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Displaying items by tag: Galway Blazer II

“Light, backing -fluctuating” was how the late Commander Bill King described winds in the final frustrating days of his successful solo sail around the world half a century ago.

The log entry for his schooner Galway Blazer II, recorded in pencil for May 22nd, 1973, starts with a compass bearing of 70 degrees, with force three winds given as south-south-easterly and dropping.

The log entry for the schooner Galway Blazer II, recorded in pencil for May 22nd, 1973The log entry for the schooner Galway Blazer II, recorded in pencil for May 22nd, 1973

“At 0900, he notes the time zone change to British Standard Time,” Galway Bay Sailing Club commodore Johnny Shorten says.

“From midday, the winds become light, backing and fluctuating, eventually going southerly force three at midnight,” Shorten, who was provided with the log by King’s daughter, Leonie, in advance of the golden jubilee of the circumnavigation, observes.

The barometer was steady at 1014, and the total distance run was 57 nautical miles.

At this stage, the former submarine commander’s wife, author Anita Leslie, knew he was safe after a radio silence of five months after he had left Australia.

As Afloat reported yesterday, the family in Oranmore Castle, Galway, had received a telegram giving King’s position off the Bay of Biscay on May 13th, 1973 – the first communication from him since December 10th, 1972, six days after he had left Perth.

He had already made newspaper headlines, with shipping being asked to look out for the junk-rigged schooner.

It was not the first time King had been in newspapers, however. The decorated second world submarine commander had been the oldest participant in the Sunday Times Golden Globe round-world race in 1968.

The 1968 capsize off Capetown newspaper reportThe 1968 capsize off Capetown newspaper report

He was lying third in the race in the 42-ft Galway Blazer II when he was forced to pull out after a capsize off South Africa on October 31st, 1968.

Ahead of him at the time were Robin Knox-Johnston, then 29 years old in his 30ft ketch, Suhaili, and Frenchman Bernard Moitessier, aged 32, in Joshua.

Newspaper reports of this, which his family have given to the Marine Institute in Galway, include an interview King gave to Express journalist Michael Steemson - the Beaverbrook-owned newspaper group had been sponsoring him in the race.

The 1968 ashore at Capetown newspaper reportThe 1968 ashore at Capetown newspaper report

He told Steemsom by radio that the vessel rolled in the capsize while he was down below – he was within 30 seconds of going on deck and “would certainly have been swept away and drowned”, Steemsom noted later.

The schooner was dismasted, but King had mended his self-steering gear with a spare wind vane, and had hoisted his jury-rig mast.

“I regret I’ve given up my attempt to sail around the world this year, but I intend to try and get into Capetown,”King told him.

The journalist noted he sounded “tired, but not dispirited”.

In the same newspaper report of November 1968, the Express carried a comment from “Mrs King” – as in Anita Leslie - in Oranmore.

“I think it is the wise thing to do if his mast is gone,”she told the newspaper. “It’s very disappointing, but I don’t think he had any other option.”

“In a way, I am rather relieved,”she said. “No wife could be happy with the idea of her husband continuing in a race like that with a jury rig…”

The countdown continues in Afloat tomorrow…

Published in Solo Sailing

On this day half a century ago, solo sailor Commander Bill King was still becalmed on board Galway Blazer II in the final stages of his global circumnavigation.

This was his third – and first successful - attempt to sail around the world, and logs which have been released to mark the golden jubilee record that he had been “becalmed all night” on May 19th/20th,1973.

The barometer readings which he recorded in pencil (see log photo above) show a steady “1000” throughout the day.

“As night falls, the wind begins to slowly pick up,” Galway Bay Sailing Club (GBSC) commodore Johnny Shorten, who has analysed the logs, notes.

The wind backs force two to three from east-north-east to nor-nor-east, and total distance covered on May 20th is ten nautical miles.

King had been determined to complete the solo sail after the ordeal of the second world war when he was the only British Navy officer to be commander of a submarine throughout the entire conflict.

As he wrote afterwards, his world was defined “by the chart table, the periscope and the bridge, hardly daring to sleep, a most disagreeable place, smelling of diesel oil, chlorine and unwashed bodies…”

He had made his first circumnavigation attempt in 1968 as the oldest participant in The Sunday Times Golden Globe race, but capsized and was dismasted 500 miles west of Capetown, South Africa.

