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Mervyn Wheatley looks ahead to his sixth OSTAR, now re-scheduled to take place in 2021, and ponders the changes in sailing through his decades-long career
Mervyn Wheatley had sailed 18 Atlantic crossing ahead of the 2017 OSTAR. Credit: Paul Gibbins
For Mervyn Wheatley, the 2020 Original Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race (OSTAR) was to be his swan song, his final race.
But as with much sport during the pandemic, the OSTAR, due to set off from Plymouth in May, has been postponed until 2021.
In a remarkable offshore sailing career that has made him a hero among Corinthian ocean sailors, Mervyn Wheatley has competed both singlehanded and with crews, as well as cruising extensively across oceans and in coastal waters.