Jon Sanders departed Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron on the morning of 24th December 2020 on the last leg of his historic 11th circumnavigation.

Dear Voyage Supporters

After clearing Sydney Harbour Jon sailed further offshore into 13kt easterly winds before heading south. Jon will continue south through Christmas Day and Boxing Day when the southerly winds are predicted to abate and be replaced by a moderate northerly wind that will carry Jon to Bass Strait.

 Honorary OCC Member Jon Sanders is renowned for avoiding publicity. He has received many awards including the Ocean Cruising Club Lifetime Cruising Award. He is the recipient of an OCC Challenge Grant. © Paul Beutel

Planned stops in Eden NSW and Portland VIC have been cancelled as Jon would have to undergo 14 days quarantine at each port. Jon’s has been granted a G2G Pass to WA based on his estimated non-stop sailing time from Sydney to Fremantle of 21 days.

Jon’s progress can be followed on the Nebo tracker

With our thanks to Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron for hosting Jon during his stay in Sydney. As Jon said, “Terrific hospitality, and what a view”.

Jon will open his Christmas package courtesy of Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron tomorrow. He might do a little better this year than Gingernut biscuits at sea as it was last Christmas at sea.

The microplastic results are starting to roll out and we are looking forward to detailed results from Curtin University over the coming weeks.

Thank you for your support for Jon and the voyage throughout 2020… like most things this year, the voyage has not quite gone to plan. But any way you turn it, this record-breaking voyage has been a remarkable achievement by an 81-year-old sailing legend and will be our first reliable global baseline of the level of microplastics in our oceans.

Track Jon Sanders’ 11th Circumnavigation with Nebo

Sailing legend Jon Sanders is undertaking his 11th Solo Global Circumnavigation, and he’s using Nebo to log this record-breaking voyage on Perie Banou II.

Jon was the first person to circumnavigate Antarctica solo, and he’s undertaken the longest voyage ever sailed (three times around the globe, non-stop). Nobody has spent more time alone at sea on a continuous voyage (419 days).

This time Jon is sailing for a cause. He’s sampling the world’s oceans for micro-plastics, and sending the samples back to Curtin University in Australia for analysis. You can read more about this scientific endeavour here: noplasticwaste.org

Oh, and Jon is 80 years old. Just saying.

Nebo and Jon Sanders

Jon is sailing well out of cellular phone/data coverage, so we’ve hooked Nebo into the Iridium GO! satellite tracker on board. Nebo receives a position update every 5 minutes, even in the middle of the widest ocean. You can follow Jon’s progress on this map, or if you’re a Nebo user you can search for Perie Banou II in the app.

You can keep up-to-date with life on board via Jon’s blog updates here: www.jonsanders.com

We trust you will all enjoy a safe and happy Christmas.

Stephen (for Jon and the team)

by Stephen Davis and admin