Bill Pinkney has sailed around the world and put thousands of miles on his boat odometers, but wherever he goes, he takes a little bit of Chicago with him.
That’s because Pinkney, 71, grew up on the South Side and has his land roots firmly planted in Chicago. Conversations with the first African-American to sail solo around the world don’t take long to shift to Chicago days. And nowhere is it clearer how attached Pinkney remains to the place that nurtured him than in his new autobiography.
Pinkney, who now lives in Meriden, Conn., is a former commodore of the Belmont Yacht Club, the object of a Peabody Award-winning documentary, served in the Navy with comedian Bill Cosby, sailed 32,000 miles solo around the world between 1990 and 1992 and supervised the construction and maiden voyages of the Amistad, a replica of the famous slave ship.
On the cusp of fresh voyages aboard the Amistad this summer, Pinkney also has written of his adventures in an engaging book called “As Long As It Takes: Meeting the Challenge.”
The crux of Pinkney’s book is the story of the great sail of his life. He was aided greatly by the tape recordings he made while at sea. A solo sailor has little time for note-taking, but the sound of his own voice can be soothing companionship when undergoing a worthy task.
“I had about 40 or 50 hours of audio I took along the way,” Pinkney said in a recent interview.
“There was about four years of wanting to do [the book]. And I had it in mind since I came back. I had to relive the whole thing. That was great. It just takes me back.”
Pinkney was born in Chicago in 1935. He joined the Navy after high school, where he met Cosby. The men’s lives intersected periodically over the years and Cosby helped Pinkney with critical fundraising sponsors when he hatched his sailing plan.
Cosby also wrote the book’s foreword, writing in part, ” . . . You don’t forget a Pinkney. I don’t think anybody who ever came across Bill forgets a Pinkney. Just that kind of fella. Bill Pinkney is one of the most important Americans for which he stands–that for his own reasons to walk toward his own dream.”
Although he always loved boats and the water, Pinkney was not wealthy. An around-the-world sail is costly and he spent years raising money and fashioning the right craft, a 47-foot Valiant he named Commitment.
When Pinkney sailed from Boston on Aug. 5, 1990, he was followed vicariously by dozens of schools in the Boston and Chicago areas where he lectured with the theme of dream big and go for it. It was difficult, but Pinkney stayed in touch with the children throughout the journey that culminated 22 months later on June 9, 1992, in Boston.
It has been said that anyone who runs a marathon has a personal story to tell. The thought more appropriately applies to circumnavigating solo sailors. They are completely self-reliant against the elements, often entangled in risky situations and may travel for two years instead of two hours.
Pinkney endured close calls, from disruptive seas to unseen freighters bearing down on him. A gregarious man, he seems to have relished the high points of international hospitality in places like Bermuda and South Africa.
He was shaken up on occasion–the boat twice was knocked on its side–but never, it seems, unduly worried.
“I must repeat here that oceans are an all-powerful force,” he wrote in the book. “They are relentless. Even so, a well-designed and well-built sailboat can handle almost anything the sea throws at it.”
Commitment did. And when Pinkney returned safely to Massachusetts, he was greeted on the docks–alongside the venerable U.S. Constitution in the Charlestown Navy Yard–by hundreds of fans. The waiting school children clapped and whooped and Navy officials greeted him formally and proudly.
When a replica Amistad was launched in 2000, Pinkney served as captain of the 129-foot educational vessel that commemorated a slave rebellion in 1839. In a couple of months, Pinkney will take an honorary turn at the helm for a few weeks in England and later for a month in Africa, as a crew of 10 with 10 students embarks on a lengthy journey.
Pinkney is thirsty for the adventure but didn’t want to team up with that gang for 14,000 miles.
“Oh, heck no,” Pinkney said. “Are you kidding me? It would be great to do it myself.”
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He’s still a solo sailor at heart.
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