At 88, Bound for Cape Horn: Success Depends on the Smallness of My Boat.

Name: At 88, Bound for Cape Horn: Success Depends on the Smallness of My Boat.
Uploaded: 2026-06-25T22:00:23.000Z
Duration: 11 min 31 s
Description: At 88, Sven Yrvind builds a 2.5-meter-mast cruiser operable entirely from the hatch for a Cape Horn attempt.

June 25, 2026 · 11 min · 38K views

What this video covers

Sven Yrvind, 88 years old, is building a small high-latitude cruiser he calls G11 and planning a solo voyage to Cape Horn.0:04 The boat's small size is not a compromise — it is the strategy.3:32 Yrvind argues that physical decline with age demands a boat where every operation can be performed from a hatch without stepping on deck: the two masts are 2.5 meters tall, the lug-sail booms and daggerboards all fall within arm's reach of the hatches.4:53 He contrasts this with earlier voyages on larger boats — including a converted vessel he sailed to Brazil — where he routinely worked a long bowsprit in heavy wind.6:26 He no longer can, and does not need to.7:06 The Cape Horn plan is modest by design: sail south, skirt the Drake Passage, experience the storms and seas, then return east past Staten Island (Los Estoros) and eventually back to Sweden to build a new boat.8:54 He does not expect to round into the Pacific against the one-knot eastward current and contrary winds, which he calculates require covering 48 miles just to hold position.7:47 Construction shown includes a Tufnol cleat backing plate laminated with three layers of 600-gram carbon fiber to mount the daggerboard case.10:10 He cites Uffa Fox and L. Francis Herreshoff as design influences.2:24 Small boats succeed at Cape Horn not despite their size, but because of it.

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