Limerick man hopes to become the first Irish person to sail non-stop around the world

Imagine being thousands of miles from land with towering waves crashing down on you and you are hoping your yacht will right itself if it capsizes — that’s the challenge 66-year-old Pat Lawless is bracing himself for as he attempts to become the first Irish person to sail around the world non-stop.

“Crossing between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn will take four months, and I will hit storms and the boat will get knocked down with the mast more than likely in the water and she may turn upside down fully, but I have the mast reinforced so she will come back up again,” said Lawless.

Born and bred in Limerick where he learned to sail on the Shannon Estuary and Lough Derg with his late father, Pat Snr, Lawless moved 35 years ago to Ballyferriter in west Kerry where he spent 20 years as a fisherman operating his own fishing vessel, netting whitefish from Rockall down to the Porcupine Bank.

“Sailing solo around the world is something I wanted to do ever since I was a child — I didn’t think it was something I would be able to do but this race came up and it was affordable and I said I would go for it — it’s something I’ve always dreamed of doing and if I didn’t, I would always regret it.”

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Sponsored by Cork-based Green Rebel, which provides support to the offshore wind sector, Lawless acquired a 36ft Saltram Saga yacht to enable him to participate in the highly challenging Golden Globe Race, which will see 18 yachts depart Les Sables-d’Olonne in France on September 4th.

The first Golden Globe Race was won by British sailor Robin Knox-Johnston in 1968 and, in keeping with the spirit of that inaugural race, Lawless and his fellow competitors must forego modern aids such as GPS and satellite phones and rely on what was available in 1968 over the 30,000 nautical miles route.

“You bring everything you need with you — you are living off tinned food, dried fruit, pasta, instant mash and vitamin tablets, and if you run out of food or anything and you need to pull in anywhere, you are out of the race,” said Lawless, who revealed that his entry in the race is costing about €240,000.

How he will cope with the isolation of being at sea for up to 11 months is still a mystery to Lawless, but he is comforted by the knowledge that he has the full support of his wife, Rita, and adult children, Tony, Helen, Catherine and Deirdre, and his 94-year-old mother, Nancy.

“They’ve all been very supportive and if they are anxious they haven’t burdened me with it. If I got back in eight months, I would have a really good chance of winning. There are a lot of good sailors in this race, but I entered to try and win — you need a bit of luck as well and hopefully I’ll get that.”