy's 30th wedding anniversary. On it they were going to make a measured and unhurried trip around the world.
March 2020 took the entire planet by surprise with the already raging COVID pandemic. At the time, Pete and Tracy were on the East Coast of the United States. They had to hurriedly collect the most necessary things and go home to the UK, leaving Pearl in the US.
After some time, the couple decided to sell the Garcia 45 Exploration. They were shocked that the boat was bought literally 6 hours after the announcement was published. The new owners immediately took the yacht - with a bunch of things from the previous owners. Pete laughs: "There were a lot of tools, Tracy's sewing machine and a drawer with my holey underpants."
The couple were saddened that they were unlikely to see their "Pearl" again. But at some point, an idea popped into Pete's head. He decided to make himself a boat with a vintage design with his own hands! From this moment the story of Oddity begins.
The main idea was to make a small, but reliable and versatile boat - such that you can go to the open sea and explore small canals and rivers. Pete had become a fan of leisurely cruising with his wife, so this seemed like the perfect boat.
Pete shares his memories: “We just wanted to travel, we wanted to get to Odessa and the Black Sea and then move along the rivers along the rivers, see beautiful old cities, feel their soul. One of the most important rules of cruising that I have learned over the years is that the slower your cruise, the richer the experience.”
To implement his idea, Pete turned to his old friend Chris Rees. Rhys has long been involved in design and shipbuilding in the old school style. Together they began to create that very ideal boat.
Pete recalls: “We sat down with a glass of wine and just drew a boat. No software, no 3D modeling – just Rhys and me sharing knowledge and decades of experience on different boats.” When Pete and Chris finally finished drawing the concept, it was time to create a 3D model of the hull. They tested it for stability literally in the sink.
The result of the work was an 11-meter sailing yacht with an unusual sailing rig for the layman - a gaff sail. Historical note: the gaff sail appeared at the beginning of the 17th century and became a natural development of the ideas laid down by the creator of the Latin sail. It was soon superseded by the well-known Bermuda sail.
Other features include a rounded bow in the style of old yachts, two lifting rudders and a mast. The mast is remarkable in that it can be raised and removed by hand while on board. The boat retained its original name Oddity - “strangeness” in English. As Pete himself describes the boat: “A farm boat, a favorite tub.”
Thanks to the rounded bow, it was possible to achieve an increase in the volume of the interior. Oddity is designed to live comfortably on board and have enough living space. However, as the first cruises showed, it is quite suitable for passing the French channels.
Pete didn't own a gaff sailboat before Oddity, but he says it's the perfect solution if you want a "versatile, all-terrain" boat. He also adds that Oddity is a perfect example of "a mixture of modern and traditional".
The yacht was built within seven months. Plywood and epoxy fiberglass were chosen as the main body materials. Although the plywood was reinforced, it still remained plywood. Her Pete and Rhys were literally carved with a jigsaw.
For greater safety, the sides were reinforced with a large rubber anti-corrosion flooring. Ferries and pilot boats are often decorated in this style. In addition, there is a steel lug at the waterline level. Pete says, “This is to make it easy to get the boat out of the water with a pickup truck.”
Bowsprit, frames, stern pulpit and stern arch are made of galvanized steel for greater strength. Pete boasts that there is nothing stainless steel on board at all. The arch at the stern is used as support for the Superwind 350 generator and 150 W solar panels (260 Ah batteries are installed on the boat).
The cockpit turned out to be deep and reliable. Pete himself says that "probably too deep." In his opinion, the final version of the floor turned out to be too low, but he is going to fix it.
A powerful 46 hp engine is installed on board. Beta brand. Pete and Tracy are going to do a lot of sailing. Therefore, they decided that the best option available would be to install a large, powerful, reliable and simple engine.
Interestingly, Pete made some changes to the design of the tanks after one incident. Then Pete and Tracy had a rather bad experience with a cracked metal fuel tank. At Oddity, Pete decided to fix this problem and made custom hardened plastic tanks. As a result, there is space on board for 426 liters of fresh water and 344 liters of fuel.
The Oddity Salon is large, colorful and filled with natural light. In a word - to match the owner. As Pete himself says, after Pearl, the couple would hardly have been able to move to another boat with a small cabin. “It's important for us to see the beauty of the anchorage,” comments Pete. Hatches are located along the entire perimeter of the cabin, as well as in the roof of the bow.
Interestingly, the Oddity ceiling profile has a decent bevel. The main reason for the difference in cabin height is that the angle of the ceiling reduces the glare from the water, which will inevitably enter the cabin due to the number of windows.
