As well as his own adventures – racing the solo BOC Challenge, driving rally cars across Australia, spending a year at Cape Denison (the windiest place in Antarctica) and recreating Captain Bligh’s 4,000nm voyage across the Pacific in a 7m open whaling boat – Don McIntyre has been a tireless supporter of young adventurers of every kind. When 15-year-old Jessica Watson (top right/opposite) wanted to break Jessie Martin’s (top left) record for the youngest solo sailing circumnavigation, McIntyre mentored the young Australian skipper right through her project, even providing her with a suitable yacht – Pink Lady (opposite) – when no one else stepped forward, largely for fear of being associated with a potential tragic outcome. McIntyre’s ideal participant might well be summed up with the eager return for the 2022 Golden Globe of Indian naval officer Abhilash Tomy (above) – who very nearly died in the first edition in 2018 after suffering terrible back injuries in a capsize before then being lifted in agony off his sinking yacht
through global warming? ‘I’m no weather expert but from what I can gather, yes,’ says Don. ‘I have spent over three and a half years in the Southern Ocean, on the water. And I spent 20 seasons going back and forth to Antarctica. ‘We were managing ships and we have
experts onboard giving lectures so you listen to them. Also you just have to listen to people like David Scott Cowper, even he says we just didn’t used to get the extremes. So the evidence is that clearly there is a lot more wind now in the Southern Ocean than there used to be.
‘It’s getting a little bit more nasty, but in
relative terms it’s quite minor and it is all survivable, it’s not going to stop people doing what we do. But in 2018 we started our fleet so that they ended up too early in the Southern Ocean, that was due to circumstance: they left on 1 July. This last one started on 4 September 2022 so nearly two months’ difference, and there was also an Antarctic vortex that pulled the low- pressure systems a bit further south than usual. So that and starting later meant the weather was a lot less severe overall.’ Don starts to talk about sponsorship:
Don McIntyre 1973 Certified celestial navigator with South Australian School of Navigation. 1983 Awarded Australian Yachting Federation Yachtmaster Offshore and Yachtmaster Ocean certificates. 1983 McIntyre Marine Services Pty Ltd, marine equipment importers and boatbuilders, is established. 1983 Founded the Short-Handed Sailing Association of Australia and became the organiser/underwriter of the 1988 Bicentennial Around Australia yacht race. 1991 2nd in Class BOC Challenge solo RTWR. Received BOC Communicators Award, Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron Youth Trophy, Middle Harbour Yacht Club Navigators Award. 1994 Spent a year with then wife Margie living in Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica. 1995 Received the Boating Industry of Australia’s Robert Grieves award. 1997 Ocean Frontiers Pty Ltd takes over adventure activities from McIntyre Marine. 1997 McIntyre Marine Composites Pty takes over boatbuilding activities from McIntyre Marine Services. 1997 Appointed Ambassador of the AAP Mawson Hut’s Foundation (Antarctica). 1998 Appointed ongoing Australia Day Ambassador by Australia Day Council. 2000 Ran with the Olympic torch on the opening day of Sydney Olympics. 2003 Commenced two three-year terms, sitting on the board of directors of the Young Endeavour sail training ship, operated by the Royal Australian Navy. 2004 McIntyre Marine Services sold. 2005 McIntyre Marine Composites Pty Ltd shuts down. 2010 Talisker Bounty Boat Expedition, 4,000 miles across the Pacific. 2011 Tonga Blue Ltd formed in Tonga for wreck hunting. 2012 Australian Geographic Lifetime of Adventure award, with former wife Margie. 2015 Launched the 2018 Golden Globe Race. Launched the Royal Nomuka Yacht Club to encourage Tongan youngsters to reconnect with the their maritime roots. 2017 World’s first solo Gyrocopter flight around Australia. 2019 Launched the Ocean Globe Race. 2020 Launched the Class Globe 5.80 Mini One-design yacht and 2024 Mini Globe Race. 2021 Globe 5.80 Solo Transat winner of Seniors Class – 3,600 miles in 28 days 2022 Launched Globe Yacht Club. 2022 Entered Swan 57 Explorer in OGR…
‘The pressures are exactly the same now as what happened in 1968 with Donald Crowhurst and what he went through, so it’s absolutely a double-edged sword.’ But we’re out of space; it will have to wait… Next month: Why is the GGR in France? ‘Absolutely no one in the UK was inter- ested. I went to Falmouth and they said they’re pushing something about the Titanic…’ Plus how you only need about £150k to do the Ocean Globe Race… q
SEAHORSE 53
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