Robin Knox Johnston day!

[dnice]

Happy RKJ day!

[s/v Faith]

Robin Knox-Johnston
From Wikipedia;


Sir William Robert Patrick "Robin" Knox-Johnston, CBE, RD and bar (born 17 March 1939) is an English sailor. He was the first man to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe and was the second winner of the Jules Verne Trophy (together with Sir Peter Blake).



Robin Knox-Johnston finishing his circumnavigation of the world in Suhaili as the winner of the Golden Globe Race

[Captain Smollett]

We recently watched the movie "Deep Water" about Donald Crowhurst...excellent film, by the way.

There was quite a bit of good footage of Knox-Johnston interviews.  He struck me as a very humble, very classy guy.

[keelbolts]

Sir Robin donated his winnings from the Golden Globe Race to Crowhurst's family.  Even after he learned of how Crowhurst came to be lost he still had nothing bad to say about him.  A classy guy indeed.

[shamrock]

I think that only those people who have walked in Crowhursts shoes-getting a boat ready for sea- have a right to say anything about him or have any idea of what he went through. I'm not by any means advocating deception - but with the financial, PR, and getting things done on the boat pressures it's no wonder he cracked. Robin Knox Johnston is definetly a classiy guy for his support of the family and not knocking Crowhurst.

A week or so ago I was writing in my log about some frustrations in getting my own boat ready-how much it was costing and how long it was taking- and wondering if I was even going to be close to leaving when I had told everyone I was leaving with all the dishings of humble pie that would serve up. I made the flippant comment that "I know how Donald Crowhurst must have felt". Which is in no way true since the pressures he was facing make mine look like a summer day at the beach. Still this process of preparing for sea gives me a whole new appreciation for what he went through and what I thought after seeing the movie Deep Water-excellent flick by the way.

Some people have loads of experts get their boats ready for sea, but for those of us on limited budgets and experience, doing the work on old boats ourselves while trying to stay employed- it is a daugnting experience. I keep on thinking that it's like painting- the preparation is the hard part the sailing (painting) is the easy part.

Now back to work on the boat-departure day is looming! 

Shamrock