Vito Dumas

Who was Vito Dumas?

Vito Dumas was an Argentine single-handed sailor.

In 1942, while the world was in the depths of World War II, he set out on a single-handed circumnavigation of the Southern Ocean. He left Buenos Aires in June, sailing LEHG II, a 31-foot ketch an acronym representing "four names which marked my life". He had only the most basic and makeshift gear; he had no radio, for fear of being shot as a spy, and was forced to stuff his clothes with newspaper to keep warm.

With only three landfalls, the legs of his trip were the longest that had been made by a single-hander, and in the most ferocious oceans on the Earth; but most of all, it was a powerful retort to a world which had chosen to divide itself by war. He recounted the experience in his book Los Cuarenta Bramadores: La Vuelta al Mundo Por la "Ruta Imposible".

He donated his boat to the Argentine Navy for training, but after a few years it was neglected, broke its mooring chain, and was wrecked on the rocky shore. A wealthy Argentine yachtsman paid to have it restored and donated it to the Argentina Naval Museum in Tigre, a nautical river town on a backwater of the River Plate. The Lehg II is now on display in Tigre, which is a short train ride from Buenos Aires.