PS 676 recently had a virtual visit from a professional sailor who will soon set out to be the first African American to sail around the world without stopping.
His name is captain Donald Lawson and sailing has been his life passion since he was nine years old.
“Sailing has been my life since I was nine,” Captain Lawson said. “Everything I have done since then has led me to where I am now. We are now months away from the around the world voyage so it is a frantic time.”
Captain Lawson added that he enjoyed talking to the PS 676 kids at their morning meeting and telling them about his story. He tries to inspire kids like he was inspired when he was a kid.
When Lawson was nine years old he had the opportunity to go sailing in Baltimore’s harbor, which is where he grew up. This time on the water changed his life.
“When I was on this boat I fell in love with the freedom and the peace of mind of it,” Lawson said. “At nine years old, you can’t really go anywhere by yourself, especially not in Baltimore in the 1980s and 1990s. I got a sense of freedom for the first time in my life on this giant sailboat.”
While on the boat, he asked the captain how far he could go. The captain told Lawson that he could sail a boat like this around the world, and that day at nine years old the captain’s words inspired him to want to do just that.
“Everything I did from that point on was about achieving that dream,” Captain Lawson added. “Whether it was working with the navy, or racing boats in different places around the world, all that has led me to achieve that dream.”
An influential organization that he was involved in when he was a kid was PAL. That program was trying to bridge the gap between the public and the police force.
“My mother worked for them and because of that I got the opportunity to do some fun adventures,” Lawson said. “One of the trips that I got to do was actually sailing in Baltimore’s harbor. My parents started sending me to camps around Maryland and around the country to experience being on the water.”
He enjoyed going camping and canoeing. He attended the Naval Academy’s summer program and once sailing really became his passion, his parents did everything they could to help him pursue it.
Captain Jack Wasylyk, who teaches harbor science at PS 676 and runs an after school boat building class for 4th and 5th graders, organized the visit from Captain Lawson.
Wasylyk had never heard of Lawson before but during Black History Month an assistant principal at the school put his bio on the wall after doing research in the maritime world.
She found out that he was trying to be the first African American to sail solo nonstop around the world. There have been two African American men who have gone around the world but they made stops.
“The first one was Captain Teddy Seymour in 1989 and the second was Captain Bill Pinkney in 1992,” Captain Lawson told PS 676 during his visit. “Both of them stopped at different places on their voyage. The way you set world records is you go around the world non-stop. I am a natural progression of their history.”
“Eventually one of you guys or girls may come along and say I can do better than Captain Lawson and maybe break my records.”
Wasylyk added sailing is traditionally underrepresented by black and brown people. After seeing his bio, he saw that he was linked to US Sailing, which connects to PS 676 since Wasylk had been in touch with them to tell them about the school’s harbor theme.
The harbor science teacher emailed US Sailing telling them he noticed he was a chairperson of a committee and asked if they had his email. The connection was a fast one since they forwarded his email to Lawson and the next day he said he wanted to be in touch.
Captain Lawson was on the Google Meet with the PS 15 students during their morning meeting for 15 minutes. The kids were excited to hear from him but they will have more opportunities to interact with Captain Lawson later on.
The kids were interested in knowing how he would not sink during his journey and how he would stay safe.
He told them that his number one goal is safety and he is trying to take all the safety precautions necessary. He will have everything possible planned out since when that is done even something adventurous and time consuming like sailing around the world is safe.
“When he leaves it will be a great learning opportunity because we will have the tracker, so we will see where he is but that also means we can think about the geography of the places he is going and the weather of the places he is,” Wasylyk said. “He might sail past countries that the kids are curious about and they can do research about those countries. It is a great learning opportunity.”
There was one student in particular named Jariel who was really interested in his journey and wanted to be who Captain Lawson is when he gets older.
“I told Captain Lawson about Jariel, and in the meeting, Captain Lawson gave Jariel a shoutout,” Wasylyk said. “He said, “I heard about a student named Jariel who wants to be a captain and I encourage you to do that.’ Jariel saw that and lost his mind. He was so excited.”
