Blogger News Network

May 24, 2006 

British sailor Adrian Flanagan, seeking to become the first person to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe in a north-south direction, set sail from Honolulu on May 17 after an nine-day stop for supplies and repairs to his boat.

Flanagan had spent his stay as a guest of the Waikiki Yacht Club, which arranged for emergency repairs to his boat.

Flanagan, 45, left England on October 28, 2005, headed south through the Atlantic and around the coast of South America. His boat, the 40-foot vessel Barrabas, suffered structural damage during stormy weather around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America, as a loose wire cut a gash into the mast of his boat. He also suffered dislocated wrists while navigating through the storm.

Flanagan had initially sought to become the first person to circumnavigate the globe solo without stopping, but the stop in Honolulu brought that goal to an end. When Flanagan reached Hawaii, he had traveled 18,221 miles (29,318 km), becoming the first person to sail solo from Britain to Hawaii westward via Cape Horn.

Flanagan said it had been a dream since he was 15 to be the first to sail the world through the frigid Arctic Ocean instead of the more traditional Pacific/Atlantic route.

The next major landmark on Flanagan's journey is the Bering Strait. According to Flanagan, to successfully navigate the Arctic Ocean, he would need to reach the Bering Strait by July 15. He hopes to travel along the northern coast of Russia to the United Kingdom, conditions permitting.

External link

• Alpha Global Expedition

Sources

• Loren Moreno "Voyager eager to return to sea". Honolulu Advertiser, May 9, 2006

• Rosemarie Bernardo "Back on land after 6 months at sea". Honolulu Star-Bulletin, May 9, 2006

• "Sailor Continues Global Voyage". KGMB-TV (Honolulu), May 17, 2006