Don McIntyre, the Founder of the Class Globe 5.80, named his hull number 01 “TREKKA” in recognition of the first small yacht to circumnavigate the globe.
I read Trekka Round the World by John Guzzwell when I was 16 and that along with many other books inspired me to take to sea. It just seems right to call my Mini Mini Trekka!
Don McIntyre
| LOA | 19 ft / 5.80 m |
| Beam | 7.45 ft / 2.27 m |
| Draft | 4.6 ft / 1.4 m |
| Displacement | 0.9 to. |
| Designer | Janusz Maderski |
The first small yacht to circumnavigate the world
In 1953, John Guzzwell, while working as a maintenance carpenter for the Canadian Pacific Railway Ferry Service in Victoria, decided to build himself a sailing boat. The English naval architect Laurent Giles planned a 20’ 6’ yawl for 50 pounds sterling, which John built, mostly unaided and with hand tools, in a rented shed behind Johnny Bell’s pizza shop on View Street. He launched Trekka in August 1954, and in September 1955, sailed for Hawaii. Over the next four years he completed a circumnavigation in Trekka, then the smallest vessel ever to do so. He returned to Canada in 1959. He wrote a book about his adventures, Trekka Round the World, which he re-published in 1999. You can read more about the story here.
