Stanley Paris Around the World on Kiwi Spirit

Discussion in 'All Things Boats & Boating' started by Eric Sponberg, Dec 16, 2013.

  1. Eric Sponberg
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    Eric Sponberg Senior Member

    For those of you who are interested in single-handed sailing, one of our local sailors from St. Augustine, Stanley Paris, originally from New Zealand, is sailing his custom 63' cutter Kiwi Spirit single-handed, non-stop, around the world in an effort to break Dodge Morgan's 1985-86 record of 150 days on the 60'er American Promise. Stanley Paris' website is below, and you can track progress by clicking on the "yellow brick" and reading his blog under the News tab:

    http://stanleyparis.com/

    Kiwi Spirit is a Bruce Farr design, built in carbon fiber by Lyman-Morse Boatbuilders in Maine, USA. It was completely fitted out with a cruising interior and an engine, but for the round-the-world record attempt, Paris had the interior mostly removed, including the engine and fuel tanks, and he is sailing west-about with only electrical power that he generates on board. His electric sources are solar panels, wind generators, and hydro generators.

    Paris left St. Augustine on 2 December enroute to Bermuda where he began his official record trek on 7 December. Currently, he is behind Dodge Morgan's pace, although on Sunday he bested Morgan's best daily run (225 miles) with his own new record daily run, 252 miles.

    One of the more remarkable facts about this effort is that Stanley Paris is 76 years old, and Dodge Morgan was 55 when he made his epic voyage. All in all, this will be an interesting voyage to follow.

    Eric
     
  2. michael pierzga
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    michael pierzga Senior Member

    Fantastic accomplishment.

    Also some nice detailing on the boat. The long bench seats in the wheelhouse cockpit make it possible to watchkeep on deck horizontally , with an eye on the radar and an eye on the autopilot. This greatly reduces fatigue on a long trip.

    I sail a similar cockpit and have spent a small portion of my adult life horizontal ,in foulweather gear , behind leesheets on those bench seats.

    Also nice to see that he eliminated battens from the mainsail. Mr Paris was given very good design advice.

    [​IMG]
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    If i won the christmas lottery and had the abilty to build a new boat , i would take a lesson from the ocean racers for steering and cockpit layout

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  3. Eric Sponberg
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    Eric Sponberg Senior Member

    Stanley Paris trip abandoned due to damage!

    This just in from Stanley Paris' blog--he's abandoning the trip in the South Atlantic!:

    http://stanleyparis.com/?cat=2

    (Copied/pasted from Stanley Paris') Blog
    "Circumnavigation Abandoned – Heading to Cape Town
    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.'”

    WHAT!? This is a skipper who has been planning for anumber of years to circumvent the planet, and he reports that his design office says: "...the design of the rigging attachments to the yacht were inadequate for ocean sailing."

    This is one of the top design firms in the world and I can't imagine what they were thinking or doing if their design was "inadequate for ocean sailing" on a boat that was always intended to sail around the world.

    We don't know precisely what broke, although the boom seems to be involved as well as the rigging attachments. Until we know more, we have only speculation. However, it is unconscionable to me that one would knowingly design parts that are not up to the task.

    Eric
     
  4. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Thanks, Eric-I wish him good luck getting to Cape Town. I think there were other failures fairly recently from that design office. Absolutely incredible that they would make a comment like that-something must be very strange.
     
  5. Tad
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    Tad Boat Designer

    With respect......I think you both are jumping to unsupported conclusions....The Farr office did not say "Our design was inadequate", but they did advise the skipper to stop and make proper repairs, which was a responsible bit of advice.

    Was there any earlier sea-trialing of this boat? In heavy weather?

    The skipper is already injured.

    Typically the rig is supplied by a sub-contractor who the hull designer may have nothing to do with. Same with deck hardware. The designer specs the loads and the builder selects the lowest bid. Boom end, mainsheet, and reefing arrangement problems sound like rigging and hardware problems not hull design.
     
  6. Eric Sponberg
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    Eric Sponberg Senior Member

    Tad, you are right that we should not jump to conclusions until all of the facts are known, which I admitted in my post. I just checked the Kiwi Spirit Facebook page and it looks like the roller furling for the staysail (inner headsail) tore apart. So, you're possibly closer to the truth, perhaps, in that maybe this was undersized or substandard equipment.

    As far as I know from reading reports and interviews in our local newspaper which was closely following Paris' effort, the boat made a trial sail from Maine to Florida, and there was no mention of any heavy weather during sea trials.

    Eric
     
  7. Tad
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    Tad Boat Designer

    I find mention of Kiwi Spirit doing the 2013 Bermuda 1-2 (first to finish both ways but corrected to 11th out of 15 boats) and another East Coast coastal race, but otherwise spending time ashore. 90 hours sailing to Bermuda is not a lot of experience.

    You cannot buy experience. Now the question becomes why is stuff breaking: improper use, improper sizing, or improper manufacture?

    As the skipper has already announced he is packing it in, I'll guess a part of the decision is "too much boat". Perhaps a smaller and more conservative boat would have been a better match.......
     
  8. Eric Sponberg
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    Eric Sponberg Senior Member

    Well, one of Stanley Paris' goals was to beat Dodge Morgan's round-the-world record on American Promise, and if memory serves, AP was 60' long. So Paris needed a boat as least as long as that so that he would not be disadvantaged by hull speed. He had three more feet.
     
  9. ImaginaryNumber
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    ImaginaryNumber Imaginary Member

    Exactly what record was Paris attempting to break? From this list of around the world sailing records it appears to me that Dodge Morgan's record has been broken many times. What am I missing?
     
  10. Mr Efficiency
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    Mr Efficiency Senior Member

    Westward direction ? :confused:
     
  11. Eric Sponberg
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    Eric Sponberg Senior Member

    Dodge Morgan was the last fastest person to sail eastward, single-handed, non-stop, on a true, great-circle circumnavigation that passed through a pair of antipodes (diametrically opposed points on the earth). All subsequent records are by Vendee Globe sailors, and the Vendee Globe routes do not pass through a pair of antipodes, they merely traverse 360° of longitude. Technically, the Vendee Globe routes are not true circumnavigations.

    The other records that Paris was after, besides beating Morgan's time, are 1) to be oldest sailor (age 76) to attempt this record, 2)to do it without burning any fossil fuel for power. He did not have an engine or generator on board. All outside power was coming from solar cells, wind generators, and hydrogenerators.

    Eric
     

  12. ImaginaryNumber
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    ImaginaryNumber Imaginary Member

    Thanks, Eric, for the clarification. It is understandably odd what comes to be accepted as a circumnavigation. All of the Atlantic-Southern-Atlantic routes look to me more like a lolly-pop than the circumnavigation of a sphere. Now that the Arctic Ocean is thawing out maybe more circular routes will be considered, like an Atlantic-Southern (to an antipode)-Pacific-Arctic-Atlantic route.
     
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