Early sailing legends who are still alive and my Godson!

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firstascent2002

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Hi All,

Can you help me compile a target list?

I have decided for my Godson to try and compile a set of books about early sailing adventures and get them signed for him. So far I have had positive responses from Robin Knox-Johnson, Chey Blyth, John Ridgway and Tony Bullimore. I have sent off letters to Ellen Mcarther and Sir Ben Ainsley and now I am sitting back and wondering who to go for next...

Any ideas?!!!

I fear I may be starting too late with Sir Frances Chichester having died now 42 years ago....but there are great sailing adventures every day so help my populate this list

Jamie
 
I went to Sir Alec Rose's talk about his round the world trip when I was a boy, he did it for the RNLI, a lovely bloke; I found much later it seems there is a bit of a story as to why he called the boat ' Lively lady ' and it wasn't referring to Mrs Rose ! :)

I lived in Southsea where he was a greengrocer ( obviously always a lot more than that ) and knew someone mixed up in it, anyway he was a lovely, gentle guy, when asked about Francis Chichester he said " well, Francis was a bit more cantankerous than me ! "

' Lively Lady ' was in Port Solent last time I looked, on some sort of charter programme similar to Gypsy Moth IV; I felt honoured to touch Lively Lady's bowsprit.

Alec Rose is the only person I've ever asked for an autograph, I'll happily send a copy if you PM me.
 
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Lawrie Smith, Mike Golding, Dee Cafary and Tracy Edwards, would be my suggestions.

If we had had a boy he would have been called Laurence. Great sailor in the 1980's RNSA Whitbread campaigns.
 
Not exactly you want but Douglas Robertson (last voyage of the Lucettet) son of Dougal Robertson (survive the savage sea)
Boat was sunk by whale south of Galapagos Ilse both books are good read and you stand a chance of getting one signed

definitely a legendary survival
 
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superheat6k said:
Lawrie Smith, Mike Golding, Dee Cafary and Tracy Edwards, would be my suggestions.

If we had had a boy he would have been called Laurence. Great sailor in the 1980's RNSA Whitbread campaigns.
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Isn't Lawrie Smith the bloke that pulled out of one boat's whitbread or volvo campaign at last minute & left the crew & sponsor in limbo whilst he went to another team for a reputed £1M--- & then did lousy. Lost a mast & refused to tell anyone what went wrong on the basis the other team with similar boat would know there was a fault but would have to sail less powered up to avoid a similar collapse

personally -If I am right-It was a long time ago- then i would not be that proud to be named after a man like that
 
What earns somebody the honour of being "a living legend"? Why is it important to have their books autographed? Why is it important to read their books at all?

The answers to all of the above are necessarily subjective. I have met some of those that you mentioned and my opinion of a couple of them is totally different; one in particular I would avoid meeting again!

We tend to admire people for different reasons; unfortunately, such admiration is often, IMHO, little more than "basking in reflected glory". What I looked for in my youth was someone whose philosophy of life inspired me and who would show me a different way of looking at life in general and the sea in particular. One such person is sadly no longer with us but remains one of the few who I would consider a legend of the sailing world, a true "man of the sea", a free-spirit par exellence who, when fame was within his grasp, chose to sail on and live his dream, away from the rat-race and live the remainder of his life in simplicity by the sea that he loved so much. "I have only experienced solitude in the streets of Paris" he used to say, "never at sea!" He was, of course, Bernard Moitessier.

If I had a godson I would certainly give him a copy of Bernard's book, "The Long Way", perhaps when he's old enough to understand.

Please pardon the ramblings of an old man, old in body but still young in spirit.
 
Buck Turgidson said:
Is Val Howells still alive?
I'm the proud owner of a signed copy of Sailing into Solitude.
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Yes he is

I am the proud owner of Val's signature on two items. One is a copy of sailing into solitude he signed for me a couple of years ago. The other is a letter sent by the Slocum Society to the US coastguard immediately after the 1960 OSTAR, signed by Val but also by Chichester, Hasler, Lewis, and Lacombe. A fantastic Christmas present sourced by the first mate!

Cheers
 
There are certainly a huge number ,from times gone by, to choose from but if they have to be able to put their signature on their work that narrows the field. I would highly recommend Tim and Pauline Carr for their amazing voyages to Patagonia and the books they wrote.
 
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