Legendary women sailors: Naomi James
Sometimes life is stranger than fiction.
Who could foresee that a young girl feeling so desperately sea-sick would become the first woman to circumnavigate solo the globe. That was Naomi James - she completed her voyage on the 8th of June 1978 after 272 on sea (and at the time she improved the then record for solo circumnavigation belonging to Sir Francis Chichester by two days).
She sailed the yacht "Express Crusader", which was 16 m long. During the cruise, she had many troubles - she once lost her mast, capsized, had no radio for a couple of weeks. In fact, she was not the sole soul aboard - she had a cat called Boris, which unfortunately fell out of board.
The Queen of England made Naomi James a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1979 (this is equivalent of knightship).
The most interesting tangible contribution of Mrs. James is the book she wrote, her autobiography. It is very inspiring, especially for young sailors. It begins with the recollection how she got into sailing in the first place - accidentally, the day when she met her husband for the first time, sailing became her destiny. Unfortunately she also lost her beloved husband Rob to the blue abyss (He fell overboard and drowned near the shore of Devon. After this she quit sailing. She moved to the USA in the 90s.
The question who actually was the first lady to go around the world is a little bit controversial - Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz of Poland is considered by some people to be the first one, because she finished about 2 months earlier than Naomi (starting and ending at the Canary Islands.
Yet, Naomi James' voyage is extraordinary for many reasons - she sailed single-handedly the clipper route, east and south of the Three Great Capes. Even though her voyage was not non-stop, the overall length of her journey was 272. Plus, according to the World Sailing Speed Record Council, solo navigations have to start and end at the English Channel (which condition Naomi completed).
In 1988, Kay Cottee of Australia became the first woman to complete a non-stop single-handed circumnavigation.
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