• Suhaili to cross original finish line 50 years to the minute after RKJ’s famous win
• Events in Falmouth and from current GGR in France
• Sir Robin’s report on the effects of extreme conditions on small boats in 2018 GGR to be published

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston has arrived in Falmouth on board his legendary yacht Suhaili, to commemorate his famous landfall there 50 years ago as the winner of the inaugural Golden Globe Race.

Sir Robin arrived in Falmouth at just after noon today having left Gosport – Suhaili‘s home port, at 1000hrs on Thursday. For the two day 220 nM passage he was joined by Lively Lady and three other yachts sailing in company with easterly winds all the way. They spent Friday night in Fowey. The flotilla was joined by more boats, including two of Sir Robin’s Clipper Venture yachts which left Gosport on Friday to make a fleet of 18 or so yachts which saw him into Falmouth.

Tomorrow, Sunday 21st Sir Robin will be joined by fans and flotilla crews for an early evening party at St Mawes Sailing Club. Then on Easter Monday, 22nd April he will be giving an interview with another round the world veteran yachtsman – Mike Golding, from 0930 to 1100 at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. The NMMC is currently holding an exhibition, A World Of My Own, of RKJ’s personal photograph collection to celebrate the 50 years of his remarkable achievement – the first non-stop solo circumnavigation of the world, from Falmouth to Falmouth in 312 days.

Sir Robin was joined by the legendary Sunday Mirror photographer Bill Rowntree, who took the first photos of Sir Robin’s return. Bill sailed with RKJ back in 1968 covering the story before the race and has a unique record of the UK’s most famous sailor and his almost equally famous boat! Main photo: Suhaili leaves Gosport on Thursday.

Immediately after the interview at NMMC Sir Robin will link to the prize giving for the current Golden Globe Race – taking place in Les Sables D’Olonne in France, to share his report on the lessons learned from the small boats under extreme conditions of the 2018 GGR. Of the 18 boats which started on July 1 last year only four have finished with the fifth, Tapio Lehtinen, still at sea in his Gaia 36 Asteria and with 2325nM to go to the finish line. This report and link will be streamed live on Facebook from the GGR organisers. Link:  HERE.  The report itself will be published on Monday (so please watch this space).

Sir Robin will then get out into Falmouth Roads in Suhaili to recreate the famous finish at 1525 hrs on the 22nd – 50 years to the minute since he made his return as the sole entrant to finish in that first Golden Globe Race, which has sometimes been referred to as a “race for madmen”.

Supporting vessels will recreate the original support for Sir Robin’s famous finish, though on the day itself he was asked while still below the horizon, if he could not delay for an hour or so because the Lady Mayoress was having her hair done and his eta of 0930, would mean that she could not attend the arrival. “In the end the wind died and the tide turned so we were delayed for six hours or so,” Sir Robin jokingly remembers.

Sir Robin will be attending a party at the Royal Cornwall YC in the evening of the 22nd where there is a plaque commerating his landfall at the club jetty in 1969. This plaque was contentious for some of RKJ’s fans as for decades his name was wrongly spelt, but CS can report that this had been rectified before the GGR pre-race preparations in June last year which he and Suhaili also attended.

Lively Lady‘s skipper Steve Mason confirmed that LL would accompany Suhaili on Easter Monday. “We made good time down Channel, and in fact it was one of Lively Lady‘s fastest ever passages doing about 160nM in 24 hours. Most of it was motor sailing in company, though the wind was good enough to switch the engines off from dawn on Friday when we had a NE’y 3 just as we rounded Start Point. We got into Fowey at around 4pm and had a pontoon party – everyone’s in good spirits, it was a great night sail with spring tides and a full moon.”

More on Suhaili:  HERE

Lively Lady interview from September 2018:

https://classicsailor.com/2018/09/lively-lady-back-afloat/