Record journey: Bill Hatfield sails solo non-stop around the world at the age of 81

The Australian Bill Hatfield has achieved a feat: Last Saturday, the 81-year-old became the oldest person ever to complete a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation. And he did so against the prevailing wind direction: Hatfield sailed round the world in an east-west direction. Wilfried Erdmann is the only German sailor to have achieved this feat. It took him 343 days from August 2000 to July 2001.

Eight months at sea

Bill Hatfield made it all the way round in 259 days. His voyage started on 8 June 2019 off Brisbane on the east coast of Australia. He first sailed south past his home continent, then across the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and finally set a north-westerly course.

Although the World Sailing Speed Record Council does not recognise age records, the standard definition is that the equator must be crossed at least once during a circumnavigation.

Cyclones pass by

Hatfield therefore sailed to just off the Canary Islands in the North Atlantic and only turned south again there - heading for Cape Horn. After passing the infamous Cape, it took him a good 80 days to cross the Pacific before he arrived at "The Spit" on Australia's Gold Coast on the morning of 21 February (local time). Friends and family were already waiting for him at the Southport Yacht Club and greeted him with relief and euphoria.

"There was certainly a certain amount of luck involved," Bill Hatfield commented rather modestly on his performance to the Australian radio station ABC Gold Coast. "There were three cyclones on the way back, two of them quite strong. But they just passed me by."

Tins and milk powder

The former professional fisherman sailed around the world on a Northshore 38 called "L'Eau Commotion". It was his fourth attempt to circumnavigate the world single-handed and without stopping. During his attempts in 2015, 2016 and 2017, he always made it far, but sometimes had to give up due to rig damage and other times due to storms.

On board, he had to ration his supplies and lived mainly on tinned beans, tinned tuna, rice, powdered milk and water from the water maker.

Older than all the others

With his successful completion of the mammoth voyage, the sailor from Brisbane replaces Brit Jeanne Socrates as the oldest non-stop circumnavigator to date. Socrates finished her circumnavigation in Victoria on the west coast of Canada in September 2019 at the age of 77. She had sailed around the world in a west-east direction with an anchor stop in New Zealand.

Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, who as a 73-year-old sailed around the world in 212 days last year to win the Golden Globe Race, verbally tipped his hat to Bill Hatfield's achievement, but also to Jeanne Socrates, in an interview with the French sailing magazine Voiles & Voiliers. "I almost seem like a little boy next to these two great sailors," said Van Den Heede.

Bill Hatfield said after his first steps on the mainland after more than eight months at sea that he was not planning a new adventure for the time being. He is now looking forward to a fresh meal and a shower.

The return of 81-year-old solo skipper Bill Hatfield in the Australian news

Tracker by Bill Hatfield and the "L'Eau Commotion".