Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 1, 2006
The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race was a non-stop, single-handed, round-the-world yacht race, held in 1968–1969. It was the first round-the-world yacht race in any format. The Golden Globe Race was sponsored by the British Sunday Times newspaper and was designed to capitalise on a number of individual round-the-world voyages which were already being planned by various sailors; for this reason, there were no qualification requirements, and competitors were permitted to start at any time between June 1 and October 31 1968. Nine sailors started the race; four retired before leaving the Atlantic Ocean. Of the five remaining, Chay Blyth, who had set off with absolutely no sailing experience, sailed past the Cape of Good Hope before retiring, Nigel Tetley sank as he approached the finishing line, Donald Crowhurst, who attempted to fake a round-the-world voyage, went insane and then committed suicide, and Bernard Moitessier, who rejected the philosophy behind a commercialised competition, abandoned the race while in a strong position to win, kept sailing non-stop, and stopped in Tahiti after circling the globe one and a half times. Only one of the nine sailors finished the race: Robin Knox-Johnston became the first person to sail single-handed and non-stop around the world. Knox-Johnston was awarded both prizes and later donated the £5,000 to a fund supporting Crowhurst's family. (More...)
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