The story of a single handed sailing voyage around the world without stopping for provisions or help.
This is the story of a voyage to Stewart Island at the bottom of New Zealand at Christmas 1980. This is a wild and sometimes exciting place to get to, but well worth the effort.
On October 14 1984, I left Victoria British Columbia on a solo non-stop Circumnavigation of the globe. My goal was to arrive back in Victoria safely, encounter what the tall ship sailors had experienced and to complete the journey in as fast a time as I could. On my return, I learned that I had broken the overall world record for all sizes of sailing craft and subsequent letters to "Nobby" Clark, the Guinness record keeper for sailing records, confirmed it. Six months later my overall record was broken by Dodge Morgan, however I retained my record for sailing vessels up to 50 feet. Nobby's first letter requested I send him specific information and his second letter established my record. I've transcribed Nobby's second letter for easy reading.
View a slide show of the solo no-stop circumnavigation from the time when Laivina was being prepared. The mast was taken down and rigging replaced and various repairs were done before scrubbing the bottom and applying coats of anti-fouling paint.
During the fall of 1986, Pacific Yachting published a four part series of my trip.
Part 1 - Victoria to Cape Horn
Part 2 - Cape Horn to Kerguelen
Part 3 - Kerguelen to New Zealand
Part 4 - New Zealand to Victoria
These are the statistics based on records kept during the voyage. Taking noon to noon runs as a straight line, Laivina travelled 26,776.6 nautical miles in 268 days from Victoria BC to Victoria BC (subtracting the days spent at Santa Barbara re-building the auxiliary rudder). The average days run was 99.9 nautical miles or 4.2 knots The longest days run was 181 nautical miles (7.54 knots) and the shortest days run was 19 nautical miles (not counting part days when leaving or entering ports and returning to "assist in a search") I consumed 433 litres of fresh water over 276 days (1.56 litres per day). I actually consumed more water as I cooked my meals and baked bread using a mixture of fresh and salt water
Wind Strengths
Sails Used
Points of Sail
The high percentage (42.3%) closed hauled is mostly made up from two pacific ocean transits, outward bound and homeward bound while making easting in the trades over three to four months.
This is the story of a voyage to Stewart Island at the bottom of New Zealand at Christmas 1980. This is a wild and sometimes exciting place to get to, but well worth the effort.
For those not acquainted with the title of this column, the term baggy wrinkle comes from the old sailing ship days. The sail maker on board, would keep short, odd pieces of rope yarns in a bag for use as anti-chafing on shrouds to protect the sails. "Bag o' Wrinkle" as the wrinkled yarns in the bag were called. So this column is called baggy wrinkle as it is designed to contains short, odd yarns.
And that's how it all happened
The Launching
The Lowly Engine
Fisherman's Wharf August 2086
The Licensed Boater
Another Lousy Day in Paradise
The Size of Things to Come
From the Sea Horse's Mouth
Lower the Bosun's Chair, Hal
