Then he was so full of excitement. In October 1968, amateur yachtsman Donald Crowhurst sets out on a round-the-world race. Location: Seaton, Devon. It is a sad story indeed, and it's pitiful that his wife and children had to be subjected to such shame. When I was about 16, I read the Tomalin-Hall book. The Mercy is a biographical drama film about Donald Crowhurst (Colin Firth), a middle-aged business and family man with a dream: To win the 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, which means circumnavigating the world, completely alone in a sailboat, without making any stops on land. All at once the mystery yachtsman became the record-breaking lone sailor. Simon Crowhurst remembers that he and his brothers used to trace their fathers progress by sticking pins into a map of the world. You gradually get yourself into a situation that you cant get out of. Nic Roeg [the film director] used to buy me dinner regularly. Knox-Johnston was almost home, but Tetley looked most likely to be the winner of the prize for the fastest circumnavigation. Donald Charles Alfred Crowhurst (1932 - July 1969) was a British businessman and amateur sailor who disappeared while competing in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, a single-handed, round-the-world yacht race.Soon after he started the race his ship began taking on water and he wrote that it would probably sink in heavy seas. So I was not to worry about them. A replica of the 41ft Teignmouth Electron used in the filming of The Mercy. Despite being greeted and logged by local officials, this rule-breaking stop remained undetected. Simon Crowhurst believes that this is part of the lasting appeal of his fathers story: one man against the elements, a man on the edge of oblivion, risking all. That was a bizarre experience. Crowhurst made a desultory figure scrambling about the deck of his trimaran as he set off on his great adventure only to turn around within a few minutes to untangle his jib and staysail halyards, which were snagged at the top of the mast. Realising he had no chance of the 5,000 top prize he falsified his log books to make it appear he had rounded Cape Hope and Cape Horn. We knew something was very badly wrong, Simon recalls. Move freely in a PFD that offers a super low profile, form-fitting soft foam, and sleek neoprene side and shoulder panels. I think she decided, "I am going to do this. He feels the curse of the past. It was quite a feat of seamanship, and only someone of Crowhursts brilliance could have carried it off convincingly. This was the kind of hogwash in which Rodney Hallworth specialised. In fact, his cleverness was his problem. Compared with the field, Crowhurst was hopelessly inexperienced, at best a Boys Own hero, at worst a fantasist. The most common electrical outlets are 15-amp duplex receptacles 15-amp outlets are designed to accept standard plugs for most small appliances and lamps.. Donald Crowhurst's wife and kids saw him off on Oct. 31, 1968. Born in India in 1932, he went to Loughborough College after the war, until family nances and the death of his father forced him to cut his education short. That was all. Crowhurst's wife Clare performed the traditional champagne ceremony. A competitor in the Sunday Times solo round-the world race, Crowhurst was at one point considered likely to win in record time. I think some of that is the unravelling of his mind because of all those months of isolation at sea, and under the burden of these decisions that hes made about cheating. ", Her fellow producer, Jonny Persey, added: "I recognise [Crowhurst's story] could arouse feelings of anger. The French film Les Quarantiemes Rugissants, based on the Crowhurst story, was released in 1982, while at least five plays have picked up the theme, as well as the 1998 opera Ravenshead. Even with the trade winds of the mid-Atlantic, he was making painfully slow progress south and had barely crossed the equator. Performance & security by Cloudflare. Several websites published reports of a high-profile British feature starring Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz, and a few surreptitious photos of the cast filming off Teignmouth had been posted online. We got on extremely well, but purely on an intellectual level. What you see is a man under enormous pressure, says Marsh. Look after your mother, he whispered to his son, a strangely prophetic command. Some say Donald Crowhurst could have been talked out of his tragic attempt at deception on a round-the-world yacht race. oregon dmv registration renewal form. When the yachtsman Donald Crowhurst set out from Teignmouth, Devon, on 31 October 1968, as the last of nine competitors to enter the Sunday Times Golden Globe race for solo, non-stop circumnavigation, he might have had many possible goals in mind. The fascinating, troubling story of Donald Crowhurst - who disappeared in 1968 while competing in a round-the-world yacht contest - has attracted much movie . Clearly, the pattern of agony you see in the logbooks suggests