Most Minnesotans have never heard of Roger Swanson. But among voyagers around the globe, he’s known as the man who circled the world not once — but three times — on a 57-foot sailboat whose home port is listed as “Dunnell, MN.”

His travels carried him from the tip of South Africa to the Arctic, winning international honors along the way. He also happened to launch a half-dozen manufacturing businesses in rural Minnesota, overseeing production of everything from snowblowers to farm equipment.

Swanson is being remembered this week as an extraordinary adventurer who lived an otherwise ordinary life in southwestern Minnesota.

“Roger Swanson was one of the greatest long-distance voyagers of this era or any other era,” said Herb McCormick, senior editor of Cruising World magazine. “Few sailors have gone from the Arctic to the Antarctic and everywhere in between. He was one of a kind.” He died December 25th 2012. R.I.P. Roger Swanson.