Mike Golding and Alex Thomson were among the first to greet Sir Robin Knox-Johnston when he finished third on the first leg of the round-the-world VELUX 5 OCEANS race today in Fremantle.
Sir Robin came across the finish line in Saga Insurance at 2057 local time 1157 GMT to complete a 12,000 mile first leg which he admitted was at times enjoyable but often frustrating. He finished 24 days after Bernard Stamm, a margin that disappointed him.
Having missed Christmas in Fremantle and not only England’s third test match but he arrived in Australia on the day that the team he follows passionately had slumped to a fourth successive defeat.
"What Robin has done is amazing. It is a big achievement, not in terms of the speed he got here but in the fact that he got here at all. He had very little build up time with the boat, not just in preparation but in getting to grips with how these boats work, so it is a real credit to him that he is here in such good shape. It was by no means an easy passage for any of us and he got a real pounding at the start as well, so to have gone on from there it didn’t get much better. He spent a long time fighting with gear failure but has arrived here looking fit and as ebullient as ever." Mike reported today: "It is hard to imagine how tough it will have been for him. These boats are hard to work and he was clearly uncomfortable with some of the technology, but if you break it down to the basics as he did then it is still a sailboat. He didn’t have the experience which these boats and so has learned things the hard way, if you like. Things like his batten failures should not happen again as I am sure that the guys here will make sure he leaves with a set of battens that will withstand anything. But at the end of the day, things like pilot failures are just something we learn to deal with, down to time and experience. I am certainly sure that if I had left with one autopilot then it would not have worked for me, so maybe he is a lucky bugger."
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"He certainly looks well. I know the TV guys were out there gagging for him to be looking gnarly and haggard, but he had cleaned up and the boat looked in quite good shape. I went out not quite knowing what to expect but everything seemed to be in good order, considering. Now he has the guys here to do a good job and get him back out there I am sure he will be capable of a competitive performance in the next leg."
Sir Robin finishes the leg in third place behind Bernard Stamm (SUI) and Kojiro Shiraishi (JPN), after Golding and Alex Thomson were forced to retire.
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After spending Christmas at sea, Knox-Johnston was met by hundreds of supporters and well wishers on the dockside, as well as his shore team and many friends from the Western Australia region. The first person to ever circumnavigate the globe alone in 1969, received a rapturous welcome. He has sailed a total of 12,411 miles since leaving Bilbao, averaging a speed of 11 knots, and was looking forward to steak and chips, washed down with a few beers.
Speaking as he disembarked SAGA INSURANCE, he commented, "The boat seems OK; the main issue is the mainsail as I have no power due to the broken battens. It will be fine once I have decent battens. There are jobs to do, but I am happy with SAGA INSURANCE. This was a shakedown leg for me to learn about the boat. I've done that now, so everyone had better watch out on the next leg."
Mike welcomed Sir Robin alongside local America's Cup legend John Longley. Longley concluded, "This is an achievement similar to Sir Edmund Hilary climbing up Everest thirty seven years after he first made history."
The fleet will set off from Fremantle on leg two at 15:00 (local time) on 14 January, following a media sailing day on 7 January. The boats will be on display at the race zone at Fremantle Sailing Club from 6 to 14 January.