that he really is on a path to self-destruction, and thats one very obvious way of interpreting what happens. unmanned in July 1969. It charts his descent into madness and mysterious fate somewhere in the freezing South Atlantic where his boat was found drifting and empty in 1969. He had the gift of the gab and, once persuaded of something, could talk anyone into believing him. Electron. On its first sea trial, from East Anglia to the West Country, Crowhursts yacht, the Teignmouth Electron, underperformed so badly in the Channel that a three-day trip took two weeks. Photograph: Eric Tall/Getty Images. Over the course of a week, he wrote a 25,000-word manifesto that described how mankind had achieved such an advanced evolutionary state that it could now merge with the cosmos. The company got off to a good start, selling a simple but well-designed radio direction finder which Crowhurst dubbed the Navicator. . I dont think theyre particularly ready to welcome another telling of this tale, and who can blame them? says Marsh. He would say the most amazing things, but then no matter how crazy they seemed, hed be clever and ingenious enough to make them come true. What drives the Golden Globe skippers, How extreme barnacle growth hobbled the 2018-19 Golden Globe Race fleet, The Mercy is available to watch on BBC iPlayer until 11 Jan 2021, Banque Populaire drops out of the 2024 Vende Globe, Expert advice at cruising seminars this spring: book now, The motherhood penalty? Seaton, Devon More information: Clare Crowhurst widow of Donald Crowhurst the infamous 'lone sailor' at home in Seaton, Devon. ; ; You know that he shouldnt be going. He wrote, "It is finished, It is finished. All that was needed was an effort of free will. After Independence in 1947, the family had returned with their meagre savings to England, but discovered that life in the suburbs of Reading was not an idyllic homecoming. DISGRACED yachtsman Donald Crowhurst planned to abandon his wife and family for secret love two years before he faked a solo round-the-world voyage and then vanished in the ocean.. Teignmouth Electron on Cayman Brac in 1991. His family watched as the tiny sails of the 35-foot boat disappeared over the horizon. Clare Crowhurst was now drawing the dole. And so, just five weeks after setting off from Teignmouth, Crowhurst started one of the most audacious frauds in sailing history: he began falsifying his position. Donald Crowhurst is the subject of a Hollywood film, The Mercy: The lonely, tragic death at sea of a disgraced sailor, The Mercy review: Theres no mercy for sad sailor, Colin Firth as Donald Crowhurst in film 'The Mercy', Anita rebuffed Donald's advances but he became violent towards her, 200m yacht seized in huge fraud probe into friend of stars, Rule Britannia! My mother said: The boats been found, but hes not on it. The children huddled upstairs in a bedroom. My heart goes out to his wife and children. I used to dream about it for years, says Clare. So, in the afternoon of 31 October 1968 - the last possible moment - after an embarrassing false start, Crowhurst set out from Teignmouth. The race was still front-page news. The Mercy starring Colin Firth portrays Donald Crowhurst's tragic attempt to sail around the world single-handedly in the first race of its kind. . It followed along the journey of Crowhurst and his wife during his 7 months at sea. Back in 1969, her husband, Donald Crowhurst, was the. He was Icarus, with an overdraft. His . Clare Crowhurst widow of Donald Crowhurst the infamous 'lone sailor' at home in Seaton, Devon. Her second son, Simon, a young middle-aged man with a premature shock of white hair and the bright, questioning eyes of a lost boy, is also haunted by his fathers fate. Both he and Firth would be the first to admit that this is a sympathetic evocation of Crowhursts decline and fall (his abandoned boat, the Teignmouth Electron, was found drifting in the mid-Atlantic more than eight months after hed set off from south Devon). It soon became clear his estimates for the boats speed had been wildly optimistic: he had estimated an average of 220 miles per day, whereas the reality was about half that, on a good day. His deception - the circumnavigation that never was, the fake log books, the whole hoax of his nonexistent voyage - depended on not winning. It would be the last day they saw him alive. Unbelievably, he even put ashore in a remote bay near Buenos Aires in Argentina to buy materials to repair one of the hulls, which had started to fall apart. Shelves: 2018-reads. He was also a racecar driver on the side, a sign of his eternal sense of adventure. But then his empty boat was found adrift in the Atlantic. Well push your creativity and go beyond your brief. Photo: Geophotos / Alamy. After a few days practice he felt sufficiently confident to send his first fake press release, claiming hed sailed 243 miles in 24 hours, a new world record for a single-handed sailor. The Mercy is available to watch on BBC iPlayer until 11 Jan 2021. Clare