Setting a world first

A world-record creating sailor dropped in on St George’s this week for some emergency repairs.

Matt Rutherford, 32, from Annapolis, Maryland, last year became the first person to ever sail solo non-stop around the Americas.

It took him 309 days and saw him complete 27,077 miles on his own in a 27ft 40-year-old boat.

Now Rutherford has used the coverage and recognition he received to push on with research work, creating the Ocean Research Project (read the story HERE).

His latest project took him out to the Atlantic gyre to sample micro plastics and take data. On the way back to Maryland, via Bermuda, he suffered engine failure and is currently tied up in St George’s repairing his boat.

Before he got to work, though, he was happy to reflect on his solo mission and why it’s likely to be his last one.

He told the Bermuda Sun: “I finished that trip in April 2012 and I created a record instead of breaking one. I am the only guy who has done it.

“You can be faster than me, older than me, younger than me, a woman standing on your head —they can’t be the first one.

“That will always be special to me.

“But I’m not always trying to be the first, I’m not trying to break records. I’ve got that one and that’s great.

“There’s not much left to break by the way. Pretty much everything has been done.”

Rutherford believes his achievement has put him in perfect position for the next stage of his career —research.

He said: “It was good. You can spend your entire life knocking on the door to the marine industry, 20-25 years and the big names, the hotshots aren’t going to open the door and let you in the house.

“Or you can kick the door down and say here I am. That’s what I did.

“If you want to make a career out of sailing and you’re smart about it, you go into racing because that’s where the money is.

“But I couldn’t care less about who can sail in a cricle or whatever.

“I’m not competitve in that way. And so to me research seemed like a better angle.”

So what it’s like spending 309 days at sea on your own?

He said: “Going around the Americas in 309 days thing – I don’t know if you can do that with another person.

“ I don’t care how much you like them, you’re going to end up killing each other. That boat was so small you would have been able to get away from each other.”