Is it a sailor’s ultimate dream to sail around the world? For some, it’s about speed and breaking records. For others, it’s the chance to leave everyday life behind and spend years exploring the world’s oceans at their own pace.
Would you want to circumnavigate the globe in the fastest possible time? Or are you the more laid-back sailor who would treat an around-the-world voyage as one very long adventure?
Whatever your approach, sailing around the world is no mean feat. Over the centuries, sailors have completed extraordinary circumnavigations, setting records and changing the history of sailing along the way.
Who Was the First Person to Sail Around the World?
Ask who first sailed around the world and Ferdinand Magellan will probably be the name that springs to mind. However, although Magellan organised and led the expedition, he never completed the voyage.
The expedition left Spain in 1519 with a fleet of five ships and around 270 men. Magellan was killed in the Philippines in 1521 and it was Juan Sebastián Elcano who eventually captained the remaining ship, Victoria, back to Spain in 1522.
Just 18 members of the original expedition returned aboard Victoria, completing the first recorded circumnavigation of the globe.
Interestingly, many of the crew may not even have realised what they were signing up for. Magellan’s plans were kept deliberately vague, partly because he feared that revealing the true scale of the expedition would make it harder to recruit sailors.
The First Solo Sail Around the World
The first person to complete a solo circumnavigation was Joshua Slocum.
Slocum left Boston on 24 April 1895 aboard Spray, the 37-foot sailing boat he had rebuilt himself. More than three years later, on 27 June 1898, he arrived in Newport, Rhode Island, having become the first person known to sail single-handed around the world.
His account of the voyage, Sailing Alone Around the World, went on to become a classic of sailing and adventure literature.
Robin Knox-Johnston and the First Solo Non-Stop Circumnavigation
British sailor Sir Robin Knox-Johnston took round-the-world sailing to another level when he became the first person to sail solo and non-stop around the world.
He set off from Falmouth in June 1968 as one of nine competitors in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. When he returned 312 days later aboard his 32-foot yacht Suhaili, he was the only entrant to have completed the race.
His achievement established one of the great milestones in offshore sailing.
Ellen MacArthur’s Record-Breaking Voyage
Another landmark came in 2005 when British sailor Dame Ellen MacArthur completed a solo, non-stop circumnavigation in just 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds aboard the trimaran B&Q/Castorama.
At the time, her extraordinary voyage made her the fastest person to sail solo around the world.
It remains one of the most memorable achievements in British sailing history.
Racing Around the World
For some sailors, simply completing a circumnavigation isn’t enough – the challenge is to do it as quickly as possible.
The Vendée Globe is one of the toughest examples. Held every four years, it is a solo, non-stop, unassisted round-the-world yacht race sailed in IMOCA 60 monohulls.
When this article was first published in 2013, François Gabart had just won the 2012–13 Vendée Globe in a record-breaking 78 days, 2 hours and 16 minutes. At 29, he also became the youngest skipper ever to win the race.
Since then, the record has fallen dramatically. Armel Le Cléac’h completed the 2016–17 race in just over 74 days, before Charlie Dalin set a remarkable new record in the 2024–25 Vendée Globe, completing his circumnavigation in 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes and 49 seconds.
That’s more than 13 days faster than Gabart’s record-setting voyage just 12 years earlier – a striking demonstration of how much offshore racing yachts and technology have advanced.
You can discover more about the history, sailors and extraordinary challenges of the Vendée Globe.
Or Sail Around the World at a More Leisurely Pace
Of course, circumnavigation doesn’t have to involve racing against the clock.
For many sailors, abandoning the rat race and sailing off into the sunset is the real dream.
That’s exactly what Bill and Laurel Cooper did. Bill left his City career, the couple sold their home and in 1976 they sailed away aboard a boat they had built themselves.
Their adventure lasted an extraordinary 36 years. During their life afloat they travelled around 100,000 nautical miles at sea as well as thousands of miles along canals and rivers, visiting countries around the world.
It’s a very different sort of sailing achievement – but perhaps one that’s easier to daydream about.
Could You Sail Around the World?
For many sailors with enough time and the right boat, the ideal circumnavigation wouldn’t involve records at all.
It would mean sailing at your own pace, stopping wherever you wanted and staying for as long as you liked. A planned few weeks in the Caribbean might turn into a few months – or perhaps somewhere along the way you simply decide not to hurry home.
Sailing around the world requires experience, preparation, time and a considerable sense of adventure. But the sailors who have done it prove there is no single way to circumnavigate the globe.
You can race around it in a matter of weeks or explore it over many years.
About Lovesail
If your dream is to sail around the world with a partner, friend or crew, you might just find the right person to share the adventure with on Lovesail.