Singlehanded round the world the old way

Experience what it was like at Schroder's London International Boat Show

With the Vendee Globe currently underway National Boat Shows have felt it appropriate to have one of forebears of the modern Open 60 on display at Schroder’s London Boat Show 2005.

Here visitors will have the chance to see what life was like for the pioneers of singlehanded round the world racing such as Sir Francis Chichester and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston when they made the first trips back in the 1960s. They’ll be able to make a direct comparison between old and new thanks to the Boat Show feature ‘Completing the Circle - A History of Round the World Yachting’.

One of the stars of the show will be yacht Lively Lady pictured here that Sir Alec Rose sailed around the world singlehanded in a time of 354 days (318 days at sea, including stops in Melbourne and Bluff, New Zealand) over 1967-8. Lively Lady will be alongside all the modern yachts on the Hydropool Marina in the Royal Victoria Dock outside the Excel exhibition centre.

Visitors to the show are invited to go on board and see for themselves just how hard it must have been - there are few concessions to single-handed sailing such as you might find on board today’s high performance racing yachts.