David Dicks OAM, CitWA

Courage takes many forms. On 26 February 1996, David Dicks set sail on his 34 foot, Sparkman and Stephens yacht "Seaflight", on his first circumnavigation of the world. David was to become the youngest person to sail around the world single-handed and non-stop.

The voyage took him east around the world, first south of Australia, then south of Tasmania, across the Tasman Sea, round the southern end of New Zealand, across the Southern Pacific Ocean and round the notorious Cape Horn. One week before completing this part of his voyage a major rigging bolt failed, putting the mast and a successful voyage in jeopardy.

However, David succeeded in nursing the mast around the infamous Cape and sailed north to rendezvous with the British navy, for a replacement bolt.

This incident disqualified David from the title of being 'unassisted' in his epic voyage. If David had not accepted the replacement bolt the mast would not have been safe and secure for the remainder of the voyage, which would have taken him twice as long to complete, due to the makeshift repairs.

After this incident, David headed north through the South Atlantic, across the Equator, then into the North Atlantic - to the antipodal point of Bermuda. (If you were to insert a skewer through Fremantle, inwards through the centre of the earth, it would eventually come out near Bermuda, the antipodal point). This creates a most distant point to sail to, rather than only sailing over the Equator then heading back.

Here, off the coast of Bermuda David was greeted by his mother, Jon Sanders and Channel Nine Perth. It was at this point he received mail from family, friends and hundreds of fans and school children who were following his voyage. After half a day of unusual activities and communication David sailed on into the final half of his journey.

Up to this point David had been at sea for 143 days. He proceeded to travel south through the North Atlantic, across the Equator, south through the Southern Atlanitc, to round the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa, taking him into the Southern Indian Ocean.

These seas took David into the worst storm of his voyage. He experienced waver in excess of 60 feet and wind speeds exceeding 60 knots. Finally, David crossed the Indian Ocean to finish back in Fremantle.

This voyage took David a total of 264 days, 16 hours and 49 minutes. He was 18 years and 41 days old on his return.

Civilian deccorations:

• 1996 - Key to the City of Perth (Parade through streets of Perth)
• 1996 - Lifetime membership, Fremantle Sailing Club
• 1996 - Global Achievements Award, British Telecoms Yachting Journalists’ Association
• 1996 - New Generations Award, Rotary International
• 1996 - Key to the City of Mandurah
• 1996 - Young Citizen of the Year Award, City of Melville
• 1996 - Gold Medal, Ron Tough Yachting Foundation
• 1997 - Western Australian Citizen of the Year Award, Epic Achievement
• 1999 - Medal of the Order of Australia, OAM
• 2000 - Sports Medal
• 2000 - Guiness Book of Records, youngest solo round-the-world sailor
• 2001 - Citizen of Western Australia Medal (CitWA)
• 2002 - Guiness Book of Records, youngest solo round-the-world sailor
• 2005 - Guiness Book of Records, youngest solo round-the-world sailor