Clare Francis | |
---|---|
Born | Thames Ditton, England | 17 April 1946
Education | Royal Ballet School University College London |
Occupation | writer |
Spouse | Jaques Robert Redon (m. 1977;div. 1986) |
Children | 1 |
Website | https://www.clarefrancis.com/ |
Clare Mary Francis MBE (born 17 April 1946) is a British novelist who in her first career as a yachtswoman has twice sailed across the Atlantic on her own. She was the first woman to captain a successful boat on the Whitbread Around the World race.
Francis was born in Thames Ditton in Surrey and spent summer holidays on the Isle of Wight, where she learned to sail. She was educated at the Royal Ballet School, then gained a degree in economics at University College London. [1]
In 1973, after working in marketing for three years, she took leave to sail singlehandedly across the Atlantic in the Nicholson 32 Gulliver G, [2] departing from Falmouth in Cornwall and arriving, 37 days later, at Newport, Rhode Island. [3] [4] Following this, she received sponsorship to take part in the 1974 Round Britain Race with Eve Bonham, again in Gulliver G. [2] They finished in third place. In 1975, she took part in the Azores and Back and the L'Aurore singlehanded races; and, in 1976, she competed in the Observer Singlehanded Transatlantic Race in her Ohlson 38 yacht Robertson's Golly, finishing thirteenth overall and setting a new women's single-handed transatlantic record. She also took part in that year's L'Aurore singlehanded race. During 1977 and 1978, she became the first woman to skipper a yacht in the Whitbread Round the World Race, finishing in fifth place in her Swan 65 ADC Accutrac. [5]
Francis married a draughtsman named Jacques Redon in 1977. He became a crew member on her yacht. They divorced in 1986. The marriage produced one child. [1] Francis suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome and is a trustee of the UK charity Action for ME. [6]
After writing three accounts of her sailing experiences, she turned to fiction and is the author of eight best-sellers. [7]
Yacht racing is a sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course marked by buoys or other fixed navigational devices or racing longer distances across open water from point-to-point. It can involve a series of races with buoy racing or multiple legs when point-to-point racing.
Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthur is a retired English sailor, from Whatstandwell near Matlock in Derbyshire, now based in Cowes, Isle of Wight.
Jolie Brise is a gaff-rigged pilot cutter built and launched by the Albert Paumelle Yard in Le Havre in 1913 to a design by Alexandre Pâris. After a short career as a pilot boat, owing to steam replacing sail, she became a fishing boat, a racing yacht and a sail training vessel.
Gipsy Moth IV is a 53 ft (16 m) ketch that Sir Francis Chichester commissioned specifically to sail single-handed around the globe, racing against the times set by the clipper ships of the 19th century.
The Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race (STAR) is an east-to-west yacht race across the North Atlantic. When inaugurated in 1960, it was the first single-handed ocean yacht race; it is run from Plymouth in England to Newport, Rhode Island in the United States, and has generally been held on a four yearly basis.
The sport and practice of single-handed sailing or solo sailing is sailing with only one crewmember. The term usually refers to ocean and long-distance sailing and is used in competitive sailing and among cruisers.
Éric Marcel Guy Tabarly was a French Navy officer and yachtsman. He developed a passion for offshore racing very early on and won several ocean races such as the Ostar in 1964 and 1976, ending English domination in this specialty. Several of his wins broke long standing records. He owed his successes to his exceptional mastery of sailing and of each one of his boats, to both physical and mental stamina and, in some cases, to technological improvements built into his boats. Through his victories, Tabarly inspired an entire generation of ocean racers and contributed to the development of nautical activities in France.
The clipper route was derived from the Brouwer Route and was sailed by clipper ships between Europe and the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. The route, devised by the Dutch navigator Hendrik Brouwer in 1611, reduced the time of a voyage between The Netherlands and Java, in the Dutch East Indies, from almost 12 months to about six months, compared to the previous Arab and Portuguese monsoon route.
