Meet Donald Lawson, the Sailor Who Plans to Break 15 World Records – Robb Report

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At nine years old, Captain Donald Lawson remembers walking the docks of Annapolis marinas, asking anyone in earshot on the docks if he could help them—cleaning boats, folding sails, or carrying gear back to the boathouse.

“After a long sail, many of the sailors are very tired, and it’s a great way to listen and introduce yourself as a 9-year-old to people with boats,” Lawson told Robb Report.

The time, travel, and money required of sailing have historically put a limit on the sport for the masses, especially in 1989 when Lawson first set foot on a 70-foot schooner through a Living Classrooms Youth program for fourth-graders. grade in underserved communities.

Lawson, in red, aboard the Defiant.

“The captain of the Lady Maryland let me steer the boat,” Lawson recalled. “I asked him how far I could take it, and he said, ‘Technically, you could sail it around the world.’ It was a real light bulb, life-changing moment for me, and I started working towards that goal.”

More than three decades later, Lawson, 41, is preparing to break from 15 to 18 world sailing records by 2028. “When you’re competing for a record, you’re competing with the past, present and future,” he said. “For me, the only way I can show who I am and what I am is to succeed in these journeys.”

This fall, he will attempt to become the first American—and, by extension, the first African-American—sailor to circumnavigate the globe solo in 70 days aboard a trimaran. He would become the fifth person to attempt such a feat—a groundbreaking goal for a sailor with few African-American role models to look up to.

Lawson is a familiar figure on racing circuits, including this Newport to Bermuda race.

Sailing was no different in the 1990s. At the time Lawson set foot on his first schooner, only one African-American sailor, Teddy Seymour, had sailed around the world solo, completing a 16-month voyage through the world’s canals in 1987.

William Pinkney became the second five years later after he circumnavigated the world via the Cape of Good Hope and Good Horn. But for much of his childhood, Lawson had to look elsewhere for mentors, named as his heroes Steve Fossett, Gary Jobson, Bruce Schwab, Rich Wilson, and Dame Ellen MacArthur, who advised him to sail multihulls to get different experiences.

“People accepted me because they could see my passion and drive,” he said. “I had to learn to do everything on the ship just to get a chance to help on the docks and sail.”

Lawson, standing between the center hull and starboard sponson, gives the size of the boat a sense that she will sail around the world alone.

After high school, Lawson taught sailing to children at the Downtown Sailing Center in Baltimore. Along the way, he gained his racing chops crewing raceboats at events like the Governor’s Cup on the Chesapeake Bay as well as local regattas. In the winter of 2005, Bruce Schwab, who had circumnavigated the world the previous year on his 60-foot yacht, Ocean Planet, invited Lawson to join him on a cruise to Portland, Maine.

On the first night on the water, the pair were caught in a snowstorm. Ever the competitor, Schwab wanted to use the storm’s winds to speed the boat up, rather than seek shelter in the harbor. Lawson obviously liked that idea. “The boat can sail well under autopilot,” Schwab told Outside Online. “But Donald was so happy to be there that he refused to get off, preferring to sit outside and drive the boat for hours, in the wind, in the snow.”

That’s the kind of courage that motivated Lawson to pursue a succession of solo-speed records. But he had more in mind than glory. Last year, he founded the Dark Seas Initiative, a non-profit organization with the goal of increasing diversity in the sport by inspiring the next generation of sailors. Lawson also chairs the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee for US Sailing, the sport’s national governing body.

Looks Defiant.

“He’s a go-getter,” said Laura Fergusson of Mustang Survival, a marine apparel and safety equipment company that supplies Lawson’s mission with sailing gear. “He makes great connections and brings attention to his non-profit. As a leader, he shows future generations that you can set goals and achieve difficult things.”

As part of its outreach, the Dark Seas Initiative will be broadcast to hundreds of classrooms as Lawson attempts to break his records. Cameras will record the often harrowing conditions to interpret the reality of offshore sailing. The goal is to reach young people who may never have considered sailing as a hobby, let alone a profession.

“Sailing requires a boat, and when you’re struggling to survive, a boat is the last thing on your mind,” Lawson said. “Yacht Clubs have historically not been very inclusive of women or minorities, so what you have is an uncomfortable situation where individuals are afraid to ask and clubs don’t know how to be inclusive.”

The Defiant was launched in 2004 in France as the Groupama 2, an ORMA 60 that won multiple Grand Prix titles and the prestigious Transat Jacques Vabre. Courtesy of VPLP Design

Lawson acquired his pedigreed trimaran, Defiant, in April, likening it to the Formula 1 of boats for its speed and performance. Starting life as the Groupama 2, the French-built trimaran was launched in 2004, using the most advanced materials of the time. It was the last ORMA 60 built, but won many races, including three years of Grand Prix titles and the 2007 Transat Jacques Vabre. The multihull got its new name from Lawson’s commitment to “defying the odds” and his favorite show, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Lawson spent the first months on the California coast, visiting various yacht clubs and sailing centers, and even sailing in San Francisco Bay. He is now based in Acapulco, having put 6,000 nautical miles on the Defiant.

“He was an adventurer,” said Rich Jepsen, a board member of US Sailing. “No one does that much work without an inner drive to do it—like the saying about summiting Everest, he does it because it’s there. But he also turns his personal ambition into a proven model for doing good by inspiring the school children who watch him.

Lawson will soon sail from Acapulco to his home-port of Baltimore for changes to the Defiant. Courtesy of Donald Lawson

Beyond the costs of acquiring and maintaining a racing trimaran, there is the challenge of sailing thousands of miles offshore alone, 24/7 in sometimes terrifying conditions, always with the goal of pushing the boat and himself faster to beat a record.

The first 6,000 miles took a toll. Recent photos of the Defiant in Acapulco show it looking worse for wear, with visible damage to the hull and sails. Several sailing websites reported that the boat lost its engine. Lawson said the boat is being repaired locally and he plans to sail soon through the Panama Canal, up the Atlantic coast to his home port of Baltimore, where it will be shipped out. “It will undergo testing, modifications and upgrades for the upcoming record season,” he said.

Attempts to break the record could begin next fall, with the Newport-Bermuda race. Lawson is chasing the record held by his mentor Steve Fossett, who sailed the route in 1 day, 16 hours in 1999. “If time doesn’t allow it, the next record attempt will be Around the World Voyage in October,” he said.

The campaign is planned to continue until 2028.

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