Solo circumnavigator Adrian Flanagan, 46, has suffered a major systems failure as he battled to round Cape Horn. While throwing rubbish out of the hatch, a huge wave swept over the boat and before he had time to close himself in again, approximately 50 gallons of water came flooding in shorting out all the electrics and causing his computer to blow.

He no longer has his specially waterproofed computer for
communications and is now having to rely on his laptop which is much slower and not waterproof. Everything below is soaked including charts and the heating system has failed so he has no means of drying anything out.

Other problems have included a parted main halyard, a blocked head and a failed bilge pump. Kenyan-born Adrian’s plan is to become the first yachtsman to sail round the world non-stop via the Arctic regions, with his route taking him around Cape Horn, north over the Pacific, through the Bering Strait, and west through the Arctic in Barrabas, his stainless steel Trireme 38 sloop.

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