Swirly world

[Priscilla II 392]

It’s a widow maker journey.

Dress it up as much as you like ,man against the elements , climbing my Everest etc but the reality is how many of your whanau would you like to leave awaiting updates scheds if possible for 2 years.

Not many if any.

[waikiore 398]

Strange after all these years that he is setting off at about the same time as Sven Lundin (Yrvind) . One of Andrews books kept me going during a time of forced incapacitation so I wish him well .

[S.M.U. 15]

Maybe Andrew should sell advance copies of his upcomming book with signing for $200 to $300 each. For the amount of enjoyment his last 2 books have given me and obviously a lot of you it could be a great fund raiser. I think he's got the fortitude to do it and wish him luck.

[Fish 0]

It's his life, he's an adult and perfectly capable of making his own decisions.

More so, he's already sailed this boat to places 99.9% of sailors wouldn't even think of going.

And, on top of that, he's working on a ship sailing to remote tracks of the South Pacific.

If anyone has suitable experience to understand what they are getting themselves into, I think its this guy.

[Chewing Gum 17]

That would explain a lot.

I was wondering, if he set off in June, what the the weather would be like at Cape Horn. If he were to do it non-stop, he would end up being in the Southern Ocean in winter at some point along the trip. I wouldn't think the Southern Ocean in winter is a good idea, regardless of the size of your boat.

Maybe he figures that boat is so slow it will be summer by the time he gets there 

[DrWatson 374]

Yup, and before all you closet solo first to climb Everest in the nude and Mariana Trench free divers burst into life can anyone name the present holder of the record for mini circumnavigations without reaching for the google.

Some Aussie in a 12' tinny with a typically Aussie name....

[Battleship 100]

I'd be surprised if he didn't make it. The boat is tough and so is the man. Things can happen at sea though.

[Myjane 40]

He’s mad on thoes days the weather was better. Not now it’s un predictable and I think swirly is a bit tired

[Priscilla II 392]

If you look at what Andrew is seeking presently for primary partners in his Swirly World Adventure they are technos with skills that are not essentially sea based.

If you sign on and the whole thing descends into disaster are you not assisting or at least contributing if the outcome is not all rosey pictures to his possible demise.

[ScarecrowR31 8]

Spent a few hours talking to Andrew before his presentation at SYC. He has thought this through fully not only in terms of the boat and its suitability but also as to where he and his family are at in terms of age, obligations and responsibilities. This is his window of opportunity. I can only wish him well.

 

If anyone needs a speaker he was outstanding with a great sense of humour and timing. I am sure he is keen to put money in the kitty before you see him go. 

[Priscilla II 392]

Priscilla, I completely disagree with that. Andrew knows whats out there. His level of acceptable risk is higher than most. Many people say sailing across an ocean at all is foolhardy.

All extreme sports carry similar risk, and it's always been the adventurous expanding our horizons

This is not a sport and can you please explain how on earth is this a expanding horizon endeavour.

[Priscilla II 392]

Won’t die wondering what exactly.

He perished doing what he loved doesn’t make the moment any better.

Go to more funerals than party’s at my stage of life and hearing he died doing what he wanted just seems a bit odd.

[Zozza 293]

Won’t die wondering what exactly.

He perished doing what he loved doesn’t make the moment any better.

Go to more funerals than party’s at my stage of life and hearing he died doing what he wanted just seems a bit odd.

 

You are continually asking "why" does he want to do this, he is asking himself "how" can he do this.

You are a "why", he is a "how", and the twain will never meet.

 

I think you either instinctively understand why someone would want to undertake such a venture, or you don't.

 

Alberto Torroba, who successfully sailed a 15 foot dugout canoe alone across the Pacific without navigational instruments a couple decades ago, when continually asked "why did you undertake this voyage" finally threw up his hands to the journalist and said "Don't ask why!"

[Steadfast 4]

This conversation reminds me of the various newspaper articles and blogs prior to Jessica Watson's departure. There were comments from various family organizations claiming that her parents should be prosecuted, she wasn't old enough to even get a drivers license, she should be doing her homework....etc. In essence these were efforts by well meaning people to inhibit others from what they themselves feared.

 

Why is it we feel compelled to condemn the adventurous exploits of others? Perhaps it's because those that dream cast a shadow on our (mostly) pretty safe domesticated lives? As sailors, or people who love the sea, let's not strangle the hopes and aspirations of others.

 

If you haven't read Wanderer by Sterling Hayden, here's a few sentences to whet your appetite.

 

"What does a person need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.

Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life? ”
 

[philstar 61]

Yep she's a bullet proof little boat and he's done some fairly epic journey's already. 

 

Would Swirly world get cat 1 ???

[Fish 0]

Yep she's a bullet proof little boat and he's done some fairly epic journey's already. 

 

Would Swirly world get cat 1 ???

She's got it before. Did the solo TransTasman. Andrew's big constraint was paying for all the safety gear. RFD sponsored him / supplied all of that gear. that is why Swirlyworld is now RFD Orange. She used to be a lime green.

[armchairadmiral 411]

Well said Steadfast. There's a heap of substance in that quote !

[smithy09 50]

Second that on the quote from  Sterling Hayden. Very good.

[Clipper 343]

Well I am going to firstly ask why and secondly what does he exactly achieve by tempting fate in a seaborne peanut.

Personally this one leaves me stone cold and full of fear.

He has family and loved ones and he is a extremely old school talent but this proposed endeavour smacks of self indulgent risky behaviour taken to the max.

Andrew should look to his perished namesake that train wreck Aussie character who left a weeping widow clutching his empty kayak. 

Not cool at all.

 

I just find this post so amazingly sad. 

 

I do agree there are some idiots doing dumb sh*t that should be stopped, But Andrew is not one of them - Hes done a lot of miles, in rough waters in that small boat. He experienced, and will be well prepared.  

[erice 732]

all the joys of jail

 

plus the chance to drown

 

seem to remember

 

the prefered swirly diet

 

an oily can of tuna

 

over pressured cooked potatoes

 

3 great capes south

 

first done during the war

 

by a wool + oil-skinned, (newspaper insulation option)

 

neutral argentinian fisherman

 

in a home built ketch

 

sure andrew knows the book backwards

 

In 1942, the Argentine sailor Vito Dumas set out on a single-handed circumnavigation of the Southern Ocean. He left Buenos Aires in June, sailing Lehg II, a 31-foot (9 m) ketch. He had only the most basic and makeshift gear; he had no radio, for fear of being shot as a spy, and was forced to stuff his clothes with newspaper to keep warm. His voyage of 20,000 miles (32,000 km) was not a true circumnavigation, as it was contained within the southern hemisphere; however, he made the first single-handed passage of the three great capes, and indeed the first successful single-handed passage of Cape Horn. With only three landfalls, Vito Dumas described the legs of his trip as the longest that had been made by a single-hander, and in the most ferocious oceans on the Earth.^[30]