has 1 job listed on their profile. All the elements of tragedy were in place: a curious public; a hungry media machine; and a weekend sailor heading into dangerous water. Captions are provided by our contributors. Crowhursts solution to his predicament was a version of the truth that he, alone, could verify. His response to failure was to reinvent himself yet again. See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, order back issues and use the historic Daily Express newspaper archive. What sort of a man was Donald Crowhurst, the amateur sailor who set off around the world alone never to be seen again? In Yachting World March 2023 issue we bring you our bumper feature on the 20th European Yacht of the Year awards, where YWs Toby Hodges was among the 12-strong jury, This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google, A voyage for 21st Century madmen? It was widely held that neither a solo yachtsman . But his reappearance in the race had a dramatic effect on the course of events. So how does it compare to previous efforts? Gradually, partly through misunderstandings and partly due to the spin added by his agent back in the UK, Crowhursts positions became ever more exaggerated, until it looked like he might win the race after all. RM Image ID: ERJGGW Preview Image details Contributor: Guy Newman / Alamy Stock Photo File size: 33.5 MB (1.8 MB Compressed download) Releases: Model - no | Property - no Do I need a release? He is an actor and writer, known for Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019), Half Light (2006) and Playing the Field (1998). Simon Crowhurst last saw his father in 1968. A light and shifty nor' easter kept competitors on their toes at the 2023 Nautilus Marine Insurance Sydney Harbour Regatta today, favouring the lighter boats and those who were able to pick the crafty shifts and remain patient. I really sympathise with that. More importantly though, The Mercy is a captivating psychological drama, which shows how, through a series of small steps, a person can box themselves into a corner from which there is no escape. Colin Firth is subtle, unflinching, extraordinary. At this point, a bizarre hoax becomes the stuff of myth as much as literature. Alamy and its logo are trademarks of Alamy Ltd. and are registered in certain countries. There were two veteran French sailors, Bernard Moitessier and Lock Fougeron, an ex-merchant seaman, Robin Knox-Johnston, the Italian Alex Carozzo, two former naval officers, Bill King and Nigel Tetley. Collaborate with our global Enterprise Sales team. Crowhurst spoke to his wife, but he was vague about his location and did not confess the truth of his predicament. It was a reckless, ambitious, disastrous decision, and it ended in failure and tragedy, yet the story of his voyage endures. Lost at Sea 12 days after his last logbook entry, the Teignmouth Electron was found drifting in the ocean. Aprs des mois de prparation, c'est finalement le 31 octobre 1968 que Donald Crowhurst prit le dpart depuis le port de Teignmouth. Photographs are copyright by law. She became a ghost ship after Crowhurst reported false positions and presumably committed suicide at sea. Which is why Crowhursts life, and death, have so fascinated writers and filmmakers ever since he plunged over the side of his small trimaran during the first nonstop, round-the world yacht race in 1968-69 (a race ultimately won by the only finisher, Robin Knox-Johnston). Its not known what happened next, but its generally assumed Crowhurst jumped over the side of the boat to his death. On Fleet Street, indeed, only the Observer yachting correspondent, Frank Page, evinced any disbelief about the progress of the Teignmouth Electron, sceptically describing a typically forthright claim from Donald Crowhurst, currently lying a poor fourth in the race. The real-life Clare, now in her 80s, never remarried after her husbands death and, remaining protective of his memory, is wary of the attention of this new film (in cinemas from Friday 9 February). A great, and painful, silence descended. The mystery surrounding Donald Crowhurst, the amateur sailor who competed in the 1968 Sunday Times boat race before vanishing from his vessel, has been the inspiration for poems (Donald Finkel's The Wake of the Electron, 1987), operas (Ravenshead, 2000), novels (Robert Stone's Outerbridge Reach, 1992), documentaries (Deep Water, 2006) and most recently, two films: The Mercy (2018), a . Amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst (Colin Firth) attempts to circumnavigate the globe alone. The Colin in question is Colin Firth, who plays Crowhurst in Marshs new film The Mercy, a title that takes its name from the sailors maniacal final writings. In 1968, amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst set out to compete in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, a single-handed, round-the-world yacht race. In these early days of modern media relations, flogging the hell out of a scrap of news, unsourced, unverified and