![]() They were tough Army guys who relished a challenge. ![]() John Ridgway and Chay Blyth were more than ready to give it a go. Only one of the nine would make it to the finish and for one the race would end in tragedy. The Sunday Times offered a £5,000 prize and called it the Golden Globe Race. The skippers were very much on their own and they would have to take food and boat spares to last for what could be a 10-month passage. Radios sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t and boat positions had to be determined using sextants and stars. It had never been done before and nobody knew if it was even possible. It was all very different in 1968 when nine sailors set out to try to circumnavigate the globe, solo and non-stop. ![]() Nowadays they sail expensive high tech boats with satellite phones, fax machines, access to the latest weather data and GPS, so they and others know their position within a few metres. So I have great admiration for the men and women who choose to sail our planet’s oceans solo or with a crew, trying to be the oldest, youngest or fastest, travelling with the winds or against them but always rushing towards the low pressure systems to go ever quicker. ![]() This got me thinking about how ocean racing began, and how it’s all changed.Īs a sailor of 14ft dinghies, who likes an enjoyable but not too stressful sail, I choose my conditions carefully: Force 4 for an exciting sail Force 5 and I know it will be wet with the chance of a capsize. With Isabelle Joschke having retired from the Vendée Globe this week due to a damaged keel, there are now 26 skippers remaining in the solo, non-stop round-the-world race, including British sailor Pip Hare, who has just rounded Cape Horn. Kevin Escoffier onboard PRB was forced to abandon the vessel and take to the liferaft during the current Vendée Globe/ Jean-Marie Liot/PRB ![]()
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