Happy 81st Birthday, Jon Sanders!

Jon Sanders © Stephen Davis

Jon Sanders celebrates his 81st birthday today. He is the oldest person in our history to have solo circumnavigated planet Earth.

I am not sure whether that record applies only to solo circumnavigation by yacht or maybe that applies to any means - balloon, plane, powerboat or whatever.

After three months at St Maarten due to COVID-19 movement restriction, Jon sailed to Panama to avoid the onset of the hurricane season in the Caribbean. Another spell of quarantine before he transited the Canal and departed Panama on 15 July. He is currently sailing non-stop to Tahiti. COVID-91 dictates 14 days quarantine in Tahiti. Thereafter we will assess options.

At present when Jon hits the East coast of Australia if he is allowed to enter he will likely face 14 days quarantine (despite being in isolation at sea for weeks beforehand) and an uncertain future as he sails South along the East coast of Australia. Quarantine again in NSW (if he is allowed to enter), again in Victoria, SA and again in WA. Of course this continues to prolong the voyage and cost associated with port and immigration fees.

So when will Jon complete his 11th circumnavigation of the globe? We really have no idea. At this point with continued quarantine restrictions in each port Jon could very well be the substitute attraction for the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race as he sails south from Sydney. Then again he could sail non-stop from Tahiti to Fremantle with reprovisioning at sea if necessary.

Nevertheless, Jon continues to take water samples at 11 am each day. The last batch of samples was despatched to Curtin University from St Maarten. The next batch will be despatched from Tahiti. The sample collection process has been faultless.

Jon's latest voyage update was received this morning which you can find with his regular voyage updates and tracker that shows his position and boat speed at www.jonsanders.com.

This article has been provided by the courtesy of Ocean Cruising Club.