The PS 676 student showed his excitement by making a response video thanking him.
Captain Lawson has been able to sail all over Europe, Africa, South America and the Caribbean. His favorite place to sail is the Canary Islands, which is off the coast of Morocco.
He has been there four times and thinks it is a beautiful place with great culture and great food.
In high school he decided to study engineering. He applied for the Naval Academy and got an appointment from the late Elijah Cummings, but couldn’t go since he has asthma.
He then attended the HBCU Morgan State University in Baltimore, where he studied systems engineering research and designed sailboats.
Based on his sailing background and expertise, to make a living he taught sailing in Baltimore for about 14 years. He has also been paid to be a delivery captain for many years, which is right up his alley.
“What delivery captains do is you have these really wealthy people who own boats but they only sail them twice a year,” Lawson said. “So they hired me to move their boat from NYC to Bermuda. I would take their boat from NYC to Bermuda, they would pay me a stipend, and I would go onto the next project.”
This gave him valuable experience on a variety of types of boats and it helped him build up his network around the world so when people needed crew members they would call him.
He most enjoyed going to Spain and France as delivery captain because of their coastlines. He also enjoys the Spanish islands for the culture, people and food.
The pro sailor is slated to begin his record breaking voyage this coming January. The exact start date will be contingent on two factors.
“I need the right weather pattern to go,” Lawson said. “The second thing will be if there are any Covid restrictions again. That has been the holdup the last two years. You were not even allowed to be on boats in 2020 so we missed a couple of years.”
He will begin his journey on the east coast but there are a few logistics he has to take care of before he begins. The main aspect is putting himself in the best position to be successful, and he knows how long his route should take since he has done lots of planning.
As far as his boat, he has to get it from being configured for eight or nine people to it being configured for one person to sail the boat since he will be the only person the entire time.
He will be changing the radar and the autopilot and he will bring a couple of censors for the wind and weather. He will update the sails of the boat, which will likely include adding a third reef to the main sail. There are about 10 modifications he can make.
Once he leaves in January, his goal is to finish his journey in 70 days, which would mean he would break the world record and the American record since the American record sits at 107 days (by Rich Wilson onboard his IMOCA 60 Great America during the 2016 Vendee Globe Race).
“By doing 70, I would get the American record, the world record and the cultural record all in one,” Lawson said.
When he was a child, his mom got him a world map and they drew the route around the world starting from Baltimore. He knows the route perfectly since he has been studying it for decades, but he will not be starting from Baltimore.
“Nobody will know where I am starting until a month before the record breaking journey starts,” Lawson said. “As far as strategy is concerned, we have already mapped it out a number of times. That is why I know that I should be able to finish in 70 days.”
According to Lawson, when he first started sailing in 1989 in Baltimore, there had not been more than five people who had sailed around the world non-stop, and there had been no African Americans.
He said that he didn’t want his achievement to matter just because he is black but he wants it to be because he is one of the best sailors in the world. “When I learned the way that the rules worked, I decided when I go around the planet I want to do it in record breaking form,” Lawson said.
There are a few factors that go into the record, which is determined by the World Speed Sailing Racing Council (WSSRC). The WSSRC was established in 1978.
The first category is the size of the boat. The sizes are 1,000 foot down to 61 feet, 60 feet down to 41 feet and 40 feet down to 24 feet. Lawson will be using a 60-foot boat.
The second category is if it is with a crew or by himself, and he is getting the solo record, which puts him in the 60-foot solo range.
The last determining factor is type of boat. He is using a trimaran, which puts him in the multihull category.
“It is an expensive fleet to compete in but fortunately the boat I am using is one of the fastest ever made,” Lawson said. “I am a pretty good sailor so that gives me good odds of breaking the records. To go around the world you are required to cover 22,700 nautical miles.”
