Sir Robin Knox-Johnston CBE RD and bar |
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Robin Knox-Johnston in 2013
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Born |
William Robert Patrick Knox-Johnston 17 March 1939 Putney, London, England |
Nationality | British |
Occupation | Sailor |
Known for | First single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe |
Website | robinknox-johnston |
Sir William Robert Patrick "Robin" Knox-Johnston, CBE, RD and bar (born 17 March 1939) is an English sailor. In 1969 he became 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.
For this he was awarded with Blake the ISAF Yachtsman of the Year award. In 2006 he became at 67 the oldest yachtsman to complete a round the world solo voyage in the Velux 5 Oceans Race.
Knox-Johnston was born in Putney in London and was educated at the Berkhamsted boys' school. From 1957 to 1965 he served in the Merchant Navy and the Royal Naval Reserve. In 1965 he sailed his William Atkins design ketch Suhaili from Bombay to England.
Due to a lack of money he had to interrupt his voyage for work in South Africa and was only able to complete it in 1967. In 1968 he was one of nine sailors who attempted to achieve the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world in the Sunday Times's Golden Globe race. He was the third sailor to start the race, and the only one to complete the voyage.
In 1962 he married Suzanne (Sue), whom he had known from the age of eight; they had one daughter, Sara, who was born in Bombay whilst he was at sea. His wife left him when he proposed taking her and the child back to England in his new boat Suhaili, and they were divorced in 1967. However, in 1972 they remarried and now have five grandchildren, Florence, Oscar, Xavier, Ralph and Valentine. She died in 2003.