An elegiac film on Cdr Bill King RN who entered the 1968 Golden Globe race in his cold-moulded two masted junk rig schooner Galway Blazer II. With no shrouds or guard rails it looks a frightening boat to be on deck, especially looking at that camber but King rigged a wire jackstay from stem to stern to clip onto. He left the UK on 24 August 1968 but was rolled in 50ft waves after he decided to lie ahull in a storm. He had to be towed into Cape Town and quit the race.
After further attempts Bill eventually succeded in circumnavigating in GBII in 1973. He sold the boat and she was lost in 1996 during an east-west Transat race.
Bill died in Spetember 2012 aged 102.
Interview by Jerry Rothwell and Louise Osmond for the 2006 Documentary ‘Deep Water’ with 1968 archive footage from the Rank’s classic series ‘Look at Life’.