I built my first boat at 22 with the plan to sail across the Atlantic. In 50 years of sailing, I have sailed in all the world’s oceans, covering nearly 300,000 miles, and anchored in some very remote places. I love to try new things, so it is not surprising that I built and had quite a few boats. The list might not be finished yet!  

As an active proponent of junk rig, I am perplexed by so many cruisers failing to appreciate the numerous and important advantages of this simple and inexpensive rig. 

With my own designed and self-built catamaran “China Moon” (37ft) I single-handedly sailed to Patagonia, South Shetlands and South Georgia and safely delivered the same boat when sold from Brazil to Tasmania via the Southern Ocean (72-day non-stop passage, with a new owner).

I entered the first Jester Challenge in 2006, sailing in “Shanty” (Kingfisher 20+), arriving in Newport USA 2nd and last!  My boat “Badger” as described in  “Voyaging on a Small Income” by my then-wife Annie Hill is now considered a classic, and our sailing to Greenland, Falklands and Antarctica was featured in Yachting Monthly. 

As well as sailing to the Arctic and Antarctic and Southern Ocean – either single-handed or with a crew, I mainly sailed in the South & North Atlantic, which I consider the best cruising ground. Over the years, I dealt with:

• Number of knockdowns, and three dismastings
• Broken off rudders and cross bars (on catamarans)
• Broken and lost trim tabs and wind vanes
• Lost, found and fitted back (with a split pin) propeller at Staten Island
• Blown off dinghy, hatches and broken battens
• Dropped off keel (Oryx) 
• Lost Jordan series drogue, broken shackle on the bridle for JSD (Oryx)
• Cockpits filled to the brim
• Mast climbing in rough ocean seas
• Fire on board

I like all aspects of seafaring: boat design and building, testing different rigs, celestial navigation, as well as charting unexplored places. 

I do all needed repairs, often while underway and in clement conditions using hand tools: a saw, a chisel, a brace, clamps, and a plane.  My boats are simple with no autopilot, no SSB, no EPIRB, no liferaft, no Starlink…. Not wanting to endanger other people’s lives to save my own, I am relying on the strength of the boat, the rig and my seamanship. For me, sailing is a committed way of life. 

I am probably best summed up as very good at getting out of trouble that I shouldn’t have got into!

Graham Cox is the author of the “Junk Rig Hall of Fame”, and “Last Days of the Slocum Era”. He is currently reporting on the 2025 Mini Globe Race.

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