Sven Yrvindvideo
At 88, Bound for Cape Horn: Success Depends on the Smallness of My Boat.
June 25, 2026 · 11 min · 33K 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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