The boat is equipped with a Webasto heater and has reliable thermal insulation. Even in cold weather, it is warm enough for a comfortable life on board. Oddity was launched last spring. Pete and Tracy have already made a trial cruise. Their journey began in Plymouth, England and ran through the Isles of Scilly. There, the couple encountered the first rough waters aboard the Oddity. Pete smiles: “The wind was about 25 knots, the sea was very rough. But we were running under the motor at 1600 rpm. At this time, Tracy and I were sitting in the salon and drinking tea.”
For this winter (which is already slowly coming to an end), Pete had serious plans. He was going to correct the balance of the ballast on board and change the height of the cockpit floor. Then, according to him, Oddity will be completely ready for a full journey.
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Own a piece of history with a j class yacht.
J Class yachts were the original America’s Cup racers. In 1929, tea magnate Sir Thomas Lipton commissioned the build of the first J Class yacht for his fifth and last America’s Cup bid. The boat was 36.58 metre Shamrock V, which was the first and only J Class yacht to be constructed in wood.
“She was built by possibly the most famous British yachtsmen ever, Sir Thomas Lipton, who tried for years to wrestle the America's Cup from the Americans, culminating in his building Shamrock V ,” says Mike Horsley of Edmiston .
Amazingly, even though Shamrock V was the first J Class created — designed by Charles Nicholson and built by Camper & Nicholsons — she remains in perfect condition, thanks to many refits over the years. In her most recent upgrade she received two new generators.
J Class yachts are bred for racing, and it's their one design class that makes them so ideal for the sport. When you see Js out on the racecourse, the first thing that catches the eye — besides their staggering beauty — is that the race is so close!
When the J Class yachts started racing in the 1930s, it was under the Universal Rule, which used waterline length, displacement and sail area to control the rating. Nowadays, the fleet is made up of an intriguing mix of refitted originals and new-build replicas, some outfitted with luxurious interiors.
The new J Class Rating takes this into account, using a computational model that considers hull design, mast and sail plan to give each yacht an adjusted time. Even still, the relative difference in performance of Js is small. The J Class racing is thrilling, action-packed and always a fight to the finish.
Or a replica anyway… The original Rainbow and Ranger J Class yachts both held their own, aptly defending the America’s Cup. Harold Vanderbilt invested in J Class yachts to defend the Cup three times, with Enterprise in 1930, Rainbow in 1934, and Ranger in 1937. Although the originals didn't survive the cull for metal in WWII, replicas of both Rainbow and Ranger have since been built, which must be the next-best thing to owning the original winner.
The new 39.95 metre spectacular J Class yacht Rainbow was built by Holland Jachtbouw in 2012, based on the original Frank Paine lines of the 1934 America’s Cup winner. Rainbow was sold in 2015 .
The J Class yachts are returning to their rightful home, the America’s Cup. The J Class Association is an active organisation, preserving the interests of the class and organising face-offs at regattas around the world. But the J Class Regatta, set to take place during the America’s Cup 2017 , will be the biggest reunion yet — both in terms of historical relevance and in number of Js on the start line, organisers predict.
Want to take part in this historical event and maybe win it all? Easy; get yourself one of the Js currently for sale. Ranger , for instance, was known as the “Super J” for her defence against Endeavour , and her replica is for sale with Northrop & Johnson .
Sleek, slim and seeming to just slip through the water, the J Class yachts turn heads wherever they roam. While they were designed as racing beasts, these boats are undeniably beauties.
“One main justification for the hassle and expense of yacht ownership is that almost indefinable pride one feels when approaching one’s yacht at anchor in a beautiful bay,” says Mike Horsley of Edmiston. “There can be nothing in history more pride-inducing than a J!” It's okay to buy one because you think J Class yachts are simply the prettiest things on the water.
As many a classic aficionado can tell you, the joy in preserving and passing on a part of history is a main deciding factor in owning a classic yacht . It's no different with J Class yachts.
The J Class revival is largely credited to one such history lover, Elizabeth Meyer, who restored the original J Class yacht Endeavour , which was built for Sir Thomas Sopwith. The 39.56 metre iconic Endeavour was the first J Class yacht to be restored.
“It was Endeavour that set the original comeback of the whole J fleet,” says Alex Busher of Edmiston . “Elizabeth Meyer should naturally take credit for her energy, enthusiasm and foresight at the beginning of this new [J Class] era.”
Endeavour is currently for sale with Edmiston, asking €19,950,000.
