Bad moments, but Naomi James never despaired

Press, 10 June 1978, Page 3

Bad moments, but Naomi James never despaired

JNZPA London; !| “I've seen enough of I dthe sea to last me for the! ;{next 50 years,” said the New; . Zealand’ sailing heroine,; • Naomi James, when she sail-! ed home to a tumultuous! , welcome at Dartmouth after; I her record-breaking solo.; I round-the-world voyage. I Mrs James was greeted; I with a kiss by her husband, j Rob James, himself a global |sailor, with whom she is; [shown. Mrs James took 272; ['days for the 48,000-kilometre! voyage, two days better than (the record established in 1967 by the late Sir Francis; Chichester. Mrs James on! arrival barely had time for ai (few words with her husband/ land her parents before being ’I whisked off for television j interviews and a string of Jwelcome-home receptions.' [I Not only is Mrs James the (fastest lone sailor in a conventional yacht; she is the I I only woman to have covered; ( the swiftest but most dan-1 Jgerous route round the great; 1 capes of the Southern Ocean ■ (Mrs Krystena Listiewecz Iwent through the Panama ((Canal); and her 16,000-kilo-jmetre haul from Cape Town to Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands, in the South ; Atlantic, is the longest non-

I (stop solo voyage by anyone. 1 In her nine months away, fl Mrs James spent only five /days in harbour — 60 hours /each at Cape Town and Port /Stanley. “There were some • bad, bad moments — but I ; never despaired,” Mrs James •Isaid. “The worst was when I > was off Cape Town and the 'steering gear went. That II meant bang went my at,l tempt on a non-stop round11 world voyage. “The best; ;! moment was sighting the ' Lizard (Lizard Point, Corn-! /wall) because the radio sta--1 tion tried to convince me I I was still in the Bay of Bis;;cay. They assumed that be/cause my radio signal was i; so weak; and I was getting , i rather worried about it. I /climbed up the mast, and /there was the light. I was '.overjoyed.” Mrs James said (she was never lonely. “I /don’t miss people generally. • ;Of course, I missed my hus- ■ I band — but he’s not people, liHe’s him. I had the radio ■las well, so I could speak to ;|him, but I was quite preII pared to spend nine months : without it,” she said. 1 “I came close to getting des- ■ paired when I got stuck in 1 winds and was making nd ■ headway, but that was frus--1 tration really. Then there • was the time I capsized and

had to steer the boat under: bare poles. That was very/ very unpleasant — nine hours. I wouldn’t like to do it again. I was frightened and apprehensive, but I never despaired.” Among the welcoming party was one of the world’s leading endurance sailors, Chay Blyth, who lent Mrs James the Express Crusader.' “I never had any doubt that she could do it,” Blyth said. “She has sailed with me before and I knew what she was capable of. She has silenced the cynics who said she could never do it. It was her first solo voyage, but she has come home a veter- i an.” Another tribute came from Lady Chichester, widow of Sir Francis, whose; record Mrs James broke. “It! is a wonderful achievement,” Lady Chichester said. “Records are made to be broken. It is a marvellous thing for women. She left with so little experience but! as my husband always used to say: ‘The sea is a great teacher’.” Solo yachting’s elder statesman, Sir Alec, Rose, who took 354 days when he sailed round the world in 1968, said: “Tremendous. I have the utmost admiration for Mrs James.”