4 sources · updated 20 Oct 2026
Born in Hawick in 1940, Chay Blyth joined the Parachute Regiment at 18. In 1966, with John Ridgway, he rowed across the North Atlantic in 92 days aboard English Rose III, earning the British Empire Medal.
In 1968, with no sailing experience, he entered the Golden Globe Race aboard Dytiscus and retired shortly after the Cape of Good Hope. In 1971 he became the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world westwards, taking 292 days on British Steel, and was made a CBE.
He then skippered Great Britain II in the 1973 Whitbread (winning a leg), won the 1978 Round Britain Race on Great Britain IV, and sailed the 1981 Whitbread on United Friendly. That year he also won the two-handed transatlantic race with Rob James on Brittany Ferries GB. In 1984 he capsized off Cape Horn aboard the trimaran Beefeater II; in 1985-1986 he co-skippered the Virgin Atlantic Challengers with Richard Branson.
Founder of Challenge Business, he created the British Steel Challenge (1992-93) and then the Global Challenge, a round-the-world race open to amateurs. He was knighted in 1997.