over-exaggerated, was all in a days work for the publicist. Then he came up with the narrative twist that changed everything. There were high-profile challengers, the transatlantic oarsmen Chay Blyth and John Ridgway, in rival monohulls. The Crowhurst's fascinating story will be brought to life by Oscar-winning stars Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz Save up to 30% with our image packs Pre-pay for multiple images and download on demand. Clare, who had so bravely held the family together for months, began to break down. Amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst entered the 1968 round-the-world sailing race. But she has never publicly revealed what passed between them as they conversed. To get the funding to build his dream boat he achieved perhaps the greatest coup of his life. As Team Holcim-PRB continues to set the standard, racing at speed towards the first scoring gate at 143 degrees east longitude, three other boats are - finally - in fast pursuit. It quickly became clear that while Crowhurst was a charismatic personality and brilliant innovator he didnt have the business acumen to run a successful company, and Electron Utilisation was soon in financial trouble. He would . This is an assumption made on her appearance and very brief life. He doesnt return to the people he loves because he cant, and that has blighted their lives. Most likely, a little bit of all the above. English yachtsman Donald Crowhurst with his wife Clare and their children (left to right) Rachel, Simon, Roger and James, circa October 1968. Now, in these final weeks, they became a more terrible document: the record of a mind at the end of its tether, 25,000 words of confessional philosophising and deranged speculation about the nature of the cosmos in which he, Donald Crowhurst, saw himself as the son of God. Hes the Ancient Mariner, of course, but I feel like the narrator. Simon sees it as an existential cliffhanger. But from what I can gather, theyve seen the film and do regard it as a sympathetic telling of Donalds story.. Donald Crowhurst went to sea a half-century ago. (Photo by Eric Tall/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) and what he meant to those who love him. While her skipper was claiming to be somewhere off Cape Town, the Teignmouth Electron was actually sailing past Brazil weeks behind the race leaders, a deception that would be impossible today. Express. crumbling into tearful panic as he confessed to his wife, Clare, that his boat wasn . Those of a superstitious bent might have looked back with hindsight months later and remembered an unlucky omen: the bottle . Now, in her 77th year, Clare Crowhurst seems at peace. By this time Moitessier had had his moment of madness and had dropped out of the race and was sailing to Tahiti to save his soul. The day before his voyage began, Crowhurst made last-minute preparations on the Electron, then retired to a hotel with his wife, Clare. We felt that in his final writings he was constructing a different version of reality for himself to enter into and he may well have believed he was going somewhere else when he stepped off the boat. We were watching from the shore. sarah silverman children. Clare Crowhurst recollects the terrible past calmly enough today, but 40 years ago she was known to news-paper readers as the sea widow. There is a sad story when Donald was born. norwood surgery opening times; catholic bible approved by the vatican. It was a desperate gamble. Donald Charles Alfred Crowhurst (1932 - July 1969) was a British businessman and amateur sailor who disappeared while competing in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, a single-handed, round-the-world yacht race. The thing is, I dont think he was guilty of some grand conspiracy to cheat. Instead of a thrilling front-page story, they got the embarrassing tale of the amateur yachtsman who had fooled Fleet Street. Poignant, ominous and unforgettable, the story has inspired many elegiac narratives: by the American poet Donald Finkel, the playwright Chris Van Strander, and an opera, Ravenshead. "Look after your mother," were Donald Crowhurst's last words to his eight-year-old son, as he set off on a bid to become the fastest man to sail. Rookie sailor Crowhurst, a 36-year-old father-offour, had a struggling electronics business and in his spare time enjoyed messing about in boats. English yachtsman Donald Crowhurst with his wife Clare and their children (left to right) Rachel, Simon, Roger and James, circa October 1968. Back in 1969, her husband Clare knew things could go horribly wrong. To make sure his radio signals werent picked up by the wrong land stations, he maintained radio silence for nearly three months, from the middle of January until the beginning of April, which he blamed on his generator breaking down again. More info. Enjoy this party classic with an updated RT twist - fun for all the family! Now the media side of this strange tale kicks in. Mrs Clare Crowhurst Wife Of The Missing Round The