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Sir Robin Knox-Johnston refits his famous yacht Suhaili

March 14, 2017

Suhaili was famously the yacht first sailed non-stop around the world single-handed in the 1968-69 Golden Globe. Following a recent refit by her owner Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, she’s back on the water. Adrian Morgan went aboard

The completely refurbished Suhaili on her first outing at the 2016 Hamble Classics Regatta.

Restoring history

Today Suhaili is back in fine order after a thorough refit, much of it undertaken by the owner himself, along with friends and family and the assistance of retired shipwright Keith Savill. The hull has been completely refastened, the old interior stripped.

Sketches of what needs to be rebuilt – this one of the starboard berth – are drawn on the cabin sides.

“The whole thing took three years. We spent two years just getting the old bolts out,” recalls Knox-Johnston, “We never thought it would end.

“The timber was all good – hull and deck – apart from a thick coating of green slime. No, the real problem was the iron; it was Indian iron but any iron will give trouble after 50 years. Some of the fastenings were corroded to just 1mm thick.

“We had to remove them all – 1,400 of them – and replace them with bronze. To begin with we were managing eight bolts in a day using just hammers.

“Until we tried a hammer drill, and then two hammer drills, one each side. We were doing 80 a day then – we had to slow down and put in bronze or the old girl would have fallen apart.”

To release one of the original keel bolts during the restoration, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston used Sarson’s vinegar as penetrating oil

Suhaili was not recaulked, although Knox-Johnston says in retrospect it’s something he should have done. “There’s a few seeps here and there. I reckon she needs about 15 strokes a week, so it’s not serious. That’s about 1.5 gallons.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston did much of the restoration work himself, here preparing the iron keel prior to applying epoxy/fibre tape. Photo PPL

“We stripped the interior out entirely,” he comments. “I sanded the deckhead and hull to bare wood again, and it’s primed, ready for painting.

“We kept the layout simple, just bunks, chart table and galley. Oh, and a loo. With a door this time.”

Thus stripped, she was much closer to her designed waterline at her relaunch, and proved steady and remarkably fast with sheets slightly eased, her best point of sailing.

“We also put in a few more wooden floors, as that was a problem I had on the round the world voyage. That strengthened her a bit.

The restoration of Suhaili took 140 days and well over 3,000 man hours

“So she’s much the same as she was, maybe a little stronger and certainly lighter. At the Classics regatta I reckon she was a little too light. She needs a bit more ballast to get her going.

“She’s best on a reach, not great upwind. You can’t pinch her. She’ll just stop if you do.”

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston with his daughter Sara at the helm. He has never let anyone borrow Suhaili and almost never lets anyone else helm! Photo Nick Gill

One of Suhaili ’s worst traits had always been her habit of hobby-horsing in certain conditions, especially when heavily laden. She showed no signs in the Solent that day.

A jib, single reefed main and full mizzen were sufficient. Her mizzen is far from an afterthought, and provides real drive, even more so with the huge mizzen staysail, for which conditions were too boisterous for us to set.

Three new oak floors were added during the restoration that weren’t in the original – which was why Suhaili leaked at the garboards and had to be patched during the round the world voyage with a copper tingle

Some elements of the refit are still a work in progress, the tiller being the next priority.

“The tiller isn’t the original, it’s from about 1973. It’s oak and as rotten as an apple, bits falling off all the time. It’s the next job on the list.”

As testament to her many sea miles, some items were left untouched: “We found the old penny that had jammed between the cabin top and a deck beam, which got there after we were knocked down in the Southern Ocean. We left it in situ.”

If Sir Robin Knox-Johnston was to enter the re-running of the Golden Globe race in 2018, the recently refitted Suhaili would be as strong as ever and almost certain to knock days off her 1968-69 time. “Nothing will persuade me to do it again,” was the gist of his response to that suggestion.

Suhaili ’s rig is the one she was fitted with after being dismasted in 1990, when Knox-Johnston was rolled mid-Atlantic, and sailed to the Azores under jury rig

Suhaili’ s cockpit is very small, with a breakwater to protect against waves from following seas. A steel-framed pushpit extends beyond the rudder to provide a sheeting point for the mizzen boom, and from which the yacht’s original wind vane self-steering system was hung. Knox-Johnston nicknamed the wind vane ‘The Admiral’ because, like some flag officers, the control system of blocks and pulleys caused some considerable friction. Photo PPL.

The original deck capstan was purchased from Glasgow-based chandlers Simpson-Lawrence, and shipped out to India during the yacht’s construction. Photo PPL

Suhaili ’s original hatches were revarnished at home over the winter. The entire boat was originally built of teak. Photo PPL

The original Tufnol sheet blocks still working well after 50 years. Photo PPL

The original bronze Highfield lever on the foredeck releases the forestay and jib halyard sufficiently to allow the sail to be pulled inboard and unhanked from the headstay, so nobody has to climb out on to the bowsprit.

The original fisherman’s anchor (and chain) came from the SS Sirdana , a deck passenger and cargo ship from the British India Line on which Knox-Johnston served while stationed in India. Photo PPL

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, born 1939, is Britain’s most celebrated yachtsman. His 1968-69 voyage secured his place in the history of yachting, but he also led teams in Admiral’s Cup, Whitbread and Round Britain races, and co-skippered the Jules Verne record-holder Enza in 1994.

1969: Robin Knox-Johnston relaxes to enjoy his first pint of beer in 313 days, after becoming the first man to sail solo non-stop around the globe.

He sailed single-handed round the world a second time – in the 2007 Velux 5 Oceans Race , at the age of 68 – was third in class in the 2014 Route du Rhum, and now runs Clipper Ventures, which organises the Clipper Round the World Race.

After retiring from sailing for a while, he was behind the building of Troon, Mayflower, Mercury and St Katharine Dock marinas.

He is patron of the Cruising Association, elected a Younger Brother of Trinity House, president of the Little Ship Club, and honorary member of at least a dozen yacht clubs worldwide.

He has been voted the YJA Yachtsman of the Year four times, he won the Royal Institute of Navigation gold medal in 1992 and was knighted in 1995.

Suhaili specifications

LOA: 13.41m (44ft)

Hull length: 9.88m (32ft 5in)

LWL: 8.53m (28ft)

Beam: 3.37m (11ft 1in)

Draught: 1.67m (5ft 6in)

Displacement: 9,876kg (9.72 tons)

Sail area: 61.8sq m (666sq ft)

1. Introduction
2. Restoring history

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Sir Robin on deck of his refurbished Suhaili

A Boat of His Own: Suhaili relaunched

09 September 2016

For the past three years, whilst not travelling the world fulfilling his hands on role as Clipper Race Chairman, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston has spent the bulk of his waking hours painstakingly and personally restoring his long-term passion project, Suhaili .

This week, more than half a century after being built in Bombay, India, one of the most famous yachts in sailing history has been refitted and relaunched alongside the latest two generations of his Clipper Race fleet.

Sir Robin first made history in 1969 when he won the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race on board his 32-foot Bermudan ketch Suhaili , setting the record as the first man to sail solo, non-stop around the world, thus kicking off an incredible career during which further racing records, multiple yachtsman of the year accolades, a knighthood, patronages of sailing organisations all around the world, and twenty years of inspiring amateur sailors to follow his experience, have followed. Sailing Today Deputy Editor Emma Bamford, who took part in the 2009-10 edition of the Clipper Race as a media berther for The Independent, went to visit Sir Robin as he prepared to relaunch his well-loved ‘companion’ (the English definition of the word Suhaili). The following is an extract from her feature article.

A BOAT OF HIS OWN

SIR ROBIN KNOX-JOHNSTON is going cruising again. He tells Emma Bamford about restoring Suhaili – and plans for a perfect cruising boat.

From the ground, divested of her sails and bowsprit, the 32ft long-keeler looks like any other old boat on the hard of any yard – brick-red antifouling, fresh coat of white paint on her topsides, stripe of peeling blue masking tape between. It is only when you look closely at her owner – dressed as many a British yacht owner in faded polo T-shirt and paint-spattered deck shoes – that the identity of this boat becomes apparent. This is Suhaili , the first boat to ever circumnavigate the world non-stop; and this is her owner, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.

It is remarkable to think that such a doyen of the sailing world would be in the yard, getting grubby working on his boat. Isn’t Suhaili a national treasure, for one, protected for the nation, like the Cutty Sark or Mary Rose , in the purified air of a museum somewhere?

For a while she was: the 32ft bermudan-rigged, teak-built ketch (44ft length over spars) went on display at the National Maritime Museum Greenwich in 1997 but her planking started to shrink in the controlled atmosphere so Robin removed her in 2002.

For the past three years she has been on the hard of a Solent boatyard, slowly being restored back to her former glory – note, not modernised, but restored – ready for her owner to take her cruising again.

He does most of the work on Suhaili himself, with help from a shipwright and his grandson. When we arrive at the boat, he shouts from the hard: “I can’t hear the sander!”

“I’m sanding by hand!” comes the replying shout from inside the boat by Ralph, 16 – who certainly has enough dust covering him to prove it.

Suhaili is the only boat that Robin owns now, although he is contemplating buying another (we’ll come to that later).

He and a couple of friends built her in the early 1960s in a Bombay dockyard. “It took foreeever,” he says, stretching out the word to add emphasis. Her keel was laid in 1963 and she was finished in 1965, and sailed first, with a crew of three, comprising his brother Christopher and Heinz Fingerhut, to South Africa. Then, after her skipper took a break to earn some much-needed cash in Durban by stevedoring and captaining a trading coaster, the trio sailed her to Britain. Following his groundbreaking circumnavigation in the Sunday Times -sponsored Golden Globe race in 1968/9 she would go on to be cruised quietly by Knox-Johnston through the 1970s and 1980s.

And now she’s back in the yard, being put into tip-top condition ready for the start of the Golden Globe Race 2018, the event being held to mark the 50th anniversary of what Robin acknowledges is probably his biggest achievement – being the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world.

I’m not using journalistic licence when I say that you wouldn’t know, looking up at her on her stand on the hard, what this yacht was.

It is only when we climb up the ladder that we see how dated she is. The cockpit, by today’s standards of cruising boats, is remarkably exposed. There’s a flat teak deck, with a square pit in the centre, deep enough for sitting. There is no protective coaming, no sprayhood, no steadying grab-rail within easy reach of the helm.

The sheet winches – no self-tailers here – are tufnol originals, embossed with ‘Tuff Fittings’, and they are incredibly small, perhaps only four inches in diameter, and were fitted in the 1960s. “I went to Beaulieu Boat Jumble and picked up a spare,” he tells me. “It goes in my Suhaili box. There’s all kinds of things in there.”

The idea of Sir Robin riffling through odds and sods at the boat jumble is incongruous but actually here, sitting with him on the coach roof in his paint-speckled shoes in the August sunshine, I can well believe it – just another bearded bloke looking for bits for his boat… Click here to read Emma’s full article.

Sir Robin and Suhaili ’s return to racing will take place later this month when they compete in the Hamble Classic Regatta, 24 - 25 September. The anniversary Golden Globe Race will take place on June 14 2018, organised to mark exactly 50 years since he set off on his record setting voyage. In contrast to the current professional world of elite ocean racing, this edition plans to replicate the technology and equipment which were available to Sir Robin at the time, known now as the ‘Golden Age’ of solo sailing. So far the race organisers have confirmed three Suhaili replicas are in build or planning phase, and 26 provisional entries have been named so far.

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Sir Robin and Suhaili, in his own words

Sir Robin and friends set about bringing Suhaili to sailing condition three years ago. This is their story

After one solo circumnavigation, two transatlantic crossings, a voyage to Iceland and five years drying out in the clinically clean air of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s Suhaili was in need of restoration. The task of bringing her back to cruising rather than concours condition has taken three years and countless hours, by a core team of four plus friends working weekends who have been just as keen as Sir Robin to see the yacht back in good fettle again.

Suhaili’s restoration took longer than it did to build her in the first place. The biggest problem the team had was to replace all the iron fastenings holding the 1¼ inch teak planking. The fastenings were exhibiting the equivalent of ‘nail rot’ in a roof, and the tell-tale signs of weeping rust stains were clear to see inside and out. This meant stripping out the entire interior, including bulkheads, before removing 1,400 fastenings and replacing them with bronze ones – at £5 a time! It was not just the cost that caused Sir Robin to exclaim. The old iron ones proved devils to get out. “To start with, we were using a hammer and punch and found we could only remove and replace 8-10 a day,” he recalled.

“The problem lay in the way Suhaili was built,” said Sir Robin. “The Indian boat builders were still using medieval bow drills back in the 1960s, which compared to modern electric drills did not cut an accurate hole.”

The iron fastenings, hammered through the planking and ribs, tended to follow the wavy line of these holes, and 50 years later when much of their iron had wasted away, the metal would take any blows from the punch. First, they tried the latest hammer drills, but they too failed to pack the punch required, and the problem was only solved when Ian Sinclair, one of the brigade of Suhaili’s friends, brought in a compressor and used a couple of pneumatic hammer drills to attack each bolt from either side.

“Working simultaneously from inside and outside the hull, we got each one to start moving by hitting the fastenings first from one way and then the other. That did the trick, and productivity increased from eight a day to 80 a day, but the work still took two men the best part of 18 days spread over several months – and the noise is still ringing in our ears!”

If the fastenings had corroded, what about the keel bolts? They proved just as much a challenge to remove. There are 14 of them and they simply wouldn’t budge, however much hammering and leverage was applied. The answer came from an 80-year-old Bursledon shipwright who told Sir Robin of an old trick. “Drill a small hole down beside each bolt and keep pouring Sarson’s vinegar down. It must be Sarson’s – no other vinegar works,” he told them. Sir Robin and shipwright Keith Savill, who served his time at Tough Brothers at Teddington back in the 1960s, were sceptical, but they gave it a try anyway. “It worked incredibly well. How, I don’t know,” said Sir Robin. “We kept topping up the holes with vinegar for a day and left it to soak in overnight – and bingo. The next morning the bolts began to move easily. We hit them once with a club hammer, which released them from the wood and then they turned relatively easily.”

