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Bernard Moitessier (10 April 1925 Hanoi, Vietnam – 16 June 1994 near Paris, France) was a renowned French yachtsman and author of books about his voyages and sailing.

In 1968, Moitessier participated in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, a race to become the first sailor to circumnavigate the earth alone and non-stop. Although Moitessier stood a very good chance of winning, he abandoned his effort seven months into the race, and continued on to Polynesia rather than returning to England. The decision to abandon while in the lead is instructive of Moitessier's character--although driven and competitive, he passed up a chance at instant fame and a record, and sailed on for three more months. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston went on to both win the race and become the first man to circumnavigate the globe alone without stopping. After his 37,000-mile (60,000 kilometre) voyage, Moitessier wrote The Long Way, a classic sailing narrative.

For the 1968 race, Moitessier sailed a 12 metre steel-hulled ketch, the Joshua. He had her built in 1961, and named her after Joshua Slocum, the first sailor to circumnavigate the globe alone (over a three year period with numerous stops). Joshua was lost in a cyclone in 1982.

Moitessier wrote several books about his voyages and the sea, and was an environmental activist against nuclear weapons in the South Pacific. He died of cancer in 1994.

Partial list of works

• le Vagabond des mers du sud (1960)
• Cap Horne á la voile: 14216 milles sans escale (Cape Horn: The Logical Route: 14,216 Miles Without Port of Call, 1967)
• Longue route; seul entre mers et ciels (The Long Way, 1971)
• Tamata et l'alliance (Tamata and the Alliance, 1993)

Quotes

"You do not ask a tame seagull why it needs to disappear from time to time toward the open sea. It goes, that's all."

"I am a citizen of the most beautiful nation on earth. A nation whose laws are harsh yet simple, a nation that never cheats, which is immense and without borders, where life is lived in the present. In this limitless nation, this nation of wind, light, and peace, there is no other ruler besides the sea."

Links

Moitessier: The Logical Sea Tramp. Short biography.

• 1925 births
• 1994 deaths
• French sailboat racers
• French writers
• Single-handed sailors