World Yachtsman Donald Crowhurst (he Was Believed To Have Drowned In July 1969) With Her Children James . There it is, she says, having shown me the famous log books. But in his period-specific story there is a timely, universally . Widow Clare, now 85, revealed: "That last night together was frightful. Long before the latest Hollywood offering it inspired movies, books, plays, art installations, an epic poem and even an opera. What really happened to sailor Donald Crowhurst on the voyage that inspired The Mercy? . Clare Crowhurst was Donald Crowhurst Wife. Acclaimed director James Marsh reveals his theory about the tragic Brit played by Colin Firth. Pye Radio invested 8,500 in the project, before getting cold feet and pulling out. "This is important," said his wife Clare. With equity release you could access a lump-sum of tax-free cash which can be used to enhance your retirement income, make home improvements, or even enjoy a memorable holiday. But Teignmouth Electron was found abandoned in the Atlantic, with no sign of Crowhurst. Photo: Guy Newman / Alamy. The year before, Francis Chichester had sailed his Gipsy Moth into Plymouth to a tumultuous welcome, a media frenzy, and a knighthood from the Queen, conferred on the quayside, as if she were Gloriana herself. I had never seen Donald crying before except when his friend was killed in a car crash. Simon Crowhurst, who works as a research technician in the Earth Sciences department of Cambridge University, wonders if he should not make a pilgrimage to see the Teignmouth Electron, still beached amid weeds and driftwood on the dunes of Cayman Brac in the Caribbean, and said by the locals to be haunted. The film chronicles the bluster and bravado that undeniably drove Crowhurst's . The Golden Globe race generated enormous public interest at the time, and the discovery of Crowhursts boat was front page news. There was no sign of Donald Crowhurst. Weisz plays his wife Clare, who supports her husband's craving for a big venture in life even when he has been gone for months and she is reduced to asking for . He went downhill after he heard the news of Nigel Tetley, comments Simon Crowhurst, sadly. Eight months later, his boat was found in the mid-Atlantic, intact but with no one on board. The world believed Donald Crowhurst was completing the fastest non-stop solo circumnavigation of the globe. Worse still, he had had to borrow yet more money from Best to finish the boat, and had mortgaged his home to guarantee the loan. HAND Children are the Future. During which they had four children: Rachel Crowhurst, Simon Crowhurst, Roger Crowhurst, and James Crowhurst. What Happened To Donald Crowhurst Wife? It is finished, he wrote on the final page. Donald Crowhurst has a struggling electronic navigation business. We were both in a terrible state. If Id had my wits about me, Id never have released the log books. She has consistently set her face against publicising the story. In July 1969 Crowhurst appeared to be in the lead, and a triumphant homecoming was being organised with live television coverage, including cameras on top of The Ness. Soon after he started the race his ship began taking on water and he wrote that it would probably sink in heavy seas. There are some minor errors Chichester wasnt the first person to sail around the world single-handed, and the prize for the first competitor to finish the race was a trophy, not 5,000 but the sailing scenes are generally quite convincing. In 1968 a man, Donald Crowhurst, with little ocean sailing experience set off to sail around the world non-stop and single handed as part of the Sunday Times' Golden Globe race for a five thousand pound prize. Crowhursts plan relied on Tetleys two-week lead. During the spring of 1968, in direct competition with the Observers Transatlantic Race, the Sunday Times launched a nonstop challenge, the Golden Globe round-the-world yacht race. by The Sunday Times/Fiona Wingett on 3 Feb 2007. The man whose real name is Donald Charles Alfred Crowhurst was born in 1932 in Ghaziabad, India which was then under British rule. Few could have anticipated how cursed, and literally fabulous, his voyage would become. I was shocked by his feelings and told him in no uncertain terms I wanted nothing more to do with him.. The Teignmouth Electron was cluttered and untidy, with dirty dishes and filthy bedding, but of her crew there was no sign. That night, he broke down in tears. A voyage for madmen, so was the original Sunday Times Golden Globe Race deemed. Search for stock images, vectors and videos. As the remorseless logic of the hoax corrupted his relationship with reality, this game became a matter of life and death. John Reed retires as Secretary of WSSR Council, After 50 years at the World Sailing Speed Record Council. Rachel Crowhurst: Helen Stagg: Clare Crowhurst: Rachel Weisz: Director: James Marsh: James Crowhurst . To extract maximum publicity from the sensational story of the Missing Yachtsman, the Sunday Times sent one of its top correspondents, Nicholas