Hat Trick: British Adventurer is First to Circumnavigate Earth by Land, Sea And Air
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James Ketchell, 43, has completed a 34,175-mile (55,000km) sailing trip; his third circumnavigation, having previously achieved the feat by bike and gyrocopter.
On arrival back in England aboard his 40-foot yacht, Mindset, Ketchell declared: “It sounds crazy to say but I’ve now become the first person to circumnavigate the globe by air, sea and land, having already cycled around the world in 2013 and flown around the world in a gyrocopter in 2019... I’m not sure what challenge is left on this planet."
In 2013, Ketchell cycled 18,000 miles across the globe and, six years later, broke a Guinness World Record after flying a gyrocopter 27,600 miles. In between these global feats, he has also climbed to the summit of Mount Everest and rowed across the Atlantic. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet to be honest. If someone else had been the first person to go round the world by air, sea and land then I would be the first person to shake their hand. I guess it’s just luck that I am the first person to do that - that’s pretty cool."
Credit: James Ketchell and Premier Marinas | Click to expand
So, who were the first people to achieve each part of Ketchell's hat trick?
The first man ever to circumnavigate the world alone in a sailing yacht was Nova Scotia’s Joshua Slocum, setting off in 1892, and returning quite leisurely in 1895.
The first person to cycle around the world was Thomas Stevens, an English-American adventurer. He completed the historic journey between April 1884 and December 1886 using a 50-inch high-wheeled penny-farthing bicycle.
The first person to complete a solo flight around the world was American aviator Wiley Post in July 1933. But the first person to do it in a gyrocopter was James Ketchell.
