Weekend Warriors Win Whitbread

The San Francisco International Ocean Film Festival, screening on March 10-13 in the Cowell Theater at Fort Mason, will include a documentary about the unlikely North American winner of the first Whitbread Round the World Race, Ramon Carlín of Mexico.

The unknown team signed up for the inaugural Whitbread Round the World Race in 1973. (The Whitbread would later undergo a change of title sponsor — it’s now known as the Volvo Ocean Race.)

A Mexican businessman, Carlín didn’t even own a boat when he and his son Enrique first pondered the idea of entering the race, which Enrique had read about while studying in Europe. They eventually purchased a brand-new S&S-designed Swan 65, Sayula II, to compete against 16 other yachts skippered by seasoned offshore racers such as Brit Chay Blyth and Frenchman Eric Tabarly. Carlín’s crew included his son, his nephews, and his wife Paquita. The first Whitbread marked the end of an era when offshore racing yachts had comfortable bunks, crew were regularly served hot meals, and it wasn’t uncommon for them to have an adult beverage when they came off watch. 

Three men were swept overboard and died during the first Whitbread, and Sayula II suffered a dramatic mid-ocean knockdown that easily could have been disastrous. Nevertheless, the mostly-untried crew engineered one of the greatest upsets ever in the history of sailboat racing. Bernardo Arsuaga’s film that tells the story, The Weekend Sailor, will debut at 4 p.m. on March 11 at the Festival. 

The film is narrated by Simon Le Bon, who sailed the Whibread aboard Drum, and is best known as the lead singer of Duran Duran. Included are cameos by Sir Chay, Franck Cammas, Torben Grael, and many of Sayula II original crew — including West Coast hired guns Keith Lorence and Ray Conrady.