Remarkably, the first bolts to be removed showed so little corrosion that he decided to replace only one in four of them.

Suhaili’s keel was laid down in the Colaba Workshops, Bombay, back in 1963. They knew a thing or two about casting iron in those days, for although they didn’t have the expertise to cast it in one length (the keel is in two sections dogged together in the middle) the foundry men knew all about adding oil during the cooling process, which penetrates the metal to inhibit rusting later in life. Indeed, Suhaili’s 2¼ ton keel shows very little pitting after 53 years.

Robin and his team also took the precaution of replacing Suhaili’s original iron floors, and in doing so, lowered the companionway by two inches to increase the headroom in the cabin.

Indian teak

Back in the 1960s, Indian teak was in plentiful supply, and used for her entire construction; keelson, planking, frames, deck and cabin top. Her 1¼in thick planking weighs 6 tons alone, so it is not surprising perhaps that Suhaili floated 2in below her marks when first launched in 1965. But it is wonderful wood to work with, and after stripping the entire hull, the sanding down to prepare for new paint brought the teak back to a silk-smooth finish and a lovely oily feel to the hand.

Sir Robin recalled: “The Indian craftsmen used 19th Century hand-tools to shape the wood, and we would watch, fascinated, as the adze, handled so casually, produced as fine a scarph as any modern plane.”

What interested Keith Savill most was how the Indians sealed the plank seams. “They used a wooden plane to cut a central rebate along the top and bottom edges of each plank, then poured some medieval black gooey mix along the top joint to act as a caulking, which has kept the water out for 50 years. That’s longer than any modern caulking compound is likely to last.”

The keel to keelson joint, together with the forefoot, which had caused some leaking in the past, was sheathed in glassfibre, and then faired with epoxy filler prior to the undersides being given three coats of Coppercoat epoxy antifouling. “We tried Coppercoat on our Clipper Race training yachts last year and found it very effective, so why not try it on Suhaili too?” said Sir Robin of his company Clipper Venture’s fleet of round-the-world race yachts. The coating has been so successful that it’s now used on the whole of the Clipper Race fleet.

Sir Robin used Hempel Primer Undercoat and Brilliant White gloss for the topsides again, after a French yachtsman mistook Suhaili for a plastic replica when she was last painted. “He insisted that she was glassfibre and remained convinced until I took him below decks to see the planking and ribs. I took his confusion as something of a compliment to the finish we achieved,” Sir Robin said with a laugh. Seeing her now back in the water with freshly painted livery, the same smooth, high gloss finish is likely to fool others into thinking the same.

There is not too much varnish work on Suhaili. The natural look is restricted to her original hatches on foredeck and main companionway, kingpost and raised toe rail amidships, which was replaced during the restoration to solve a deck leak issue. These were given several coats of Le Tonkinois Vernis No 1, a natural oil varnish used on the Cutty Sark. “I discovered it during my time as a Trustee of the ship. It is both hard-wearing and long-lasting, and because of the natural oil, it has particularly good adhesion to teak,” he said.

Varnishing the toe rail and companionway hatch, this product was certainly easy to apply and we got a good finish because the varnish’s extended drying time kept a wet edge, so that brush strokes blended in seamlessly. The minimum overcoat period is 24 hours, and longer in colder conditions. Despite this drying time, which takes the rush out of applying it well, this varnish does turn to jelly quite quickly, so we always decanted just the amount we needed into a plastic container, and kept the lid on the tin firmly sealed.

Sir Robin has another tried-and-tested trick, this time for cleaning teak decking. “I don’t like scrubbing or abrading the deck in any way because, over the years, this simply wears the wood away,” he said. Instead, he uses salt water and a soft brush to keep the green mould at bay, and a diluted oxalic acid wash to bring the teak back to its original colour. This was one of the last jobs to be done after Suhaili was re-launched last September, and looking at three years of mould and dirt that had become impregnated into the wood, there were several sceptics among us. But yes, the salt water did kill the green, and the oxalic acid, applied with a paintbrush, did restore the teak planking to a sun-bleached light brown.

Suhaili is on her third set of masts. Her first mainmast broke in Durban during the yacht’s delivery from India to the UK in 1966 and was replaced with a hollow spar. The heavy mizzen mast was replaced before setting out on the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race in 1968 with another hollow section, and the original still stands as the flagpole at Benfleet YC. Suhaili was later rolled and dismasted in 1989 when caught in a storm mid-way across the Atlantic, while Sir Robin was returning from his ‘Columbus voyage’ to prove the accuracy of a mariner’s astrolabe. She was re-rigged with a set of Sparlight alloy masts which remain in good order.

Photographic reference

Below decks, at the time of writing, is still ‘work in progress’. The original interior was cut out carefully and put in store to act as templates for the new fit-out, but for some reason that still baffles Sir Robin and Keith Savill, nothing seemed to fit back as it should. Luckily we have all of Sunday Mirror photographer Bill Rowntree’s archive, taken before and immediately after the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, to provide pictorial reference, and with a mix of these and Sir Robin’s recollections of what went where, Keith has rebuilt Suhaili’s interior, largely as it was.

First he had to put in a new floor and sole bearers, before he and Sir Robin sketched out the interior plan in pencil on the white primered cabin sides. The problem was that not everyone realised the importance of this graffiti art, and it was difficult to stop grandson Ralph Knox-Johnston and apprentice Andrew Shrimpton from keenly covering them with another coat of primer!

Two additions to Suhaili’s original plan has been the inclusion of two fixed berths in the forepeak where sails were once stored, and a door to the heads to give female occupants a degree of privacy. For the moment, a toolbox jammed against the door has to suffice as a lock, but the fixed berths, with stowage beneath, now replace two folding pipe-cots that Sir Robin never liked.

Her engine, a Perkins Prima M50 50hp diesel, started on the button despite the dirt, dust and rust deposits that have built up in the engine enclosure beneath the companionway. This is Suhaili’s third engine and was fitted in 1988. Once the initial plume of back smoke had dissipated, the engine ran smoothly enough and is likely to last a few more years. Here previous motors were BMC Captains – marinised versions of the 4-cylinder diesels used to power London taxis. The first gave up the ghost during the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, and the second, paid for by The Sunday Mirror in an effort to hurry Sir Robin to London to meet his sponsorship commitments after the race, lasted 19 years. Sir Robin is hoping the current Perkins will still be purring three decades on, when he and Suhaili will be guests of honour at the start of the 2018 Golden Globe Race in Falmouth, marking the 50th anniversary of his departure in the Sunday Times race.

The deckhead has been painted with white Dulux Bathroom water-based matt paint, which has a mould inhibitor within the mix, while the rest of the insides have now been given a gloss finish using the same Hempel Brilliant White as on the topsides. A compact charcoal burning stove now resides in the main cabin to keep the boat warm and dry during the winter.

There is still the matter of re-wiring the boat and replacing the tiller, the third one in her life, which is gently rotting away from the tip back.

Certainly she is a good, solid boat with a pedigree and history that is worth preserving, though not everyone thought so during her restoration. During Suhaili’s long stay on hard standing at the top of Portsmouth Harbour, one sceptic, looking at her anonymous stripped-down hull, called out to the team: “She’s hardly worth saving!”

Sir Robin, equally anonymous is his paint-splattered boiler suit, called back: “Well, we think she is.”

“Nah, you are wasting your money,” came the derisory reply.

“Well, one thing’s for certain: you couldn’t afford her!” retorted Robin, which drew a quizzical look from his dissenter, who walked off totally unaware of who or what he was talking to or about. “And I wasn’t about to put him straight – I left him to look us up online,” Robin laughs. The good news is that the National Historic Ships Register has finally agreed to include Suhaili on its list of vessels worthy of being saved for posterity. For years, the lower limit had been set at 33ft. Suhaili’s hull length (without spars) fell 7in short, but following a campaign to have this famous yacht included, Martyn Heighton, Director of the Register, wrote shortly before his untimely death in November that with Sir Robin’s blessing, Suhaili will now be included in the Historic National Fleet.

In Sir Robin’s own words…

“Yes, there is still work to be done, but I am very fond of her. She has been part of my life since I was 23. I couldn’t imagine life without her, and getting her back sailing is when she is looked after best. She doesn’t like going to windward, but then neither do I. She’s an old design; not a fast boat, but she is very seaworthy.

We developed Suhaili ’s Bermudian ketch rig ourselves, after the original ERIC plans supplied by a company in Poole failed to include a detailed rigging plan. The rig plan turned out to be an ‘extra’ and with time short – we wanted to launch her before the North-East Monsoon set in – we decided it was easier to start from scratch, after consulting Douglas Phillip-Birt’s handbook The Rigs and Rigging of Yachts and Eric Hiscock’s Cruising under Sail . I’m pleased we did because Suhaili is so well-balanced that she is able to keep to a course. If she had not been, I might not have finished the Golden Globe Race, because after my Admiral self-steering broke 1,500 miles west of Cape Horn, I relied on her ‘balance’ to get me home.

Our first event since re-launching in late 2016 was the first Hamble Classics regatta organised by The Royal Southern Yacht Club, when there was more windward work than I and Suhaili would have liked. I’m now looking forward to going cruising in her again with family and friends. We’ve just enjoyed a weekend sail to Cowes with six other yachts owned by Clipper Ventures employees. The offwind sail back to Portsmouth was enjoyable.

I’m also looking forward to 2018 and the events planned to mark the 50th anniversary of the original Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. The French National Maritime Museum is allowing Bernard Moitessier’s yacht Joshua to sail over from La Rochelle and we are likely to be joined by Francis Chichester’s Gipsy Moth IV and Alec Rose’s Lively Lady when Suhaili acts as start vessel for the 2018 Golden Globe Race.”

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Suhaili – Sir Robin’s trusty ketch is relaunched following restoration

Katy Stickland

After three years' work, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston has now relaunched his 32-foot Suhaili. The legendary sailor spent hours restoring the boat which took him around the world.

The renovated Suhaili

“No one would call Suhaili a greyhound, but she is solid, strong and a very good seaboat,” writes Sir Robin Knox-Johnson about the Bermuda ketch.

Arguably one of the most famous yachts in sailing history, Suhaili is the first boat to ever sail non-stop around the world.

The 32-foot boat has now been lovingly restored by Sir Robin at a Solent boatyard.

Winning the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race on board Suhaili on 22 April, 1969 propelled the Putney-born sailor into the limelight – he was the first man to sail solo, non-stop around the world.

Robin Knox-Johnston on board Suhaili as he finishes the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. Credit: Bill Rowntree / PPL

It also marked the start of an incredible career which included further racing records, yachtsman of the year accolades, a knighthood, patronages of sailing organisations all around the world, and 20 years of inspiring amateur sailors to follow his experience.

The Clipper Race Chairman originally built Suhaili on a slipway in Bombay Docks in 1963.

Sir Robin was serving as 2nd Officer on a deck passenger ship trading between Bombay and Basra when he came up with the concept for the Bermudian ketch.

Suhaili becomes the first yacht to sail non-stop around the world

This week, more than half a century after construction began, Suhaili has been relaunched.

The teak ketch will have one of its first outings when Sir Robin competes in the Hamble Classic Regatta on 24-25 September.

The restoration of the William Atkins’ designed yacht comes as preparations continue for the 2018 Golden Globe Race.

It is being staged to mark the 50th anniversary of the legendary original.

Suhaili at full sail

Entrants must depart Falmouth, England on 14 June 2018 and sail solo, non-stop around the world, via the five Great Capes and return to Falmouth.

Those taking part have to sail without modern technology or the benefit of satellite based navigation aids, using same type of yachts and equipment that were available to the competitors in that first race.

Suhaili – “solid, strong and a very good seaboat”

Competitors must sail in production boats between 32ft and 36ft overall designed prior to 1988. The vessel must have a full-length keel with rudder attached to their trailing edge.

There will be a prize of £75,000 for the first yacht to finish before 22 April 2019.

Raymarine/YJA Yachtsman of the Year Sir Robin Knox-Johnston

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston wins top sailing accolade

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston won the prestigious title of Raymarine/YJA Yachtsman of the Year

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Interview: Sir Robin Knox-Johnston on sailing Suhaili again

Sir robin knox-johnston is going cruising again. he tells emma bamford about restoring suhaili – and plans for a perfect cruising boat..

He does most of the work on Suhaili himself, with help from a shipwright and his grandson. When we arrive at the boat, he shouts from the hard: “I can’t hear the sander!”

“I’m sanding by hand!” comes the replying shout from inside the boat by Ralph, 16 – who certainly has enough dust covering him to prove it.

Suhaili is the only boat that Robin owns now, although he is contemplating buying another (we’ll come to that later).

He and a couple of friends built her in the early 1960s in a Bombay dockyard. “It took foreeever,” he says, stretching out the word to add emphasis. Her keel was laid in 1963 and she was finished in 1965, and sailed first, with a crew of three, comprising his brother Christopher and Heinz Fingerhut, to South Africa. Then, after her skipper took a break to earn some much-needed cash in Durban by stevedoring and captaining a trading coaster, they sailed her on to Britain. Following his groundbreaking circumnavigation in the Sunday Times -sponsored Golden Globe race in 1968/9 she would go on to be cruised quietly by Knox-Johnston through the 1970s and 1980s.

I’m not using journalistic licence when I say that you wouldn’t know, looking up at her on her stand on the hard, what this yacht was.

