Letting the World Know They’ve Circumnavigated

Quite a few Latitude 38 readers have circumnavigated, but to the best of our knowledge, Charlie and Cathie Simon of Nuevo Vallarta and Spokane — but who got their sailing chops on San Francisco Bay —  are the first to have had their achievement announced on the big electronic billboard at New York City’s Times Square. We have no idea how that came about.

The Simons did their 14-month circumnavigation as part of the 20-boat World ARC fleet, which started and finished in St. Lucia. "It was easy," Cathie told us during an interview we conducted with the Simons at the Bar of the Forgotten in St. Barth.

The thing we found most surprising is that the Simons, who are almost as old as the Wanderer, doublehanded 12 of the 15 legs of the circumnavigation, even though their boat, the Taswell 58 Celebration, displaces nearly 80,000 pounds. "It’s all about mechanical advantage," said Charlie.

For more on the Simons’ achievement, check out Changes in Latitudes in the June issue of Latitude 38.