He made a second unsuccessful attempt in 1969. A further attempt in 1970 in the junk-rigged Galway Blazer II was interrupted by illness and hull damage, which forced him ashore in Australia.

He resumed his journey in December 1971, but a large sea creature, either a whale or shark, damaged his boat about 400 miles southwest of Freemantle. After three days carrying out emergency repairs at sea, which have been praised as a lesson in sea survival, he returned to Freemantle, "barely able to limp into port".

After he completed his circumnavigation in 1973, he was awarded the Cruising Club of America Blue Water Medal two years later.

The Golden Jubilee of Galway Blazer II's epic voyage will be marked in Galway on May 23rd, 2023, and also by the International Junk Rig Association.

Published in Solo Sailing

“Fog cleared….BECALMED” wrote the late Commander Bill King in his log this day 50 years ago, during his epic global circumnavigation in his yacht Galway Blazer II.

His logs have been made public for the first time in advance of the 50th anniversary of his global voyage.

This particular entry (above) was made, using pencil in his log, dated May 19th, 1973.

The previous day, May 18th, 1973, he had recorded Galway Blazer II's position at 49 degrees 45N 11 degrees 25W at 0704, with 9406 nautical miles on the log.

As Galway Bay Sailing Club commodore Johnny Shorten notes in an analysis of the log entries, winds started dropping at 0100 on May 19th from force three to force two.

Eventually there was no wind, and by noon of that day the schooner was becalmed in fog.

At this point, the solo sailor was unaware that he was the focus of an international maritime alert, with ships in the south Atlantic keeping a look-out for him.

The former submarine commander had sailed from Perth, Australia on December 4th, 1972 on his specially designed junk rig yacht, and his last radio contact was six days later.

He was on his third attempt to sail around the world – stating in later interviews that he had to embark on a solo sailing voyage to recover from the mental toll taken by the second world war.

King commanded three separate British navy submarines during the conflict, and was awarded seven medals.

He had been taught to sail as a boy by his grandmother, who took up golf and learned to ski at the age of 75 and was sailing into her eighties.

As he wrote in his autobiography, “The Stick and the Stars”, published in 1958, his grandmother would sit at the helm “like a little seal in a red sou’wester”, laughing at the discomfort of her passengers.

The Golden Jubilee of Galway Blazer II's successful circumnavigation will be marked in Galway on May 23rd, 2023, and at this year’s annual general meeting of the International Junk Rig Association.

Published in Galway Harbour
Tagged under

“Atlantic alert for yachtsman”, read the headline in the Daily Express 50 years ago.

The missing yachtsman was the late Commander Bill King of Galway, then 62 years old and on his latest attempt to sail around the world solo on his junk-rigged schooner, Galway Blazer II.

As the Express reported on May 18th 1973, ships in the South Atlantic had been asked to keep a lookout for the sailor, last heard of four months before.

“He would be horrified if he knew I had done this,” his wife and author, Anita Leslie, told the newspaper.

“He told me before he left Australia that I was not to worry if he did not make contact,” she said.

Commander King had sailed from Perth on December 4th, 1972 on his specially designed junk rig yacht, and his last radio contact was six days later when he said he was “very well”.

The former submarine commander had made his first attempt in 1968 to sail around the world, but capsized and lost his mast 500 miles west of Capetown, South Africa.

The Golden Jubilee of Galway Blazer II's successful circumnavigation will be marked in Galway on May 23rd, 2023, and at this year’s annual general meeting of the International Junk Rig Association.

His ship’s logs have also been made available by his daughter, Leonie King, and the anniversary committee are releasing them over the next few days in a countdown to the 50th anniversary.

Published in Solo Sailing

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) - FAQS

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are geographically defined maritime areas where human activities are managed to protect important natural or cultural resources. In addition to conserving marine species and habitats, MPAs can support maritime economic activity and reduce the effects of climate change and ocean acidification.

MPAs can be found across a range of marine habitats, from the open ocean to coastal areas, intertidal zones, bays and estuaries. Marine protected areas are defined areas where human activities are managed to protect important natural or cultural resources.

