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The Top 20 Solo Sailors
by Nic Compton and the editors of Sailing


Who is the best singlehanded sailor in the history of the world? It is, of course, an impossible question to answer. For a start, how do you measure best? No set of scales has yet been invented that can weigh endurance against seamanship, charisma against cunning, or race results against posterity. Inevitably, then, any list of top 20 sailing personalities is going to be subjective. That said, there are certain characters that stand out from the crowd. Some stand out because of a single, landmark achievement, others because of their awesome seamanship skills. Some were just fascinating characters. This top 20 list is based on that realization — that these sailors have made the greatest impact on the sport of solo sailing.
    1. Joshua Slocum
    In truth, only one name can occupy the pole position of any self-respecting list of solo sailors. By today's standards his voyage was unremarkable — it took him over three years to sail around the world on his 36-foot wooden yawl SPRAY beginning in 1895. Nowadays our top sailors tear around nonstop in less than 100 days. What makes Slocum exceptional is not just that he was the first to do it on his own but so outlandish was his achievement that no one else tried it for 23 years. Slocum secured his place in history by writing a vivid account of his voyage, Sailing Alone Around the World, which subsequently became the bible of all wannabe solo sailors and inspired the building of countless replica SPRAYs.
    2. Bernard Moitessier
    The greatest solo race ever — and arguably the greatest yachting race ever — took place between June 1968 and February 1969. That was when nine skippers set off to win the Golden Globe and be the first to sail singlehanded nonstop around the world. In the end, it was a battle between French mystic Bernard Moitessier and British ex-merchant navy officer Robin Knox-Johnston. Moitessier was catching up when, after rounding Cape Horn, he did the unthinkable: he bailed out of the race and carried on for another half-world to Tahiti. 'I am continuing nonstop toward the Pacific Islands because I am happy at sea, and perhaps to save my soul,' he said.

    In the process he cheated history. While Knox-Johnston was lauded as the winner of the Golden Globe, by not heading north back to 'the snake pit,' Moitessier closed his loop before Knox-Johnston. Moitessier became something of a sailing guru, and his book of the voyage, The Long Way, was an instant classic.
    3. Francis Chichester
    Astonishment is the only word to describe the reaction to Francis Chichester's round-the-world voyage on GIPSY MOTH IV in 1966-1967. Up until then such a journey had been regarded as an endurance test and sailors were fêted for having survived what was generally a two-year ordeal. Chichester transformed that attitude and pulverized the records by completing his circumnavigation in just 226 days. His only regret, in retrospect, must have been that he stopped, just once in Sydney, leaving the door open for later record-setters. Of equal importance was his win on GIPSY MOTH III in the first OSTAR in 1960 — the race that paved the way for all subsequent singlehanded competitions.
    4. Robin Knox-Johnston
    5. Eric Tabarly
    6. Philippe Jeantot
    7. Christophe Auguin
    8. Philippe Poupon
    9. Isabelle Autissier
    10. Vito Dumas
    11. Yves Parlier
    12. Ellen MacArthur
    13. Florence Arthaud
    14. Jean-Luc van den Heede
    15. Mike Birch
    16. Alain Colas
    17. Howard Blackburn
    18. Brad Van Liew
    19. Alain Gautier
    20. Mike Plant

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