The sheet winches – no self-tailers here – are the originals, embossed with ‘Tuff Fittings’, and they are incredibly small, perhaps only four inches in diameter, and were fitted in the 1960s. “I went to Beaulieu Boat Jumble and picked up a spare,” he tells me. “It goes in my Suhaili box. There’s all kinds of things in there.”

“I wouldn’t change anything about Suhaili . Why not just keep her as she was?” he asks. “We got an awful lot right when we built her.”

Much of the work to date has been in replacing the fastenings. “We stripped her out so I could renew all the fastenings – 1,400 of them – and replace them with bronze. That took time. I was doing about eight a day and then we developed a method and then that was 80 a day. Much nicer! We put new keel bolts in and we’ve been rebuilding her quietly ever since.”

The boat looks incredibly small inside, stripped back, the original wood exposed by all of Ralph’s sanding. “He’s cottoned on to the value of money now,” Robin says. Payment in pork pies is no longer enough.

None of his five grandchildren has particularly taken to yachting as “their sport” – certainly not in the way that their grandfather did, who has made it his life’s work. There can’t be a sailor in the land who hasn’t heard of RKJ, as he signs off his emails.

Born in March 1939, in Putney, London, the eldest of four brothers, he went to sea in the Merchant Navy in 1957 as a deck officer. In 1962 he married his childhood sweetheart, Suzanne, whom he had known since the age of eight (and who died in November 2003 as a result of ovarian cancer). Their one child, Sara, was born in Bombay 1963.

He was made CBE in 1969; went on to success in various race campaigns; in 1994 with Peter Blake won the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest sailing circumnavigation of 74 days 22 hours 18 minutes and 22 seconds; was knighted in 1995; and named UK Yachtsman of the Year four times, ISAF World Sailor of the Year and last year Sailing Today readers voted him Sailor of the Year for competing in the Route du Rhum singlehanded race from St Malo to Guadeloupe aged 75.

In addition to patronages and presidencies of all manner of sailing and maritime-related organisations, he also founded the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, in which crews of amateurs sail, in legs, around the globe.

Others might say the Golden Globe victory was his greatest achievement, Robin says, but “in a way I think Clipper is. We have introduced nearly 5,000 people to sailing now. All of them have crossed an ocean, and about 700 have sailed around the world. Making sailing available to someone who has never been on a boat before and training them up and making them safe and getting them to cross [an ocean] – that’s quite an achievement.”

The latest Clipper Race ended a couple of weeks before we meet and it is impossible not to raise the tragedy that marred this edition, during which two members of the crew of IchorCoal , Andrew Ashman and Sarah Young, died – Andrew when he was hit by the boom or mainsheet during a reefing manoeuvre off Portugal, and Sarah when she was washed overboard in the Pacific Ocean.

“Both cases were caused by people breaking fundamental rules,” Robin says, calmly. “One being in a danger area, the other one not clipping on. We have put AIS beacons on the danbuoys now just to speed up recovery because people drift much faster than you think. You need to get them out of the water fast. If you throw a danbuoy into the water you know that’s going to be within 100m of them. It cuts down the time spent searching. [Sarah was in the water for over an hour]. Apart from that it’s just [a case of] emphasising it: always clip on.” He pauses and looks out to sea before turning back to me. “I have been through all the photos of Sarah and she was always clipped on. It was just that one time. I know they say you never speak ill of the dead but it’s true, they were both nice people. It was just tragic.”

Tragedy is one of the unfortunate aspects of sailing that there is no getting away from. The original Golden Globe race was not without its own – competitor Donald Crowhurst took his own life after becoming depressed and mentally unstable during the event. A film, The Mercy , starring Colin Firth, is slated for release early next year.

Robin gave his £5,000 race winnings away to Donald Crowhurst’s family. “They were about to lose their house.” He says he will probably go and see the film.

The anniversary race will start on 14 June 2018, the same day Robin set off. So far there are 27 entrants. The rules are strict – all skippers may use only the same type, or similar equipment and technology that was carried aboard Suhaili in 1968/9. They must carry a GPS chart plotter in a sealed box for emergency use only. Boats must be between 32ft and 36ft, built before 1988 and be of a particular construction; three replica Suhaili s are being made. The course will be mainly in the 40-50° band of latitude, going westabout, and there will be a gate in Storm Bay, Tasmania, where competitors must drift for approximately 90 minutes, meet the race director, media, and family, and pass over film/ photos /letters, then sail back through the ‘gate’ without touching shore, or any person, or being resupplied.

“I think it’s a cracking idea,” Robin says of the event. “It’s back to real adventuring.”

Solo circumnavigating, he says, is not such an adventure now as it once was.

“It has been done. It’s like climbing Mount Everest. It is still the ultimate but it’s not the same as when Hillary and Tenzing did it. The adventure has gone out of it a bit. Modern equipment has made it a lot safer.”

Although he will take Suhaili to the start, he is not tempted to circumnavigate again. “I might do the next Route du Rhum but round the world? I don’t think so.”

Instead, his eye is firmly on cruising. “I do not do enough cruising. I love cruising, particularly to places where there aren’t too many people, places like the west coast of Scotland. When I was living up there nearly 40 years ago, once you got past Tobermory you very rarely saw another yacht.”

Greenland is another favourite. “I have been up there three times, including once in Suhaili with Chris Bonington [the climber]. You might bump into the odd Inuit but it’s just bare. It is Scotland’s rugged sister – and the midges in Greenland are even worse than the Scottish ones! You wear a mosquito net when you go ashore.

“These are the sorts of places that appeal to me. I have to get Suhaili afloat and see if I buy another boat. I sold my [Imoca] 60,” – here he laughs – “That’s given me a tax problem because I sold her for more than she was written down for so I either pay tax or buy another boat – so I shall have to buy another boat.”

What would he get, I ask, expecting him to name some fast, engineless catamaran, like the 60ft and 70ft cats Enza, Sea Falcon and British Oxygen that he competed in.

And after the start of the Golden Globe, whether or not he gets the Hallberg-Rassy, what will he do with Suhaili ?

“I will potter around in her – maybe Newtown Creek.”

So if you’re in a Solent boatyard over the next couple of years, or dropping the hook in Newtown Creek or some pretty Highlands anchorage, and you notice that the boat next to you is a 32ft wooden ketch or a HR52, look closely – that white bearded skipper next to you might just be one of the most famous sailors of all time.

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Suhaili 50 Falmouth, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston Returns to Visit Falmouth

Ever had an idea that grows and builds to become an obsession? Robin Knox-Johnston did, and on June 14th 1968 (a Friday, considered amongst sailors’ as an unlucky day to start a voyage!), he climbed aboard his 32 foot Bermudan Ketch, ‘Suhaili’, and recovering from illness (jaundice), with no sponsorship, crew, or certainty that the yacht would even make it, Robin set sail from Falmouth. His obsession being, to become the first person to sail solo, 30,000 miles around the globe, non-stop.

In 1967 Sir Francis Chichester circumnavigated the globe, only stopping once in Australia for a major refit, making him the first person to complete the longest ‘non-stop’ voyage. It was this that inspired Robin to take on the only great circumnavigation challenge left, to sail solo and entirely non-stop.

9 entrants took part, in an attempt to attain the purpose created, Sunday Times Golden Globe Trophy, for the first person to sail single handed and non-stop around the globe, and a £5.000 prize fund, for the fastest time. The rules were, entrants must set sail solo from anywhere in the British isles between June 1st and October 31st 1968, and return to the same port. Robin was the 3rd to depart.

For over 10 months, Robin battled through just about every weather condition imaginable, Suhaili suffered polluted water tanks, leaking seams, ripped sails, loss of self steering and for 8.5 months of the journey Robin sailed with no radio. It wasn’t until 1,200 nautical miles from home that a tanker sighted him using his signal lamp, this must have been a great relief for everyone wondering where he was after all this time.

On April 22nd 1969, Robin sailed back into Falmouth, and not only became the first person to circumnavigate the globe solo, but he also completed it in the fastest time, he donated the 5,000 prize to fellow competitor Donald Crowhursts family, after Crowhurst committed suicide during the race.

In the years that followed Robin has continued to compete, including completing three more circumnavigations. He has been awarded a CBE and received a knighthood in 1969 and now quite rightly, is known as Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.

For several years, one of Britains most famous yachts was on display at the National Maritime Museum Greenwich, but the controlled atmosphere was having a detrimental effect on her planking. Sir Robin made the decision to remove her from the museum in 2002, and spent the next few years restoring her back to her original form. Sir Robin and Suhaili have since returned to racing together!

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Golden Globe Race, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and Suhaili will return to Falmouth, along with the Golden Globe 2018 fleet, on June 11th. The fleet will moor at the Falmouth haven Marina, next to Custom House Quay. The haven will be open between 11am & 2pm on the 11th & 12th June for the public to view the fleet.

The parade of sail led by Sir Robin and Suhaili, will take place on June 14th at 10 am, then at 13.30 pm the SITRaN charity race from Pendennis Point to Les Sables d’lonne France will start. The first stage of the 50th anniesary Golden Globe Race commences on July 1st.

CLICK HERE for more information and full programme of events.

If you are looking for accommodation please take a look at our accommodation pages HERE

GETTING HERE

Falmouth is a very straight forward destination to reach by road, rail or by air.

GETTING ABOUT

Explore Falmouth in many different ways, including by bus, traing and by boat.

Falmouth is a destination for any taste, whether it is a beach holiday in Cornwall, a sailing trip or a cultural holiday.

View various web cameras in Falmouth and the surrounding areas to get a live view.

Published on June 20th, 2018 | by Editor

Suhaili and Joshua: If boats could talk

Published on June 20th, 2018 by Editor -->

Two great men of the sea, Britain’s Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and French hero Bernard Moitessier, never met or communicated with each other during the first Golden Globe solo round the world Race 50 years ago, but their equally famous yachts, Suhaili and Joshua (above), have come together to rekindle memories in Les Sables d’Olonne, France.

In a historic moment, the two classic yachts will mark opposite ends of the start line when Sir Robin fires a canon from the deck of Suhaili at Noon on Sunday July 1st to start the 2018 Golden Globe Race.

Eighteen sailors representing 13 Countries will then set out from Les Sables d’Olonne on a great adventure to recreate the golden age of sailing, navigating their way around the globe just as Knox-Johnston and Moitessier did in 1968-69 using sextants, paper charts wind-up chronometers and a weather eye on their barometers.

JOSHUA sails in to Les Sables d’Olonne.

Sir Robin, recalling that pioneering race which led to him becoming the first man to sail solo non-stop around the world, and Bernard Moitessier to famously turn east after rounding Cape Horn to ‘save his soul’ and make a second loop of the Southern Ocean, “We never met because we started from different ports 6 weeks apart. I set out from Falmouth on June 14 1968 and Bernard started from Plymouth UK on August 22.”

Nor could they communicate by radio because Moitessier refused to carry one, saying that any intrusion from the outside world would taint his voyage. In fact, he was against the whole idea of the Race, seeing sponsorship from the Sunday Times newspaper as a violation of the spiritual ideal to be first to complete a solo non-stop circumnavigation.

Noted Sir Robin, “Moitessier rounded Cape Horn on February 5, 19 days behind Suhaili and had he continued Bernard would undoubtedly have set a faster time around the world, but would not have beaten me back to the UK.

“We finally met many years later at a press conference in Paris. Bernard was very generous but suggested to me that he thought the race was lost as far back as Australia – his last contact with the outside world. I believe he continued on for a second lap of the globe after rounding Cape Horn because by then, he was at one with the sea and had no wish to return to an increasingly commercial world.”

One person who got to know Moitessier well is catamaran designer James Wharram who, many years later, built a boat with the Frenchman. “Bernard told me that he decided to continue on for a second circuit of the Southern Ocean because he couldn’t bear the thought of President de Gaulle kissing him.”

Moitessier and Joshua finally pitched up in Papeete, Tahiti on June 21, 1969 after 300 days at sea. He then stayed away from France and his wife Françoise for another 17 years and fathered a child, Stephan, with new partner Ileana in 1971. He continued cruising on Joshua until the yacht was wrecked in 1982 during a hurricane while at anchor in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. She was one of 26 vessels to be blown ashore that night.

Dismasted, stanchions and pulpit flattened, hatches shattered, rudder gone, she finished up full of sand and seawater, dug deep into the beach.

That might have been the end of the story, but a team that included local lad Reto Filli, saw that the hull was still intact and spent the week digging a trench to pull Joshua up the beach. Once this was achieved, Moitessier gave his yacht to Filli, telling him to use what money he had to put Joshua back in shape.

By all accounts, Filli rebuilt the yacht beautifully and sailed her to Seattle where American Johanna Slee, a professional mariner, bought her. In 1989, Virginia Connor spotted the distinctive red ketch in Seattle and sent a picture to Voiles et Voiliers magazine.

Once authenticated, Patrick Schnepp, director of the French National Maritime Museum in La Rochelle, flew across to buy her and arranged for Joshua to be shipped back to France. There, a team of Moitessier disciples painstakingly restored the yacht to near-original condition. She has a new engine and the aft cabin is now fitted out with bunks to give more people the opportunity to sail on her.

Unlike Suhaili which is not listed on Britain’s Historic Ships registry because she is 18cm short of their minimum length requirements, Joshua is listed as a French treasure, and lovingly maintained as a ‘living artefact’ by the ‘Friends of Joshua’ Association to give the public the opportunity to experience sailing on her.

Circa 1968: Bernard Moitessier sailing JOSHUA during the first Sunday Times Golden Globe Race

Circa 1969: Sir Robin Knox-Johnston returning to Falmouth UK to win the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race and become the first man to sail solo non-stop around the Globe

Background: The 2018 Golden Globe Race will start from Les Sables d’Olonne on Sunday July 1, 2018. The event marks the 50th anniversary of the Sunday Times Golden Globe solo non-stop round the world Race in 1968-69 when rules then allowed competitors to start from ports in northern France or UK between June 1st and October 31st.