Denise "Dee" Caffari MBE is a British sailor, and in 2006 became the first woman to sail single-handedly and non-stop around the world "the wrong way"; westward against the prevailing winds and currents. In February 2009, Caffari completed the Vendée Globe race and set a new record to become the first woman to sail solo, non-stop, around the world in both directions.
Robertson's is a British brand of marmalades and fruit preserves that was founded by James Robertson in 1864. The firm was run as a partnership until 1903, when it was incorporated as a limited company – James Robertson & Sons, Preserve Manufacturers, Limited. It produces the "Golden Shred" marmalade, a recipe created in 1874 and registered as a trademark in 1886, among other products including "Silver Shred" a lemon marmalade launched in 1909; "Mincemeat", a traditional Scottish style mincemeat made from raisins, peel, sugar and beef suet; and "Bramble Jelly", a traditional Scottish style jam, strained of its seeds. Robertson's received their first Royal Warrant from King George V in 1933.
The 1977–78 Whitbread Round the World Race was the second edition of the around-the-world sailing event Whitbread Round the World Race. On 27 August 1977, 15 boats started out from Portsmouth for the Whitbread Round the World Race under a moderate Northerly breeze and light patchy rain. Most of the second Whitbread Race was dominated by a tight race between Swan 65 King's Legend and Flyer, the latter eventually winning the race. All 15 boats finished the 26,780-nautical-mile (49,600 km) race. Great Britain II was winner on elapsed time for the second race in succession. This race was notable for the fact that Clare Francis became the first woman to skipper a Whitbread entry, the Swan 65 ADC Accutrac.
Joanna "Asia" Pajkowska is a Polish sailor, with a rank of captain, a sea life guard, she sailed over 250,000 nautical miles, often in singlehanded or in two-handed races. She is one of the best-known sailors in Poland and one of the most experienced ocean sailors in the world. In 2018 she completed, as the first Polish female sailor, singlehanded non-stop circumnavigation.
Cornelis "Conny" van Rietschoten was a Dutch yacht skipper who was the only skipper to win the Whitbread Round the World Race twice.
Pen Duick is the name best known for a series of ocean racing yachts sailed by French yachtsman Eric Tabarly. Meaning coal tit in Breton it was the name Tabarly's father gave to the 1898 Fife gaff cutter he purchased, and that his son learned to sail. He thereafter used the name for a series of successful racing yachts through the '60s and '70s.
The first around the world sailing record for circumnavigation of the world can be attributed to the surviving crew of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, including the last captain Juan Sebastián Elcano who completed their journey in 1522.
Marc Pajot is a French sailor. He has been a crew member on Éric Tabarly’s boats.
The Ohlson 38 is a 38-foot (12 m) cruiser racer sailing yacht designed by Swedish naval architect Einar Ohlson. About 128 of these boats have been built at various boat yards in Europe. The Ohlson 38 is known for its speed, which has been proven in a number of races.
The Swan 65 is a large fibreglass fin+keeled masthead ketch- or sloop-rigged sailing yacht design, manufactured by Nautor's Swan. It was introduced as the new flagship of Nautor in 1973. At the time of its launch it was the largest glass reinforced plastic (GRP) constructed yacht in the market and because of its excellent racing history, one of the most famous Swan models ever built. The first 65-footers were delivered to owners in 1973, and the production continued until 1989 with 41 hulls built in total.
Maiden is a 2018 British documentary written and directed by Alex Holmes about Tracy Edwards and the crew of the ocean-racing yacht Maiden as they compete as the first all-woman crew in the 1989–1990 Whitbread Round the World Race. The film was produced by Victoria Gregory's New Black Films.
Camper and Nicholson was a yacht design and manufacturing company based in Gosport, England, for over two hundred years, constructing many significant vessels, such as Gipsy Moth IV and Prince Philip's yacht Bloodhound. Its customers included Thomas Sopwith, William Kissam Vanderbilt II and George Spencer-Churchill, 6th Duke of Marlborough. Its yachts competed in The America's Cup, The Fastnet Race, the Olympics, the Ocean Race and many other yacht races. It also built a number of small warships, notably during the two World Wars, and some as late as the 1950s.