When you are 1,700 miles from Capetown in the South Atlantic, bound for the southern ocean and your jib furler is held in place with a C-clamp, it's time to quit. 75 Year old Stanley Paris - on strong advice from Farr - the designer of Kiwi Spirit - will do just that. He'll (hopefully) make it to the Cape of Good Hope, ship the boat back to Lyman Morse in Thomaston, Maine, and enjoy the rest of his days in Kiwi Spirit doing sensible things.
Update: But there are some disturbing things: Farr "recognizes that the rigging attachments" are inadequate to the task - ocean sailing! Why didn't LM recognize that? Paris refers to returning the boat to its original purpose "a fast family cruiser". So it looks like this guy succumbed to his biggest bucket list item "round the world record breaker" and tried to convert a boat designed for less challenging purposes. As to Cabot Lyman - who has sailed around the world - why did they not realize the design was not up to the re-purposed task? - GWC
Circumnavigation Abandoned – Heading to Cape Town | Dr. Stanley Paris – Kiwi Spirit, a custom designed 63-foot yacht:
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 state. I think it would be irresponsible to do it. I think you have too many substantial problems to head into harm’s way. The boom end failure is a substantial one. The jury rigged mainsheet arrangement looks very prone to chafe. That, combined with the jury rigged reefing arrangement, leads me to believe that a substantial failure is possible. If that occurs, you will quickly end up in a loss of mainsail situation. That by itself could quickly lead to a dismasting… I think the widespread failures across so many systems, would have kept a crewed grand prix boat on shore. To have this combination of problems in your injured state is inviting disaster… Please make the prudent decision and stop.” From Commanders Weather who have been routing me, stated after a comprehensive outline of various strategies:“I am very sorry, but the safest decision will be to head for Cape Town. And, getting into Cape Town is sometimes not very easy!” From Cabot Lyman, the owner of Lyman Morse, the builders:“I am in complete amazement and awe of your accomplishment so far -you have the complete respect of everyone who has any knowledge of this project and the many thousands of miles you have already sailed puts you in the category of the very few. Is it prudent for you to stop in Cape Town. Yes, are we all disappointed – yes – extremely so.
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