We can enter our Cals in a ROUND THE WORLD RACE!!

But only if we have WORK HARDENED BRONZE RETRO-BALLS!! ( I read the biography of Donald Crowhurst's life and voyage, later made into a feature film more recently. My copy was literally chewed up by a dock rat, but still legible) 2018 GOLDEN GLOBE — WOW! I was born in 1968, so it caught me a bit off guard when I learned that the 2018 Golden Globe Race will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1968 race that is still being talked about today. But the reminder that I’m on the eve of the half-century mark hasn’t diminished my enthusiasm. In case you’ve been living under a rock, or were born recently, or new to the sailing world, the 1968 race spawned legends and legendary stories. The race was more than a race, it was a challenge. Nobody at the time had ever sailed solo, non-stop, unassisted around the world. Anybody who finished the race would be the first to do so. Was it even possible? The world, Great Britain in particular, was buzzing about Sir Francis Chichester, knighted the year prior before cheering thousands for becoming the first to sail solo around the world via the clipper route. But a race in which solo sailors did it non-stop, without help, wow. Throw in constant media coverage of the race underway and a purse...everyone’s interest was piqued. Now a legend in the sailing world, Bernard Moitessier famously turned away from the fame and fortune lying at the finish line and continued around, “To save my soul.” Robin Knox Johnston finished first and was himself knighted (in fact, he was the only finisher). Donald Crowhurst never left the Atlantic Ocean, yet faked position reports and drove himself to madness at the prospect of being discovered. He eventually stepped off the transom, his body never recovered, a wife and children left behind. Nigel Tetley lost his boat after circumnavigating, but before finishing, all because he was pushing her too hard in a bid to beat the phantom threat of Crowhurst’s progress. All of the remaining racers threw in the towel at some point along the route. Now, in a world where long-distance ocean racing has become the exclusive domain of yachts emblazoned with corporate logos and piloted by professional skippers, along comes the 2018 Golden Globe Race. Only 30 racers can enter and all are restricted to sailing boats designed prior to 1988. No vessel can carry aboard any of the following: GPS, radar, chart plotters and electronic charts, electronic wind instruments, electronic log, mobile phone, iPhone, iPod, Kindle or any computer-based device, CD players, electronic watches/clocks, digital video or still cameras, electronics of any kind, satellite equipment of any kind, digital binoculars, pocket calculators, water-maker, carbon fiber, Spectra, or any high-tech materials. In short, with the exception of designated safety gear (such as satellite phone and tracking systems and modern AGM batteries), if it wasn’t aboard Robin Knox Johnston’s boat at the start of the 1968 race, it cannot be aboard a boat at the start of the 2018 race. These are good old boats! And anyone who can pony up the entry fee and has access to a qualifying boat, can race. I can’t wait to follow along. - GOB editor, Michael Robertson Learn more at: http://goldenglob http://goldengloberace.com/

In short, with the exception of designated safety gear (such as satellite phone and tracking systems and modern AGM batteries), if it wasn’t aboard Robin Knox Johnston’s boat at the start of the 1968 race, it cannot be aboard a boat at the start of the 2018 race. > > These are good old boats! And anyone who can pony up the entry fee > and has access to a qualifying boat, can race. I can’t wait to > follow along. - GOB editor, Michael Robertson > Maybe at the advent of nylon and dacron sails, the cotton-sail sailors were shaking their heads about technology ruining the sport, too, but for me, the more exotic and expensive an activity becomes, the less interesting it is. It's fun to see video images of the hydrofoil sailboats, but very few of us can think of ourselves doing it. There was a time when the America's Cup yachts were just larger and newer versions of what the average sailor sailed. Now we've reached a point at which the highest-tech boats simply don't have much relationship to our own boats. The value in sailing, for me, is in the challenge of making the boat go, doing it safely, and dealing with challenges in the form of weather, equipment issues, and navigation. It's a human activity. You haul on the halyard, you trim the sails, you make decisions about course and sail shape and a dozen other things. It's about being self-sufficient, creative, durable, and a bit brave. I grin when I see ads for 80-foot "day sailors" for ultra-rich people. These days, they're often outfitted with powered furling sails, powered winches, powered navigation. That's "going for a sailboat ride," it's not sailing. So bravo to the organizers of a race that gets back to the focus on sailing and human-powered activity, whether it's human muscle power or human brain power. Chris Campbell