LUXURY LIVING SPORT u
According to legend it all started over a beer in a Portsmouth pub; 38 years on, it is still gale-force winds, mountainous seas and sleep deprivation.
Photo: Cory Silken / Team SCA
In 1969 Robin Knox-Johnston won The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race and history was born on two fronts. He had not only become the first man to complete a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the planet, but he had also put an idea in the minds of two men that would ultimately change the face of offshore yachting. Guy Pearce and Anthony Churchill were fascinated by Knox-Johnston’ s feat, but, pertinently, they were convinced of the potential of a crewed race following the old square rigger routes around the world.
Nothing of its kind existed at the time and skippers were drawn in by the promise of such an adventure. Finding a sponsor and an organising club proved difficult until Churchill and Pearce took their plan to the Royal Naval Sailing Association, who they wanted to run the race. Something clicked and, so the story goes, in 1971 in a smoky pub in Portsmouth Colonel Bill Whitbread, of the brewing family, and Admiral Otto Steiner, of the Royal Naval Sailing Association, met to enjoy a beer and discuss the proposal. The first race was held in 1973.
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