Dr. Stanley Paris & Kiwi Spirit II

It was a rough entry to Cape Town, as a gale blew from the south east and winds were consistent at some 35-40 miles per hour. There was in addition, a great deal of shipping traffic rounding the Cape, going from and to Europe or Asia. When approaching land, there is a fear of over sleeping and ending up on the rocks. I was awake for the 36 hours, given the winds, traffic and fast approaching land. The boat is now being given the attention it needs. Sails off to the loft, boom

As I write this blog, I am less than a day out of Cape Town after a total of 50 days at sea. It’s bright and sunny, and I have favorable winds. Once I draw near, I shall be greeted with an escort boat, a crew will jump aboard with fenders and dock lines, for these I do not carry given the nature of the voyage, and we shall dock and be greeted by Customs and Immigration…and most importantly, my wife Catherine. There will be papers to sign, champagne to drink (a tradition on a

It has been asked by quite a few, "shall I restart?" As to it being from Cape Town where I am now headed, the answer is a clear and concise "no!" My goal was to leave from St. Augustine, during its 450th celebration (now my adopted home), via Bermuda, where I lived for three years and from where the record of 150 days was set by Dodge Morgan. My eldest son, Alan, is a Bermudian, and the first from that nation to have circumnavigated - something we have both done in years past

It’s now clear to me that there are times in life where we defensively deny giving thought to our innermost fears. Such is the situation with me aboard Kiwi Spirit. After 41 days at sea, I was beginning to see that bit-by-bit the yacht was not ready for the worst that the Southern Ocean could deliver - anywhere from five to ten gales, and one or two storms. This boat could no longer, in its present state, handle such forces, and I knew deep down that I was not prepared to giv

The President of the boat designers at Farr Yacht Design, after seeing the photos of the failures and repairs, as well as his recognizing that the design of the rigging attachments to the yacht were inadequate for ocean sailing, emailed me to say: “I have to say looking through them that I’ve become really concerned. My recommendation is to stop and regroup. I know that isn’t what you want to hear, but I don’t believe that you should continue into the Southern Ocean in this

The reader may recall that one of the records I am after is to be the first to complete a circumnavigation without the use of any hydrocarbons - no diesel, gasoline, propane or butane - not even a butane lighter which would be helpful in sealing the end of ropes. No one has done this. I need power principally for the autopilot which steers the boat, instruments of navigation and communication, refrigerator/freezer, and lighting, so I can be seen at night. The solar panels do

Now in the deep-south Atlantic, I need to be aware that there are some islands. Among which are the ones mentioned in the title of this post. I also might see more. They are small dots on the map/charts, but oh my, how they can hurt if not respected. "Inaccessible" is a good name for one of the three islands, and should make it clear to me that I should not under any circumstances attempt a landing - which of course I will not do, for it would disqualify me from this non-stop

Yes, it’s been 30 days since I left Bermuda and five more since I left St. Augustine. In the last week I have not seen a ship, and have had only a half dozen birds and one school of dolphin give me company. At this, the 30th day, Dodge Morgan’s position relative to mine (he did his in 1986) is that he is 350 miles north east of me. So, essentially given that we are heading south east at this time, we are neck and neck. Yesterday evening, and into this morning, there was no wi

New Years Eve started out well, but by early morning the wind picked up and I was caught with a light headwind sail, which was in danger of being overloaded. On several occasions I had to take the helm. It was a scary situation and no sleep for me. The 1/2 bottle of champagne to celebrate the new year had not been touched. Finally at 4:00 am, a gust blew out the sail and torn fabric filled the air with a swooshing sound. It was dark and there was nothing I could do but watch

There is not much traffic out here. It’s been over a week since I saw a sail boat and three days since I saw a ship. But when I see a ship, the first signs of which may be a blip on the radar, or more likely, a triangle showing up on my plotting screen, I immediately am alert and move the cursor to the ship to get the information I need to feel safe from collision. When the last ship came up on the screen it was a dark night. It was 24 miles away and coming at me at around 20