Now, however, the son of circumnavigator Klaus Hympendahl has had to give up the project with a heavy heart. His boat, a Comfortina 38, turned out to be too big a building site, and the schedule was tight right from the start. We spoke to the solo sailor about the background to his decision.
YACHT: Philipp, the project was obviously not under a good star. Why are you giving up now?
Philipp Hympendahl: It was a mixture of mistakes and bad luck. In the course of the refit, it turned out that my boat had major damage that I didn't know about. The sandwich laminate is full of water over a large area - a super-difficult construction site that would have cost me a lot of extra money to repair. All in all, I have lost confidence in the boat.
The schedule was tight right from the start!
Yes, and I was now at the point where I would have had to order material for a new rig and from the sailmaker, which would have meant more bills for me. I had to pull the ripcord now.
Did you expect that?
I know how close such campaigns sometimes run and I calculated all the options again. I kept going right to the end, even when everyone around me was already saying that it wasn't going to work out. I was looking for options right to the end. But in the end there was just a headwind.
Are you very disappointed?
Yes! I've been working on nothing else for months, every day, with a great team. After all, I've learnt a lot from the project.
Are you now burying the non-stop circumnavigation project?
No. This dream is not over. I definitely want to do it later. This end is just the beginning.
What does that mean in concrete terms?
Even if it's still a bit early - I'm going to look for another boat.
What kind would that be?
Either an aluminium boat or maybe I'm even toying with the idea of having a prototype built.
You will now miss the premiere of the new Global Solo Challenge - bad?
I find the format very interesting, and it would have been ideal to sail a non-stop circumnavigation as a regatta, I would have been up for it. But it doesn't have to be that way, I can do it alone if necessary.