A notable twist to 2018 Golden Globe Race format is how entrants are restricted to using the same type of yachts and equipment that were available in that first race, with the premise being to keep the race within financial reach of every dreamer.

Event details – Entry list – Facebook

Source: GGR

Tags: Bernard Moitessier , Golden Globe , Joshua , Robin Knox-Johnston , Suhaili

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Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, CBE

Award Year: 2008

NMHS Distinguished Service Award

The NMHS Distinguished Service Award has been presented each year since 1993 to recognize individuals who, through their personal effort and creativity, have made outstanding contributions to the maritime field.

In 2008, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, CBE was awarded the NMHS Distinguished Service Award. We recognized his many accomplishments in the evening’s awards dinner journal:

On 22 April 1969, aboard his 32-foot home-built wooden boat Suhaili , Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, after 312 days at sea, became the first man ever to circumnavigate the globe non-stop and single-handed. He was the only person of the nine contestants to finish that grueling Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, and donated his prize money to the family of the contestant who perished in the attempt.

He has been described as Britain’s greatest-ever yachtsman. 25 years later, in 1994, he and Kiwi yachting legend Sir Peter Blake won the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest circumnavigation. Their time was 74 days, 22 hours, 18 minutes and 22 seconds. This was the team’s second attempt at this prize after their first one failed in 1992, when their 90-foot catamaran, Enza , was damaged.

Born 17 March 1939 in Putney in London, Knox-Johnston grew up on England’s Wirral Peninsula. He served in the Merchant Navy and the Royal Navy from 1957 to 1965. Sir Robin has devoted considerable time and energy to both education and charitable work. In 1992 he was invited to become president of the Sail Training Association, where he served until 2001. During his tenure, Knox-Johnston oversaw the collection of funds to replace the STA’s vessels Sir Winston Churchill and Malcolm Miller with the new, larger brigs Prince William and Stavros S. Niarchos .

He was a trustee of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich from 1992 to 2002 and is still trustee of the National Maritime Museum-Cornwall at Falmouth, where Suhaili is berthed today. The yacht has been refitted and took part in the Round the Island Race in June 2005.

In October 2006, at the age of 67, Sir Robin embarked on another solo race around the world. He was the oldest competitor in the Velux 5 Oceans Race, challenging the very best sailors in the extreme high-performance Open 60 class. Among the many perils were storms in the Bay of Biscay and the big wind and waves of the Roaring 40’s in the Southern Ocean. After months of intensity and hardship, on 4 May 2007, Knox-Johnston successfully completed his second solo circumnavigation in his yacht SAGA Insurance , finishing the race almost 200 days faster than in 1969.

Knox-Johnston has been recognized with multiple awards, fellowships and honorary degrees. In 1969 Knox-Johnston was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) and he was knighted in 1995.

Knox-Johnston has also had a successful business career. In 1995 he created, and still chairs, Clipper Ventures, a prominent sports marketing outfit dedicated to running and promoting world-class marine events. In 1996 Sir Robin established the first Clipper Round the World Yacht Race and has since worked with the Clipper Ventures company as chairman to progress the race to higher levels every year.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston has a lengthy bibliography, promoting yachting through his many popular books, particularly A World of My Own , History of Yachting , and Cape Horn . A new book, Force of Nature (Penguin Books, 2008) is Sir Robin’s firsthand account of his extraordinary return to the ultra-competitive, punishing world of single-handed offshore racing. The book recounts his harrowing second solo circumnavigation of the world aboard the yacht SAGA Insurance .

Categories: Sailor/Racing

Designed as “Eric” in 1923, her design is based on the Norwegian sailing lifeboat designs of Colin Archer. Signal Letters MHYU. Began as a concept whilst serving as 2nd Officer on a deck passenger ship trading between Bombay and Basra with two 3rd Officers Peter Jordan and Mike Ledingham. Building started on a slipway in Bombay Docks in 1963 using teak throughout. The keelson is 1’ 2” x 10″ and 22 feet long, planking 1 ¼ “ teak.

She is the first boat to ever sail non-stop around the world in 1968/9 with Robin Knox-Johnston (RKJ) at the helm.

No one would call Suhaili a greyhound, but she is solid, strong and a very good seaboat.

In 1997 Suhaili went to the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich as an exhibit, but the controlled atmosphere began to shrink her planking, and, unwilling to see her die this way, RKJ removed her in 2002 and re-fitted her again. She still belongs to RKJ and is currently being slowly re-fastened at the Elephant Boatyard at Burseldon, Near Southampton, UK with the objective of getting her back into commission.

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19 February 2012

❖ the great solo circumnavigator ❖ ❖ robin knox-johnston and suhaili.

magazine

SUHAILI, 32-ft ketch-rigged,
leaving Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
One American and 3 British sailors sailed from
India to Africa, and ultimately to London
in 1965-67 where solo sailor,
Robin Knox-Johnston, age 27,
would begin his circumnavigation.
Original photo dated 29 Mar 1966
from the archives of
the Saltwater People Historical Society©

American, Rob Hill, aboard SUHAILI,
leaving Dar es Salaam.
Original photo dated 29 March 1966 by Keystone Press,
from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

SUHAILI
From India to Africa to England
32-ft ketch off the Kent coast heading
for Gravesend, England, 1967.
Original photo from the archives of S.P.H.S.

L-R: Heinz Fingerhut, 25, of
Knightston Lodge, Tenby, Pembrokeshire,
Christopher Knox-Johnston, 22, and brother
Robin Knox-Johnston, 26,
both of The Rookery, Downs, Kent.
Aboard 32-ft Bermuda-rigged ketch SUHAILI
arrived Gravesend, 1967, from Bombay, India.
Original photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

SUHAILI, 21 April 1969.
She was slowed down by gale force winds on the
final lap of the 29,5000 mile non-stop voyage.
Location here is c. 100-miles from Falmouth.
Original photo by Keystone from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

Englishman Robin Knox-Johnston
aboard his 32-ft SUHAILI
following his single-handed,
non-stop circumnavigation 1969.
Photo from the book by R.K-J,
William Morrow and Company, 1969.

Robin Knox-Johnston
23 April 1969
A tankard after his solo 312-day non-stop circumnavigation.
Winner of the Sunday Times Golden Globe trophy.
Original photo from the S.P.H.S.©

BRITISH OXYGEN, 9 March 1974.
L-R: Gerry Boxall with champagne and
Robin Knox-Johnston
Launching of the world's biggest racing catamaran,
Brightlingsea, Essex, England.
She will contest in the 1974 Round-Britain Race with
this crew of two.
70-ft LOA, 32-ft B
Sails: 2,000+ sq. ft of plain sail.
Designed by Rod Maculpine-Downie.
Original photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

My most memorable recollection is dealing with those who told me the voyage was not possible and I could not do it. I thought differently. Don't worry mate. You instigated a lot of others to follow you.

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❖ The Ship THERMOPYLAE ❖ Victoria B.C.
❖ The Great Solo Circumnavigator ❖ ❖ Robin Knox...
The Good Ship ✪ ✪ ✪ IMPERIAL ✪ ✪ ✪ by L. ...
❖ 1907: HUNDREDS OF LOBSTERS PLANTED in Puget Sou...
► August (2)
► February (2)

Time Line of other Marine History Articles (143) only listed here.

1750 ❖ (circa) OZETTE Mud Slide on Olympic Peninsula
1775 ❖ DESTRUCTION IS.❖
1792 ❖ REAR ADMIRAL OF THE BLUE ❖ PETER PUGET
1860-1956 ❖ THE SAN JUAN LIMESTONE TRADE
1867 ❖ SAN JUAN ISLAND ❖
1871 ❖ THE AMAZING RACE
1883 ❖ POLE PASS LIGHT ❖
1888 ❖ STEAMER OVER THE RAPIDS ❖
1891 ❖ SEMIAHMOO CANNERY, BLAINE "SPIT"
1895 ❖ STEAMER BUCKEYE CAPSIZED, ONE LOST.
1896 ❖ CHINESE WORKERS FOR THE CANNERY ❖
1896 ❖ THE CAYOU'S CHRISTMAS DAY DIP
1898 ❖ S. S. LYDIA THOMPSON ON SHAG ROCK, ORCAS IS., WA.
1899 ❖ OFF TO HONOLULU
1899 ❖ TRAPS BOUGHT OUT
1900 ❖ INDIAN TOM of the OLD RANCHO
1901 ❖ LAUNCH HERMOSA of West Sound, WA.
1901 ❖ First steamer launched from Otis, Lopez Island.
1902 ❖ Abandoned at Echo Bay, Sucia Island.
1902~~ SHIPBUILDING IN SAN JUAN COUNTY
1903 ❖ A MARINE LABORATORY SITE ❖
1905 ❖ Shrimp at Flat Point
1905 ❖ BUILDING OF ROSARIO ❖
1906 ❖ The Windjammer GANGES (updated.)
1906 ❖ Ore Barge Wreck ❖
1906 ❖ SHEEP B--b---b--band--of FROST ISLAND
1907 ❖ CLAMS for the Lopez Cannery ❖
1907~~ LOST IN THE DARK
1908, June 6 ❖ CAYOU'S STANDARD
1909 ❖ FIELD CAMP AT OLGA ❖
1910 ❖ EARLY OLGA INN BY STEAMER ❖
1910 ❖ TWO SALTS ON SALT
1910 ❖ NORTON'S INN ❖ DEER HARBOR, Orcas Island, WA.
1911 ❖ STERNWHEELER LOST in GUEMES CHANNEL
1912 ❖ ELDER "BOSTON TOM"
1912 ❖ REVENUE LAUNCH GUARD WRECKED ❖
1912 ❖ BEEF HARBOR FISH TRAP
1912 ❖ Benson Log Rafts Heading South
1912 ❖ The new SHAW hauling canned fish
1913 ❖ S. S. ADMIRAL FARRAGUT
1913 ❖ YANKEE DOODLE COMING THROUGH
1914, February 25. Schooner WILLIS A. HOLDEN, Disabled.
1917 ❖ Bark UNION ❖ Salvage attempt
1917 ❖ SCHOONER SANWAN ❖ by Robert Moran, Orcas Island
1917 ❖ KINGSTON DAY at Friday Harbor
1919 ❖ YACHT EL PRIMERO with a bet of 1,000 "Bones" (Updated)
1921 ❖ KENNEWICK-PASCO FERRY -- with the LAUNDRY TRUCK ABOARD
1922 ❖ THE BIRTH OF THE MARINE DIGEST ❖
1922 ❖ BOOZE RUNNER PIRATES
1923 ❖ THE HENRIETTA OF DOLPHIN BAY
1924 ❖ RUM RUNNERS TO THE GALLOWS ❖
1926 ❖ Tug HUMACONNA Out Yachting
1927 ❖ MAIDEN VOYAGE ❖ FERRY CITY OF MUKILTEO
1929 ❖ RELIC OF THE PAST
1929 ❖ A 4th CLASS POST OFFICE COMING THROUGH ❖The CHICKAWANA
1930 ❖ OSAGE LAUNCHED ON DECATUR ISLAND
1930 ❖ Campfire Coffee on Lopez Island
1931 ❖ DRY DOCK at PUGET SOUND NAVY YARD
1932 ❖ THE STAR CLASS-- PI Regatta--Update.
1933 ❖ S.S. TACOMA to Friday Harbor ❖
1933 ❖ LIVESTOCK OVERBOARD at SHAW LANDING
1934 ❖ DELLWOOD WITH LUMBER FOR NOME
1935 ❖ MAIDEN TRIP FROM PUGET SOUND TO THE SKAGIT RIVER
1935 ❖ A NEW BRIDGE ❖
1936 ❖ SAANICH TRIBE WIN AT COUPEVILLE (updated)
1937 ❖ FRIDAY HARBOR MARINE LABS❖
1938 ❖ STEAMING THROUGH THE LOCKS ❖
1939 ❖ FLATTIES FLAT RACING ON LAKE WASHINGTON
1939 ❖ ORCAS MAN TAKES 8,500 MILE SAIL ❖ by Lew Dodd
1939 ❖ GOLITHON WINS FOR OLGA
1940 ❖ RARE FOSSILS FOUND ON SUCIA ❖
1941 ❖ MAIL STEAMER OSAGE CRUISE-POPULAR WITH TOURISTS
1941 ❖ LIGHTS OUT ON LAKE UNION
1942 ❖ JENSEN SHIPYARD IS SCENE OF ACTIVITY WITH MORAN MACHINERY
1942 ❖ Friday Harbor Men Part with the MOUNT McKINLEY
1943 ❖ CORKEY FINDS A FLATTIE
1943 ❖ SINBAD of the SAN JUANS
1944 ❖ LAKE UNION HOUSE SINKING
1947 ❖ LANDING OF NEW OWNERS OF YELLOW ISLAND, San Juan Archipelago.
1947 ❖ CHANTEY and I LIKE FEBRUARY SAILING ❖
1948 ❖ DEADMAN ISLAND
1949 and BACK. THE SAN JUANS with Gladys Howard.
1950 ❖The Bellingham Shipyard
1951 ❖ Freshened Up for Island Life ❖ M.V. KLICKITAT (ex-STOCKTON)
1951 ❖ Sad Day on the Ferry Slip
1953 ❖ ALASKA PLYWOOD ARRIVES
1953 ❖ SEINERS GET REEL-EQUIPPED
1953 ❖ Silverware for Capt. Noel Davis, Tug MONARCH ❖
1955 ❖ CANNON HUNTERS ❖
1956 ❖ ORCAS ISLAND Yacht Club–– First Meeting
1957 ❖ PRESERVING RELICS OF THE SEA ❖
1957 ❖ SALMON TENDER KENMORE ❖ FLAGSHIP FOR THE DAY ❖
1957 ❖ BARRELS OF GOLD IN FROM ALASKA ❖
1958 ❖ ONE OF BURT'S BOATS ❖
1959 ❖ Ferrying Past Horton's Hook, Wasp Pass ❖❖
1959 ❖ 1951 L-190 International with a full load ❖❖
1960 ❖ CAPTAIN EIKUM'S CAKE ❖
1960 ❖ CHARLIE AND BUDDY HEADING TO ALASKA
1961 ❖ AFRICAN STAR ❖❖ In the Mud with Broom
1961 ❖ PUGET SOUND LIVE STEAMERS MEET
1962 ❖ The YARMOUTH Attends the Seattle World's Fair
1964 ❖ Gillnetter CALYPSO
1965 ❖ Playing with Boats
1966 ❖ FOSS ICEBREAKER
1967 ❖ PRESTON ON PARADE
1968 ❖ SPENCER SPIT STATE PARK, LOPEZ ISLAND, WA.
1969 ❖ GIANT STERN TRAWLER OUT OF BELLINGHAM, WA.
1969-1978 ❖ Hudson's Bay Replica NONSUCH ❖ London to Friday Harbor (updated)
1971 ❖ SAKI FOR ANELA
1972 ❖ S.S. VIRGINIA V Anniversary Party
1972 ❖ STEAMING with S S VIRGINIA V ❖
1972 ❖ ERNEST K. GANN & STRUMPET ❖
1972 ❖ LAUNCH OF THE M.V. SPOKANE ❖
1973 ❖ First Log Entry USCG STATEN ISLAND (WAGB 278)
1974 ❖ CAPTAIN "SPIKE" EIKUM ❖
1976 ❖ DIGGING ON BAINBRIDGE
1977 ❖ LOW IN THE WATER at STUART ISLAND ❖
1977 ❖ AN OLD SALT AND A NORWEGIAN BEAUTY ❖❖
1978 ❖ LETNIKOF COVE ❖
1978 ❖ ONE-HUNDRED TWENTY-TWO FEET OF FISHING BOAT
1979 ❖ STEAMING DOWN THE STREET with Engineer Tommy
1979 ❖ WARWICK THOMPKINS, JR. ❖ VICTOR
1981 ❖ MARINER GLADYS PRINCE ❖ and ALLRIGHT
1982 ❖ GRAYS HARBOR with MR. SCAYLEA
1983 ❖ The W. T. PRESTON now a National Historic Landmark
1983 ❖ A SALTY GREETING CEREMONY FROM LIME KILN LIGHT
1983 ❖ SUPER CLASS FERRY KALEETAN ❖
1984 ❖ OLYMPIC GOLD for Seattle
1987 ❖ DYNAMITE BLOWS IN FRIDAY HARBOR (Updated)
1989 ❖ THE STATE'S LADY WASHINGTON ❖
1989 ❖ PHIL SMART, King Neptune XXXX
1992 ❖ GOLD DREDGE with a Four-Foss-Escort
1992 ❖ BRIG LADY WASHINGTON MARKS A BICENTENNIAL OBSERVATION
1993 ❖ WATMOUGH BIGHT GIFT
1993 ❖ WINTER CALM IN FRIDAY HARBOR ❖
1998 ❖ A PHANTOM OF THE FANTOME ❖
2000 ❖ CAPTAIN EARL E. FOWLER (1903-2000) ❖
2012 ❖ PACIFIC NORTHWEST PASSAGE ❖ by crew of SOL
2019 ❖ MT. BAKER WITH ONE BALDIE
2020 ❖ SAVE THE GLORY OF THE SEAS
2020 ❖ ROUND ORCAS ❖ Third Annual Sail

