“It’ll crawl!” — Thomas Fogarty’s illustration from Joshua Slocum’s Sailing Alone Around the World. Joshua Slocum was the first person to sail alone around the world on Spray.Why they thought it would crawl
Sven Yrvind was beaten by his teachers, locked up for desertion and learned the value of books from a psychopath. Then he built a boat in his mother’s basement and sailed into legend.
Click on the player to listen to Sven’s story.
Also on Travel Grit: Hugo Vihlen crossed the Atlantic in the smallest boat ever to make the crossing. Hear his story.
At 62, Hugo Vihlen sailed across the Atlantic in Father’s Day—a boat just 5 feet 4 inches long. He hand-steered through a hurricane, ate quarter rations, and lost a kidney somewhere between Newfoundland and England. His record still stands 30+ years later.
Listen now.
Hugo Vihlen’s Atlantic crossing routes: April Fool (1968, 6-foot boat, 85 days) and Father’s Day (1993, 5’4″ boat, 105 days). Map from Hugo’s book, The Stormy Voyage of Father’s Day.Transcript
The Spray. From a photograph taken in Australian waters. From Sailing Alone Around the World by Captain Joshua Slocum, The Century Co., New York, 1901More on the spray
