Sir robin knox-johnston biography
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Sir Robin Knox-Johnston
About
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston biography:
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston went to sea as an apprentice in the Merchant Navy in and gained his Master&#;s Certificate in He held his first command on the African Coast in
In he commenced building a teak ketch in Bombay and sailed it back to the UK in On 14th June he set out as the only unsponsored entry in the Sunday Times Golden Globe race to attempt the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world and of 9 starters he was the only one to complete the voyage in days, arriving back in Falmouth on 22nd April
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston took part in the Whitbread race skippering Condor, and in won the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest ever circumnavigation of the world with Peter Blake of 74 days. In he entered the VELUX 5 OCEANS solo around the world race at the age of 67 and finished fourth.
In between he has made 4 voyages to the Arctic, 3 with Sir Chris Bonington to climb and
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A SAIling legend
In the British newspaper The Sunday Times announced the award of a trophy, the Golden Globe, for the first person to sail single handed and non-stop around the world.
The longest non-stop voyage until then was achieved bygd Sir Francis Chichester in , when he circumnavigated the world with one stop in Australia. His boat had needed a major re-fit halfway, and no one was certain a lyxbåt could be kept serviceable for 30, miles, let alone survive the conditions to be expected, nor whether a human could keep going that long alone.
Nevertheless, a solo non-stop circumnavigation was the one great voyage left to be made.
On returning to the UK from India in Suhaili RKJ went back to sea as 1st Officer on the liner “Kenya” Suhaili was laid up at Benfleet and put up for sale. However Chichester’s voyage planted the seed for a non stop attempt. Efforts to find a sponsor for a Colin Mudie designed 56 foot steel lyxbåt failed, but by this time the idea and become an obsession.
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Robin Knox-Johnston
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston(1)(1) The Sir Peter Blake Trust Collection / Alan Sefton. Photo Henri Thibault © Agence DPPI is the first person to sail single handed and non-stop around the world. The sole finisher out of nine entrants, he crossed the finish line of the Sunday Times Golden Globe race, off Falmouth, UK, on 22 April , after days at sea.
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston was born on the 17th March , in Putney, London. The eldest of 4 brothers, he attended school at Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, the same school as Bill Tilman and Graham Greene. His main interests were long running, swimming and boxing. Not very good at team sports, indeed, he chose tennis as opposed to cricket, but usually slipped away to his grandparents house to work on a Austin 7 car instead of either.
Sir Robin went to sea in the Merchant Navy in as a Deck officer with the British India Steam Navigation Company, gaining his Master&#;s Certificate in
Following his Golden Globe solo circum