LAUNCHINGS (148) In the SAN JUAN ISLANDS. Work in progress.

AFFINITY (Official Number 211467) 33.8' x 9.5' x 4.2' ; 8.81 G.t., 5.99 N.t. Blt by & for L.P. Schruder at Richardson, 1913. MCC on file.
AILSA (107856) 31.' x 10.3' x 4.5' ; 9 t. burden, Ketch blt by R. C. Willis at Olga, WA., for C. B. Willis. No house. Compl. 1903, MCC on file.
ALCO 40' x 11.8' x 5', Fish tender blt by E. B."Bert" Fowler, Shaw Island, for Alaska Sanitary Packing Co. of Seattle, 1917. Reported lost to fire, Juneau, AK 1927, 5 escaped. MCC on file.
ALERT (107479) Sch. of 8 T. burden by A.F. Ackley for self and Thomas Ackley at Fri. Hbr. 1899. MCC on file.
ALOMA (243877) 25.36 G.t./ 17 N.t. Fish 46.8' x 12.5' x 6.7' by Norman F. Mills at Fri. Hbr., for N. & T. Mills, of Beach, WA. 1943. MCC on file.
ALPHA (107658) 53.9' x 14.2' x 6.4' Stmr for Inland frt., blt by A. Marcusen, Richardson, Lopez Is., 16 n. tons, for builder & D.N. McMillen, P. Benseth, W. A. Frisby, 1901, MCC on file.
AMANTE (291083) 24 G.t. /17 N.t., 38.7' x 14.' x 5.8' Ycht blt for M./M. Alfred A. Lambeth of Bellevue by Jensen Shipyard of Fri. Hbr., 1964
AMAZONE (107645) 30' x 9.9' x 4' Sloop blt. by M. Norman at Richardson, WA. for Carl Olsen & Mathew Martin 1901. MCC on file.
ANIAKCHAK (231258) 43.4' x 11.3' x 6' fish boat blt. by I. D. Nordyke at Fri Harbor for self 1931. MCC on file.
ANNE H. (211391) 51' x 13.8' x 4' , 25 G. t. & 17 N. t. Blt Fri. Hbr by Albert Jensen for Steel Bros., 1913. MCC on file.
ANNIE B. (202177) 37.5' x 11.2' x 3.7' Gas. sc. blt. by Wm. H. F. Reed of Decatur Is., for John Babarovich of Anacortes 1905. MCC on file.
ARTHUR G. (107619) 34.5' Tug/Tndr blt on Fisherman Bay, Lopez Is., by D.E. Hoffman, commuting from Shaw Is., for J. S. Groll, Lopez Is., 1901. MCC on file.
BALDY (204064) 55.2' x 14.1' x 5.4' ; 7 n. t. fishboat blt by M. Norman, Richardson, Lopez Is. 1907. MCC on file.
BÅTEN Near 20' wood plsr craft designed by S.J. Islander Jay Benford, launched by Jensen/ Sons, SJ Is. for Anderson & Adams then of Crane Is. 5 April 1978.
BERMUDA (206177) 47.15' L x 11.8' B Tug/fish tndr blt. by D.E. Hoffman, Shaw Is., for 3 Fowler bros. of Shaw Island, E.B., Jr., B.E., & W.O., 1909. MCC on file.
BLACK MARIE fine launch by Reed's, Decatur Is., for T.W. Wilson. 1909.
BLAKELY (235543) 41.9' x 12.2' x 6.4' fish boat 23 G.t., 15 N.t. blt by R. S. Spencer for R.S. Spencer and E. D. Spencer at Thatcher, WA. 1936. MCC on file. In 1964 her home port was Los Ang., CA.
BLUE SEA (215357) 42.3 Reg. L' x 14' x 6.2' fish boat blt by F. E."Gene" Fowler of Shaw Is. for San Juan Canning Co. 1917. Wrecked AK in 1928. MCC on file.
BUDDY (232345) 40' x 11.2' x 6', 14 G. 9 N. fish boat blt by Albert Jensen, Fri. Hbr., for Chester Tift of same. 1933. MCC on file.
BUFFALO blt. at Reed's yard, Decatur for Mr. Gandy. Later owned by Henry T. Cayou of Deer Hbr., Orcas Is., 1907.
CALCITE (206056) 43' x 13.3' x 4' ; Towboat blt by P. Schruder & son, Lopez Is. in only 2.5 mnths for Roche Hbr. Lime Co. 27 Mar. 1907.
CAPRICE (201965) Gas s. 13.73 G./ 9.34 N. / 50.4' x 11.8' x 4.6' Fish bt blt by Wm H.F. Reed on Decatur Is. for Fidalgo Is. Canning Co. 1905. MCC on file.
CHARLIE BOY 32' L, 12 Ton Steel hull gillnetter b. 1969 by owner Pierre Franklin of Lopez Is. Christening and potluck at Odlin Park. To be shipped to Bristol Bay.
CILSIDE 50' x 12' x 5.6' frt. boat blt. by P. Schruder & son, Lopez Is, for Roche Harbor Lime Co, S.J. Is. 1907.
CITY OF ANACORTES (O.N. 206462) 58.8' L x 12.2' x 3.5' ; 15 G.t. Passenger designed by Wm. H.F. Reed /blt. under his direction on Decatur Is., for R. L. Fullerton(1/2) & Norman L. Driggs (1/2) of S. J. Is. (Inland Pass.& Expr. Co.) Presented by Caring Peterson summer 1909. Lost in AK., 1933. MCC on file.
COMMANDO (ex-TRIO) 209486; 52' x 16.3' x 6.6' ; for shrimping then conv. to Tug for Cary-Davis. Blt. by Wm. H. F. Reed, Decatur Is., for Walter Larson (1/3), Oscar Cammon (1/3), & Martin Cammon (1/3) all of Gertrude, WA. 1911. MCC on file.
CONCORDIA (204567) 45' x 7 x 2.6', 7 T. burden, Pass. vessel with 60-H.P. blt. by R. L. Fullerton of Fr. Hbr. at Decautur Is., for Fullerton & C.W. Johnson (1/2 & 1/2) 1907, MCC on file.
CONFIDENCE (127121) 31.4' x 11.2' x 3.6', 8 T. burden sloop blt. by/for P. Schruder at Richardson, Lopez Is. 1896, MCC on file.
CORCOVADO 37' Pilothouse cutter blt by John Guzzwell of Orcas is., WA (J.R. Benford design No. 125) for Hal Cook of Orcas Is. Launched 15 Sept. 1979.
CREEL (202902) 50' x 12.8' x 4.7' Frt. boat blt. by Wm. H.F. Reed at Decatur Isl. for Fidalgo Is. Packing Co. 1906, MCC on file.
DARING (224495) 43.1' x 10.3' x 5.5' 15 G.t., 10.62 N.t; fish blt by Wm. H.F. Reed & J.M. Reed on Decatur Is., for Wm. H.F. Reed, 1925. MCC on file.
DEEP SEA ( 218145) 52 G.t./35 N.t. (70.6' x 16.' x 6.5' ) Fish tender/tug Blt. by Albert Jensen, Friday Hbr. WA. on file. Lost at Anchor., AK in 1942.
DENNY M. (260098) 39.6' x 12.4' x 6.3' Fish Bt 20 G.t./ 13 N.t.,blt at Jensens Yard, Fri. Hbr., for Ed Martel 1950.
DOLPHIN 32' cruiser blt by Albert Jensen & Son Shipyard, SJ Is. 1938 for Ted Blodgett of Orcas Is., for fishing parties at Dolphin Bay.
DOLPHIN BAY 43.3' x 13' x 7.5' oil sc. by Nourdine Jensen, Fri. Hbr. Heavy cruiser des. by William Garden blt for John M. & Ann L. Sorenson of Seattle, WA. 1951. Value $20,000. MCC on file.
DORA (216384) 38.5' x 11.1' x 5'; G.t. 12.65/ N.t. 10.69 Blt by Wilhelm Sebelin at McKay Hbr., Richardson, WA. for Sebelin Bros. 1918. MCC on file.
DUCHESS 24' 8-in cruiser by Albert Jensen Shipyard for E.D. Roberts . Design by Frits Jensen of Seattle. 1957.
ECHO (222201) 41' R.L x 12.5' x 5'; 18.01 G.t. 14.02 / N. t. Blt by J.W. White on Sucia Island for self. 1922. MCC on file.
EDNA 32' x 7.1' Pass/frt with 10-HP Campbell engine by D.E. Hoffman, Shaw Is. for Wm. Jakle of Friday Hbr., April 1908.
ELDRIE J. Launched at Reed's yard, Decatur Is., for Mr. Judy. Their largest to date. 27 April 1907. For AK.
ELLA MARIE 42' x 14' x 4' Yacht Designed by Ed Monk; Nourdine Jensen's 14th ship built at Friday Hbr., WA. 1970. Owned by Pug. Snd. Pilot, Capt. Leonard Davis of Lopez Is.
EMMA H. (240674) Ga. sc. 19 G. t. 13 N. t. 39.4' x 11.9' x 6.5' Fish boat blt by Alb. Jensen at Fri. Hbr. for Sigvard Hansen of Ketchikan, AK. 1941.
ERBANA (169243) Ga.s. 10.38 G.t., 39.1' x 10.3' x 3' Scow blt. by A.T. Erb of/at Pt. Stanley, Lopez Is. 1925. MCC on file.
ETHEL M. (269819) 32.31' x 11.1' x 5.1' fish Blt at Jensens for Kenneth Martin. 1955.
EVELYN (211378) 15 G.t./10 N.t. Gas. s. 39' x 13' x 4.2' fish boat blt. Richardson in 1913.
FAIRBANKS (222940) Ga.s. 59.5' x 18.5' x 8.6' ; 55.47 G.t. / 37.72 N.t. Blt by Albert Jensen for Ira Nordyke of Fri. Hbr. 100-H.P. Oil Burner, 1923. MCC on file.
FALCON (216360) 38.4' x 9' x 4.4' blt. by E.B. Fowler on Shaw Is. for Alaska Sanitary Packing of Seattle, 1918. MCC on file.
FAWN (ON 121132) 37' x 10.4' x 4.3', 11 G., 7 N. t. burden steam fishboat. Launched 12 April 1900 by J. Jones/J. M. Reed at Decatur Is., Model by Wm. H.F. Reed. Heading to AK. MCC on file.
FEARLESS (210192) 80' x 17.4' x 8' Fish Tender Blt. by Wm. H.F. Reed on Decatur Is. 1912 for Henry T. Cayou (sole owner). Lost in AK in 1960. Clyde Welcome drowned. MCC on file.
FIDALGO (228387) 36.1' x 11.2' x 5.2'/ 13 G.t. / 9 N.t. Blt by L.P. Schruder at Pt. Stanley, Lopez Is, for Salina Packing Co.,1929. MCC on file.
FRAM (121059) 28.7' x 8.9' x 3.8' sloop blt. by and for P. Schruder at Richardson, Lopez Is. 1897, MCC on file.
FRANCES (209053) 9 G.t/ 9 N.t. 30' x 8.4' x 4.4' Slp blt. Lopez Is. 1911
FREDDIE blt. on Decatur Is. for Wm. H. F. Reed & Wiley Perry, 1908.
FREDDIE II (211495) Launch 42' x 12' x 6.4', blt. by Wm. H.F. Reed of Decatur Is., 7/1913.
GOGEBIC (219935) 12.7 G.t./ 10.23 N.t. 40.2' x 10.9' x 4.1' Tow bt blt by Albert Jensen, Friday Hbr. for John F. Malcom in 1920. MCC on file.
GRIFFIN ( 86473) 11 g. tons Tender/Tow boat 46' x 11.2' x 4.5' blt by Albert Jensen & father Benjamin, Friday Hbr, 1899. Name change to MacDOWELL. Lost to fire.
GRIZZLY (O.N. 209663) 19 tons 62.6' x 14.7' x 5.21' blt. 1912 by Albert Jensen for Frank Nordland. MCC on file.
GROWLER 62' L, 58 t. Sch. blt by John M. Izett for Capt. Edw. J. Barrington, Whidbey Island, WA. 1859. Lost 1868.
HECTOR (O.N. 96374). fish tender 41.7' x 9' x 3'. Blt by James Holden at Roche Hbr, S.J. for self 1897. Explosion/fire in 1913 but still documented in 1915.MCC on file.
HELEN T. (ON 208930) 51.4' x 15.2' x 5.5' 32 G.t. Fish Tender blt. by Wm. H. F. Reed on Decatur Is. for Henry T. Cayou, Orcas Is., 1911. MCC on file.
IMP (ON 200873) 36.1' x 9.1' x 4' Gas. sc. by P. Schruder & son at Richardson, Lopez Is., for Wm. Frisby, 1903, MCC on file.
ISLANDER (221640) 91.6' x 21.1' x 7.2' Gas sc. Passenger boat designed/built by Albert Jensen, SJ Is., for San Juan Transp. Co., 1921. Capt. "Charlie B". MCC on file.
ISLANDER (O.N.201240) 72' x 18.9' x 9' , 87 N.t. burden passenger boat blt. by J.A. Scribner of Fr. Hbr. at Newhall, Orcas Is., for Andrew Newhall, 1904. MCC on file.
JEAN G. (233602) Ga.s. 29.4' x 8.1' x 3.8' Pass. blt at Pt. Stanley, Lopez in 1928.
KATY THOMAS (O.N. 161054) 38.1' x 12' x 3.6' Fishing Sloop blt. by A. J. Hinckley on Waldron Island for Thomas Bros. of Waldron Is., in 1894. MCC on file.
KITTY RADER 34' fish boat b. by A.R. Rader, Shaw Is., for John Ross 1883.
KLATAWA ( O.N. 210245) 50.2' L x 15.8' B x 4.8' D Tug/tender b. by D.E. Hoffman, Shaw Island, WA. 1912 for Wm. Jakles, F.Hbr. MCC on file.
LA OLA 248669 (43' x 11.5') Ycht blt. by/for John G. Jones under superv. of Jensens. Fri. Hbr. Two 100-HP Cummings diesels. 1945.
LADY ESTHER (256465) 32 G.t., 47.2' x 13.2' x 6.2' Ycht blt by Nourdine Jensen, Fri. Hbr. for Arthur W. & Ester Carlson1948. MCC on file.
LITTLE BIT (237843) Aux. sail Pls. boat 30.25' x 10.15' x 4.45' Blt by Lars Erickson at Fri. Hbr. for Launor M. Carter of Seattle. Value $3, 500. 1938 . MCC on file.
LOBO DEL MAR 38' Fish tender built c. 1980. Designer, builder, owner, Tom Chamberlin, of Lopez Is.
LOPEZ (162322) 40' x 16' x 3' 15.59 t. burden Scow blt by James Meiklejohn for Lopez Lumber Co., Lopez Is. 1904, MCC on file.
LOPEZ NO. 2 (29' x 10' x 2.6') scow blt by James Meiklejohn of Lopez Is. for Lopez Lumber Co. 1911. MCC on file.
