Fitness & enterprise: Stanley Paris is one of the ambitious old people
Defeat, says the sprightly New Zealander, often paves the way for triumphs. Paris is an athlete and entrepreneur and can tell about how setbacks motivate when you learn from them instead of being demoralized. In any case, he has stamina: in 1986 he swam the English Channel twice, and he also saw the finish line at the Ironman triathlon in Hawaii. But now he has bigger plans:
He had his dream yacht built by the US shipyard Lyman Morse, based on a design by Bruce Farr, who is also a New Zealander. "Kiwi Spirit" is the name of the carbon fiber ship that is supposed to be both: cruising yacht and record hunter. With this vehicle, which he financed entirely from his own resources, he wants to set off at the end of November to sail around the world alone in 120 days without stopping Bermuda.
Fast and unconventional: "Kiwi Spirit", a Farr design, is both a cruising yacht and a record hunter
Even for sailors half their age, this would be a formidable challenge. But Paris, who has sailed around the world as a cruiser and also won his class at the ARC, feels up to the task. Inspired by the American Dodge Morgan, who also made this trip solo and non-stop in 150 days in 1986, Paris wants not only to set a new record, but also to raise money for research in the field of physiotherapy.
YACHT correspondent Dieter Loibner and photographer Jen Edney visited him on the Caribbean island of Antigua, where Paris was preparing for this trip with a French professional sailor.
The portrait of the extraordinary man is now in the current YACHT.