Donald Lawson, Baltimore sailor missing in Pacific, set out with unflinching dreams: ‘An almost impossible task’

As Donald Lawson sat on a deck at the Eastport Yacht Club in Annapolis nearly a year ago, overlooking a marina attached to the Chesapeake Bay and, to it, the world’s oceans, he explained his fascination: with the sea, with sailing, with setting records.

Buoyed by the recent purchase of a speedy boat, the Baltimore native expected to set 33 different records over the next decade, including becoming the fastest individual to sail a 60-foot vessel around the world. He spoke of his lofty plans with confidence.

By circumnavigating the globe, Lawson would realize a dream he’d has since he was 9, sailing in the Inner Harbor. And by doing it solo and nonstop, he’d become the first African American sailor with that distinction. He also planned to circumnavigate in fewer than 74 days, eclipsing that world record and blowing past the American mark of 107 days. He’d be remembered as a pioneer and a record-setter.

But Lawson, 41, experienced trouble as he prepared. He ran into engine problems while sailing alone in July and, at some point days later, his boat capsized.

He’s now missing in the Pacific Ocean, one of the bodies of water he’d set out to quickly conquer. No one has heard from him for more than a month.

Lawson’s boat had been in California, but he sailed it down the coast this year with plans to reach Baltimore, where he’d begin his circumnavigation this fall. Along the way, he stopped in Acapulco, Mexico to make repairs and departed there on July 5, headed for the Panama Canal. He ran into problems, however, and opted to turn back. His wife, Tori, last heard from him on July 12.

Two weeks later, his upturned boat was found, without him aboard, about 300 miles south-southwest of Acapulco.

The Mexican Navy and U.S. Coast Guard sent planes and boats to search for him, but both have suspended their efforts. Coast Guard Petty Officer Edward Wargo said Thursday the service does not have the resources to continually look for Lawson unless it learns of “new information” in the case. Mexican authorities, who spearheaded the search, remain “on alert” for signs of him or his life raft. The raft was not aboard his capsized and demasted vessel, leaving the possibility he remains afloat and alive. People have survived for months on rafts.

Tori has not given up hope for his rescue. “I hope everyone will join me in praying for Donald and his safe return,” she said in a statement Wednesday.

In announcing his ambitious record attempts, Lawson met with skepticism. No one — not even the French, the nation most dominant in the sport — has single-handedly sailed around the world in a trimaran as small as his. And though he was experienced, some sailors questioned whether Lawson had enough expertise to handle his ORMA 60 trimaran. It’s a uniquely fast, yet fickle, class of ocean racer.

Some worried Lawson was sailing too close to the sun, so to speak. Some thought his record-setting quest was quixotic. Some warned him to slow down.

But his sailboat, which he named Defiant, was built for speed: It skipped over the water at 42 knots (48 mph). Before he bought it last year, the boat won a trans-Pacific race in 2017, sailing from California to Hawaii in four days and seven hours — besting a previous record by more than a day. On that trip, though, a crew of eight guided the vessel.

Lawson set out to sail it alone.

He knows how dangerous solo sailing is. It’s just a mariner, a boat, and miles of ocean. And in Lawson’s case, it’s especially dangerous, given that his trimaran was prone to capsizing.

But Lawson also knows what his records could mean. As U.S. Sailing’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion chair and as the co-founder, along with Tori, of a nonprofit called the Dark Seas Project that focuses on sailing education, he seeks to bring the sport he loves to nonwhite audiences. Setting records would emphatically accomplish that.

“When I’m old and gray and done,” he told The Baltimore Sun while sitting on that deck in Annapolis in September, “hopefully, I can look back and feel like my work made a difference.”

‘An almost impossible feat’

Bill Pinkney, a preeminent Black sailor, was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 2021. After the ceremony, he spent some time with a dozen other Black sailors. They sat around celebrating Pinkney and sharing experiences, tales and goals.

One man, in particular, had unflinching aspirations, hoping to break all sorts of speed records, including a swift circumnavigation. It was Pinkney’s introduction to Donald Lawson. He and others nodded their heads and said, “Mhmm, OK,” Pinkney recalled.

“Because what he had expounded on was an almost impossible feat for a single man in a short period of time,” he said.

