Adventurer & The First Person To Complete A Single-handed ‘Vertical’ Circumnavigation of the Earth by Sail, Sailor, Entrepreneur, Author of ‘Over the Top’ & The Sunday Times ‘InGear’ Man of the Year Runner Up

Adrian Flanagan is an adventurer, entrepreneur, author and sculptor. In May 2008 he completed the first ever single-handed ‘vertical’ circumnavigation of the earth by sail. A natural speaker, Adrian has addressed school children of five, the military and business. He does not have a ‘stock’ delivery but considers each engagement unique. ”When I am invited to give a talk I am a) thankful b) excited. My mission is to deliver the client’s brief exactly and fully, to engage, entertain and energize the audience and to do so with humour and compassion. Everyone should be riveted. Nothing less will do.”

By the age of fifteen, Adrian had three central objectives to start and run his own business to be a published writer and to sail around the earth alone. Adrian says of this eclectic mix… ”I had a compulsion as a youngster to challenge myself in every arena intellectually, in a competitive business environment, artistically and physically.”

Adrian Flanagan was born on 1st October 1960 in Nairobi, Kenya. He now lives near Oxford. Educated at Stonyhurst College and at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. Adrian went on to read medicine at London University before qualifying in Osteopathic Medicine in 1988.

RETAIL:

Adrian left practice and co-founded Supermarket Direct, the first large-scale grocery home-delivery operation in the UK working in partnership with Sainsbury’s PLC. The company was sold in 1999.

Adrian settled down to pen a novel based on a factual outline involving the theft of US nuclear technology. ”I have always loved reading, especially thrillers Frederick Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal and The Odessa File really had a dramatic impact on me as a young teenager. I enjoyed the escapism and relished the structure of plot and the development of story.” Adrian’s international thriller Cobra was published in 2001.

It was in Thailand aged eight that Adrian was introduced to sailing which opened the door to the greatest challenge of his life.

”I read about Sir Francis Chichester’s epic 1966-67 solo circumnavigation in his book Gipsy Moth Circles the World when I was fifteen. I decided before I had even finished the book that one day…”
On October 28th 2005, Adrian Flanagan set sail aboard his 40ft stainless steel sloop Barrabas to attempt the first ever single-handed, vertical circumnavigation. This was westwards via Cape Horn and the Russian Arctic. Adrian knew that the challenges ahead would test the limits of his endurance. He has became only the 14th solo yachtsman to successfully double Cape Horn westwards against wind and current. Adrian recorded the first non-stop trip UK to Hawaii (18,000 nautical miles). He is also the only yachtsman to ever have sailed Russia’s Arctic coast along the Northern Sea Route single-handed. After 30,825 miles, Adrian arrived home on 21st May 2008, with a Royal Navy escort. Amongst many adventures, Adrian has been washed overboard, dislocated both wrists, been tracked by pirates off Brazil and also suffered two knock-downs at Cape Horn.

BOOKS:

The book of his remarkable voyage, ‘Over the Top‘ was published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in November 2008.  He later  published in 2017 The Cape Horners’ Club: Tales of Triumph and Disaster at the World’s Most Feared Cape

Adrian has been voted runner-up in The Sunday Times ‘InGear’ Man of the Year Award 2007. This was behind (unsurprisingly) Formula One prodigy, Lewis Hamilton.

Adrian is comfortable in front of any audience of any age. ”When I talk to people, I want everyone to leave with more self-belief than they had before they came in and the nous to know what to do with it”.

Why Hire Adrian Flanagan?