Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
sportsmen were not the only ones to realise the potential of such an
enterprise. Chichester's backers had profited handsomely from his
headline-grabbing adventure. Books, newspapers, television films
and various kinds of dedicated merchandise had made lots of money.
A circumnavigation bandwagon had been set rolling and a host of
marketeers were eager to keep it on the move. In less than a year
the 'Golden Globe Race' was organised. It became one of the most
dramatic maritime enterprises of all time - but not in the way the
money men envisaged. In fact it was to demonstrate, tragically, that
solo circumnavigation was only for the mentally strong and that big
business and maritime adventure were not natural partners. The
scores of entrants for the race, lured by prize money and fame, were
whittled down to four. Of those four, two who failed to finish com-
mitted suicide, one during the race and one afterwards.
Of the remaining two, one deliberately cocked a snook at the
race. Bernard Moitessier, having rounded the three southern capes
in record time, calmly radioed the organisers that he had no inten-
tion of heading for the finishing line. In the 39-foot Joshua , named
after his hero, Joshua Slocum, he sailed on - round Africa, round Aus-
tralia, round New Zealand and fetched up, at last, in Tahiti, where
the gods of commercial profit he so much despised had no power. He
later tried to explain his decision in a book, the proceeds of which
were donated to charity:
[Joshua] sailed round the world . . . but what does that mean, since
the horizon is eternal? Round the world goes further than the ends of
the earth, as far as life itself, perhaps further still . . . 5
He was describing the boundless ocean within.
The winner of Golden Globe, Robin Knox-Johnson, completed
his voyage in 313 days, a considerable achievement. However, it
was destined to be overshadowed by the other events connected
 
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