Capt. Bill Pinkney: Bringing sea lessons and a remarkable life to the Chicago Maritime Museum Festival

Captain Bill Pinkney has had much to celebrate on the water, including sailing the world solo; he will headline the Chicago Maritime Museum Festival. | Provided

Bill Pinkney jumped off the rocks with friends near the Jackson Park Yacht Club as a teenager. While flying through the air, he realized he couldn’t swim.

“I nearly drowned,” he said last week from his home in Puerto Rico.

Capt. William “Bill” Pinkney had a remarkable life, especially related to water.

“Not had, but having a remarkable life,” Pinkney, 85, corrected. “Still working on it.”

On Thursday, he is the keynote speaker, via video, at the Chicago Maritime Museum Festival. He will address 10 things he learned at sea that are applicable to life.

In June 9, 1992, he became the first African-American to sail solo around the world when he finished a 22-month journey on “Commitment,” via the difficult route around the southern capes.

The video of the journey, narrated by Bill Cosby, won a Peabody Award. “Captain Bill Pinkney’s Journey” was much used grade-school text. The late poet Maya Angelou wrote the cover recommendation to “As Long as It Takes,” Pinkney’s autobiography.

People he’s had contact with—presidents, captains of industry, artistic sorts—is the most remarkable of anybody I’ve interviewed in 25 years of this column. His resume is the first of any interviewee to include limbo dancer.

After sailing solo, Pinkney would lead excursions of the Middle Passage slave routes and became a captain of the recreation of the Amistad.

Pinkney grew up near 31st and Indiana, so the 31st Street Beach was a favorite spot to walk to.

“I often wondered what was on the other side of the lake,” he said.

He did a lot in his life to find that out, including joining the Navy.

“I spent eight years in and loved it,” he said. “I always lived near water and was involved in water.”

Helping with a fundraiser for a museum is not surprising. Pinkney was on the board of the Mystic Seaport Museum, which led the recreation of the Amistad. Growing up, he loved Chicago’s museums.

“The Museum of Science and industry was my favorite because I was there when they brought the submarine across,” he said.

Captain Bill Pinkney (center) at the Jackson Park Yacht Club.

Lake Michigan taught him much about sailing. He sailed six or so Macs (Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac). When he had trouble finding people to sail with him, he started sailing solo.

“One thing led to another, a slippery slope, and I am sailing around the world by myself,” he said.

His solo sail around the world wasn’t to be a model for other African-American sailors. He simply wanted to write some inspiration for his grandchildren.

But, at his elementary school reunion, he mentioned planning to sail around the world. He was asked to do something for classes. Word reached Marge Harrigan, who administered curriculum for the Chicago Public Schools.

“At that point, I lost control of it,” Pinkney said.

Major sponsorship came from Boston for the solo trip, so students in Boston were added. Sailing solo, he communicated with 30,000 students in Chicago and Boston. Many communications awaited when he reached ports.

World Challenge Fund originator Bill Pinkney who has raised money for his lone world-wide sailing tour, hooked-up to computers & satellites to educate public school students around country, showing picture of boat to 6th grade class.

His life was so remarkable I was compelled to ask if he met, felt or saw God while sailing around the world.

“Oh yes,” he said. “You see the face of God in the beauty and majesty of the ocean, and you see God in the strength, force and power there. And you realize that man is not the strongest thing on earth, not even the hydrogen bombs or B52s have that strength and power.”

Asked if one thing in his remarkable life stood out, he said, “No. It is a progression, never knowing what the next step is going to be, but being willing to do it when the possibility presents itself.”

When I asked him if he would recommend that young people chase their dreams, he said, “Yes, but there is a difference between a dream and a fantasy. A dream is from your own efforts. Fantasy is what happens to you. If you’re 5-6, playing in the NBA is a fantasy. However, if you want to be involved, go to law school and become an agent. Fantasies happen to you. Dreams are things you can make happen with help.”

CMM Festival, now a “gala-gone-virtual,” raised $35,000 of the hoped for $100,000 by Monday. The big fundraising will be the Paddle Raise, led by auctioneer Greg Dellinger and reenactors Abraham Lincoln and Louis le Voyageur. Some of the funds will be for a permanent Bill Pinkney exhibit. After the Paddle Raise, folk artist Lee Murdoch is featured in a music festival.

More information on CMM, which sits the east bank of Bubbly Creek in the basement floor of the Bridgeport Art Center at 35th and Racine, is at chicagomaritimemuseum.org.

Captain Bill Pinkney at the helm.