Great Sailors of 2009

 With all the BS continuing to go on about the America's Cup, it was good to be able to enjoy some amazing accomplishments in sailing by some exceptional people, most of them ordinary people who have overcome huge adversity without the aid of lawyers. Robin Knox-Johnston still symbolizes much of what is good in sailing. This April was the 40th anniversary of RKJ's victory in the Golden Globe, being the first man to sail single-handed non-stop around the world. When he did it, he was unknown, had little support and was sailing a fairly small and relatively old teak boat. I want to thank everyone who participated in making April 23rd Robin Knox-Johnston Day in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Golden Globe. 35 bloggers, 160 Facebookers and a lot of Twits congratulated the great man. Geoff Holt is still out there now, attempting to be the first quadriplegic to sail the Atlantic single-handed. The guy is a force of positivity! I was fortunate enough to hear two great sailors speak about their life this year. Back in March, Gary Jobson gave a talk at my club and recounted some wonderful sailing tales. I also had the opportunity to hear Rich Wilson talk about his completion of the Vendee single-handed round the world race. He had the least means going into the race and was probably not favored to complete the race but he did and was one of of 11 out of 30 to do so. For me, one of the greatest personalities of the year is Sam Davies who seemed to sail the Vendee Globe with a permanent smile on her face. This chick rocks! Some of the most notable feats in sailing this year, seemed to be mostly about teenagers. With one teen beating another's record within a space of months. Clearly there's more to come here. We lost some great sailors as well. The most moving was the passing of Nick Scandone, the paralympic saillor who died from ALS a few months after winning the gold in Qindao. He held on until he won that medal. Roy Disney  left a huge mark on the sport and Joe Rouse celebrates his life in pictures here. The great Walter Cronkite was an awesome sailor and his close buddy, Mike Ashford, movingly recounted sailing with Walter at his funeral. It's worth watching.