Back from Europe - was I looking at Kiwi Spirit II?
Took a break from bike training to go to Europe. First stop was Kiel, Germany where they are building a French designed 54' Finot-Cinq fast short handed cruiser. It's in truth the only boat that I have seen that fits what I believe I will need if I make a third attempt at a solo circumnavigation. It was in early build and I need to see more before deciding. Then I went to the Dusseldorf boat show - no doubt the largest in the works dwarfing strictly sail in Miami and the sailboat show in Annapolis, in truth there were some twenty plus boats in the fifty foot plus range and I got to study them all. So much to reflect on. Now I start serious discussions. Incidentally there are two attempting a circumnavigation at the moment. Tis the season. One like me had to put into Cape Town when he had electrical problems and the other continues but is slow and looks like 170 days and the record is 135. He's also younger. First day home I picked up my new Trek 7.7 hybrid bike with fancy looking gel seat. This bike I hope will serve me better than my road bike on hill ascents and there is to be plenty of them. The gel seat I hope helps for that's my biggest problem - painful bottom after an hour or so, relived by walking around but hellish by the end of three or four hours. No other problems.