Harold La Borde
Encyclopedia
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
Trinidadian sailor
Sailor
A sailor, mariner, or seaman is a person who navigates water-borne vessels or assists in their operation, maintenance, or service. The term can apply to professional mariners, military personnel, and recreational sailors as well as a plethora of other uses...
and adventurer who in 1969 to 1973 circumnavigated the world
World
World is a common name for the whole of human civilization, specifically human experience, history, or the human condition in general, worldwide, i.e. anywhere on Earth....
in his 40ft ketch
Ketch
A ketch is a sailing craft with two masts: a main mast, and a shorter mizzen mast abaft of the main mast, but forward of the rudder post. Both masts are rigged mainly fore-and-aft. From one to three jibs may be carried forward of the main mast when going to windward...
, 'Hummingbird II'. He was accompanied by his wife, Kwailan, and his five year old
Old
- Age :*Old age or, by extension, a description or nickname for someone or something that has endured and become comfortable or widely familiar.- Places :*Old, Hungary*Old, Northamptonshire, England...
son
Son
A son is a male offspring; a boy or man in relation to his parents. The female analogue is a daughter.-Social issues regarding sons:In pre-industrial societies and some current countries with agriculture-based economies, a higher value was, and still is, assigned to sons rather than daughters,...
Pierre. As the first known Trinidadian sailors to cross the Atlantic and later to circumnavigate, Harold
Harold
Harold is an Old English name, meaning "heroic leader", same as the title herald. Diminutives of Harold are Harry and Hal.*Several kings of Denmark, England and Norway were named Harald or Harold*Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England...
and Kwailan were awarded the nation's highest honor - the Gold Trinity Cross
Trinity Cross
The Trinity Cross was the highest of the National Awards of Trinidad and Tobago, between the years 1969– 2008. It was awarded for: distinguished and outstanding service to Trinidad and Tobago...
.
Harold was born in Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
, West Indies, in 1933, of parents with a rich mixture of blood in their veins - French, African, Spanish and Amerindian (Carib). He was educated at a local Roman Catholic school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
and began his sailing
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
career
Career
Career is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a person's "course or progress through life ". It is usually considered to pertain to remunerative work ....
by building dinghies, in which he taught himself the rudiments of seamanship
Seamanship
Seamanship is the art of operating a ship or boat.It involves a knowledge of a variety of topics and development of specialised skills including: navigation and international maritime law; weather, meteorology and forecasting; watchstanding; ship-handling and small boat handling; operation of deck...
, and reading any book about deep sea sailing that he could lay his hands on. Harold La Borde was determined to get a suitable boat, opting to build
Build
Build may refer to:* The process of building or construction* Physical body stature, especially muscle size; usually of the human body* BUILD , a website for people building or renovating their homes...
one himself.
In his first book, An Ocean to Ourselves (1962), La Borde tells how he built a 26' ketch 'Humming Bird'. Harold and Kwailan, who were married in 1959, made their maiden voyage in the 26-foot vessel, 'Humming Bird', to England in 1960, together with a friend, Buck Wong Chong. The 'Humming Bird' was subsequently sold, and says Harold "is somewhere in Europe."
The La Bordes, always working as a team, took jobs at an Outward Bound
Outward Bound
Outward Bound is an international, non-profit, independent, outdoor educationorganization with approximately 40 schools around the world and 200,000 participants per year...
school in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
in 1961, after the voyage, but the call of the sea was too strong for the young couple and they returned to Trinidad in 1963, when they started to build the 40' ketch 'Humming Bird II'. Their first-born son, Pierre, arrived while work was in progress.
The boat was completed in three years and, after chartering her out to Americans
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for a further three years in order to raise sufficient funds, the family set out on the 2nd of February 1969 on the, now historic, voyage that took them around the world. Harold and Kwailan were both awarded their nation's highest award, the Trinity Cross for their seafaring adventure. Their second son, Andre, was born in Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, during the voyage.
Upon their return home, the 40-foot Humming Bird II was purchased by the Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
Government in 1973, and can be seen in the museum near the lighthouse on South Quay; and according to Harold "is rotting away there. It is a sad thing, especially when you talk about taking care of historical things."
The La Bordes went on to another circumnavigation
Circumnavigation
Circumnavigation – literally, "navigation of a circumference" – refers to travelling all the way around an island, a continent, or the entire planet Earth.- Global circumnavigation :...
voyage via Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
(1984-1986) in the 'Humming Bird III'.
Harold La Borde T.C. also wrote a further two books with input from his family, wife Kwailan and sons Pierre and André, "All Oceans Blue" (1977), and "Lonely Oceans South" (1987).
Documentary films of their travels were made in conjunction
Conjunction
Conjunction can refer to:* Conjunction , an astronomical phenomenon* Astrological aspect, an aspect in horoscopic astrology* Conjunction , a part of speech** Conjunctive mood , same as subjunctive mood...
with the Government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
Film Unit, which were also very professionally put together. After retiring from their respective jobs in Trinidad, the La Bordes ran a small family marina in Trinidad's busiest yachting bay. Now retired again Harold's full time job is working on the Humming Bird III, every day while Kwailan is writing an autobiography and includes all of their sailing voyages to the present, entitled "Wind, Sea, and Faith".