Another sailing memory was brought to mind by the story of Sir Francis Chichester and ‘Gypsy Moth’ in the last ‘Echo’. This later achievement was not fêted in the same way however, and may be almost forgotten due to the more recent record-breaking exploits of Clare Francis, Ellen McCarthy and others in the modern super yachts.

David Cowper was a chartered surveyor and experienced sailor from Newcastle who took time out from his work in 1978 to make a series of voyages in his 12,5 metre yacht ‘Ocean Bound’. This aluminium-skinned craft was based on the design used for Sir Edward Heath’s ‘Morning Cloud’, and built by Wolter Huisman in Holland before being fitted out at Whisstocks Boatyard at Woodbridge in Suffolk. The fitting of a Perkins 4.108 marine engine at that time was a choice driven as much by exchange-rate benefit as by the good reputation of the product! It had to be reliable to run the boat’s electrics and for getting in and out of harbours.

David’s first voyage was a solo circumnavigation of the world in 1979, following the more favoured West-to-East direction. He set out in 1979 and completed the journey on 23^rd March 1980 after 224 days at sea – covering 29,420 miles at an average of 131.046 miles/day, entering the record books for the highest average speed and beating Sir Francis’s time which had stood since 1967 by two full days. This was the 67^th single-handed circumnavigation and the 17^th by a Briton: as with the subsequent voyage it was unsponsored.

Not content with this achievement, David decided to celebrate his 40^th birthday by repeating the voyage, but this time travelling East-to-West, reckoned to be the more difficult direction due to the adverse trade winds. After thorough preparation, which included routine servicing for the engine, he left Plymouth on September 22^nd 1981, heading for Port Stanley –8,000 miles away. Relying on personal navigation skills and sun-shots, rather than more complex systems, this second voyage took 237 days, of which only 16 were spent in port between the various legs. The length this time was31,350 miles, for a record 141.85 miles/day and the first ever solo E-to-W voyage.

Apart form routine servicing the 4.108 ran trouble-free for over 800 hours on the two trips, and finished the epic in showroom condition. David commented: ‘If something is doing what you want, you should leave it well alone!’

In later years, David Cowper made further epic journeys, including a single-handed transit of the Northwest passage and another solo circumnavigation of the world in a powered craft. Quite a record for a non-swimmer prone to seasickness!

David Boulton February 2006.