Sir William Robert Patrick Knox-Johnston (born 17 March 1939) is a British sailor. In 1969, he became the first person to perform a single-handed non-stop

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth was the Magel ...

of the

globe A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model glo ...

. Along with Sir Peter Blake, he won the second Jules Verne Trophy, for which they were also named the ISAF Yachtsman of the Year award. In 2007, at the age of 67, he set a record as the oldest yachtsman to complete a round the world solo voyage in the Velux 5 Oceans Race.

Life

Early life

Knox-Johnston was born in

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient pa ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, his birth was registered in

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its name ...

, in 1939. He was the eldest child of David R Knox-Johnston (1910-1970) and Elizabeth Magill née Cree (1908-1977), who were married in Tring, in 1937. Knox-Johnston was educated at the Berkhamsted boys' school. From 1957 to 1968, he served in the Merchant Navy and the

Royal Naval Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

. In 1965, he sailed his William Atkins design ketch ''

Suhaili ''Suhaili'' is the name of the Bermudan ketch sailed by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston in the first non-stop solo circumnavigation of the world in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. Design and Construction ''Suhaili'' was built in Bombay with the h ...

'' from

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the '' de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the sec ...

to England. Her design is based on the Norwegian sailing lifeboat designs of Colin Archer. Due to a lack of money he had to interrupt his voyage for work in South Africa as Master of a coaster and stevedoring and was only able to complete it in 1967. In 1968, he was one of nine sailors who attempted to achieve the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world in the ''Sunday Times'' Golden Globe Race. He was the third sailor to start the race, and the only one to complete the voyage.

Family

In early 1962, in Cambridge, he married Suzanne (Sue) Singer, whom he had known from the age of eight; they had one daughter, Sara, who was born in

whilst he was at sea. His wife left him when he proposed taking her and the child back to England in his new boat ''

'', and they were divorced in 1967. However, in 1972 they remarried in Winchester, and now have five grandchildren, Florence, Oscar, Xavier, Ralph, and Valentine. Sue died in 2003.

Circumnavigation of the Earth

On 14 June 1968 Knox-Johnston left Falmouth in his 32-foot (9.8-metre) boat ''

'', one of the smallest boats to enter the ''Sunday Times'' Golden Globe Race. Despite losing his self-steering gear off Australia, he rounded

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramí ...

on 17 January 1969, 20 days before his closest competitor Bernard Moitessier. Moitessier had sailed from Plymouth more than two months after Knox-Johnston, but he subsequently abandoned the race and instead sailed on to Tahiti. The other seven competitors dropped out at various stages, leaving Knox-Johnston to win the race and become officially the first person to circumnavigate the globe non-stop and single-handed on 22 April 1969, the day he returned to Falmouth. Knox-Johnston donated his prize money for fastest competitor, a sum of £5,000, to the family of Donald Crowhurst, another competitor in the race who had committed suicide after attempting to fake his round the world voyage. In recognition of his achievement, he was created a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE).

Further exploits

In 1970 (with Leslie Williams) and in 1974 (with Gerry Boxall), Knox-Johnston won the two-handed Round Britain Race. Knox-Johnston, Williams and their crew, which included Peter Blake, took line honours of the 1971 Cape Town to Rio Race. Williams and Knox-Johnston jointly skippered (with Blake a crew member again) maxi yacht Heath's Condor in the 1977

Whitbread Round the World Race The Ocean Race is a yacht race around the world, held every three or four years since 1973. Originally named the Whitbread Round the World Race after its initiating sponsor, British brewing company Whitbread, in 2001 it became the Volvo Ocean Ra ...

. They took the line honours in the second and fourth leg, the ones which Knox-Johnston skippered. Knox-Johnston and Blake (who acted as co-skippers) won the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest circumnavigation in 1994. Their time was 74 days 22 hours 18 minutes and 22 seconds. It was their second attempt to win this prize after their first one in 1992 had to be aborted when their catamaran ''Enza'' hit an object which tore a hole in the starboard hull. In 1992, he was awarded the Harold Spencer-Jones Gold Medal by the

Royal Institute of Navigation The Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) is a learned society and a professional body for navigation. The RIN was founded in 1947 as a forum for mariners, pilots, engineers and academics to compare their experiences and exchange information. Toda ...

in recognition of his contributions to navigation. From 1992 to 2001, Knox-Johnston was president of the

Sail Training Association Tall Ships Youth Trust is a sail training organisation in the United Kingdom that currently owns and operates four 22m/72 ft Challenger class racing yachts, a Catamaran and a Ketch. Tall Ships Youth Trust, formerly the Sail Training A ...

