Robin and one of his cats on the ‘Dove’ sailboat ‘
In 1965, Robin Lee Graham, just 16, left alone from San Pedro, California, with the aim of becoming the youngest person around the world in a sailboat.
And five years and practically 50,000 kilometers later, it managed. Aboard the Dovea small 7 -meter sailboat, faced storms, loneliness, mechanical problems and personal crises – but also found love, fame and later peace away from the sea, recently recalled.
Robin grew up sailing with his father in the waters of the Pacific. He was still young when the family moved to Hawaii, where he deepened his passion for the candle. In 1965, at the age of 15, he starred in his First dangerous adventure: He departed from Honolulu with two friends, without warning his parents in a small aluminum vessel toward Lanai. A storm almost made them disappear, but eventually arrived at their destination and contacted the authorities.
The father did not punish him: instead he offered him a larger sailboat, which he would follow with him on this historic trip we now remember.
On July 27, 1965, the young man jetted from California with two cats as a company. He stopped at Hawaii before heading to Fanning Island, and then tried to reach paid paid in American Samoa. But a storm broke the Dove mast and forced him to change the route to Apia, the capital of Samoa, where he managed to repair the boat. Locked by the Hurricanes season, he only resumed a trip in May 1966.
Passed the Tonga, Fiji and other points of the South Pacific. In Fiji met Ratrorree pactsan American young woman who was also traveling the world. They fell in love, and although Graham continues to navigate alone, Patti began to find him in several ports along his route.
After a year of Pacific navigation, Graham arrived in Darwin, Australia, May 1967. Two weeks later, he reached the coconut islands, but shortly after the match faced another violent storm. Dove was again without mast and Robin had to navigate more than 4,000 kilometers to Mauricia Island, using a makeshift mast.
After the repairs, he went to South Africa, where he met Patti again. Nine months spent exploring the country and decided to marry. As Robin was still smaller, they needed the written permission of parents. They married before he left for the Atlantic crossing, bound for South America.
The most lonely crossing
On July 13, 1968, Graham left Cape Town to start its longest route until then. He briefly stopped on the island of ascension and, after six weeks, arrived in Guyana. Then he went to Barbados, where he was waiting for him a new sailboat, the return of Dove. In January he crossed the Panama Channel with the Patti Company and continued to the Galapagos.
Finally, on April 30, 1970, almost five years after the match, Robin Lee Graham anchored in Long Beach, California. Thus, he became the youngest person ever to circulate the globe alone in a sailboat-a record that remained for 17 years.
Robin’s prowess captured the attention of the world. It was the cover of National Geographic three times, received sponsorships and inspired books and movies. Patti was seven months pregnant when they arrived in the United States and shortly afterwards they became parents.
Graham would however end by falling into a deep depression. A year after the return, Patti found him with a gun in his hand. He managed to avoid a tragedy and together decided to look for a new life away from the sea.
The couple traveled by van across the country until they found their new Porto Seguro in the state of Montana, near Lake Flathead. There they built a life away from the nautical routines, but without forgetting the past.