LORNA (280970) 31.9' x 11.5' x 5.8' Fsh boat blt by Jensens, Fri. Hbr., for P.A.F., Bellingham 1960.
LOTTIE (140599) Stm.s. 45.19 G.t./30.17 N.t. 50' x 14' x 4.6' Blt. on Cypress Is., SJC by E. Hammond for A. J. Edward in 1882. Well known stmr that worked out of Vict. MCC on file.
MAGGIE (91108) Sch. 30.26 G.t./ 30.26 N.t., 55.5' x 15.2' x 4.6' blt on Samish Island, WA. 1878.
MARGGE (201764) 30.6' x 10.4' x 3.7' sloop blt. by Wm. H.F. Reed at Decatur Is., for John L. Abrams of Decatur Is., 1905. MCC on file.
MARINER (207667) 61.5' x 13.1' x 5' Blt. and owned by Al Jensen, 1910 of S.J. Is. Lost on Iceberg Pt. in 1911.
MARS (93386) 38' x 12.6' x 5.2' Sloop blt by M. Norman for himself at Richardson, Lopez Is., 1903. MCC on file.
MARY C. (93374) 70.7' x 18.3' x 8.8' ; 92.52 G.t, 47 N.t., 380-HP Steam s. tug blt. by Wm H. F. Reed 1/2 owner with H. T. Cayou at Decatur Is. First boat blt by Reed at this yard, 1903. MCC on file.
MARY F. PERLEY (92047) Sternwhlr 104' x 20' x 5.5' blt Samish Island, WA. 1888.
MAUDE (113.5' L. x 21' B x 9' D. 214 tons gross) Sidewheel Steamer b. 1872 on S. J. Is. by Burr & Smith for J. Spratt, East Coast Mail Line of Victoria, BC. Scrapped 1914.
MESSENGER (93260) Inland tow bt 25 G.t., 15. N.t. 52.5' x 15.' x 4.9' by Albert Jensen and bros. in Fri. Hbr. in 1902. Ran for 3 yrs. Sold to AK /Lost.
MIDA fish boat blt. at Jensens yard Fri. Hbr. for Ed Pinnow in 1971.
MONAGHAN (208815) 56.2' x 14' x 5.8', 36 G.t, 25 N.t. Freight/ fishing boat b. 1911 at Orcas, WA. by Chas. H. Curry. With Capt. R. Griswold, Shaw Island, she brought to shore many bodies from the 1918 Vanderbilt Reef wreck of the PRINCESS SOPHIA. Lost 1963 Ketchikan, AK. MCC on file.
NELLIE (130865) 38.8' x 11' x 3.7' Schooner blt by A. Ohlert at Olga, WA. for self in 1900, MCC on file.
NELLIE JENSEN (130710) 54 G.t, 59.8' x 19.2' x 6.7' St. Schooner b. by B. Jensen of S.J. Is. for Joe, Al, & Frank Jensen. 1896 MCC on file. See PNW wrecks below.
NEMESIS b. by L.P. Schruder on Lopez Is. July 1909
NEREID (209491) 72.7' x 16.75'. Fish tender blt. by Albert Jensen 1911, S.J. Is. for himself. Source: federal MCC on file.
NETTIE BELLE (130800) 35.4' x 12' x 4.9' Sch. blt by A. Ohlert for self in 1898, MCC on file.
NOKOMIS (205152) 52.4' x 11.2' Gas Sc. fish boat designed by C.H. Clift, Jr., built by F. L. Clift on Shaw Is. for C. H. Clift of Orcas Is. and D. Campbell of Bellingham, WA. 1908, MCC on file.
NORINE (204248) 36' x 8' x 3.9', 5.51 n.t. burden, Gas sc. by Wm. H. F. Reed at Decatur Is., for The Taylor Hotel Co., Inc. in 1907, MCC on file.
NORTH STAR (130452) 39' x 11' x 3.5', 12 t. burden. Sch. blt by B. Jensen on San Juan Is. for Peter Jensen in 1889. MCC on file
OCTOO (205743) 38' x 11' blt 1908 at Reed's Yard on Decatur Is. for Seattle Oyster & Fish Co.
OLENA (218838) 9.56 G.t. 32.5' x 8.3' x 4.8' blt by V. F. Coder at Pt. Stanley in 1919. MCC on file.
ORCAS (19392) 37.7' x 13.1' x 4.1', 10.77 G.t. Sch., blt by Daniel & Robert McLachlan at Langdon, Orcas Is. for Lime business at Estsound Kiln. Launched 1871.
ORCAS BELLE (274551) 45.9' x 14' x 5.8'. Sailing yacht blt. by Chet North, Deer Hbr., Orcas Is., for Chris Wilkins 1957, Designed by Wm Garden.
ORLOU (206804) 35' x 11' x 3.8' Shrimp boat, sister to OCTOO; blt. Decatur Island for Seattle Oyster Co. Christened by Katie Krider, 1909.
OSAGE (230256) 59.1' x 14.7' x 7.7' Oil sc. Mail, freight, passenger boat blt 1930 by and for Wm. H. F. Reed on Decatur Is., WA. MCC on file.
OTTER 33' x 7' x 3' by and for Capt. L.P. Schruder /15 H.P. Buffalo, May 1908 Lopez Is. Christened by owner/builder's sister, Jessie.
OWASEE , launch with 10-HP Campbell engine for S. M. Bugge by Ed Scribner. Launched foot of Spring St April 1907.
PARADISE (225569) 59.2' x 16.2' x 7.5' 51 G.t. /34 N.t. fish boat blt by J.M. Reed and Elmer Barger in Anacortes in 1926.
PATRICIA (34' x 11.3 ) Blt by Jensen, Friday Hbr for J.G, Jones as a gillnetter then conv. to a troller. June 1965.
PEGGY R. c. 25-ft tug built by Nourdine Jensen of Fri. Hbr. for Maurice Rodenberger of Orcas Island, c. 1956. Later renamed the HARRY FRANCES BODDINGTON . Sold back to Rodenberger family in 2005.
PEGGY SUE (261547) 39.2' x 11.8' x 6.1') 19 G.t. Fish boat blt. Lopez Is. 1961
PROSPECTOR (150468) 32' x 12.8' x 4' Sloop blt by A.W. Thomas for himself and brother on Cypress Is. in 1889. MCC on file.
PROTECTOR (226927) 42.3' x 12.2' x 5.9' ; 50 G.t./ 14 N.t. Blt by J.M. Reed of Anacortes on Decatur Is. for J.M. Reed. Value-$5,000. MCC on file.
PUFFIN (506547) 44.1' x 15.1' x 8.7' Ycht blt. at Jensens, Fri. Hbr. 1966
RELIANCE (205170) 30.8' x 10' x 4.5', 7 t. burden sloop by D.E. Hoffman, Shaw Is. for A. Lauson for codfishing AK. MCC on file, 5 Sept. 1907.
ROSEBUD (210899) 43.2' Reg. L x 12.3' x 3.75' /14 G.t./ 10 N.t. Blt by Albert Jensen of Fri. Hbr. for Ira D. Nordyke. 1913. MCC on file.
RUSSWIN (257327) 19 G.t., 37.3' x 11.6' x 6.1' blt by Jensens, Fri. Hbr., for Doc Frank C. Russell 1949.
RUSTLER (110606) 50' x 16.6' x 5.8' Schooner blt. 1883 by/ for J. N. Fry, East Sound, WA. Later sold to J.D. Warren for Sealing in North. Wrecked Boxing Day 1887 at Nitnat. Capt. J.W. Dodd and crew saved. MCC on file.
RUTH M. (216204) 31.3' x 9.0' x 4.8' /5.43 tons burden blt by L. P. Schruder of Mud Bay, Lopez Is., for O. L. Ahlquist, 1918. MCC on file.
SANCO (214983) 40' reg. x 11.8' x 5' ; Gas screw blt. by E. B. Fowler of Shaw Is. for Alaska Sanitary Packing Co. of Seattle 1917. MCC on file.
SANWAN 219 T. 107.6' Reg. L x 26' x 15.1' Aux. schooner designed & blt under direction of Rbt. Moran at Rosario, Orcas Is., 1912-1917. Hundreds came to the launching incl. the Pug. Snd. Navy Yard and Prof. E. Meany. MCC on file.
SARA JANE (255768) 17 G.t. / 14 N.t., 36.7' x 11.1' x 5.9' blt. by Nourdine Jensen, princ. carp. of Albert Jensen & Sons, Fri. Hbr., for Dr. James J. Frits 1948. MCC on file.
SEA BIRD (254837) 34.2' x 10.6' x 5.4' Deep sea troller b. 1948 at Albert Jensen Yard, S.J. Is., for Alfred & Barney Chevalier of Stuart Is.
SEA GULL 32', 10HP, Cabin launch b. 1903 by D.E. Hoffman for Weeks bros. of Lopez.
SEA LION (216502) 30.3' x 9.6' x 4.4' ; Ga. sc. 6.87 Tons burden Blt by L.P. Schruder of Mud Bay, WA. for Harry Peterson of Tacoma. 1918. MCC on file.
SHAW (210357) 36.1' x 12.7' x 4' Frt. 11 G.t. 7 N.t. ("Not too pretty.") By F. Gene Fowler. On Shaw 12 July 1912, photo on file.
SINBAD (243428) 32.9' L x 9.3' B blt 1943 by Art Hoffman of Shaw Is. for himself. New name SNOOSE. USCG Vessel Lic. on file.
SKIDDOO c. 32' fish boat Launched 5 Jan. 1911 at Reed's Shipyard, Decatur Is. 1st powerboat for Henry Cayou. Lost to fire Mitchell Bay, in 1920s or 30s. Bruns family photo on file.
SPANNER (ex-STUBBY) by C. North at Deer Hbr, for Bill "Mississippi" Toler as 24-ft boom boat, for Orcas work.
STEADFAST (269544) 32.7' x 11.1' x 5.1' Fsh bt. 13 G.t./ 10 N.t. Blt at Jensen's Yard, Fri. Hbr. for Jim Spencer of Lopez Is. 1955
STRUMPET (539162) 32.9' x 12.6' x 5.2' troller des. by Jay Benford, blt by Jensen Yard for Ernie Gann 1972.
STUBBY 24' tug built by Chet North, Deer Harbor, for Bill "Mississippi" Toler. Mark Freeman named her Spanner when he bought her in 1982.
TANYA (232155) 33.4' x 9.' x 4.4' Fsh boat blt Mud Bay in 1927.
TASMANIA (208577) 33.9' x 9.6' x 3.7' ; Ga.sc. Blt by Wm. H.F. Reed on Decatur Is. for S.S. Spencer (1/3), R.D. Spencer (1/3), W. V. Spencer (1/3). 1911 MCC on file.
TRANSPORT Frt boat 35.7' x 11.8' x 3' / 11.18 Net and 11.18 G. tons. Blt. by/ for L.P. Schruder of Mud Bay, WA (sole owner). 1911. MCC on file.
TULIP KING (228881) 41.8' x 11.4' x 5.3', 21.15 G/t. 14.38 N.t., Passenger boat. Blt on Sucia Is. by / for Wm. H. "Cap" Harnden 1929.Value $6,000. MCC on file.
U and I 28' x 8' aux. launch with 7.5 HP Miamus engine at L. P. Schruder boat yard, Lopez Is. in 1912 for Geo. T. Peterson who will fish at Cape Flattery.
UNO Small launch built 1894 by Michael Norman at Mud Bay, Lopez Is. Steaming with owner Stephanie Hylton since 1973.
VELVET (265677) 37 G. t. 46.8' x 14.1' x 8.1' Crab fish boat b. by Albert Jensen & Sons for E/N Peacock, launched Nov. 1952.
VENTURE (204609) 70.5' x 15.3' 36 G.t. tender blt. by Al, Frank, Joe Jensen, 1907. Coal burner, later conv. to diesel. Later in towing service and then to Foss Launch & Tug as HILDUR FOSS.
VENUS (204019) Scr. stm passenger 149 G, 101 N, 117.6' x 21' x 6.3'. Blt. by T.H. McMillin of Ballard; at Fri. Hbr. for self and Clifford C. Griggs, 1907. Sold in 1910, soon after lost to fire. MCC on file.
VERDUN ( 217946) 33.9' R.L. x 10' x 4' fish boat blt. by Frank Jensen, Fri. Hbr., WA. For Frank and Joseph Jensen (1/2 &1/2) 1919. First used trolling in S. E. AK. MCC on file.
VIBES (233120) 38.95' x 10.6' x 5.3', 14 G., 9 N. Fsh boat blt. by Alphonse Meyer of Oak Hbr. on Decatur Is. for Roy E. Erb & N.G. Miller (1/2 & 1/2) by Alphonse Meyer of Oak Harbor, WA. Value $4, 500.1934 . MCC on file.
VINA (232568) 28.95' x 9.05' x 4', 7.48 G.t. fsh boat blt by/ for Victor Wesander of Pt. Stanley, Lopez 1932. MCC on file.
WADENA (210020) 50.4' reg. L x 13.8' x 5' ga.s. 24 G.t., 16 N.t., 30-HP Fish boat blt. by Albert Jensen, Fri. Hbr. for Straits Fish Co. 1912. MCC on file.
WAMEGA (210023) 57.8' x 13.8' x 5' Gs.s. 24 G., 16 N.t. Fish boat blt by Albert Jensen for Straits Fish Co. 1912. MCC on file.
WANDERER (209488) Fsh tender; Orig. a Schooner 43.5' x 12' x 4.4' , 14-tons burden. Blt by S. V. Blake of Pt. Stanley on Decatur Island, 1911 for SELF. MCC on file.
WASECA (210021) 50.4' Reg. L x 13.8' x 5' Gas s. 24 G.t. Fish boat blt by Albert Jensen for Straits Fish Co. in 1912. MCC on file.
WATER BABY (239444) 46' x 11' x 6' Fish boat by Albert Jensen of Albert Jensen & Sons, Fri. Hbr. for Clyde Welcome, 1940. MCC on file.
WAUNETA (210022) 50' Reg. L x 13.8' x 5' Gas. s. 24 G.t., 16 N. Fish boat blt by Albert Jensen for Straits Fish Co. in 1912. MCC on file.
WAVE (204697) 42.4' x 10.3' x 4.4' Pass. launch blt by Wm. H.F. Reed on Decatur Is., for Maurice Johnson (sole owner) of Deer Harbor. 1907, MCC on file.Home port of St. Michael, AK.
WILDFIRE (227233) Gas. s. 8 G.t. 34.2' x 10' x 4' Fsh boat blt on Guemes Is. in 1924.
WINDENTIDE (265894) 39' x 10.8' x 5.8', 14 G.t., 11 N.t., fishing troller blt. by & for Chet North, Deer Hbr, WA. 1953.

