Ian Herbert-Jones at The Cruising Association

Report by John Hasselgren

With a talk entitled “Going Solo”, Ian Herbert-Jones entertained the audience at the Small Craft Group's sponsored evening at the Cruising Association’s headquarters. Giving a brief history, Ian said that he had served in the British Army, which is where he learnt to sail. Following a career in technology, Ian then became interested in the Golden Globe Race, described as the World’s longest and loneliest race, especially due to its lack of modern technology.

As Round the World yacht racing developed it became more and more a matter of money, expensive large vessels with enormous shore teams supporting the single or multiple crew on board. The Golden Globe harks back to the original single-handed Round the World Race won by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston in 1969.

Founded by Don McIntyre in 2018, the 50th Anniversary of the original single-handed, round-the-world race, the rules stipulate that the vessels and their equipment must be similar to that available in 1969. Yachts must be between 32 ft and 35 ft overall (9.75 m and 10.97 m), designed before 1988 and have a long keel with the rudder attached to the trailing edge. Modern technology is not allowed, so navigation comes back to the use of a sextant; no outside help may be obtained during the race, and autopilots are banned.

The course runs from Les Sables-d’Olonne, 30 thousand miles non-stop around the world via the Great Capes and back to Les Sables-d’Olonne.

Ian signed up for the race in 2018 and needed to find a suitable boat. Puffin was the result; a Tradewind 35 class yacht, she had been around the world in the Race once before. Following the purchase in France, she was then sailed back to Wales for preparation.

Despite being a single-handed race, Ian stressed the need for a large team, mainly for the preparation. Apart from his family – Ian said it was selfish of him to go – he was greatly assisted by Jade Edwards-Leaney, the rigger at HJ Sailing, who became the manager of the project and, as Ian said, trained both the boat and himself. The refit was a three-year project. The rig was changed to have three headsails, with all running rigging being led aft to the cockpit. The companionway to the accommodation was fitted with a sealable, watertight door. With no autopilot being allowed, a wind-vane self-steering gear had to be fitted, but because a regular weekly radio call to Don McIntyyre was required, a battery charger was allowed. A two-burner alcohol stove was fitted, and safety straps were attached to the bunk. Despite the race being non-stop round the world there are gates through which the yachts are expected to pass. These are located at the major turning points close to the Great Capes. At these, the competitors are met by a RIB for the collection of “films” and letters home; they may also have letters and messages read to them.

Prior to the race, Ian had to complete a 4,000-mile qualifying passage, undertake a Sea Survival course, a First Aid course and be instructed on astro-navigation. In the final days before the start, Ian’s wife Sally helped prepare 300 day-packs of food, and 300 litres of water was taken on board, with the expectation of topping this up with rainwater.

Two weeks before the Race the boats gathered at Les Sables-d’Olonne. All the Boats lined up and it was apparent that only sixteen of those who signed up were going to start. There were large crowds viewing the boats. Suddenly it was time to go!

On the first stage from Les Sables-d’Olonne to Lanzarote there was a Biscay gale for four or five days. This saw the first retirement from the event. The next leg from Lanzarote to Cape Town, some 6,000 nm, involved crossing the Doldrums. Sailing to cross the Equator at 28˚ West and avoid the Azores high, Ian and Puffin found light airs and calms that seemed to have drifted into the South East Trades. Because of this Ian was late at Cape Town; he could have missed the gate and accepted a penalty, but decided to go into Table Bay. Here, he dropped his sails, flew the correct flags and a RIB came out to meet him. His family thought that he might drop out of the race here. Ian didn’t but four others did. After thirty minutes Ian sailed on, heading for Hobart 6,000 nautical miles away.

This leg involved crossing the Aghulas Current into the Southern Indian Ocean and getting into the Roaring Forties. For safety reasons competitors in the race should not go below 45˚ South. The next gate was at Storm Bay in Tasmania. Before arriving there Ian had missed family birthdays and Christmas, although he did decorate Puffin for the latter. On arrival at Storm Bay on Day 135 of his voyage, only two weeks ahead of the cut-off date for leaving towards Cape Horn (another safety rule), Puffin had to secure to a mooring for 24 hours to simulate Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s time anchored during his first race.

