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Jimmy Cornell // The Godfather of Offshore Cruising
23 June 2026 · 1h 26m · 245 views · Stockholm, Sweden
What this video covers
Jimmy Cornell, now 86, joins Andy Schell on the On The Wind podcast to discuss his career as the originator of organized offshore cruising rallies and author of World Cruising Routes.▶ 10:46 Cornell, who escaped communist Romania — where private boats were banned and fishermen could venture only one or two miles offshore — went on to circumnavigate three times, sail to high latitudes both north and south, and found the ARC Rally in Las Palmas in 1986.▶ 10:23 He describes how his BBC World Service work in the Caribbean led him to write his first book based on interviews there, eventually producing World Cruising Routes, now in its 10th edition with over 100,000 copies sold.▶ 31:46 Cornell acknowledges a contradiction in his legacy: he feels partly responsible for the surge in cruising sailors worldwide, while believing not all of that growth has been good for the places visited.▶ 10:53 The conversation covers route planning in the Pacific versus the Atlantic, the obligation under maritime law to assist vessels in distress, and the forthcoming World Sailing Routes app — developed with his son Ivan, usable offline, covering all previous editions, and capable of delivering wind, current, and tropical storm forecasts for any route change mid-passage.▶ 1:09:39 Cornell's view on success: "a job well done."▶ 1:14:25
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