Fall, 1981
Seventy-three year old Monk Farnham successfully completes a
5-week transatlantic crossing from Maryland to England aboard his Shannon 28 #10 Seven Bells and earns a place in the Guiness Book of Records as the oldest person ever to singlehand across any ocean. Monk sailed to Ireland the following spring, and with Walt Schulz aboard, Seven Bells became the first Shannon to sail up the Shannon River. The name Shannnon is from the ancestral homeland along the Shannon River of Walt's maternal grandparents. Walt grew up in an Irish household where magical tales were told of the mystical River Shannon. In 1983, Monk sailed home, and in the process, broke his own record at age 75.
