Tasmania’s Ken Gourlay breaks RTW record

by Al Constable & W.M. Griffiths on 5 May 2007 Tasmanian sailor Ken Gourlay started his circumnavigation off the Mersey Bluff in Bass Strait at 4.28pm on Monday, November 6, 2006.

At 0418 and 17 seconds this morning, Gourlay sailed Spirit Silver Edition across the longitude of 142 deg 41 east of Greenwich which he crossed on November 8, 2006, at 1235hrs on his outward leg completing a circumnavigation of the world solo, unassisted, non-stop.

Gourlay has unofficially broken the Australian record for circumnavigating the globe solo, non-stop and unassisted, by around 24 hours.

His son Adam Gourlay says the sailor will return to Launceston, in north Tasmania, via Devonport.

'He's loaded his latest weather files and unfortunately he has another gale ahead of him for tonight of all things,' he said.

'Just when you think he'd been let off the hook now, they've thrown another gale at him, so that will be a tricky one for him to travel through again tonight, but all going well, he should be able to travel along and hit Devonport tomorrow morning.

'He will clear customs and quarantine at Devonport around midday tomorrow and travel up the Tamar River on Monday starting at 11am from the Beauty Point Marina.'

An official welcome has been scheduled for 4 pm on Monday at Home Point in Launceston.

Gourlay has used to trip to raise about $75,000 for medical research.

From the Commodore of the Tamar Yacht Club, W.M. Griffiths:
The Tamar Yacht Club is pleased to announce that Mr Ken Gourlay officially completed his single handed unassisted circumnavigation of the World at 1405 hours and 19.94 seconds (Eastern Standard Time) on Saturday the 5th May 2007.

Although plagued with rigging problems for a large part of his journey, Mr Gourlay was successful in beating the previous best time for an Australian set by Mr Tony Mowbray two years ago.

The circumnavigation was officially completed when Mr Gourlay was observed to pass due South of Stokes Point at the Southern end of King Island.

At that time Mr Gourlay had already completed his circumnavigation and sailed the required distance of 21,600 nautical miles and indeed exceeded that required distance by more than 1,000 nautical miles.

He thereupon became both the oldest and the fastest Australian to complete a single-handed unassisted circumnavigation despite the fact that in the last five or six days of his journey he experienced mountainous seas and hurricane force winds.

The Members of the Tamar Yacht Club, along indeed with the rest of Australia, say to Ken well done, welcome home – and that we can hardly wait until you have had a bath before you start telling us in detail what you have been doing for the past five months!