Ramón Carlín
Ramón Carlín was an unlikely candidate to be the first winning skipper of The Whitbread Round the World RaceCarlín was a Mexican businessman who had made his fortune selling washing machines, yet somehow he managed it, with a team comprising two Britons, a Dutchman, an Australian and six Mexicans, including Carlín, his wife and one of their sons.
Along the way they survived a nightmare capsize but while conditions were incredibly harsh in that first edition, and the crew certainly sailed hard, they were also able to live, apparently, like English gentlemen.
Butch Dalrymple-Smith, a watch captain during the campaign, wrote in 2010: "Our full-time cook served us steaks, chicken and hamburgers all the way round. The freezer was a godsend and when a group of journalists visited in Cape Town, they were amazed to find we still had 11 jars of caviar left after 45 days at sea.
”After the race, Queen Elizabeth II asked to meet Carlín who returned home to a presidential reception in Acapulco and became Mexico’s most famous yachtsman. “The winning difference was my boat and that crew,” Carlín said. “We had no time to train. My plan was to get to know the crew and teach them how to manage the boat during the first leg, but all of them turned out to be very good.
“What hooked me was that it was an adventure, no one knew which way to go. It was the first time anyone had gone round the world with a full crew and the competition was real.” Carlín managed his team smartly, and humbly, even in the toughest Southern Ocean conditions.
“He was very, very considerate,” said Dalrymple-Smith. “If someone was sick, he would take his night watch. He would dry our wet gear if we forgot to do it. Others would scream. He just wasn’t like that. Everything that made the difference between success and failure can be traced back to Ramon.” He died in Mexico City at the age of 92.
His family still owns Sayula II, who is in pristine condition.
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