The Fraught Story of Donald Crowhurst

On July 10, 1969, a cargo ship in the mid-Atlantic found a small white trimaran sailing along with nobody aboard. The logbooks were on the table. The case for the ship’s clock was there, and the clock was gone.

The boat belonged to Donald Crowhurst, who was supposed to be weeks from winning the first race to sail alone around the world without stopping. Kris tells Jake the story of the 1968 Golden Globe from inside the cabin: the contract that would bankrupt him if he quit, the house he’d put up to back it, and eight months alone at sea with what he’d started.

Fifty-seven years later, an Oregon man who learned to sail on YouTube is out there right now, headed around the world alone with his cat.

Follow Oliver Widger and Phoenix:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sailing_with_phoenix

Further reading: The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst by Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall

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