Tomalin, to interview the captain of the Picardy, inspect the Teignmouth Electron and collect whatever papers had been found on board. We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. For starters, we get Firth's best, most intent performance of the past several years. Parents need to know that The Mercy is about a real-life sailing contest in the 1960s that becomes a high-profile mystery after inventor/amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst (Colin Firth) tries to sail solo around the world.Left behind are his wife (Rachel Weisz) and their children.Crowhurst experiences peril and extreme difficulties on the journey and makes a fateful decision. So Crowhurst got the money for Teignmouth Electron, which was built by Cox Marine in Essex and fitted out by JL Eastwood in Norfolk. frozen french bread dough. For all these reasons, giving up was not an option. The log books, which had begun as a mundane record of a circumnavigation, had become the disturbing repository of a cumulative lie, the painstakingly contrived details of a false voyage. The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst is an extraordinary, moving, and harrowing book, haunting in every sense of the word, and a terrifying look at one man's descent into madness. He falls into it step by step, which is how most terrible things done by decent people tend to happen. On the last day of October 1968 an amateur sailor called Donald Crowhurst (played by Firth in The Mercy) became the last competitor to join the Golden Globe solo non-stop round-the-world yacht. After it happened, I was just another mum, really. After two days at sea, while still within sight of Cornwall, the screws started falling off his self-steering and, not having any spares on board, he had to cannibalise other parts of the machine to replace them. When the first non-stop race around, Eighty-knot gales, 10m-high waves, pitchpoling, loneliness and ever-depleting food reserves of all the challenges facing a single-handed non-stop circumnavigator you. 5 people found this helpful. Crowhurst mortgaged his house and his business against the sponsorship. Hot off the heels of last week's RORC Caribbean 600 race entries for Antigua Sailing Week 2023 are building into a great spectrum of exciting and competitive classes for the 54th edition of this, another iconic Caribbean regatta. Bidding farewell to wife Clare (Amy Loughton) in late October, Crowhurst sails his innovative triple-hulled yacht Teignouth Electron onto the high seas. Images. Donald Crowhurst - The Official Website. A vainglorious chump who abandoned his wife and four young children in reckless pursuit of his own impossible dream? Sydney Harbour Regatta marks Int'l Women's Day, Women's participation in the sport of sailing continues to increase in Australia, On Wednesday 8 March, the world will celebrate International Women's Day and Middle Harbour Yacht Club (MHYC), through its Nautilus Marine Insurance Sydney Harbour Regatta this weekend, celebrates all those women contesting the regatta, Top down style furlers are made for furling curved luff asymmetrical spinnaker sails. ! As well as the terror of the seas, waves as high as a 12-storey building, merciless winds and the terrible apprehensions induced by solitude, Crowhurst was now battling a more insidious, mental terror: the fear of not winning the all-important 5,000. Non-commercial use only, not for resale. At first, he remembers, we were told he had just disappeared. Chichesters account of his voyage, The Lonely Sea and the Sky, became an instant bestseller. . Summary. Its a private family tragedy that on a regular basis seems to get into the news, even after all these years. But soon after setting sail his trimaran Teignmouth Electron began to fall apart. Electrical Outlets & Light Switches. Finally, a very late entry, almost as an afterthought, there was the mystery man, an obscure West Country electronics engineer named Donald Crowhurst. Director James Marsh, Colin Firth and . The two films do, however, have one thing in common: the Crowhurst family, including his widow, Clare, who is in her eighties and in frail health, did not want either made because they knew both. It seemed a lucky coincidence, given that my book would inevitably feature the Crowhurst story, but I assumed the movie would come out long before my book was ready. The de facto winner, he would come home to face the inevitable scrutiny of race officials and yachting correspondents. That was what he betrayed, says the director. It was everything Crowhurst dreaded. It was a terrible thing to do to the children. Could she have worked harder to stop her husband from sailing? Maritime specialist Jeremy Michell sheds light on the perils of sailing alone, the progress of yacht racing, and the importance of remembering failure. After struggling with faulty equipment, he fell behind in the race and, aided and abetted by his PR man back in Devon (brilliantly played by David Thewlis), began falsifying his race position.