Dame Naomi Christine James, DBE (née Power; born 2 March 1949) is the first woman to have sailed single-handed (i.e. solo) around the world via Cape Horn,^[1] the second woman to have ever sailed solo around the world. She departed Dartmouth, Devon on 9 September 1977 and finished her voyage around the globe on 8 June 1978 after 272 days, thus improving Sir Francis Chichester's solo round-the-world sailing record by two days.^[1][2]

She was born in New Zealand on a landlocked sheep farm in the Hawkes Bay region^[3] and did not learn how to swim until the age of 23.^[1] She worked as a hairdresser^[4] until she boarded a passenger boat for Europe.^[1]

In the summer of 1975 in Saint-Malo, France she met her future husband Rob James, who was skippering yachts for Chay Blyth and who had come into port with a charter boat. She learned about sailing from Rob James, and while waiting for him to return from an ocean race and marry her, she made the decision to sail single-handed around the world, non-stop.^{[citation needed]} She told Rob her dream on their honeymoon, and had only six-weeks sailing experience at the time.^{[citation needed]} Chay Blyth lent her the boat Spirit of Cutty Sark (later renamed Express Crusader), other people raised money for supplies, and the Daily Express raised sponsorship money.^[5] She sailed around the world aboard the 53-foot (16 m) yacht Express Crusader. During her voyage, she once nearly lost her mast, capsized^[1] and had no radio for several weeks.^[5]

Naomi James was made a dame commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1979 in recognition of her achievements,^[6] and was named New Zealand 1978 Sailor of the Year.^[7]

She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1979 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the Earls Court Boat Show.^{[citation needed]}

After her voyage, she found a house with her husband in Cork Harbour, Ireland.^[5]

Naomi was reunited with the Express Crusader (fitted out and renamed Kriter Lady) for the 1980 Europe 1 STAR. She was the first woman back and broke the women's speed record for a single-handed crossing of the Atlantic,^[8] with a time of 25 days, 19 hours. Rob also competed in that race, finishing twelfth in the trimaran Boatfile.^[9]

In 1982, she and her husband Rob James sailed Colt Cars to win the two thousand mile double-handed Round Britain Race.^[10][8][11] She gave up sailing after that race, because she suffered badly from sea sickness during that voyage (possibly augmented by morning sickness due to her pregnancy).^[11][12] In 1983, while sailing in the same boat which won the race, her husband fell overboard and drowned off Salcombe, Devon.^[5][10] Her daughter was born 10 days later.^[1]

Dame Naomi was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.^[8] She graduated with a MA in Philosophy from the University College Cork, and later a PhD from Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy.^[13][14]

Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz of Poland was the first woman to sail around the world solo, completing her 401-day voyage (via the Panama Canal) on 21 April 1978, less than two months before James, starting and finishing in the Canary Islands.^[15]

James' voyage is notable as she was the first woman to single-handedly sail the clipper route, eastabout and south of the three great capes; and she completed a fast (although not without outside assistance) circumnavigation in just 272 days.^[12] According to the rules of the World Sailing Speed Record Council, a circumnavigation of the globe for speed record purposes has to start and finish in the English Channel; James started and finished her voyage in Dartmouth, therefore fulfilling this condition.^[12]

In 1988, Kay Cottee of Australia became the first woman to complete a non-stop single-handed circumnavigation, on Blackmore's First Lady.^[1]

The first woman to sail around the world was Jeanne Baret, a French woman who, disguised as a man, sailed on the Etoile, one of the two ships on the French expedition led by Louis-Antoine de Bougainville.^[16][17] Baret was a herbalist and assisted in the identification of new species. The expedition left France in April 1768.

• At one with the sea: alone around the world, Auckland, N.Z. : Hutchinson of New Zealand, 1979, 9780091368609
• At sea on land, London : Hutchinson/Stanley Paul, 1981,9780091446307
• Courage at sea: tales of heroic voyages, London : Stanley Paul, 1987, 9780091712501