SAILING THE BLUE SEA

Dame Ellen MacArthur

Born in 1976 in Derbyshire, Ellen Patricia MacArthur began to sail as a girl after reading Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons. She saved her school dinner money to buy her first boat. Standing just 5'2", but stalwart, she first became known when she came second in the 2001 Vendée Globe solo round-the-world sailing race in her boat the Kingfisher. She was just twenty-four. In 2003 she captained a crew in a round-the-world race, but was defeated by a broken mast in the Southern Ocean.

On 28 November 2004, with her dark hair cropped and just 28 years old, she set off alone to circumnavigate the globe, and break the world record. She was sailing in the 75-foot trimaran B&Q/Castorama, which her sponsors had built for her in Australia. “It’s always been about a team,” Ellen says - the team that builds her ships are crucial to her success.

She began her attempt on 28 November 2004. With her dark hair cropped, just 28 years old, she set off by herself to win the world race. She had the ship. She would have to provide the spirit and skill to win. Crossing the Southern Ocean she had "20 minutes' sleep in three days: the seas were so huge that I had to keep changing the sails or else I would capsize" (Telegraph).

A number of times she had to climb the 90-foot mast. Dressing in heavy clothes to save herself the battering of the sails, determined not to be knocked down to the deck, she managed to make the necessary repairs in heavy seas.

She set records for some of her legs, scudding past the Cape of Good Hope, before battling huge seas that almost destroyed her ship. When she crossed the finishing line near the French coast at Ushant at 2229 UTC on 7 February 2005, she had beaten the previous world record by 32 hours, and set a world record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of Earth.

The British poured out to welcome her home. The French called her "la navigatrice Britannique".

She had triumphed after 71 days and 27,354 nautical miles on the high seas. The tale of her ordeals, despair, and triumph is described in vivid emails and in several books.

In 1580 Queen Elizabeth I knighted Sir Francis Drake when he returned home from his circumnavigation of the globe, and in 1967 Queen Elizabeth II knighted Sir Francis Chichester, the first person to complete a solo navigation. In 2005, The Queen knighted Ellen MacArthur.

Ellen is the Patron of the Nancy Blackett Trust which owns and operates Ransome's yacht, Nancy Blackett, to inspire children to sail.

Taking the challenge

In 1969, London’s Sunday Times challenged mariners to sail non-stop around the world, a feat which was believed to be impossible. Nine men responded, including Robin Knox-Johnston, a merchant mariner.

Robin had known since he was a boy that he loved to sail. Born in 1939, he had gone to sea in the merchant navy when he was eighteen. But in the navy he sailed with and depended on other men. This was a completely new challenge, and likely to be terrifying. Further, he did not have much money, and he did not have a boat. Still, he wanted a change. He wanted to change his life.

So Knox-Johnston built a 32-foot wooden ketch in Bombay, and sailed round the world without stopping. It took him 313 days. The seas were alive with whales. Dolphins swam alongside his 'yacht'. He returned to England world famous.

After that Robin won round Britain races. He organized sailing races, and took the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest circumnavigation in 1994 with co-skipper Peter Blake. He served as a trustee of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, and continues to serve as President of the Sail Training Association, which teaches youngsters to sail.

Robin Knox-Johnston has weathered his share of storms,
Doldrums, and mechanical breakdowns.

In 2007, sixty-eight years old, Robin went to sea again, racing around the world in the Velux 5 Oceans competition. He was sailing at 15 to 30 knots, but was forced to make a number of unplanned stops for repairs. Sleep was possible for about 90 minutes at a time. When he could, he enjoyed a cocktail between 5 and 6 pm, and toasted his wife, Suzanne, and their "storybook marriage" which had survived a tempestuous start. Suzanne died in 2003. He hoped the sea would heal his broken heart.

Michael Perham
He has joined the great British maritime tradition.

Image: Michael Perham

Boy sails into record books

Fourteen-year-old Michael Perham of Hertfordshire decided he would like to challenge a world record by sailing across the Atlantic alone. He had a small sailboat and he knew how to sail. With the help of his parents, he made preparations. The trickiest aspect of his departure was leaving school.

He set out from Gibraltar on the 3,500-mile voyage to the Caribbean on November 18 on a Tide 28 cruising yacht with his anxious and hopeful father sailing two miles behind. When satellite equipment failed, Michael was forced to divert to Lanzarote and the Cape Verde islands, extending his absence from class. With repairs made to the Cheeky Monkey he sailed on - travelling with dolphins toward the westering sun, and diving into the sea to free rope entangled in his gear.

On 3 January 2007, Michael sailed into Nelson's Dockyard on Antigua at 1400 GMT, accompanied by a welcoming flotilla. He is the youngest person ever to sail across the Atlantic solo. He looked taller and older when he stepped out of his boat. His voyage raised more than £1,000 for Children in Need.

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