Cruising World - June 2018

june/july 2018

cruisingworld.com

34

W

alking down the

dock at Sydney’s

Cruising Yacht

Club of Australia, I nervously

approached the pale-blue

yacht, noting its pronounced

tumblehome that harked back

to another era. At fi rst glance,

Perie Banou II was a fairly ordi-

nary-looking IOR-style design,

but the logos emblazoned

along its topsides and the heft

of its deck gear confi rmed that

it was no ordinary Sparkman

& Stephens 39. Its skipper, Jon

Sanders, had just called into

Sydney on one of the last stops

of his remarkable 10 th circum-

navigation before crossing the

Australian Bight to his home

waters of Perth. As I stepped

aboard, he laughed and said,

“This will be my 47th crossing

of the bight.”

Singlehanders have a

reputation for awkwardness

or downright grumpiness

as I remember with the

late Tristan Jones and John

Ridgeway, but the tall and

spritely Sanders immediately

disarmed me with his easy

charm and friendly manner.

His piercing blue eyes, lightly

tanned face and thick thatch

of hair made it hard to believe

he’s 78 years old and a survivor

of open heart surgery only two

years ago.

“I never get out of puff on

the boat, but when I walked

up that hill behind the yacht

club I did get a little tired,”

he said. The only difference

seen in earlier pictures that he

sent me — which he took on a

previous voyage by self-timer

while becalmed off Cape Horn

— is his dark hair. Sanders has

rounded the Horn fi ve times

while completing both east

and west circumnavigations.

On this journey, he avoided

the Horn, setting off from

Perth in October 2016 and

later transiting the Panama

Canal. His modesty belies a

determined appetite for ocean

voyaging, which includes

several outstanding records,

the greatest being his solo,

nonstop triple circumnaviga-

tion from 1986 to 1987. This

remains the longest distance

— 71,023 nautical miles — ever

Among Australian sailor Jon Sanders’ 10 circumnavigations is the record for the longest

unassisted solo voyage ever — three times around the world in 678 days.

BY KEVIN GREEN

It was hard to believe that the spritely 78-year-old Jon Sanders, on a break in Sydney in the

midst of his 10th spin around the planet, underwent open heart surgery just two years ago.

AROUND and

AROUND

Sailor Profile

Some singlehanded sailors have a

reputation for grumpiness, but not the

tall, charming, friendly Jon Sanders.

KEVIN GREEN