Eight Days to Go
With only eight days to go it may seem strange that I am in England, having just left France this morning on the super-fast Eurostar train. Well it's October 30th and my wife Catherine and I are celebrating our thirtieth wedding anniversary. You could conclude that I am not paying attention to the solo circumnavigation ahead and that I should be at the boat in St. Augustine. To the contrary, I need to be with Catherine for a few days, visiting some favorite places and some o
Kiwi Spirit - Is She Bullet Proof?
Not yet on the 1,200 mile delivery from Maine to St. Augustine from where on November 8th (weather permitting) the second and final attempt at a solo circumnavigation will commence, we had a number of failings on the boat. The weather was mild and while not good for sailing it was fine for testing. Here now is what went wrong: The motor on one of the three primary winches failed - yet again. On a second winch, the disc at the top that grabs the rope started to spin - yet ag
Kiwi Spirit Leaves for St. Augustine - October 2
A stronger, safer and possibly faster Kiwi Spirit left Lyman Morse yards in Thomaston Maine for the 1,100nm voyage to St. Augustine, Florida for final preparations before a most likely departure on Saturday, November 8th. It is stronger in that we have further reinforced the end of the boom that broke during an accidental jibe, replaced the fittings of the shrouds, genoa and staysail furlers to the deck with stronger pins complete with a threaded nut and split pin - very impr