The leg from Hobart to Cape Horn involved dropping below New Zealand, then moving north again to stay above 45˚ South. Gales seemed to arrive every three days. But, as Ian quoted, “Nobody said it would be easy”. Race headquarters occasionally issued warnings of severe weather to the competitors. Ian had just made landfall when he was told of a gale approaching the continental shelf around Cape Horn. Putting out a drogue – a long line with several small parachutes along it – Ian found his self-steering gear beginning to fail. Despite unsuccessful attempts to repair the gear, Ian found in the morning that the drogue had wrapped around the self-steering rudder, causing it to fracture. Ian had to hand steer round Cape Horn. In came another weather warning advising everyone to get off the Continental Shelf and into deeper water. Managing to get Puffin into the Beagle Channel, Ian anchored north of Picton Island, where SV Jonathan, which was already there, advised and assisted with the repair of the damage. Because of this outside assistance, Puffin had to drop out of the main race and go into the Chichester Class.

Departing after some 3 to 4 days at anchor, Ian started on the passage home. Rounding Staten Island (Isla de los Estados) he realised that he was still below 45˚ south and winter was coming on. For the first few days the Falklands Current helped get Puffin to the North, but a week of headwinds pushed her east for about 1,000 nm until she was somewhere about 400 to 500 nm North of South Georgia. That was when Race Control came in with a storm warning for the South Atlantic. Ian was advised to sail South to keep out of the worst of the storm, but it still managed to overtake him.

With a tiny scrap of foresail, Ian was having to help the self-steering gear. Puffin was knocked down a couple of times and the waterproof hatch to the accommodation was leaking. On going below to inform Race Control of his situation, Ian is sure the boat capsized, perhaps was even rolled right over. The mast had broken and there was two feet of water inside Puffin and Ian had injured his shoulder and back. As he said, he went into survival mode, moving from Low Tech to High Tech: he triggered his EPIRB. The lockers were checked for leaks and he discovered that all the water had entered via one broken hatch. Deploying his drogue, Ian tried to cut away the broken mast to prevent it from damaging the hull. Working on deck was almost impossible and Ian was saved from being washed overboard by his safety harness. When he contacted Race Control via a satellite phone, Ian found that they were concerned because he had missed a scheduled routine contact. Of the ships in relative proximity, two were unable to assist due to the weather, and a new Fishery Control Ship being sent to the Falklands was 30 hours away, but a Taiwanese fishing vessel, the Zi Da Wang, was on its way and was closer. Hearing what he assumed to be Mandarin on the radio, the fishing vessel suddenly appeared. The skipper went beam on to create a lee and she drifted down onto Puffin in what Ian described as a controlled crash with the 70-metre steel ship. By now the seas were down to about 2 to 4 metres and a line was thrown to Puffin on the third go. With two lines attached and 46 faces looking down, a pilot ladder was lowered; Ian took two steps up it before he was grabbed and hauled over the rail. Once he was safely on board, the lines were cut, and Puffin left to her fate.

On board the Zi Da Wang, Ian found himself to be of interest to the crew, who were on their way home with a hold full of squid. They treated him kindly, offering him clothes and cigarettes, and relied on unusually named Davey Jones, who had the most English, to look after him. Ian’s comment was that these fishermen, whom he suspected had very little, were happy to share everything with him. For the first 24 hours Ian explored all over the ship. He ate his meals with the different watches and in ten days they reached Cape Town. Here, said Ian, the world of publicity hit him. 

The Golden Globe race was nearing its end. Ian was able to fly back to Les Sables-d’Olonne, arriving just in time to welcome the winner, Kirsten Neuschäfer, as she arrived.

The tracker on Puffin failed 24 hours after Ian’s rescue, so, sadly, it is assumed that she sank.

Following questions from the audience, Paul Bryans, Chairman of the Small Craft Group, thanked Ian for his fascinating talk, and the Cruising Association for their hospitality in hosting us.