Jack Laurence

Why?

Well, nine sailors started the race.

Four retired before leaving the Atlantic Ocean.

Of the five remaining, Che Blythe, who had set off with absolutely no sailing experience, would sail past the Cape of Good Hope before retiring.

Nigel Tetley would sink with 1,100 nautical miles to go, or 2,000 kilometres.

At the time, they may not have been 100% sure which way they would go, but what they did know was that their goal was to head to New Zealand and then onto the white sandy beaches of Australia.

And in the lead, Donald Crowhurst, who, in desperation, attempted to fake a round-the-world voyage to avoid financial ruin, would begin to show signs of mental illness and would, in fact, sadly, commit suicide.

And from Australia, it would be time to steer the ship back towards home.

Bernard Mortissier, who rejected the philosophy behind a commercial competition, in fact, abandoned the race while in a strong position to win and would keep sailing non-stop until he reached Tahiti after circling the globe one and a half times.

Going via Egypt, where they'd take the boat out of the water and truck it to the Mediterranean and sail back towards the UK.

This would leave Robin Knox Johnston as the only entrant to complete the race and thus becoming the first man to sail single-handed and non-stop around the world.

At this stage, I'm assuming there's no trepidation about sailing anymore.

Now known as Sir Robin Knox Johnston, Douglas says he was the inspiration that sparked this adventure.

There's no, you know, you just choose a route and say, oh, this will be a fun one.

We'll do this and away we go.

And there was, you know, any fears of issues I would imagine has sort of subsided and you were just enjoying the trip.

The family may have had no concerns about weather and a lot of confidence in their strong craft, but little did they know what she'd be tested against.

And it wasn't strong waves or tornadoes, but nature would have something else in store for them.

Douglas says as soon as word made its way around the farming community about their idea, unsurprisingly, people thought it was madness, including Douglas's godparents, who would in fact make him an offer.

Chapter 5.