Dr. Stanley Paris & Kiwi Spirit II

I wish to begin by saying how amazed I am at the number who followed my effort and who gained inspiration from it. Thank you. Here are some comments that I thought would be helpful to respond to. “Not carry an extra sail” “Are you kidding me – no spare main?” We did have a spare but after team talk we decided that it would be nigh near impossible for one person to launch the sail given its weight etc. Also it is extra weight to carry and all thought that a new sail was a bett

Two issues have been brought to my attention that I would like to respond to. The first is why I took so long to publish the pictures of the sails and to comment on them, and the second is the visual state of the boat. When I arrived in Cape Town it was on New Year’s Eve and typical of the nations in the southern hemisphere, principally New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, since it is their summer they combine the festive season with a long vacation – most businesses are

On my ill-fated return from the first attempt I said I would take three months to make up my mind. I had my wife Catherine’s support as indeed I have it again. I am so fortunate. But I promised and I wish to help her this year finish her Appalachian Trail hike from Georgia to Maine and with any luck she will complete between June and August. I drop her off from the small motor home we have each morning with one of our two dogs. She hikes 8 to 15 miles depending on terrain. I

First the sails. Photo #1 shows the mainsail tear within minutes of my first seeing it. I had just finished a moderate air downwind and well controlled gibe with the traveler and boom centered. Something within my eye did not look right and so I looked up and saw the unbelievable tear. I looked away hoping it was a mistake and that I had not seen it at all. I looked back and it was still there. Immediately I knew it was over and sank to my knees resting my hands and head on a

I abandoned the solo circumnavigation attempt for the second time because of the mainsail failure. All else was going well, no impediments to further progress, to best of my knowledge. However there was a real problem developing that would also have ended the voyage – read on. “Just as well you stopped in Cape Town” was the opinion of Mike Giles who is managing the boat repairs and getting her ready for delivery back to the US, after he observed at the dock that the starboa