UNTOLD HISTORY: The journey of Jon Sanders, WA’s true original of the sea

It was a time when everything seemed big. And WA joined in. Big hairdos, big corporate collapses, big political scandals, big shoulder pads and big drum sounds. It was the ’80s. And somehow a small city perched on the corner of a continent on the edge of the world was home to the era’s biggest ocean sailing feats. Of course there were the heroics of the America’s Cup — which we won in 1983, turning us into a nation of ocean racing experts — before the Americans reclaimed it in 1987. And there were the achievements of Jon Sanders. Sanders became the first person to sail single-handedly twice around the world, non-stop and unassisted, sailing the Perie Banou from Fremantle on September 6, 1981 and arriving back in Fremantle on October 31, 1982. The double circumnavigation broke records for the longest single-handed voyage at 48,510 miles, (78,070 km) and the longest period alone on board a yacht at 419 days, 22 hours and 10 minutes, according to the John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library, which holds many records relating to Sanders. But he wasn’t done. He sailed off again on May 25, 1986, this time in the 14m sloop Parry Endeavour, and returned to the port city on March 13, 1988, becoming the first person to single-handedly triple circumnavigate the world, non-stop and unassisted. When Parry Endeavour berthed at Royal Perth Yacht Club, Sanders stepped onto dry land for the first time in 658 days. The WA Museum says the voyage earned Sanders 15 world records and Parry Endeavour had sailed continuously for 131,535km. Just think about that for a moment. He never set foot on land, never had another person onboard and never took on provisions other than that which he loaded on board in Fremantle, the museum says. The John Curtin library says that an estimated 350 craft and 130,000 people were on the sea and shore to greet Sanders. “WA premier Peter Dowding presented a welcome speech and a parade was held in Sanders’ honour throughout Perth streets the following Thursday,” the library says. “This day of the parade was proclaimed ‘Jon Sanders Day’ by the local newspapers and the State government gave all WA school children the day off school.” In March 1988, the WA Coastal Shipping Commission renamed the State ship Baltimore to Jon Sanders. Of course time has sailed well past those heady days, but the magnitude of Sanders’ achievements remains undimmed. He has a street named after him — Jon Sanders Drive — and the Parry Endeavour is displayed spectacularly in the WA Maritime Museum. And while those marathon voyages are widely known and celebrated — at least among West Australians of a certain age — such is Sanders’ restlessness that he has rather quietly gone on chalking up a multitude of other sailing achievements which are not so widely known. Sanders has now circumnavigated the world 11 times — seven times solo — with the last voyage completed in 2021, at the age of 81, making him the oldest person to do so. And so there is one obvious question. Why? In 1986 he told The Sunday Times that some might call him crazy for attempting such feats, adding that “if I am crazy that might be a bit of a help”. Ahead of an upcoming tribute by the Perth Symphony Orchestra, Agenda sat down with Sanders for a chat and canvassed that obvious question. And he was as humble as ever. It was not about chasing achievements or a burning ambition, but rather, something simpler that drove him. Basically, it is something he enjoys. “It might sound pretty dumb, but (it’s) something to do,” he said. Sanders’ years on the oceans began at an early age. The John Curtin library recounts that his father Colsell was an academic and his mother Dorothy a novelist who wrote under the pseudonym Lucy Walker. Sanders went to Christ Church Grammar School — which was founded by his grandfather Canon W J McClemans —and started sailing at age 8. By 14 he had his own yacht. The John Curtin library says most of Sanders’ early working life was not on the ocean but in outback WA operating sheep-shearing teams. “The shearing season would take place in autumn and winter leaving the summer months free for Sanders to pursue sailing,” the library says. The Perie Banou was launched and named at the Royal Perth Yacht Club in 1973. “The name came from Sanders’ mother Dorothy who suggested naming the yacht after an Arabian princess from the book Tales of the Arabian Nights,” the library says. “The Perie Banou became the first WA yacht to circumnavigate the world. “During this circumnavigation, from 1975 to 1977, Sanders also competed in the Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro Race and finished seventh in a field of 128 yachts.” Among his other achievements are seven Sydney to Hobart races and the 1979 Parmelia Race Plymouth to Perth. Sanders has also sailed many voyages delivering boats for their owners. Aside from inspiring people by his achievements, he has done so also through addressing a range of organisations, and was awarded an Order of the British Empire in 1983 and an Order of Australia in 1989. He has overcome numerous potentially voyage ending — and life ending — moments, such as the time Sanders collided with an Asian squid-fishing vessel near the Falkland Islands, and waves 60m high which crashed down on his tiny vessel off Cape Horn. On his most recent circumnavigation — on Perie Banou II — he collected daily water samples to be analysed at Curtin University as part of study into microplastic pollution. And while through the many voyages he sailed with an approach as cautious as his various achievements could allow, he said there were times in his early days when he could be apprehensive about the conditions. “Now I just sleep through. I can be in a full gale and still get good sleep,” he said. And there were times his boat ended upside down, so he had to learn “to make the boat so it won’t go upside down”. “The type of boat I owned, it would right instantly,” he said. Coping with the hours alone on board didn’t phase him. “Time never seemed to bother me, there was always something to do,” he said. “And when you are lazy you haven’t done it yet.” It is clear the voyages needed comprehensive planning and attention to every possible detail. An interesting Instagram post by WA Maritime Museum visitor services officer Brendan Donnellan about Sanders’ triple-circumnavigation notes that Sanders had stored on board two tonnes of supplies and thousands of individual items, including books, VHS tapes, knitting and dozens of tin openers. “Some cans in those days were difficult to open, it wasn’t good for the tin openers,” Sanders told Agenda. “Even tinned food was a bit of a worry because the tins would start rusting. I had to be very careful I didn’t poison myself”. He said that he had now finished his adventures. But a famous headline in The West Australian when Sanders returned to Fremantle in 1988 as the first lone sailor to complete the triple circumnavigation proclaimed “Enough, says Sanders”. With a little smile he remembered it. “I think a lot of people do that, ‘been there done that’, that’s what you are expected to say,” Sanders said. “But then after a month or two you (want to ) go again, and you can hardly ring up the newspaper and say ‘I have changed my mind’.” And he remained self-effacing when asked how it felt to be WA’s greatest modern sailor. “I wouldn’t say I was that,” Sanders said. “I just feel like you”. Sanders wrote in his book Lone Sailor: “As a schoolboy I was often in trouble for giving up cricket or football for the pleasures of messing around in boats. Once my mother consoled me with the words, ‘Who wants to be ordinary? Why don’t you be original’?” And original he remained. Perth Symphony Orchestra will present a tribute to Sanders on November 14 and 15 set underneath Otto the blue whale at WA Museum Boola Bardip. It will feature evocative music — some of which was enjoyed by Sanders on his voyages — with compelling narration and cinematic visuals. PSO creative director Fiona Campbell said Sanders would be a special guest. But it was not just a sailing story. “It’s about courage, endurance and the calm of a man who stared into the edge of the world and simply kept going,” Ms Campbell said. Tickets and information: perthsymphony.com