Harry Pidgeon built his own yacht Islander from a Seabird plan, but increased her length to 34 ft. He was not the first person to sail the world single-handed. That honour went to Joshua Slocum on Spray in the late 1890's. Harry was however the first man to sail around the world single handed twice. During a visit to Cape Town 1936 he gave talks about his adventures and met Frank Wightman. Frank was inspired by Harry Pidgeon's stories and he decided to built a copy of Islander.     

AROUND THE WORLD SINGLE-HANDED is still in print.