Round the world sailor Sir Robin Knox- Johnston tells Alice Wright why the ipod generation is missing out on life.

Few people can say they have sailed around the world single-handedly and non-stop. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston was not only the first person to do it, in 1969, he also repeated the feat four years ago. 

 

But the sailor’s adventurous spirit still isn’t satisfied. Although he says he won’t be sailing around the world on his own again, he still sees many challenges lying ahead. 

“At this moment in time I’m not sitting here thinking, God, what’s my next expedition going to be? I don’t work like that,” he says. “What I’d like is to go and do some sailing and explore some places I haven’t been to so far. That’s I would enjoy doing. I’m a very curious person.”

 

For someone who went to sea with the Merchant Navy in 1958 and has sailed for work and pleasure ever since, I can’t imagine there are many places left to visit. But Sir Robin, 72, reels off a list of potential destinations.

“I’ve never been to Alaska,” he says. “I’d like to go and look at that. I’d like to revisit the east coast of Africa. I’d like to go and explore the Amazon. I’d like to explore more of Greenland. There’s loads of place I want to look at.”

Thirst for adventure

I get the impression that Sir Robin’s boundless energy and thirst for adventure would make him an interesting, but rather exhausting companion. And he admits that his wife, Suzanne, whom he married in 1962 was “very long suffering” when it came to his sailing. 

Although Suzanne, who died in 2003, shared her husband’s interest to a certain extent, even crossing the Atlantic with him a couple of times, it also took him away from her for long stretches; he set off on his first attempt at sailing non-stop round the world from Falmouth on June 14 1968 and didn’t return to the Cornish town until April the following year. 

“I think she knew I needed to go to sea from time to time,” he explains. “It was nothing to do with our relationship, I just needed to get away at sea, not away from her. Which is why I was always pleased if she came with me.”

He adds that he would try to make sure he wasn’t away for too long, but says Suzanne was used to his long absences at sea from his time in the Merchant Navy, when he would be gone for a year or so. 

 

“I don’t feel much sympathy for test cricketers who say they’ve been away from home for two months and they’ve got to give up playing for England,” he says.“We should entertain ourselves”.

Sir Robin is clearly of the breed of person that just gets on with things and expects others to do the same. He says that he enjoys taking his daughter, Sara, and five grandchildren sailing, but only on the condition that everyone helps get the boat ready. 

 

“It isn’t a freebie. I feel that if you want something then you’ve got to put a bit of work in for it.”

 

And he has little time for people who spend their free time plugged into an ipod or sprawled in front of a TV or laptop. 

 

"Entertain ourselves" 

“I think they’re missing out on life. They’re sitting down, watching rubbish, not doing anything. They’re sitting back and letting someone else entertain them instead of going out and entertaining themselves.

“And this dependence on other people to entertain you, I think it’s the wrong way to go about things. I think we should try and entertain ourselves. 

“I’m normally doing something. I don’t watch television a lot. I might have the radio on in the background just to listen in but I don’t often sit and flop down in front of the television. I’ve got things I want to get on with.”

He describes himself as a very social person, who enjoys shooting and occasionally “wielding a cricket bat”. 

But as he gets older he finds himself feeling more and more comfortable at sea. When he was younger, he says on a Saturday night he used to feel maybe he should be on shore, doing the things other young men were doing. 

Now, though, he’s at a point where “I’m very happy at sea on my own”.

“I don’t see it as escaping from the world,” he explains. “I do, however, feel that it gives me greater freedom. That’s not exactly a contradiction. When I get out there I am free. I’m in charge of things. I’m no longer dependent on anyone else. It’s up to me to make decisions and I like that.”

 

 

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston is founder of Clipper Ventures, which organises the Velux 5 Oceans race. To follow the race, visit the website below.