Displaying items by tag: Poolbeg YBC Dublin

23rd January 2017

Lecture: "A Voyage For Madmen"- The Golden Globe Race 1968-2018

English sailor Robin Knox-Johnston on board his 32-foot (9.8-metre) boat Suhaili, in the Atlantic near the end of the 1968 Golden Globe Race. His circumnavigation of the world, was the first to be achieved single-handed and non-stop, 21st April 1969. 50 years later, Dubliner, Gregor McGuckin, and 29 other entrants plan to replicate the original race.

#Lecture - "A Voyage For Madmen"- The Golden Globe Race 1968-2018 is an illustrated lecture by Gregor McGuckin which is to take place early next month on Thursday 2 February.

The talk as part of Glenua & Friends lecture programme begins at 20:00hrs in the Poolbeg Yacht & Boat Club, Ringsend, Dublin 4. There will be an entry fee of €5 in aid of the RNLI.

In 1968, nine men set out from the UK in an attempt to be the first person to sail completely alone, non-stop and without any assistance around the world. Of the nine men that left only one, Sir Robin Knox Johnston, would make it back and into the history books.

In June 2018, 50 years on from this infamous race, 30 competitors will be setting out again from the UK in an attempt to replicate this great race by sailing alone, non-stop around the world using only technology from the 1960's. This means no GPS, satellite communications, water-makers and modern light-weight materials.

Dubliner, Gregor McGuckin, will be one of those on the start line in 2018, aiming to be the first Irishman to sail solo, completely non-stop around the world. In his illustrated presentation, Gregor will tell the story of the original race and what inspired him to compete in the "retro" 2018 edition of the Golden Globe Race.

Gregor is a professional sailor who started out in the West of Ireland instructing Windsurfing and Sailing with Glenans amongst others. Since then he has become a professional delivery skipper with over 50,000 miles including several Atlantic and an Indian Ocean crossing.

Published in Golden Globe Race

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Competitions

The most significant events for the Half Ton Class has been the annual Half Ton Cup which was sailed under the IOR rules until 1993. More recently this has been replaced with the Half Ton Classics Cup. The venue of the event moved from continent to continent with over-representation on French or British ports. In later years the event is held biennially. Initially, it was proposed to hold events in Ireland, Britain and France by rotation. However, it was the Belgians who took the ball and ran with it. The Class is now managed from Belgium.