Seamanship without showmanship

In the late 1940s and early 1950s few outside the secretive British military establishment would have known much about the wartime heroism and endeavour of Herbert ‘Blondie’ Hasler and his daring raid on Bordeaux in 1943.

The 1955 film, Cockleshell Heroes, is based on Hasler's Operation Frankton, a submarine-launched kayak raid in stormy December seas off the French coast that saw a number of German ships damaged, but also led to the deaths of ten British marines. Hasler was critical of the film for being creative with the truth, but it revealed his military genius and appetite for adventure, which is still in evidence on the North Atlantic to this day.

Hasler’s great passion after the war was offshore racing and he was well known for his participation in the fledgling Royal Ocean Racing Club events in the English Channel and beyond.

Then in the summer of 1960, Hasler devised, organised and participated in the inaugural OSTAR (Observer Single Handed Trans-Atlantic Race). Hasler sailed his modified Nordic Folkboat Jester on which he had developed his own windvane self-steering system. He finished second in 48 days to Sir Francis Chichester's much larger Gipsy Moth III. All five starters reached Newport in good order – the first and, interestingly, the only time this has happened, so far – and the other three participants all sailed boats under 25ft LOA.

‘All starters reached Newport in good order – the only