Dustin Reynolds: The single handed sailor

Dustin

Surely if anyone has the right to call themselves the Single-Handed-Sailor, then it is Dustin Reynolds, writes Thom D’Arcy.

When the 43-year-old American arrived back in Hawaii on 4 December 2021 he achieved the remarkable feat of becoming the first double amputee to sail alone around the world.

Until 18 October 2008, Dustin had led a pretty comfortable western lifestyle in Hawaii.

He had a nice house, a business, drove a Mercedes and owned a fishing boat.

Dustin

Single handed sailor Dustin Reynolds plans to ‘pay forward’ the kindness of those who supported his voyage, by public speaking and is writing a book about his adventure. Credit: Dustin Reynolds

 

That night everything changed when he was hit head-on by a drunk driver while travelling home on his motorcycle and left for dead.

In hospital, Dustin recalls: ‘Doctors told my parents, my friends, and me that I would likely die. I heard my mother’s and father’s voices tremble and shake over the phone from thousands of miles away as they tried to be strong for me.’

He eventually pulled through but would have to come to terms with spending the rest of his life as a double amputee – an unimaginable adjustment for the former rescue diver.

Dustin Reynolds defies the odds

As Dustin began his long recovery, he desperately needed a new goal, a reason to live: ‘I was reading through the Slocum Society website and noticed that no double amputee had ever sailed solo around the world.’

The only trouble was he didn’t know how to sail and didn’t have a yacht.

With his medical costs continuing to rack up, his health insurers decided to put a $440,000 lien on him and with the Inland Revenue also chasing payments, he was declared bankrupt and lost almost everything.

There was, however, one glimmer of hope.

Dustin

One of Dustin’s greatest joys while sailing was learning about new cultures and meeting locals, like the residents of Vila, Vanuatu. Credit: Carrie Espansandin

 

‘Thankfully my cleaning company and the fishing boat could not be touched by the lien, so I managed to sell them and then scrape together $12,000 to buy my first sailboat Rudis, a 1968 built Alberg 35. She was tired and worn out, but she floated!’

The first time he pulled the mainsail up it ripped in half but undaunted, he managed to find an unwanted mizzen sail from another boat in the harbour and after two reefs were installed, had a working replacement.

On 18 June 2014, with only a few day sails with friends under his belt, and after teaching himself the basics of sailing by watching YouTube videos, Dustin set sail from Hawaii towards the Palmyra atoll.

He had never experienced singlehanded sailing before. Rudis just about held together for the sail south to the tropics and Dustin Reynolds honed his sailing and navigation skills as the miles slipped under the keel.

‘Because I had never sailed before my accident I didn’t have to change the way I did anything; it was all new and I learnt how to sail the boat with my physical limitations from trial and error,’ he explains.

Dustin

A self-tailing winch at the mast was installed in South Africa and helped as single handed sailor Dustin Reynolds continued up the southern Atlantic to the Caribbean. Credit: Perrette Baudot

 

Rudis didn’t have a self-tailing winch at the mast so when raising the mainsail Dustin worked the winch with his right hand before gripping the halyard in his teeth and pulling in the slack. It was rudimentary but there was no other option.

By the time Dustin had reached Indonesia the pressure really began to mount.

Rudis was leaking, and the engine had seized once and for all. ‘It took me four attempts to leave Bali for Thailand,’ says Dustin. ‘Every time I went to sea something would go wrong and I had to be towed back in. On one occasion the top of the forestay became detached from the mast. I had now completely lost faith in the boat and started to wonder if I could continue.’

After eventually getting away, Dustin received a message from a friend informing him the authorities back home were stopping his disability payments with immediate effect; they didn’t think his disability warranted a claim as he was fit enough to sail.

In disbelief and now with his only source of income dried up, he felt at rock bottom.

Dustin

The Bristol 36, Tiama was bought in Thailand following a Crowdfunding campaign. His original boat, Rudis, an Alberg 35, was sold and later sank. Credit: Veronique Prince

 

Shortly afterwards, he spotted something in the water close alongside. ‘Rudis had been wallowing around in calms for days and there was all this sea life that had made a home under the boat, I realised I was looking at a whale shark and just decided to jump overboard. I’m not a particularly spiritual person but to be in the water close to that incredible creature, at that moment when everything seemed lost, was clearly a sign to keep going and that everything was going to be OK.’

In Thailand, with no money left, Dustin decided he couldn’t continue the voyage without some financial help, so after a lot of convincing, set up a Crowdfunding page.

Within a few months he was able to think about upgrading the boat: ‘I eventually found a buyer for Rudis and asked them if they wanted me to include a few extras with the boat.’

 

Dustin

Dustin Reynolds circumnavigation route. Credit: Maxine Heath

 

The extras Dustin was referring to were several hundred adult magazines that had been packed away in boxes in a locker by the previous owner. He had told Dustin that they would come in useful for trading with locals in remote locations.

The new buyer of Rudis was more than happy to have them included in the sale too but unfortunately, Rudis sank several months later.

To the horror of the village elders at the Muslim island of Koj Jum, a regular supply of ‘unsavoury’ magazines began to wash up on the beach at every high tide!

Continue reading the original story over on Yachting Monthly here.

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