Bernard Moitessier Rounds Cape Horn

[TheSandPebbles]

Yesterday February 5th marked 59 years since, in 1969, Bernard Moitessier rounded Cape Horn during the first Golden Globe Race. He was poised to win the race, but as many as you know he decided to sail east instead of north to the finish line in England. He continued another 1/2 way round the world to Tahiti "perhaps to save [his] soul." Personal hero of mine.

[carlosproa]

Agree 100%. Not a bad writer either. Some get their soul saved, others never leave the starting line and must wait for the next go around

[IslandHopper]

Definitely one of my inspirations, always rereading of his exploits....

On a side note, i'm a Sept 1961 vintage and im only 58

[Jamme]

Originally Posted by TheSandPebbles

Yesterday February 5th marked 59 years since, in 1969, Bernard Moitessier rounded Cape Horn during the first Golden Globe Race. He was poised to win the race, but as many as you know he decided to sail east instead of north to the finish line in England. He continued another 1/2 way round the world to Tahiti "perhaps to save [his] soul." Personal hero of mine.

Ditto. True icon of sailing perseverance. Devoured all of his books. I recall watching a random YouTube video of him (later on in his life) going ashore somewhere in the Pacific (with a truck air chamber as his and his girlfriend’s dinghy), commenting upon the days when he was young and “pure”!

[TheSandPebbles]

Yes I've watched that video too. Sadly I can only find it in French with no English subtitles. I was puzzled why he was in that pitiful tire tube with his wife, especially after I read his first book Sailing to the Reefs. In it he talks about how quickly you can build a simple dinghy with a wood frame and canvas bottom. He does make it, and I believe he talks about how his buddy Henry Wakelam made a dinghy in one day.

[dcstrng]

Originally Posted by TheSandPebbles

Yesterday February 5th marked 59 years since, in 1969, Bernard Moitessier rounded Cape Horn during the first Golden Globe Race...

Have read all of his stuff (I think) and he was one of those who inspired without actually seeming to try to...

Just finished Slocum (again, first read him nearly sixty years ago when I was a freshman in HS), so it probably is time for The Long Way again...

[jhulmer]

I think he was just as scared of single handed docking as I am!

[fatherchronica]

The math is suspect. I have an autographed copy of the Long Way. He is one of my heroes also, but very nearly incoherent at times. Another sailing hero some of you might enjoy is Bill Tilman who wrote 8 Cruising/mountaineering books. Just the opposite of Moitessier though in that he always acquired a crew of mostly non sailors and took them to the cold ends of the earth in old wooden channel cutters to climb mountains. His first 7 books were only about mountain climbing in mostly the Himalayas where he had the record for getting closest to the top of Everest for something like 15 years with a teenage Tenzing Norway along as a bearer before he became a Sherpa guide. He also sank 3 boats in the ice instead of 3 in the tropics like Bernard did.

[Hoodsail]

Pebbles, thanks for reminding us of Bernard's Golden Globe adventure. Read most of his books and just happened on "Cape Horn: The Logical Route" by him...Winter here in New England, USA, so good time to read...just finished "Once is Enough" by Miles Smeeton - about his and his wife's 2 attempts to round "the Cape", appears they were pitchpoled the 1st time maybe the 2nd, ultimately leading to shipping their 47 ft ketch, Tzu Hang..Back home to england..

[TheSandPebbles]

Hey hey, he only beached the 3rd boat, not sank. Sold it for $20 and a couple guys had it back sailing again in short order.

I did some of the math recently on who would have won. (If that's the math you are referring to. This is what I find:

He spent a total of 303 days at sea, covering 37,455 miles, an avg speed of 124 nm/day. It's around 7400nm to England from Cape Horn, so that equates to 60 days, which would put him there on April 6th. Knox-Johnston arrived on April 22nd. Knox-Johnston had a LOT of problems and was traveling quite slowly. I still believe Moitessier would have won. But, he went another way and the rest is history.