He has to cross the equator a couple of times so he is required to start from the Northern Hemisphere. He will have to start and end at the same location and cross all meridians of longitude. The vessel will also sail around Antarctica in latitude 63 degrees south.
The name of his trimaran is Defiant, and the boat type is Forma 60. He will be using this same boat for the next 10 years as this maritime enthusiast will try to break 35 world records.
The top speed that his boat has been clocked at is 38.9 miles per hour but he will have to manage the speed of his boat.
“When I am out there, part of the journey I may only sail at 50 percent of full potential speed and other times I may do 110 percent because I need to get from point A to point B before a storm gets in,” Lawson said. “You have to know when to exert a certain amount of energy and when to back off.”
He will have set three world records this summer and during the fall before he starts his around the world journey. While going around the world, he will break 12 world records in the process.
“By the time I get back, those 12 plus the three I already did, I should have about 15 records broken by next summer,” Lawson said. “The goal is to go city hopping. I have a map of all the routes and all of them are linked together. We are going to be hopping around the planet the next 10 years.”
He will have to make sure his boat is ready and that he is physically and mentally ready before he can commence. He is confident that he will not have to worry about those factors and the other obstacles are out of his control.
“You can only avoid bad weather so much,” Lawson said. “Fortunately my boat is fast enough so that if I have a heads up, which I generally will, I can try to avoid the worst of the weather.”
He added that a big issue is debris and trash, but that was not really a problem back in the day. The ocean is really polluted now. Sometimes he might sail into bad weather to avoid trash and bad currents, which is all part of the risk management of going after a record like this one.
“The goal is to prepare as much as possible, pick the best route you can and try to avoid the worst of the weather and the worst of the debris,” Lawson said.
He will be able to track the weather through a program called Expedition. Through uploaded weather files he will be able to accurately see 72 hours of weather pretty clearly.
He is pleased that technology has really advanced. He will use a satellite phone and will be able to video chat and do live presentations with schools from the boat. He will be physically by himself but thankfully able to communicate back to America.
He and his wife are high school sweethearts and he will miss having her on the boat. This will be the longest time that they will not be together.
“Having lots of pictures and videos of her, and having the ability to call her, is going to be important for me,” Lawson said.
During his journey, he knows mentally what he needs and one thing that will be with him is music. He loves music and has almost four months of music on his phone.
“Music helps me have a rhythm to my work when I am on the water.”
Also, he will proudly be bringing the flag from his home yacht club in Annapolis, Maryland. He will fly this flag around the world and then will sign it so that they can have it as a souvenir from his voyage.
On long sailing expeditions, freeze dried food used to be the only option. He said his diet will be significantly better than National Geographic stories from 20 years ago.
He will eat foods like beef jerky and instant oatmeal that will give him the protein he needs. Most of his food will be high protein and low carb while on his trimaran.
Lawson created Dark Seas Project this year since he decided to make a non-profit for the education and speaking tours that he does. He likes giving back and promoting sailing and maritime.
“The main focus of the non-profit is to continue what I have already been doing the last 20 years, which is going to yacht clubs, sailing centers and schools and teaching about sailing, diversity, equity and inclusion,” Lawson said. “Trying to offer them information for free that I have been using for the last 30 years to help expand their yacht clubs and centers.”
He wants to get more people into the sport of sailing, which includes women, kids and disenfranchised parts of the population. He also shares his story since he is an inspiration.
“A lot of times people will look at what I am doing and my story as inspiration, so I share my story and what I am doing and how I do it,” Lawson said. “I share not to make them world class sailors but to show them that if I can do it from Baltimore, you can do it.”
Since he has the non-profit set up, people can now donate to his efforts. He has partnerships with schools and sailing centers around the USA.
He has even been getting messages from schools in Africa and Europe that he has worked with in the past who now want him to talk to their current students.
In addition to his work with minorities, he has been working with organizations like Special Olympics and Wounded Warriors for many years.
“We work with anyone and everyone to try to help them be the best version of themselves,” Lawson said.
