What goes Around Comes Around
The SWS story on circumnavigator Bill Nance has brought back memories and reconnected people in far away places
Bill Nance leaving Argentine waters en route to Cape Town 1963. Photo Toyberg-Frandzen family
Melbourne based SWS has a loyal readership of 200+ in Denmark each week. We hope its the sailing stories and not ‘Something about Mary’. We recently received emails from Jens and Klaus Toyberg-Frandzen. They asked if SWS could get a letter and photo to Bill.
Dear Sir/Madam,
My brother and I recently read your inspiring article dated 27 May 2024 about Bill Nance, who circumnavigated the globe single-handedly in the early sixties. We were delighted to see him receive the recognition he rightly deserves after all these years for his incredible and brave achievement.
My brother Klaus and I were fortunate to meet Bill in Buenos Aires in 1963 when he sailed into the San Fernando Yacht Club Argentino, where we were members with our boat, Cimbra. We vividly remember our father, Harry Toyberg-Frandzen, the Danish Ambassador to Argentina, inviting Bill to our home. We were in awe of this 25year-old man’s courage and outstanding seamanship.
Over the years, we often wondered what became of Bill and why the world seemed to have forgotten his remarkable journey. His achievement undoubtedly deserved greater attention.
Your article about Bill rekindled our admiration for him, prompting us to write the attached letter to a sailor we have always looked up to. As my brother and I do not have a way of contacting Bill directly, we hope you might assist us. We would be highly grateful if you could convey our letter to Bill on our behalf.
Thank you for considering our request.
Yours sincerely,
Jens A. Toyberg-Frandzen
Retired Assistant Secretary-General
United Nations
The Toyberg-Frandzen letter got to Bill through Port Townsend intermediaries prompting another email from Jens T-F.
Dear Mark
Thank you for conveying the fantastic news that Bill received our message. It was lovely to read Bill’s wife’s note recounting his memories of our family during his time in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Klaus and I are delighted that Bill has fond recollections of our encounter. Our father, who in his younger days had been a naval officer in the Danish Navy, was an enthusiastic sailor and did his best to pass on his passion for sailing to his four children- no wonder his fatherly counsel spilt over to Bill, an adventurous young sailor to his liking. My other brothers, Lars and Klaus participated in the Buenos Aires to Rio Race in 1961 aboard the beautiful yacht Joanne, belonging to the San Fernando Yacht Club Argentino.
Thanks to the SWS interview, it is remarkable how a reconnection has occurred between people living entirely distinct lives but with a shared love of sailing—Bill in Port Townsend, Klaus, now a retired GP living in Sweden who graduated from the University of Copenhagen in 1973, and myself, retired in Denmark after more than 30 years of service abroad as a UN official. The world is getting smaller by the day.
I have included two photos. One is of our yacht, Cimbra, a ‘super cadet’ designed by the Argentinian naval architect Germán Frers Sr. and built in Buenos Aires. We brought her to Denmark, where the picture was taken. The second is of Joanne, the club yacht Klaus and Lars crewed on to Rio.
Once again, thank you for your invaluable support. Perhaps our paths will cross in Melbourne one day.
With kind regards
Jens
The family yacht CIMBRA. Photo Toyberg-Frandzen family
JOANNE above. Photo from Toyberg-Frandzen family. She's still sailing at Yacht Club Argentino. Photo Claudio Cambria
Les Marins Bleu
Once again Bill is being properly celebrated in other countries. SWS has been contacted by Camille Prada from the Musee de la Marine National in Paris. They want to source and credit photos of Bill from the 1960’s. Bill will be honoured as a ‘precurseur’ in the catalogue to an exhibition celebrating solo circumnavigators opening next month. Much of the display will focus on the Vendee Globe single-handed race pioneered by the French.
Yacht design and solo circumnavigation has advanced a lot since Bill’s time. The Vendée Globe is regarded as the major event of French offshore racing. Its a single-handed, non-stop, non-assisted round-the-world race every four years. The first edition in 1989, was won by Titouan Lamazou after 109 days at sea. It’s now contested by the IMOCA 60 monohulls with the 2020 winner going round in 80 days.
As young sailors we always thought ‘les marins bleu’ were a bit ‘crazy brave’. In 1982, a Frenchman named Christian Marty made the first Atlantic crossing on a windsurfer from Senegal in West Africa to Cayenne in French Guiana some 2,100Nm in 37 days. In 1987, and described as another foolhardy Frenchman, Stephane Peyron became the first person to windsurf unassisted across the Atlantic some 3000Nm from New York to Brittany in 47 days.
In a final twist to a remarkable life, Marty was captain of the Air France Concorde that crashed after take-off at Charles de Gaulle in 2000. Instead of 37 days, the Concorde could cross the Atlantic in 3 hours. He was credited with steering the aircraft away from residential areas in the final minutes.
Bill has given permission to publish the photos and his wife will travel to Paris for the exhibition.
Cartographer (after Durer) Howard Arkley 1983. Derived from a woodcut by Albrecht Durer. A foolhardy sailor in Brant's Ship of Fools (1494)