Dr. Paris Abandons Around The World Effort

Due to problems with his boat, 76-year-old sailor Dr. Stanley Paris has abandoned his attempt to become the oldest and fastest person to sail around the world, saying he “must now abandon this dream” and that there will be no second attempt.

After leaving Bermuda’s waters on 7th December 2013, Dr. Paris made his way down the coast of  South America into the mid South Atlantic Ocean, and he is now heading to land in South Africa.

The New Zealand native planned to travel around the world in his 63ft boat Kiwi Spirit, hoping to become the oldest and fastest person to sail nonstop around the world solo.

Dr Paris hoped to complete the circumnavigation in less than 150 days 1 hour and 6 minutes, which would break the previous record set by American sailor Dodge Morgan in 1985.

He was aiming to complete the navigation without using fuel, with all power supplied by wind and solar energy with sealed diesel tanks available in case of emergency.

Screenshot from the tracking map [link] showing Dr Paris’ route traveled and location as of today:

In a blog post, Dr Paris said that the President of the boat designers at Farr Yacht Design, after seeing the photos of the failures and repairs experienced thus far, emailed him 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.”

Dr Paris’ boat pictured off St David’s, Bermuda on Dec 7th:

Dr Paris said, “And so I have decided to abandon and head for Cape Town, some 1,700 miles away. To continue in the face of the sage advice above would be foolish in the extreme, and cruel to my wife, family and friends. I must now abandon this dream.

“Life is full of disappointments- some big, some small. This is a big one as it involved four years of planning and execution.

“Made bigger still by the involvement of so many others, designers, builders, family, friends, and through social media, several thousand more, all now disappointed and perhaps relieved that with the mounting difficulties that the only right decision has been made.

“I should say I am sorry to disappoint so many. But there is one thing I can say and that is, ‘I tried,’ and that my spirit did not give up until those that I must respect made it clear to me that it was over. My physical condition improves daily and is not part of the decision.

“There will be no second attempt. It will be a full year before I could start again and I have asked enough of my wife and family already.

“The boat will be shipped from Cape Town to Maine, restored with the lessons learned, and be the fast family cruiser for which she was intended.”

Dr Paris is the father of Alan Paris, who became the first Bermudian sailor to complete a circumnavigation of the globe in 2003.

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