The world's first MPA is said to have been the Fort Jefferson National Monument in Florida, North America, which covered 18,850 hectares of sea and 35 hectares of coastal land. This location was designated in 1935, but the main drive for MPAs came much later. The current global movement can be traced to the first World Congress on National Parks in 1962, and initiation in 1976 of a process to deliver exclusive rights to sovereign states over waters up to 200 nautical miles out then began to provide new focus

The Rio ‘Earth Summit’ on climate change in 1992 saw a global MPA area target of 10% by the 2010 deadline. When this was not met, an “Aichi target 11” was set requiring 10% coverage by 2020. There has been repeated efforts since then to tighten up MPA requirements.

Marae Moana is a multiple-use marine protected area created on July 13th 2017 by the government of the Cook islands in the south Pacific, north- east of New Zealand. The area extends across over 1.9 million square kilometres. However, In September 2019, Jacqueline Evans, a prominent marine biologist and Goldman environmental award winner who was openly critical of the government's plans for seabed mining, was replaced as director of the park by the Cook Islands prime minister’s office. The move attracted local media criticism, as Evans was responsible for developing the Marae Moana policy and the Marae Moana Act, She had worked on raising funding for the park, expanding policy and regulations and developing a plan that designates permitted areas for industrial activities.

Criteria for identifying and selecting MPAs depends on the overall objective or direction of the programme identified by the coastal state. For example, if the objective is to safeguard ecological habitats, the criteria will emphasise habitat diversity and the unique nature of the particular area.

Permanence of MPAs can vary internationally. Some are established under legislative action or under a different regulatory mechanism to exist permanently into the future. Others are intended to last only a few months or years.

Yes, Ireland has MPA cover in about 2.13 per cent of our waters. Although much of Ireland’s marine environment is regarded as in “generally good condition”, according to an expert group report for Government published in January 2021, it says that biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are of “wide concern due to increasing pressures such as overexploitation, habitat loss, pollution, and climate change”.

The Government has set a target of 30 per cent MPA coverage by 2030, and moves are already being made in that direction. However, environmentalists are dubious, pointing out that a previous target of ten per cent by 2020 was not met.

Conservation and sustainable management of the marine environment has been mandated by a number of international agreements and legal obligations, as an expert group report to government has pointed out. There are specific requirements for area-based protection in the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), the OSPAR Convention, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

Yes, the Marine Strategy Framework directive (2008/56/EC) required member states to put measures in place to achieve or maintain good environmental status in their waters by 2020. Under the directive a coherent and representative network of MPAs had to be created by 2016.

Ireland was about halfway up the EU table in designating protected areas under existing habitats and bird directives in a comparison published by the European Commission in 2009. However, the Fair Seas campaign, an environmental coalition formed in 2022, points out that Ireland is “lagging behind “ even our closest neighbours, such as Scotland which has 37 per cent. The Fair Seas campaign wants at least 10 per cent of Irish waters to be designated as “fully protected” by 2025, and “at least” 30 per cent by 2030.

Nearly a quarter of Britain’s territorial waters are covered by MPAs, set up to protect vital ecosystems and species. However, a conservation NGO, Oceana, said that analysis of fishing vessel tracking data published in The Guardian in October 2020 found that more than 97% of British MPAs created to safeguard ocean habitats, are being dredged and bottom trawled. 

There’s the rub. Currently, there is no definition of an MPA in Irish law, and environment protections under the Wildlife Acts only apply to the foreshore.

Current protection in marine areas beyond 12 nautical miles is limited to measures taken under the EU Birds and Habitats Directives or the OSPAR Convention. This means that habitats and species that are not listed in the EU Directives, but which may be locally, nationally or internationally important, cannot currently be afforded the necessary protection

Yes. In late March 2022, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien said that the Government had begun developing “stand-alone legislation” to enable identification, designation and management of MPAs to meet Ireland’s national and international commitments.

Yes. Environmental groups are not happy, as they have pointed out that legislation on marine planning took precedence over legislation on MPAs, due to the push to develop offshore renewable energy.

No, but some activities may be banned or restricted. Extraction is the main activity affected as in oil and gas activities; mining; dumping; and bottom trawling

The Government’s expert group report noted that MPA designations are likely to have the greatest influence on the “capture fisheries, marine tourism and aquaculture sectors”. It said research suggests that the net impacts on fisheries could ultimately be either positive or negative and will depend on the type of fishery involved and a wide array of other factors.

The same report noted that marine tourism and recreation sector can substantially benefit from MPA designation. However, it said that the “magnitude of the benefits” will depend to a large extent on the location of the MPA sites within the network and the management measures put in place.

© Afloat 2022