Sam Holmes Sailingvideo

How to set up small sailboat for solo nonstop circumnavigation with Mark Sinclair

January 30, 2025 · 44 min · 160K views

What this video covers

Mark Sinclair, who completed the 2018 Golden Globe Race in 332 days with one stop aboard his Lello 34 Coconut, walks through the boat's solo circumnavigation setup in detail.2:27 Coconut is a long-keel South African design built in 1981, painted entirely orange for visibility.1:00 A full solid rail runs the entire perimeter for stability after Sinclair suffered a cycling injury.3:26 The cutter rig runs on profurl furlers with all reef lines led aft to the companionway, eliminating the need to go forward at night in heavy weather.9:01 A Fleming boom brake controls jibes without preventing them.9:50 The storm trysail lives permanently on its own mast track, bagged and ready to hoist.13:11 Chain is cut into 15-meter lengths stored in orange bags along the hull sides.4:23 A tire drogue tows on a single line with two swivels to prevent line-unlay.4:59 Batteries are mounted high to survive flooding.24:57 Navigation is done by sextant using sun sights almost exclusively, with a Walker trailing log for distance run between fixes.27:36 Sinclair describes a technique of tracking the sun's descent rate rather than snapping a single instantaneous observation, which he finds more reliable in intermittent horizon visibility.29:13 Coppercoat antifouling is used but requires regular wipe-downs despite marketing claims otherwise.43:17

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