Tony Bullimore (15 January 1939 – 31 July 2018)
was a British businessman and international yachtsman. He is known especially for being rescued on 10 January 1997 during a sailing race after he had been presumed dead.
Early life and career
Born in
Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...
,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
, he was educated at
Claremont School.
Bullimore moved to
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
in the early 1960s and married Lalel, a West Indian immigrant. In 1966 they opened the Afro-Caribbean-inspired Bamboo Club, which was billed as "Bristol's Premier West Indian Entertainment Centre", housed a restaurant, theatre workshop, football team and was the headquarters of the Bristol West Indian Cricket Club. The top floor housed the music venue, with DJs playing
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
and American
soul music
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...
, and bands performed including
Bob Marley and The Wailers
Bob Marley and the Wailers (previously known as The Wailers, and prior to that The Wailing Rudeboys, The Wailing Wailers and The Teenagers) were a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae band. The founding members, in 1963, were Bob Marley (Robert ...
,
Jimmy Cliff
James Chambers OM (born 30 July 1944), known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He is the only living reggae musician to hold the Order of Merit, t ...
,
Ben E. King
Benjamin Earl King (né Nelson; September 28, 1938 – April 30, 2015) was an American soul and R&B singer and record producer. He is best known as the singer and co-composer of " Stand by Me"—a US Top 10 hit, both in 1961 and later i ...
and
Tina Turner
Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...
.
[ The club burned down in 1977,][ just before the ]Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...
were due to play there.[ Bullimore had already opened The Granary club at Bristol's Granary building in the early 1970s, which after ten years he slowly sold off to concentrate on other business ventures. He also became a race relations advocate in Bristol.][
]
Sailing
Bullimore was rescued after capsizing during the 1996–97 Vendée Globe single-handed around-the-world race. The race was marked by a number of incidents, including the death of another contestant, Gerry Roufs
Gerry Roufs (1953 – January, 1997), was a Canadian competitive sailor.
Sailing career
Born in Montreal, Canada. In 1978, Gerry Roufs, along with crew Charles Robitaille placed second at the 470 class World Championships held in Marstrand ...
.
On 5 January 1997, in the Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...
near , around off the Australian coast and in winds of up to , Bullimore's boat, ''Exide Challenger'' capsized and the majority of press and media reports assumed that the 57-year-old sailor was lost. Bullimore was alive and managed to survive in an air pocket in the upside-down boat in pitch darkness, having lost his food supplies, aside from a bar of chocolate. The Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
launched a rescue mission for Bullimore and another Vendée Globe capsized competitor, Thierry Dubois
Thierry Dubois is a French sailor born on February 24, 1967, in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. He competed in high-level offshore solo races, including two unsuccessful attempts to complete the Vendee Globe in 1996 and 2000.
In the 1996–1997 race, ...
. On 9 January, Dubois was rescued by an Australian S-70B-2 Seahawk
The Sikorsky S-70 is an American medium transport/utility helicopter family manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. It was developed for the United States Army in the 1970s, winning a competition to be designated the UH-60 Black Hawk and spawning a ...
helicopter embarked on the frigate .
''Adelaide'' then proceeded further south to where the ''Exide Challenger'' had been located by a RAAF
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
P-3 Orion
The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner.[rigid-hulled inflatable boat
A rigid inflatable boat (RIB), also rigid-hull inflatable boat or rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), is a lightweight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a rigid hull bottom joined to side-forming air tubes that are ...]
to the ''Exide Challenger'' where crew members knocked on the hull. Hearing the noise, Bullimore swam out from his boat and was quickly rescued by personnel from ''Adelaide''. HMAS ''Adelaide'' then returned both Dubois and Bullimore to Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
. During the return journey, Bullimore met with each member of the boat's crew to thank them for saving his life.
In 2000 he was featured in a BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.