The First and the Fastest

This is the story of two single-handed non-stop round-the-world voyages: Robin Knox-Johnston's in 1968/69 and Ellen MacArthur's in 2004/05. Although there were similarities – both voyages started and finished in Falmouth, for instance, and neither sailor was in a conventional race – the story is mainly one of contrasts, mostly as a consequence of thirty-six years of technological developments. The...