Shipwrecks of the San Juan Archipelago and Northwest Corner of Washington State (29) to date.)

ALBION gasoline tender blt Coupeville 1897 lost to fire on the Sound 9/1924. First steamer on Seattle-Everett-Whidbey Is. route, blt by H.B. Lovejoy. Two on board escaped fire.
AMERICA (105439) 232.8' x 43.1' x 19.3' three-masted full-rigged Cape Horner blt. Quincy, Mass. 1874. Capt. James Griffiths bound Vanc., BC with coal in tow of tug LORNE. Lost on rocks of West San Juan Island, 1914.
BRISTOL (227502) 60' x 17.2' x 7.4' , Capt. E. W. Chevalier, working as mailboat when lost in collision in San Juans. Cold, wet crew but no loss of life. Some mail sacks later found on beaches. 1960.
CHICKAWANA (210031) Ol.s. 55.4' x 12.9' x 5.1' blt. 1912. Operated by Bellingham Transp. Co. for many years with a 4th Class Post Office on board. Lost to fire on mail run from Stuart Is. to Waldron. Owned by Mason Lewis. No loss of life. 1948.
FANNY LAKE (120220) Paddle stmr 91'. x 20.8' x 4.8' blt. Seattle 1875. Burned in Sullivan Slough, nr LaConner. 1893.
FEARLESS (210192) blt on Decatur Is. lost with 4 fishermen nr Kodiak, AK. 2/1960
GENERAL HARNEY Numerous wrecks in past. Last was en route Dungeness to Whatcom, Capt. W.G. Clarke of Seattle. Stranded and lost on Goose Island, SJC. 1889
GOVERNOR: Steamship rammed by WEST HARTLAND, near Port Townsend, WA. Loss of life c. 10 people. Please see the blog under "Wrecks". Lost 1921.
H. C. PAGE c. 70' blt at New Whatcom in 1854 by Will. Utter, her master Henry Roeder, & P. V. Peabody for the Bell'hm Bay & Vict. trade. Wrecked 1860 en route from Pt. Ludlow to Vict., caught in tide rip 4 mi. SE of Trial Is. Deck load shifted, she filled, capsized. Later drifted ashore on Whidbey nr. Decept. Pass.
HOOSIER BOY (96409) 31 G. t., blt 1898 for Coast Fish Co. of Anacortes. Lost on Salmon Banks no lives lost. Crew came ashore on life line. 1911.
J. B. LIBBY (13464) Paddlewheel pioneer steamer blt Utsalady 1863, wrecked 10 miles off Whidbey Island between Smith and S.J. Is, Capt. Frank White. Owned by H.F. Beecher. 1889.
LIBBY former mail, frgt, pass. boat to islands. Loaded with Roche Hbr lime; lost in straits to Pt. Tnsd. No lives lost. 1942.
MARINER (207667) 61.5' Tug blt by Albert Jensen of Fri. Hbr. in 1910. Lost on Iceberg Pt., Lopez Island Jan. 1911.
MARTHA FOSS (157183) 87.5' x 22.4' tug owned by Foss Launch and Tug blt. 1886. Lost in collision off Ediz Hook. Loss of 2nd eng. Nelson H. Gillette. 1946.
MICHAEL J. 35' gillnetter owned by John Jackson Cannery sank at Salmon Banks in 300' of water. Aug. 1955
MURIA (215186) 50.9' x 14' x 6' Purse Seiner blt. 1917 at Dockton. Owned by Crosby bros. and John Jackson of Fri. Hbr. Lost in Andrew's Bay. 1950.
NELLIE JENSEN Blt in 1896 by Jensen Ros. Driven ashore at Freshwater Bay, 8-mi west of Pt. Angeles, in gale 2-1905. Destroyed by fire. Owner,Capt. Benjamin, all saved.
NORTHERN LIGHT Lost during a gale on 31 Mar. 1967 on rocks near Hibbard's Lime Kiln; Bound for the kiln for a lime cargo. Source: Puget Snd Weekly Gazette, 1867.
Nellie Coleman (130285) Schooner 97.9' x 25.7' x 9.5' blt 1883, Lamoine, Hancock County, ME. lost with all hands (c. 30) Nov. 1905 Cape Yakataga. Owned by Seattle & AK Codfish Co. of Seattle, value $20,000.
ONTARIO, Sch. owned by H.L. Tibbals, sailed by James McCurdy, parted moorings 25 Mar. 1875. Driven on rocks and wrecked on San Juan Is.
PROWLER Tender lost south of Smith Island with 12-T. of salmon. Crew lifted off by US Navy helicopter. July 1976.
RAINBOW, 26' Motor Whale Boat MK II. 26' x 7.2.5' Blt by Blind Bay Boat Shop, SJC, for John M. Campbell. Delivered 12/2006.
ROCK RUNNER 35' Charter cruiser to fire in Fri. Hbr. Loss of 1 man aboard and 1 volunteer. 1970.
ROSALIE famous darling of the P.S.N. Co. which served the Alaska goldrush miners as well as SJC residents. Lost to fire in Duwamish waterway. 1893 -1918. Loss est. at $70,000.
SAN JUAN II, Reliable mailboat owned by Charlie Maxwell, skippered by Capt. Geo. Nelson, swept on rocks near Olga, WA. No lives lost, some mailbags later found on local beaches. 1929
SEA LION Powerful 107' x 22' steel tug blt 1904 in Aberdeen. Rammed by the schooner OCEANA VANCE and sent to the bottom of the Strait of Juan de Fuca near Race Rocks towing a scow load of Waldron Is. sandstone to Grays Hbr. Crew saved. 1909.
T. W. LAKE (145700) 70.6' x 16.5' x 7.8' St. s. blt in Ballard in 1895 for Capt. T.W. Lake, father of Mrs. Driggs of Fri. Hbr. Owned by Merchants Trans. Co., Capt. E.E. Mason. Winds 72-mph when lost with 8-tons of canned goods and 500 barrels of lime between Shannon Pt. and Decatur Island. Valued at $20,000. All hands lost, c. 13. Dec. 1923.
TRANSPORT, Capt. Ira Myers. Blt. in Oly. in 1899, 111' x 21'. Owned by Star Steamship Co. Total loss of ship, 2nd engineer, 1,700 barrels of lime at Cattle Pt. 1911.
UNION: Bark with 600 t. of coal, Capt. A. W. Berry en route Anacortes to S.J. Is. 10 Feb. 1891.

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Yachting Monthly

Digital edition

Golden legend: Sir Robin Knox-Johnston

Katy Stickland
August 8, 2018

Only one sailor completed the 1968-69 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. Katy Stickland meets Sir Robin Knox-Johnston as he recalls  his groundbreaking voyage which started 50 years ago

Sir Robin says he is happiest at sea, alone. Credit: Graham Snook Photography

‘The waves are so much bigger,’ muses Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, as he remembers his first time sailing a yacht in the blasting winds of the Southern Ocean.

It was 1968 during the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race .

‘Waves went straight over the top of the boat. Sitting in the cockpit, you’re crushed, bruised. I saw one particularly big one and I realised I couldn’t get to the safety of down below and went up the rigging, otherwise I would have been washed off. You have to learn how to deal with that. Every boat handles differently. I was incredibly lucky because I found Suhaili was very responsive once I learnt how to look after her. But, the only way to find out was down there.’

It is just over 50 years since Sir Robin left Falmouth on his Bermudan ketch Suhaili . His aim: to sail non-stop around the globe. Out of the nine entrants, he was the only one who finished.

So what drove the then 29-year-old Merchant Navy officer, who had previously sailed Suhaili the 15,000 miles from India to Gravesend, Kent with his brother Chris and friend Heinz, to carry on whilst others retired?

Robin Knox-Johnston standing on the bow of Suhaili during the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston was the one entrant to win the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. Credit: Bill Rowntree/PPL/GGR

He admits the early days sailing in the Southern Ocean ‘were pretty frightening,’ where the impact of the waves ‘is like someone swinging an anvil against the hull.’

