For the Record

A Baltimore sailor plots a solo round-the-world sprint.

by MacDuff Perkins

The first recorded circumnavigation of the globe was completed in 1522 by Ferdinand Magellan. The fleet, which sailed under the Spanish flag, originally consisted of five ships and roughly 270 sailors. The journey took three years, in which time four of the five ships sank and 90 percent of the sailors perished. Magellan himself was killed in battle in the Philippines.

In the centuries since, things have changed considerably. The circumnavigation record has slipped to just over 40 days, a feat performed by Frenchman Francis Joyon in 2017. Joyon sailed with a crew of five. That year another Frenchman, Francois Gabart, completed the goal in just over 42 days, and Gabart was solo for his journey.

Today, another sailor is gearing up to attempt his own record. Captain Donald Lawson is a professional sailor out of Baltimore, Md., with over 20 years of experience in both racing and passagemaking. When the Ocean Racing Multihull Association-class trimaran Groupama 2 became available, Lawson decided to get serious about the endeavor.

“We have a very fast boat,” Lawson says of the trimaran, which he renamed Defiant. “She does not need to be pushed. She is meant to take off right from anchor.” Most recently, Defiant acted as a training platform for the 33rd America’s Cup and set a record for the 2017 Transpac Race between California and Hawaii. She also holds the record for the Transat Jacque Vabre race, which covers the historical coffee trade route between Brazil and France. The boat will need to average 17 knots in order to beat this record. 