Tasmanian Tristan Gourlay prepares to sail around the world

Tristan Gourlay is about to undertake a solo circumnavigation of the world, and hopes to beat his father’s Australian record in the process.

Transcript

00:00It was in these waters that Ken Gourlay started and finished his epic solo circuit of navigation

00:04of the world. Almost exactly 19 years later, in 2025, his son Tristan is about to make the

00:10very same voyage and he hopes to go just a little quicker. Sort of something I've been wanting to

00:14do as a young kid ever since I learnt to sail dinghies and having dad go was a good inspiration

00:20and also a good feeling out for what's involved fully. Tristan will have a little head start on

00:27his father, beginning his trip from Hobart as opposed to Launceston.

00:31It just makes the trip a little bit more efficient, just starting in those roaring 40s and I can

00:36then get going along. Then I shoot under New Zealand, down under Cape Horn. I'll then cruise

00:42up the east coast of South America, up in the Atlantic and then I'll cross the equator in

00:48the Atlantic, which is one of the specifications, rounding St Peter and St Paul rocks and then

00:55I'll come back down through the Atlantic and around the bottom of Africa and then headed

01:00for home basically.

01:01When he says it like that, it sounds all very simple, but when he has spent the last three

01:05months preparing his vessel, the Blue Moon 2, he probably has every right to be confident.

01:09Last winter was when I did a major overhaul, including re-rigging the whole boat, re-powering

01:16with a new motor and getting all the systems up and ready for the Melbourne or Saka, which

01:22was our good test run.

01:24Tristan and Ken completed the Melbourne to a Saka together and despite the healthy rivalry,

01:29Ken has been helping get the yacht ready, including stocking it with six months worth

01:32of food.

01:33The last couple of months, you literally are relying on long life products, so obviously

01:39as much fresh stuff as I can get through in the first month or so.

01:44It sort of starts getting down to your tinned veggies, rice, there's a lot of cereal and

01:52long life, as many products as I can, but I do enjoy my fishing so I'll certainly be fishing

01:58as much as I can to supplement the diet, especially later on in the trip.

02:02And what has to go right to beat the time of 179 days, 22 hours, 58 minutes and 28.5 seconds.

02:09The boat, I've got to keep the boat in one piece, weather also can play a big thing, so

02:17it is an endurance event, it's no sprint, so it certainly will be something I'll be pacing

02:24myself out and trying to keep the boat together so I can keep it at a reasonably quick speed.

02:32Thank you very much, guys.

02:42Bye.

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