There were times that he felt ‘fed up’ but at no point did quitting cross his mind. It wasn’t until he reached New Zealand in November 1968 that he knew he was leading, by which point he had ‘too much to lose,so any doubts I might have had went.’

A barely functioning radio meant he didn’t know his nearest rival Bernard Moitessier had dropped out of the race until 10 days before he crossed the finish line between Pendennis Point and Black Rock in Falmouth. What does he think would have happened if Moitessier had stayed in the race?

‘The French insist he would have been the fastest; actually, [Nigel] Tetley would have been. The French also insist he would have got back before me. Would he? They insist he would but actually, where is the evidence? And he didn’t, so what is the point? He and I did not fall out over it,’ notes Sir Robin.

Past and present

The French are certainly the favourites in the retro Golden Globe Race, which started from Les Sables d’Olonne on 1 July. Sir Robin has his money on seasoned solo sailor and current record holder for the fastest solo westabout circumnavigation, Jean-Luc Van Den Heede .

‘Don’t underestimate Jean-Luc. He is a real pro. He is going for this seriously. People ask who I think will win. I say Jean-Luc. He has been sailing the boat for three years. He is so experienced; five times ssinglehanded around the world. He has got to be the favourite.’

Continues below…

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston shares his cruising wisdom

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston: The sailing legend shares his top tips for making the most of time on the water

Mark Sinclair - one of the skippers taking part in the Golden Globe Race 2022

Golden Globe Race 2022: The Long Way

Katy Stickland meets the skippers turning their backs on modern technology to take part in the slowest yacht race around…

The yacht Gipsy Moth IV, with a white hull and off white sails cruising in the Solent

Gipsy Moth IV: rebirth of a British legend

Katy Stickland talks to Gipsy Moth IV’s new owner Simon Oberholzer about his passion for the yacht and the plans…

Robin Knox-Johnston waves from the bow of Suhaili as he approaches the finish of the 1968-69 Golden Globe Race

50th anniversary of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s Golden Globe Race victory

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's epic 312 day circumnavigation aboard his beloved Suhaili will be celebrated in Falmouth on 22 April

Sir Robin agrees that the likes of Britain’s Susie Goodall and Australian Mark Sinclair are also well prepared. But, there are others who will inevitably drop out, those Sir Robin describes as ‘the dreamers’, who don’t know the magnitude of what they are taking on. ‘Just so long as they are sensible enough to say they are giving up,’ he notes wryly.

One thing is certain: for those who stay in the race, it will be unlike any other voyage they have sailed before. No GPS, no AIS, navigating with only a sextant, the sun and the stars.

Apart from safety gear and a few other exceptions, like self-tailing winches, the skippers must only use equipment that was on board Suhaili during the race.

Robin Knox-Johnston drinks from a metal tankard

A well deserved pint of beer after finishing the Golden Globe Race. Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

The list certainly won’t include razor blades (Sir Robin’s friend forgot to put them on board) and solder (he ended up having to melt the bottom of navigation lightbulbs to try and repair his fickle radio), both of which Sir Robin wishes he had taken in 1968/69, as well as ‘a few more luxuries in the food line.’

‘It was all very, very simple because I couldn’t afford anything else. My luxury was six jars of pickled onions; that was all I could afford. I had no sponsor as such. I didn’t have very much money. My last £16 I spent on a coil of 2in polypropylene rope which saved my life actually [he used it as a trailing warp to help keep Suhaili under control in the Southern Ocean]. I had no money for anything else.’

As for what he wishes he had left behind – a book ‘about some parasite in fish in some remote artificial lake somewhere in Russia,’ one of 100 books loaned to him by the Seafarers’ Education Service. ‘Bertrand Russell was much easier to understand than that one,’ he laughs.

Home at sea

At the time of the original Golden Globe Race, there was speculation about what affect sailing around the world, alone, on a tiny boat while battling the elements would have on those taking part.

Some psychiatrists suggested entrants would go mad. Coping with loneliness was one of the questions a journalist put to Sir Robin before he left. His reply: ‘Dunno, if I am back in two weeks I am not [coping], it is as simple as that.’

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston in a black t-shirt onboard Suhaili

Sir Robin onboard his beloved Suhaili. Credit: Graham Snook Photography

Like Moitessier, Sir Robin says he finds inner peace while at sea, alone. ‘I am happy at sea. It doesn’t mean that it isn’t dangerous. I am fully aware of that and I’ve lost a lot of friends over the years but nevertheless, I am complete in a boat at sea.’

To win the retro race, the skippers will certainly have to find that connection between themselves and their boats, and to learn quickly how to handle them in the world’s toughest oceans.

Only then can they repeat the feat of this pioneering sailor.

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The Suhaili is a 32.15ft masthead ketch designed by William Atkin and built in wood between 1963 and 1964.

1 units have been built..

The Suhaili is a very heavy sailboat which is slightly under powered. It is reasonably stable / stiff and has an excellent righting capability if capsized. It is best suited as a heavy bluewater cruising boat.

Suhaili for sale elsewhere on the web:

Main features

Model	Suhaili
Length	32.15 ft
Beam	11.06 ft
Draft	5.48 ft
Country	United Kingdom (Europe)
Estimated price	$ 0	??

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Sail area / displ.	14.45
Ballast / displ.	0 %
Displ. / length	412.58
Comfort ratio	42.54
Capsize	1.64

Hull type	Monohull long keel with transom hung rudder
Construction	Wood
Waterline length	27.69 ft
Maximum draft	5.48 ft
Displacement	19621.12 lbs
Ballast	0 lbs
Hull speed	7.05 knots

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Rigging	Masthead Ketch
Sail area (100%)	656.60 sq.ft
Air draft	0 ft	??
Sail area fore	0 sq.ft	??
Sail area main	0 sq.ft	??
I	0 ft	??
J	0 ft	??
P	0 ft	??
E	0 ft	??

Nb engines	1
Total power	0 HP
Fuel capacity	0 gals

Accommodations

Water capacity	0 gals
Headroom	0 ft
Nb of cabins	0
Nb of berths	0
Nb heads	0

Builder data

Builder		??
Designer	William Atkin
First built	1963
Last built	1964
Number built	1

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Suhaili
Suhaili is now an 'historic ship'
Suhaili in Falmouth for the Golden Globe pre-race events : r/sailing
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William Atkin SUHAILI
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Okiwana's Traditional Sailboat 'SABANI'
Sukhoi Su-75 Checkmate
Sail On, Sailor (Songwriting Session)
Sailing Ionian Sea [Ep.8] Sivota to Kefalonia
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COMMENTS

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston refits his famous yacht Suhaili
In 1968, on 14 June at 1420, a 32ft ketch called Suhaili, with Robin Knox-Johnston at the tiller, crossed a start line off Falmouth.Few saw them off, and fewer still gave this 29-year-old merchant ...
Suhaili
Suhaili is the name of the 32-foot (9.8 m) Bermudan ketch sailed by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston in the first non-stop solo circumnavigation of the world in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. [ 1 ] Design and construction
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston refits his famous yacht Suhaili
We left it in situ.". If Sir Robin Knox-Johnston was to enter the re-running of the Golden Globe race in 2018, the recently refitted Suhaili would be as strong as ever and almost certain to ...
A Boat of His Own: Suhaili relaunched
Suhaili is the only boat that Robin owns now, although he is contemplating buying another (we'll come to that later). He and a couple of friends built her in the early 1960s in a Bombay dockyard. "It took foreeever," he says, stretching out the word to add emphasis. Her keel was laid in 1963 and she was finished in 1965, and sailed first ...
Sir Robin and Suhaili, in his own words
Sir Robin and friends set about bringing Suhaili to sailing condition three years ago. This is their story After one solo circumnavigation, two transatlantic crossings, a voyage to Iceland and five years drying out in the clinically clean air of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's Suhaili was in need of restoration. […]
Suhaili
Arguably one of the most famous yachts in sailing history, Suhaili is the first boat to ever sail non-stop around the world. The 32-foot boat has now been lovingly restored by Sir Robin at a Solent boatyard. Winning the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race on board Suhaili on 22 April, 1969 propelled the Putney-born sailor into the limelight - he ...
Suhaili Returns to Falmouth for a Refit
Suhaili was the only boat to finish. Built in India between 1963 and 1965 by her owner, Robin Knox-Johnston, then a deck officer with the British India Steam Navigation Company, and sailed home via the Cape of Good Hope, Suhaili did not look like the favorite to win the Sunday Times Golden Globe Trophy. But her rugged teak construction and lack ...
Interview: Sir Robin Knox-Johnston on sailing Suhaili again
September 27, 2016. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston is going cruising again. He tells Emma Bamford about restoring Suhaili - and plans for a perfect cruising boat. From the ground, divested of her sails and bowsprit, the 32ft long-keeler looks like any other old boat on the hard of any yard - brick-red antifouling, fresh coat of white paint on her ...
Boats
Building started on a slipway in Bombay Docks in 1963 using teak throughout. The keelson is 1' 2" x 10" and 22 feet long, planking 1 ¼ " teak. She is the first boat to ever sail non-stop around the world. No one would call Suhaili a greyhound, but she is solid, strong and a very good seaboat. In 1997 Suhaili went to the National Maritime ...
Sir Robin Knox johnson returns to Falmouth with his yacht Suhaili
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Golden Globe Race, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and Suhaili will return to Falmouth, along with the Golden Globe 2018 fleet, on June 11th. The fleet will moor at the Falmouth haven Marina, next to Custom House Quay. The haven will be open between 11am & 2pm on the 11th & 12th June for the public to view the ...
People and boats: Robert Knox-Johnston and Suhaili
The Suhaili hull was made of Indian teak, from which many modern boats can only afford a deck. On Suhaili, almost everything has been made of teak: keel, bends, stringers, deck decking, cabin trim and finishes. Additional stability was provided by an iron ballast keel weighing 2.25 tons, which was attached to the hull with 14 two-inch bolts.
Suhaili
She was originally intended to be a dhow! Robin Knox-Johnston and a couple of fellow Merchant Navy officers had admired the graceful craft of the Persian Gulf and thought it would be good to sail one home. Luckily Alan Villiers persuaded them that such a boat would have no resale value, and some good looking
Robin Knox-Johnston
Sir Robin was the first person to sail single handed and non-stop around the world between 14 June 1968 and 22 April 1969. More than 40 years have gone by since Sir Robin Knox-Johnston made history by becoming the first man to sail solo and non-stop around the globe in 1968-69. One of nine sailors to compete in the Times Golden Globe Race, Sir ...
SUHAILI ON THE SOLENT
Suhaili, the legendary boat on which Sir Robin Knox-Johnston became the first man to sail around the world singlehanded and non-stop. Seen here sailing for t...
An Interview with Sir Robin Knox-Johnston
Sep 13, 2017. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston 's eyes tell the tale of his many voyages. Winner of the first-ever round-the-world yacht race, the 1968-69 Golden Globe, on his 32ft teak sloop Suhaili, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston is one of the greatest living sailors. In the years following that solo epic, Knox-Johnston and fellow legend Sir Peter Blake ...
Suhaili and Joshua: If boats could talk
Suhaili and Joshua: If boats could talk. Published on June 20th, 2018 Two great men of the sea, Britain's Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and French hero Bernard Moitessier, never met or communicated ...
Live from Falmouth 11/06/2018
Don McIntyre talks to skippers as they arrive at Falmouth for the Suhaili 50 Parade of Sail & SITraN challenge. Don covers the arrival of Robin Knox-Johnston...
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, CBE
On 22 April 1969, aboard his 32-foot home-built wooden boat Suhaili, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, after 312 days at sea, became the first man ever to circumnavigate the globe non-stop and single-handed. He was the only person of the nine contestants to finish that grueling Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, and donated his prize money to the family of ...
Suhaili
Building started on a slipway in Bombay Docks in 1963 using teak throughout. The keelson is 1' 2" x 10″ and 22 feet long, planking 1 ¼ " teak. She is the first boat to ever sail non-stop around the world in 1968/9 with Robin Knox-Johnston (RKJ) at the helm. No one would call Suhaili a greyhound, but she is solid, strong and a very good ...
The Great Solo Circumnavigator Robin Knox-Johnston and SUHAILI
SUHAILI, 32-ft ketch-rigged, leaving Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. One American and 3 British sailors sailed from India to Africa, and ultimately to London ... I had built my boat SUHAILI in Bombay (Mumbai) and sailed her home via Arabia and the Cape of Good Hope. Whilst I was doing that, Frances Chichester sailed around the world with one-stop, and ...
Golden legend: Sir Robin Knox-Johnston
50th anniversary of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's Golden Globe Race victory. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's epic 312 day circumnavigation aboard his beloved Suhaili will be celebrated in Falmouth on 22 April. Sir Robin agrees that the likes of Britain's Susie Goodall and Australian Mark Sinclair are also well prepared.
Where are These Iconic Sailboats Today?
We tracked down some of history's most iconic boats that are still sailing today. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's 32ft ketch, Suhaili, is one of the most famous small sailboats in the world. Built in India for the fateful 1968-69 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, she was the first boat to complete a singlehanded, nonstop voyage around the world ...
Suhaili
The Suhaili is a 32.15ft masthead ketch designed by William Atkin and built in wood between 1963 and 1964. 1 units have been built. The Suhaili is a very heavy sailboat which is slightly under powered. It is reasonably stable / stiff and has an excellent righting capability if capsized. It is best suited as a heavy bluewater cruising boat.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston refits his famous yacht Suhaili

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Interview: Sir Robin Knox-Johnston on sailing Suhaili again

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The Suhaili is a 32.15ft masthead ketch designed by William Atkin and built in wood between 1963 and 1964.

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