Stanley Paris knows there’s danger in his quest to become both the oldest and the fastest person to sail solo, nonstop, around the world. But he’s made his calculations. Paris and his boat, the Kiwi Spirit, are scheduled to leave St. Augustine November 30th at 4:00pm, after some pomp and circumstance at the dock. He’ll aim for Bermuda, where his record-setting attempt officially begins, writes Matt Soergel for The Florida Times-Union.
“There’s about a 3 to 5 percent chance a tragedy will occur,” he says. “But then I’m 76 — there’s an 8 percent chance I won’t make it another year anyway.”
He smiles.
“That’s a great line,” he says in a cheery New Zealand twang. “You can use that.”
Once in Bermuda, he’ll head the Kiwi Spirit southeast and, keeping the world’s southern capes to port, attempt to make it back to Bermuda in 120 days. That would shave a full 30 days off the late Dodge Morgan’s solo Bermuda-to-Bermuda record.
With the aid of two very loud alarm clocks, he plans to sleep no more than 30 minutes at a time while near shipping lanes, and no more than two hours at a time when in more isolated waters.
The hazards: southern gales, errant floating containers, iceberg chunks and of course other ships. Loneliness too: For four months, he’ll likely not see another soul. And he figures he’ll see land just once — Cape Horn, off in the distance.
For company, he has a Winston Churchill biography, volumes on sailing the world’s seas, hundreds of books on his iPad, hundreds of songs on his iPod.
Paris’ boat, 63 feet long, is a beautiful creation, though for the sake of speed it’s been stripped of most of its creature comforts. Not all though: In the floor of the cabin he has a wine cellar, in which is stored bottles of wine, rum and single malt scotch.
There’s enough for two drinks a day. But just for 120 days. He grins: “That’s my incentive to get home on time.”
Paris grew up in Dunedin, on New Zealand’s South Island. It was a long road that took him to becoming an American citizen and moving to St. Augustine, a city whose beauty and water suited him just fine.
It was an even longer road that finds him heading off alone, at 76, across the oceans.
His quest has captured the eye of the boating world (Yachting magazine, for example, recently offered “5 Reasons We Love Stanley Paris”). That interest could spread wider if and when the affable septuagenarian gets closer to his goal, which can be tracked at his website (www.stanleyparis.com).
