The 800 members of the Circumnavigators Club in New York City include Senator Barry Goldwater, who walked around the world both ways at the South Pole; Astronaut Neil Armstrong, who holds the record for the highest circumnavigation; and Admiral James Calvert, who circled under the North Pole's icecap aboard the nuclear submarine Skate. But last week the 76-year-old club snubbed a sailor who traveled around the world alone in a 53-ft. sloop because the mariner was ineligible to join the club, which restricts membership to "men of good stature."
Naomi James, 29, a native of New Zealand, made the voyage in 272...