Good wind to John Guzzwell who inspired the sailing world on “Trekka”

John Guzzwell, a British navigator and adventurer who completed an unprecedented round-the-world voyage aboard “Trekka,” a self-built 20-foot wooden yawl, in 1955 at the age of 29, has died at 94. British sailor and writer John Guzzwell, a true icon of world sailing who inspired entire generations of sailors and sea enthusiasts, passed away in late August at the age of 94.
Guzzwell departed peacefully at his home in the Pacific Northwest near Seattle, Washington, USA, with his beloved wife Dorothy by his side.
A courageous adventurer and pioneer in wooden boat building, John Guzzwell in 1955, at the age of 25, set sail solo from Victoria, British Columbia (Canada) and completed an unprecedented circumnavigation of the world aboard “Trekka,” a wooden yawl just 20 feet long that he built with his own hands.
At the time, “Trekka” was the smallest boat to have circumnavigated the world.
When Guzzwell returned home to British Columbia on September 12, 1959, after 33,000 miles, he was given a triumphant reception by more than 3,000 people.

The masterpiece of an extraordinary sailing voyage

The account of that extraordinary 4-year voyage later became a book, “Trekka around the World” (Mursia publisher), which is still a great classic of seafaring literature.
Indeed, Guzzwell proved that a small boat, if well conceived, designed and built, can go anywhere in absolute safety.
In the book, dangers, hardships and storms are treated with detachment in a few essential words, while the small happenings of the day, chance encounters, friendships, and the beauty of the places visited, are recounted with extreme candor.
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, another legendary Briton who made history with his nonstop, solo sailings around the globe when he won the Golden Globe Race in 1969, wanted to pay tribute to John Guzzwell himself: “I had the pleasure of meeting John twice. He was a large, quiet, shy man with whom it was easy to chat for hours. His knowledge of boat building and design was worth any introduction. His travels with ‘Trekka’ inspired many of us, including me who was 16 years old. I am proud to have known him and shared time with him.”

Fogar’s stumble and the case of literary “plagiarism”

In the mid-1970s, the book “Trekka around the world” in Italy was even the protagonist of a publishing case.
Between November 1973 and December 1974, Ambrogio Fogar with the 11-meter sloop Surprise made the circumnavigation of the globe from East to West (against the headwinds), entering, first among Italians, the elite of the great solo navigators like Slocum and Chichester.
In 1975 he gave to the presses for Rizzoli the book “400 days around the world,” where he narrated his adventure.
In a real scoop, however, the Giornale della Vela revealed a deception: Fogar’s book featured a chapter almost entirely copied from John Guzzwell’s volume.
At the time, Fogar admitted plagiarism, but claimed the authenticity of his feat.

Redemption after the German concentration camp

Born and raised in Britain’s Channel Islands, John Guzzwell had grown up around boats, the son of a sea captain.
Soon after the start of World War II, his family was interned in a Nazi camp, and during those years of imprisonment, his father taught him astronomical navigation to help pass the time and keep his mind active.
It was during that time that young John began to fantasize about sailing freely on a long solo voyage.
After the war Guzzwell settled first in South Africa and then, in 1953, in Victoria, British Columbia, where he built the boat in which he would sail around the world.
Subsequent to that incredible feat John became a pioneer in cold stamping construction.
During his illustrious career he worked on diverse projects ranging from the 20-meter “Lively” designed by Farr to the 48-meter sailing schooner “Tole Mour.”

And to this day, “trekka” still inspires regattas and ocean classes

In between projects, John also did several cruises with his family and in 1994 participated in the Pan Pacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Osaka, returning via the Aleutians and mainland Alaska.
First in 1998 and then in 2002 at the age of 70, he participated in the TransPac solo race to Hawaii aboard “Endangered Species,” a pint-sized Open 60 that he personally designed and built.
Recently Don McIntyre, founder of the Golden Globe Race, also created a new class of boats inspired by “Trekka” and decided to organize an event that would pay tribute to John Guzzwell’s great adventure: the McIntyre Mini Globe Race (MGR), which will set sail in February 2025 and will see a fleet of 5.8-meter Globe Class 580 boats sail around the world, following much the same route as “Trekka.” David Ingiosi