Thursday, October 19, 2006

"You only get one life, so paint it in bright colours."

BBC Sports is running a piece today on 67-year-old British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston - who in 1969 became the first person to sail non-stop around the world alone - going to sea again this coming Sunday to compete in the Velux 5 Oceans solo round-the-world yacht race. The article inlcudes a quote from Sir Robin (the title of this post) that speaks to the spirt of this indomitable ocean voyager. The singularity of ones life and the importance of the choices one makes with it are thoughts worth paying attention to when coming from sailors who cross oceans alone.

The three-leg Velux 5 includes stops in Fremantle, Australia, and Norfolk, USA.

"You only get one life, so paint it in bright colours" - Sir Robin Knox-Johnston

2 comments:

Tillerman said...

What a guy. Read a lot about him in the British press when we were in the UK earlier this week.

His wife died recently and there was some speculation that (a) he wouldn't be doing this race if she were still alive and (b) in his current mental state he may be prepared to take more risk than he should. Having said that he is an incredible sailor and I am sure the whole world wishes him a safe voyage.

Zephyr (Sail) said...

Thanks Tillerman - I agree!