Jon Sanders AO OBE (born 1939 [1] in Perth, Western Australia) is an Australian yachtsman.
Jon Sanders AO OBE (born 1939 [1] in Perth, Western Australia) is an Australian yachtsman.
Born to Colsell Sanders, a professor at the University of Western Australia, and Dorothy Lucie Sanders, a well-known romance novelist, [2] Jonathan William Sanders grew up in Perth and in his teens and twenties, worked with shearing teams for 17 years. Initially he was a wool classer/shearing contractor, shearing team overseer and later owner of his own shearing team. He is characterised by his well-built stature and his shy and reserved demeanour. Jon is a close friend and mentor of fellow Western Australian solo-sailor David Dicks.
Jon Sanders was the first man to circumnavigate Antarctica solo, circling the continent twice in 1981 – 1982. For this accomplishment, Gate 17 of the new Antarctica Cup Racetrack has been named after him, with sector 17 named after the S&S 34 monohull Perie Banou, the yacht he had used during the circumnavigation. [3] Sanders Gate is positioned mid-way round the Indian Ocean zone; the gate is close to where Sanders suffered a 180-degree knockdown. During the voyage, he passed south of the three great capes: Horn, Good Hope and Leeuwin, before rounding Cape Horn a second time. He turned north to Plymouth, UK and returning south around Good Hope and returning to Fremantle. [4]
This voyage was recognised in the Guinness Book of Records through the following records:
In 1986 Sanders set out again from Fremantle, and this time completed three solo non-stop circumnavigations aboard his 47-foot (14 m) yacht Parry Endeavour, rounding Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago just north of the Equator each time to ensure that his course covered both hemispheres.
Bob Williams, the Chairman of Antarctica Cup Management and the Antarctica Cup Ocean Race, says: "What Jon achieved during his double circumnavigation in 1981/82 was truly remarkable, given the technology available at the time and size of his yacht. I have had the greatest respect for Jon ever since watching him set off in a full gale off Plymouth at the start of the Parmelia Race in 1979 and was very pleased to be a contributing sponsor for his next yacht Parry Endeavour in 1986/87. His achievement is an inspiration to all long distance ocean racing sailors and we are very happy to honour Jon now by naming this Gate 17 Sanders Gate and Sector 17 after his yacht Perie Banou" [5]
On 2 November 2016, Sanders set out from Carnarvon, Western Australia on his tenth circumnavigation, which he completed on 20 December 2017. [6]
On the 31 January 2021 Sanders completed his eleventh circumnavigation, which makes the 81 year old one of the oldest persons to sail singlehanded around the world. [7]
Parry Endeavour is now in the WA Maritime Museum, in Fremantle, Western Australia.
Sanders was made an Officer in the Order of the British Empire for sailing in the 1983 New Year's Honours. [8] He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 1989 Australia Day Honours for "service to sailing and to marine science". [9]
Sanders was inducted into the Single-Handed Sailor's Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, USA in 1991.
Sanders' records include: (From S-HSoF website)
A road in Osborne Park, Western Australia bears his name in honour of his sailing accomplishments.
In 2018 Sanders was inducted to the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame. [11]
Kay Cottee is an Australian sailor, who was the first woman to perform a single-handed, non-stop and unassisted circumnavigation of the world. She performed this feat in 1988 in her 37 feet (11 m) yacht Blackmores First Lady, taking 189 days.
Sir William Robert Patrick Knox-Johnston is a British sailor. In 1969, he became the first person to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe. Along with Sir Peter Blake, he won the second Jules Verne Trophy, for which they were also named the ISAF Yachtsman of the Year award. In 2007, at the age of 67, he set a record as the oldest yachtsman to complete a round the world solo voyage in the Velux 5 Oceans Race.
Minoru Saitō(斉藤 実, born January 7, 1934) is a Japanese solo yachtsman and one of the most notable veteran ocean sailboat racers in the world. He became the oldest person at age 77 to do a solo circumnavigation of the globe. He has successfully made eight solo circumnavigations.
David Griffiths Dicks, OAM, CitWA, is an Australian sailor. He became the youngest person to sail non-stop and solo around the world. In February 1996, at the age of 17, he set out from Fremantle, Western Australia in his family's 10m S&S 34 sloop named 'Seaflight'. During his 9-month circumnavigation, he faced many challenges such as numerous knockdowns, bad weather, equipment failure, and food poisoning. Because of accepting a bolt to fix his rig near the Falkland Islands, his circumnavigation was not considered unassisted. He returned safely to Fremantle in November 1996 amid great fanfare, including a ticker-tape parade and being given the 'keys' to Perth City.
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.
The clipper route was the traditional route derived from the Brouwer Route and sailed by clipper ships between Europe and the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. The route ran from west to east through the Southern Ocean, to make use of the strong westerly winds of the Roaring Forties. Many ships and sailors were lost in the heavy conditions along the route, particularly at Cape Horn, which the clippers had to round on their return to Europe.
