Rollygo 1981-82

The 1981-82 Whitbread Round the World Race was the third edition of this round-the-world sailing event. A multi-class fleet of twenty-nine yachts departed from the British port of Southampton on August 29,1981 to travel thirty thousand nautical miles – visiting Cape Town, Auckland, and Mar del Plata, Argentina along the way – before arriving back in Portsmouth the following year.

The overall race winner was Dutch entry Flyer II, skippered by Conny van Rietschoten,  the only skipper in the Race’s 50-year history to not only win it twice, but to do so in consecutive editions.

The yacht featured in the photograph is Rollygo, skippered by Italian sailing legend Giorgio Falck. Rollygo can be remembered as the first example where a crewmember, Italian Paolo Martinoni, was rescued after falling overboard in the Southern Ocean.