The British government trumped him by creating the world's biggest single marine reserve round the Chagos islands in the Indian Ocean - all 545, 000 sq km of it.
For someone who had never gone faster than 8 knots on a sailboat, watching him and his crew in the 1989 Whitbread Round-the-World Race blaze through the Southern Ocean on the 90-foot Steinlager II was nothing short of incredible.
Mr Goss became a global hero when he turned back in a southern ocean hurricane to rescue fellow competitor Raphael Dinelli in the 1996-97 Vende Globe round the world single-handed race.