And You Thought I Was Nuts? Presenting Jon Sanders.

March 27, 2019

Day 174

Noon Position: 48 03S  49 48W

Course(t)/Speed(kts): NE 6

Wind(t/tws): WxS 19 – 26

Sea(t/ft): W 10

Sky: Overcast, flat gray

10ths Cloud Cover: 10

Bar(mb): 1020, steady

Cabin Temp(f): 59

Water Temp(f): 54 (BIG jump from yesterday of 43)

Relative Humidity(%): 83

Sail: Working Jib, one reef

Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 163

Miles since departure: 23,791

Avg. Miles/Day: 137

Leg North Days: 7

Leg North Miles: 842

Avg. Miles/Day: 120

Up most of the night. Winds went due west and began increasing slowly but steadily in the evening until, by midnight, we had a straight 30 knots. I’d been running one pole, but at that point switched down to triple reefs and all sail set for a broad reach on port. By dawn, 35 knots.

I note this because a) such winds were not in the forecast; and more interestingly, b) were not foretold by the barometer, which read between 1019 and 1018 for the duration and has been high and steady for several days. Thus, not all strong wind is a function of *local* changing pressure.

Fast days due to wind and a north-setting current. We pound in a lumpy sea, but all is forgiven when the miles are good.

We are in the company of birds again. Three Wandering Albatross, double that in White Chinned Petrels and a smattering of Prions, all playing in the warm light of a lovely sunset.

In my first Cape Horn post of a few days ago, I asked if it might be possible that I was the first to round that famous promontory twice in one non-stop, solo passage.

Thank you to Michael Thurston and Eric Mathewson for noting in the Figure 8 site comments that such a prize actually goes to Jon Sanders of Australia.

I’d heard of Sanders when I was in Hobart and knew he was a prolific single-hander but had allowed my own accomplishment to crowd out any specific memory of his.

His are notable in the extreme and worthy of a review.

Jon Sanders, born in Perth in 1939 and a sheep shearer by trade, was the first man to circumnavigate Antarctica, circling the continent twice in 1981 – 1982 in his S&S 34 PERIE BANOU.

Departing from Fremantle, Sanders successfully passed south of the three great capes: Horn, Good Hope and Leeuwin, before rounding Cape Horn a second time. Here he turned north to Plymouth, UK and then returned to Fremantle via Cape Good Hope, all non-stop.

This voyage was recognized in the Guinness Book of Records for the following:

• The first single-handed sailor to remain continuously at sea twice around the world.

• First single-handed sailor to round the five southern most Capes twice on one voyage.

• First single-handed sailor to round the five southern most Capes twice.

• Longest distance continuously sailed by any yacht: 48,510 miles (78,070 km).

• Longest period alone at sea during a continuous voyage: 419 days: 22 hours: 10 minutes” (RR Note: I wonder where Ried Stowe figures in here?)

Such a voyage might overflow the cup of any normal ocean soloist, but not Sanders, who departed Fremantle again in 1986 for a successful attempt at *three* continuous circumnavigations south of the Great Capes, this in his 47-foot PARRY ENDEAVOR.

All told, Sanders voyages include the following ocean transits:

• Indian Ocean (14 times)

• Atlantic Ocean (11 times)

• Pacific Ocean (12 times)

• Australian seaboard, west-to-east and east-to-west (45 times)

• Cape Horn (5 times)

• Cape of Good Hope (11 times)

• Panama Canal (6 times)

• Suez Canal (x4)

And a summary of his firsts include:

• 5 x non-stop circumnavigations (the first in 1981-82 and the last in 1986-1987).

• 5 x Cape Horn roundings (one east-west & four west-east).

• 5 x Cape Horn roundings during non-stop circumnavigations.

• 4 x roundings of the five southernmost capes.

• 1 x circumnavigation using the east-west route.

• 4 x circumnavigations using the west-east route.

• Circumnavigate non-stop via Cape Horn west-about and east-about.

If there is a banquet table in heaven for the world’s single-handers, surely Sanders will be at its head.

(The above was cribbed from Wikipedia and this article.)