The Royal Perth Yacht Club (RPYC) is a yacht club in Perth, Western Australia. It is the third oldest yacht club in Australia after the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria and the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. It is based at the Crawley Marina on Pelican Point and at the Fremantle Annexe in Challenger Harbour.
David Henry Lewis was a sailor, adventurer, doctor, and scholar of Polynesian culture. He is best known for his studies on the traditional systems of navigation used by the Pacific Islanders. His studies, published in the book We, the Navigators, made these navigational methods known to a wide audience and helped to inspire a revival of traditional voyaging methods in the South Pacific.
STS Young Endeavour is an Australian tall ship. Built by Brooke Marine, Young Endeavour was given to Australia by the British government in 1988, as a gift to celebrate Australian Bicentenary. Although operated and maintained by the Royal Australian Navy, Young Endeavour delivers up to twenty youth development sail training voyages to young Australians aged 16 – 23 each year. Navy personnel staff the ship and the Young Endeavour Youth Scheme coordinate the voyage program.
Michael Perham is an English sailor and adventurer from Potters Bar. In 2007 at the age of 14 he became the youngest person in the world to successfully sail across the Atlantic Ocean single-handedly, beating the record set in 2003 by British sailor Seb Clover. In 2009 at the age of 17 he became the youngest person to sail around the world solo. Perham's second record surpassed that of Zac Sunderland, an older 17-year-old American, set only six weeks earlier. Following this, Perham's adventures included driving around the world and racing in many offshore races, most notably the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in 2011 where his team placed second in class.
Rolland Leslie "Rolly" Tasker AM was an Australian sailor who won Australia's first Olympic sailing medal, at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. He and Malcolm (Huck) Scott won a silver medal in their 12m2 Sharpie after the New Zealander Peter Mander failed to disqualify himself and Rolly had not officially protested. In 1958 Tasker won the Flying Dutchman World Championship.
Jessica Watson is an Australian sailor who was awarded the Order of Australia Medal after attempting a solo circumnavigation at the age of 16. Although her voyage did not meet the distance criterion of 21,600 nautical miles (40,000 km) for a circumnavigation, Watson was nevertheless named the 2011 Young Australian of the Year and awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2012 for "...service to sailing and to youth through the achievement of sailing solo and unassisted around the world [sic], and as a role model for young Australians". She currently resides in Melbourne.
The first around the world sailing record for circumnavigation of the world was Juan Sebastián Elcano and the remaining members of Ferdinand Magellan's crew who completed their journey in 1522. The first solo record was set by Joshua Slocum in the Spray (1898).
S&S 34 is a cruising and racing fibreglass monohull sailboat class. It was based on a design by Olin Stephens from Sparkman and Stephens after a commission from British yachtsman Michael Winfield.
The Parmelia Race, Plymouth to Perth, 1979 was a feature event of the Western Australian 150th Anniversary Celebrations, 1979. Competitors were invited to recreate the 1829 voyage of the merchant barque Parmelia bringing the first British settlers to the Swan River Colony. The race was organised by the Royal Perth Yacht Club of Western Australia and sponsored by The Parmelia Hilton International, Perth
Solo is an Australian ex-ocean racing yacht, winning over 80 races during her eight-year racing career, all on the east coast of Australia. Solo has circumnavigated the world three times, circumnavigated Australia twice and was charted for two Antarctic expeditions. All of these achievements plus many more have earned her the title "The lady of the sea".
Keith White was a British yachtsman. In October 2015 he set out on a non-stop solo circumnavigation of the world in his yacht, the Marathon, in part to raise funds for charity. White, who was disabled, lost the use of his left arm in 1991 due to a road traffic accident. A sailor since he was 16 years old, he achieved some significant firsts with his circumnavigation of the UK and Ireland, and his circuit of the Atlantic.
Navika Sagar Parikrama was a circumnavigation of the globe by female officers of the Indian Navy. The six-member all-woman team circumnavigated and managed the whole operation in their first-ever global journey, on INSV Tarini. The voyage lasted 254 days, from 10 September 2017 to 21 May 2018, with only 4 port calls, in Fremantle, Australia; Lyttelton, New Zealand; Port Stanley, Falkland Islands; and Cape Town, South Africa, and a forced technical halt at Port Louis, Mauritius, crossing the equator twice and passing through 3 oceans. The voyage was originally set to start on September 5, 2017, but a 5-day delay happened so that Nirmala Sitharaman, who was recently appointed defense minister, could flag off the crew. The boat returned to INS Mandovi in Goa after travelling 21,600 nautical miles. The voyage was showcased in Tarini, a documentary jointly produced by National Geographic and the Indian Navy, premiering at an event at Lady Shri Ram College on 8 March to mark International Women's Day. The voyage prompted National Geographic to start the "Girls Who Sailed" campaign, to tell tales of "grit and determination".
