Solitaire till dawn x5/20/2023 Better that I kept what strength I had for the English Channel with its heavy shipping. I was feeling the cold, perhaps because my blood was so thin. ![]() Were I not so tired we could have been tearing along on a reach with a single reef. We still had the working jib up with three-reefed main as the winds gusted from the north. Tuesday saw 801 miles for week 46, which Solitaire could have bettered with more help from me. For dinner, the last of the mince with, you guessed it, rice.īack in the early 1990s, a young man called Miles Hordern sailed his 28ft Kim Holman-designed Twister single-handed from the… I left Solitaire to do all the work while I sat contentedly below as we rolled along under the smaller genoa, thankful for the luxury of a following wind. During the morning the weather cleared, leaving a high swell behind. On Friday we bit off another 121 miles despite a stormy night reduced to working jib only. Thursday saw us glide 113 miles, drifting in peace more or less in the middle of the Gulf Stream. For dinner I opened another tin of mince and took out my rationed third. The wind dropped, the sea flattened and Solitaire glided through banks of fog, a ghost ship returning from the dead. Land’s End was 1,030 miles away on Wednesday. From Solitaire Spirit: Three times around the world single-handed A few months later, no doubt to his complete confusion, he received the Yachtsman of the Year award. The final sentence gives a rare insight into a surprisingly sensitive nature. His remarks about what food he has left and his refusal to put in for provisions say a lot about this quietly unstoppable character. In this extract, he is almost home after 11 months of circumnavigation number two. Solitaire Spirit is required reading for all who might feel the inclination to cock a snook at convention. Les was never one to save up enough money to do things according to the book, he just got on with it in his inimitable way. ![]() The second voyage was executed non-stop via the Great Capes of the Southern Ocean. After setting out with eight hours’ sailing experience to circumnavigate the world, he went and did it again successfully twice more. He still lives aboard Solitaire, the 34ft yacht he built himself for £7,000 and launched in 1975. If he hadn’t chosen to write a book, Les Powles could well have remained one of the unsung heroes of the ocean, men and women who dare to do in secret what others make a loud noise over.
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