Yachtsman, born in London, England, UK, the first person to circumnavigate the world non-stop and single-handed, 14 June 196822 April 1969. He is also holder of the British Sailing Trans Atlantic Record (1986: 10 days, 14 h, 9 m), and he co-skippered Enza achieving the world's fastest circumnavigation under sail (1994: 74 days, 22 h, 17 min, 22 s). In 2006 he came out of retirement to compete in the 30 000 mile solo round-the-world race aboard yacht Saga Insurance. His books include World of My Own (1969), The Columbus Venture (1991), and Beyond Jules Verne (1995). He was knighted in 1995.
Sir William Robert Pat "Robin" Knox-Johnston, CBE, RD and bar (born 17 March 1939) was the first man to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the Earth and was the second winner of the Jules Verne Trophy (together with Sir Peter Blake).
Life
Early life
He was born in Putney in London and grew up on The Wirral.
Circumnavigation of the Earth
On 14 June 1968 the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race started at Falmouth. Robin Knox-Johnston rounded Cape Horn on 17 January 1969, 20 days before the only other remaining contestant Bernard Moitessier who was the favourite to do the fastest circumnavigation, but Moitessier abandoned the race. Thus, Knox-Johnston became the first man to circumnavigate the globe non-stop and single-handed on 22 April 1969, the day he returned to Falmouth.
Further Exploits
In 1970 (with Leslie Williams) and in 1974 (with Gerry Boxall) Robin Knox-Johnston won the two-handed Round Britain Race. Robin Knox-Johnston, Les Williams and their crew, which Peter Blake was also part of, took line honours of the 1971 Cape Town to Rio Race. Les Williams and Robin Knox-Johnston jointly skippered (Peter Blake crewmember again) a maxi yacht in the 1977 Whitbread Round the World Race. They took the line honours in the second and fourth leg, the ones which Robin Knox-Johnston skippered.
Robin Knox-Johnston and Peter Blake (who both acted as co-skippers) won the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest circumnavigation in 1994. The yacht has been refitted and took part in the Round the Island Race in June 2005. Since 1995 he has been involved in running the Clipper Round the World Race. In 2006, he announced his participation in the VELUX 5 Oceans Race, a round-the-world yacht race which commenced on October 22, 2006 from Bilbao, Spain..
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