[TheSandPebbles]

Originally Posted by Hoodsail

Pebbles, thanks for reminding us of Bernard's Golden Globe adventure. Read most of his books and just happened on "Cape Horn: The Logical Route" by him...Winter here in New England, USA, so good time to read...just finished "Once is Enough" by Miles Smeeton - about his and his wife's 2 attempts to round "the Cape", appears they were pitchpoled the 1st time maybe the 2nd, ultimately leading to shipping their 47 ft ketch, Tzu Hang..Back home to england..

You're most welcome. I'm always surprised how many people don't know him at all. My dad got me started reading his books. Dad would have been in his mid 20's when that race happened, but when I asked if he remembered hearing/reading about it in that time he said no not at all.

I'll check out "Once is Enough." If anyone hasn't read Bernard's first book "Sailing to the Reefs" I recommend checking it out, amazing story of his first 2 wood boats.

[Katapult Mike]

Originally Posted by TheSandPebbles

I did some of the math recently on who would have won. (If that's the math you are referring to.

I don't think that's the math referred to. 1969 was 51 years ago, NOT 59. This math matters to some of us "of a certain age."

Speaking of that age, I was recently judging a high school debate tournament where one of hte kids introduced some quote or statistic from the 1980's. THe other team asserted that we should disregard it, because "that was from the 1900's" and was not relevant to today. So, fellow fossils, how does it feel to be able to remember "the 1900's"!?

[TheSandPebbles]

Originally Posted by Katapult Mike

I don't think that's the math referred to. 1969 was 51 years ago, NOT 59. This math matters to some of us "of a certain age."

HAH! See, this is why I don't attempt celestial navigation.
Credit to fatherchronica. I posted this on Facebook and Reddit too, and he's the only one who's pointed out my mistake.

[roverhi]

Moitessier was instrumental in our choice of boat and going cruising to SoPac in the early '70's. Devoured 'Cape Horn, the Logical Route.' Enthralled by the 'Long Way' but puzzled by his apparent loss of sanity at the end when he gave most of his worldly goods to the Pope. Later on read 'Tamata and the Alliance' and belatedly 'Sailing to the Reefs' which to me was his most interesting book. He was an extremely resourceful man who could make silk out of a sow's ear. He got knocked down, losing everything, yet managed to bounce back for more. He sailed in an era where weather forecasting was in its infancy and you went to sea when you went and suffered the consequences. Surviving that Southern Low Pressure system in the Logical Route was a tribute to his stamina and ability.

When we got to Ahe in the Tuamotus Joshua was anchored in the lagoon. Bernard and his wife were living simply on shore in a thatched hut. Bernard was trying to get the locals to take up subsistence farming and not depend on the Copra Boat for their food. There was something to be said for that. We were invited to one of the islander's homes for dinner. It was a sumptuous meal with Poisson Cru, grilled giant clam, lobster, and green papaya salad. The piece de resistance of the meal for our hosts wasn't the great food that they'd harvested from the sea and the soil but CANNED CORN BEEF.

The locals weren't taking to farming and he and his wife soon split up after we met him and he moved on not too long after. He was an odd duck that really believed in trying to improve the world around him but more of a mystic than a realist.

Joshua was an example of how to make do with little money and lot of ingenuity and skill. The boat itself had been designed to be built light in cold molded wood construction but ended up in much heavier steel so floated low in the water. The masts were telephone poles, standing rigging galvanized with cable clamps. Initially the boat had no engine but after sailing the equivalent of a couple times around the world added a very small diesel. He greatly praised the engine as it gave him way more freedom in where and how he could explore. He kept the boats exterior paint in good nick. Said he'd neglected to keep on top of the paint at one period and had spots on the deck rust through. Didn't get to see below decks but assume it was functional but in no way an imitation Hinckley.

[briblack]

I saw his boat "Joshua" in the Carenage yard on Raiatea a few years ago. Place of pilgrimage, may still be there