. During his tenure the money was collected to replace the STA's vessels ''Sir Winston Churchill'' and ''Malcolm Miller'' with the new, larger

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the latter part ...

s '' Prince William'' and '' Stavros S. Niarchos''. He was trustee of the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unit ...

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwic ...

from 1992 to 2002 and still is trustee of the National Maritime Museum –

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...

at Falmouth, where

is berthed today. The yacht has been refitted and took part in the Round the Island Race in June 2005. He was created a

knight bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are t ...

in 1995, allowing him to use the honorific title "Sir" in front of his first name. He has been a Liveryman of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners and a Younger Brother of Trinity House. In 1996, Knox-Johnston established the first Clipper Round the World Yacht Race and has since worked with the Clipper Ventures company as chairman to progress the race to higher levels every year. It is perhaps his greatest achievement to have introduced so many people to competitive sailing via their involvement in Clipper Ventures. He completed his second solo circumnavigation of the world in the yacht ''Saga Insurance ''on 4 May 2007, finishing in fourth place in the Velux 5 Oceans Race. At 68 he was the oldest competitor in the race. In late 2008 and early 2009, Knox-Johnston took part in a BBC programme called ''Top Dogs: Adventures in War, Sea and Ice''. The programme saw him unite with fellow British legends Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the adventurer, and John Simpson, the BBC world affairs editor. The team went on three trips, each experiencing each other's adventure field. The first episode, aired on 27 March 2009, saw Knox-Johnston, Fiennes and Simpson go on a potentially very dangerous news-gathering trip to Afghanistan. The team reported from the legendary

Khyber Pass The Khyber Pass (خیبر درہ) is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. It connects the town of Landi Kotal to the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud by traversi ...

and infamous

Tora Bora Tora Bora ( ps, توره بوړه, "Black Cave") is a cave complex, part of the Spin Ghar (White Mountains) mountain range of eastern Afghanistan. It is situated in the Pachir Aw Agam District of Nangarhar, approximately west of the Khyber P ...

mountain complex. The three also undertook a voyage around

and an expedition hauling sledges across the deep-frozen Frobisher Bay in the far north of Canada. Having served two years as president of The

Cruising Association The Cruising Association (CA) which was founded in 1908 is the largest British-based organisation which caters exclusively for cruising sailors. Membership is composed of sailors based in the UK and around the world who cruise inland, inshore and ...

, Knox-Johnston is now the association's patron. He is also a past-president of the

Little Ship Club The Little Ship Club is a yacht club in London. It was founded in 1926 by a group of yachtsmen for the purpose of providing training and lectures over the winter months. The club operates from its riverside clubhouse at Bell Wharf on the Ri ...

. He is the current president of Liverpool Yacht Club. In November 2014, Knox-Johnston, at age 75, finished the solo transatlantic race the Route du Rhum in third place in the Rhum class. He crossed the finish line on his Open 60 Grey Power at Pointe à Pitre at 16:52 hours local time/20:52 hours GMT after 20 days, 7 hours, 52 minutes and 22 seconds at sea. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, Knox-Johnston was one of several notable figures interviewed by ''The Guardian'' about their experiences with social isolation. In 2022, ''Suhaili's'' compass, which had been stolen soon after the completion of the 1969 circumnavigation, was left at the Holyhead Maritime Museum by the wife of the (now deceased) taker. After display at the museum, it will be returned to Knox-Johnston.

Books

* ''A World of My Own''. 1969, Cassell (reissued 2004 by Adlard Coles Nautical). * ''A Voyage for Madmen'' by Peter Nichols, 2001. HarperCollins Publishers. * ''Cape Horn, a maritime adventure'' 1995. Hodder & Stoughton. * ''The Columbus venture''. 1991, BBC Books. * ''Seamanship'' 1987. Hodder & Stoughton. * ''Force of Nature'' with Kate Laven, 2007. Michael Joseph, London. * ''Face to Face: Ocean Portraits'', by Huw Lewis-Jones 2010. , Foreword. Conway and Polarworld. * ''Running Free'' 2019. Simon & Schuster.

References

External links

*
Opening the Southampton Boat Show 2008

Robin Knox-Johnston homepage

Robin Knox-Johnston interview

Books by Robin Knox-Johnston
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knox-Johnston, Robin 1939 births Living people English non-fiction outdoors writers English male sailors (sport) Single-handed circumnavigating sailors British Merchant Navy personnel Royal Naval Reserve personnel Knights Bachelor People in sports awarded knighthoods Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Berkhamsted School People from Putney Maritime writers ISAF World Sailor of the Year (male) Volvo Ocean Race sailors Members of Trinity House Golden Globe Race