Earlier quoted context omitted.
And Sir Robin Knox-Johnston[1] was the first person to sail single-handedly around the world _non-stop_. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Knox-Johnston
Including the bit where he built his own boat in India with his brother to sail back to the UK, his brother didn't go, so he sailed it alone. Then he tried to get a company to sponsor a new boat for the round-the-world race and nobody did, so he took his homemade boat. Entered the Southern Ocean at roughly a third of the way around, took damage and lost all his water supplies, and had to do the rest of the race by ra…
I have a DVD somewhere about Donald Crowhurst's "attempts." I felt sorry for the poor guy, but he really should have just admitted that it was beyond him and given up.