The other sailors, including Pinkney, took Lawson’s plans with a shaker of salt and scratched their heads. But they didn’t disparage Lawson, nor try to stop him from attempting what could be a perilous pursuit.

“We all know as sailors, we’re up for the challenge. That’s why we’re out there, whether it’s to challenge the sea or to challenge ourselves,” Pinkney, 87, said in a phone interview from his home in Puerto Rico.

There are a lot of “armchair sailors,” Pinkney said, and on Monday mornings, everybody’s a quarterback. But, he added, it’s not the business of one sailor to tell another they can’t do something.

“We’re kind of a weird breed,” Pinkney said of sailors. “Nuts, as some people might call it, but we have our own ideas and concepts and directions that we choose to follow.”

Lawson cut a map of the world out of National Geographic when he was a boy growing up in Baltimore and hung it up in his room. Sailing became his life’s focus. He sailed as a student at Woodlawn High School and at Morgan State University and went on to teach sailing across the world. He then delivered boats, transporting vessels long distances on behalf of their owners.

For his next act, Lawson — full of cheer and confidence — sought to be a pioneer and a record-breaker.

Lawson and his wife were honored in April with lifetime memberships to the Universal Sailing Club, a group of Black sailors based in Maryland and Washington. The club planned to again honor him Saturday during its annual Souls at Sea ceremony in St. Michaels, hoping for his safe return.

The club’s fleet captain, Alyson Hall, described Lawson’s enthusiasm for sailing as “contagious.”

In 1992, Pinkney became the first Black sailor to sail solo (although not nonstop) around the world via the capes, as opposed to going through canals. When told that he is arguably the most accomplished Black sailor, he adds a caveat: “So far.”

The only criticism Pinkney has of Lawson’s vision is that he announced his plans to break dozens of records before he’d broken any of them. Otherwise, Pinkney asks, who’s to say Lawson is too ambitious?

“There are a whole lot of things that would have never been accomplished, for us as Black people, if somebody didn’t say, ‘Hey, no matter what, I’m gonna go out and I’m gonna do it,’” Pinkney said.

H.E. Ross, a Black sailing advocate and historian based in England, is among the many who have been following the search for Lawson, hoping for good news.

“The life raft is not on the boat and he’s not on the boat,” Ross said. “So I’m hoping the two are together.”

Steve Callahan, an American sailor, survived for 76 days on a raft in 1981, drifting across the bulk of the Atlantic after his boat sank. Poon Lim, a Chinese crew member of a cargo ship, floated for 133 days on a raft after his boat was sunk during World War II.

“He set out to break records,” Pinkney said of Lawson. “Lord willing, he’s still got two to break: Steve Callahan’s and Poon Lim’s.”

Sailing from Acapulco

Lawson spent much of this year repairing and readying his trimaran — one he’d longed for and sought to buy a decade ago — for his global quest.

While heading from Acapulco to Baltimore, he lost engine power July 9 and began to rely on his wind generator, which turns wind into energy. On July 12, a storm knocked out that generator, leaving him without power.

Sailing Defiant alone and without power would be difficult: Lawson would not have his autopilot — which he once referenced as the Scottie Pippen to his Michael Jordan — and other necessary tools. Facing trouble, he decided to turn back to Mexico, a trip of at least one or two days, rather than continue toward Baltimore.

Hypothetically, Lawson could have lowered his sails and called for help, but he did not radio for assistance nor use his emergency beacon, something a sailor in distress typically does. His location was last tracked by satellite on the morning of July 13. Tori did not hear from her husband in the coming days, but that was typical — he would often shut systems down to conduct repairs or conserve power.

By July 21, she was alarmed. She notified the Coast Guard, which alerted the Mexican Navy. The capsized Defiant was located within a week, but Lawson was not aboard. Soon after, the authorities suspended their searches.

The weather near the Defiant on July 13 and in the days after was “tranquil,” according to Chris Landsea, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center. That doesn’t eliminate the possibility of a squall or a gust. During his around-the-world trek, Pinkney’s boat was knocked over by a microburst — a sudden current of air — and under certain conditions, a large wave could turn a trimaran over.

Still, like his whereabouts and well-being, it remains unknown what capsized Lawson’s boat.

“The only person who could tell about it is him,” Ross said. “And I hope he does tell some tales.”

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