When you own a J Class yacht, you are one of a select few. If your dream is to own a J Class sailing yacht, and even build your own yacht, it is possible to gain entry to this elite and private club by buying your way in and building a J design.
Holland Jachtbouw HJB, which launched Topaz in 2015, owns the exclusive rights to build two J Class yachts, Yankee and J9 . The Dutch builder has an official partnership with the J Class Association . Designed by Frank Paine, 38.1 metre Yankee was the third American J. She had a nearly straight sheerline and beautiful lines. While she was a sprightly and powerful defender, she never did take the Cup — but her designers Dykstra Naval Architects have optimised her design, and all she needs is for the right owner to bring her back to the life at HJB.
HJB also has the rights to build the previously unbuilt J Class yacht J9. Frank Paine drew the yacht as a defender for the last America’s Cup to be held with Js, but she was never built. Hoek Design has now carried out extensive research, which means if and when J9 is built, she is will be a contender on the racecourse and then some.
Beauty, racing brawn and technological brains combined? J Class yachts really have it all. “Apart from their obvious beauty and power under sail, they represent the apogee of technological achievement in their time,” says Mike Horsley. While the J Class yachts appear as classic beauties now, they were boundary-pushing creatures in their day, even incorporating early aircraft design.
“Owning a J Class yacht is the best medicine for someone with a passion for classic sailing yachts, both cruising and racing,” says Thys Nikkels, managing director of Dykstra Naval Architects.
The J Class yachts are also proven ocean-goers and many have comfortable, luxurious interiors, making them far more welcoming for long voyages than a modern, flat-out racing yacht.
“Although built strictly as racing machines, Shamrock and her J sisters have accomplished many remarkable voyages, including Pacific and Atlantic crossings, and work as charter yachts in different areas of the globe,” says Mike Horsley. “No other yacht design combines all these attributes in such a beautiful form.”
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YBW's list of the top 10 yacht pioneers in the last 100 years. Who do you think should be on the list? We would love to hear your suggestions.
The top 10 British solo round the world sailors. 2 Sir Francis Chichester Francis Chichester proved the doom merchants wrong when, in May 1967, he stepped ashore on famously wobbly legs after completing the first one-stop, single-handed.
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Put two or more sailors in a room and ask them for an opinion on any sailing-related topic, and before you know it you ll have an argument. Ask a group of SAIL editors for a list of the most influential people in the sailing world and before you know it, you have a brawl.As SAIL magazine marks its 40th anniversary, we decided to highlight the 40 sailors who ve had the
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He then sailed her in the 1960 race which he established for fellow singlehanded, Corinthian yachtsmen, from Plymouth to New York - at the time a revolutionary concept and the first solo ocean race.
The victory of the two British boats greatly rejoiced the hearts of home yachtsmen, and though America's owner protested that the British boats fouled - a protest which was substantiated and in consequence of which Arrow was awarded the cup - the national vindication was no less appreciated.
TAGS: ellen macarthur jeanne socrates Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz pippa wilson sailor. These 13 women have all achieved excellence as sailors, accomplishing astonishing feats of bravery, stamina and skill at the helm. From single-handed circumnavigations of the globe to Olympic gold medals, these are some of our favourite female trailblazers ...
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With his experience designing aircraft, Sopwith applied aviation technology to Endeavour 's rig and winches and spared nothing to make her the finest vessel of her day. She swept through the British racing fleet and into the hearts of yachtsmen around the world, winning many races in her first season.
Shirley Robertson Shirley Ann Robertson, a British sailor born on July 15, 1968, is an Olympic gold medalist. She made history by becoming the first British woman to win two Olympic gold medals in consecutive games, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. In 2000, she was named female World Sailor of the Year by the International Sailing Federation.
And so, I present to you my personal list of the World's Top Ten Most Inspirational Sailors. 10) Francis Chichester: The favored route around the world by cruisers today is by far the east-to-west "milk run" that roughly follows the trade winds near the equator. Chichester instead sailed solo around the world from west-to-east in 1967 ...
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Pete Goss is one of the most famous British yachtsmen. He has traveled a total of 250,000 nautical miles or 460,000 km in his career and is not going to stop there. Pete is a retired Marine. He was awarded the Légion d'honneur for rescuing fellow yachtsman Rafael Dinelli during the 1996 Vendee Globe solo round the world race.
The boat was 36.58 metre Shamrock V, which was the first and only J Class yacht to be constructed in wood. "She was built by possibly the most famous British yachtsmen ever, Sir Thomas Lipton, who tried for years to wrestle the America's Cup from the Americans, culminating in his building Shamrock V," says Mike Horsley of Edmiston.
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