All The Way Michael Strynø turns almost impossible ideas into reality. As a dedicated adventurer for life, he is building a 50-foot aluminum trimaran and plans to sail it nonstop, solo, around the world. So far, he has less sailing experience than most readers of this magazine. His belief is that will, determination, and hard work can break every limit. MULTIHULLS Magazine looks at the Danish Madman and his unbelievable project – and will follow the adventure all the way through.
Text & photo Øyvind Bordal Like the rest of us, Michael Strynø from Denmark gets an odd idea once in a while – for example: What would it be like to climb Mount Everest with no oxygen supplies and no help, and without much climbing experience? Or how about this one: What would it be like, to build a 50-foot aluminum trimaran and sail it alone, nonstop, around the world, with less sailing experience than most coastal cruisers? Ideas like that might be common – most of us like to dream. The uncommon thing about Michael Strynø, is that he does it.
Only Two Hands Multihulls Magazine meets Strynø – who just turned 40 – in his workshop in Copenhagen. It consists of a big tent, where the boat is slowly growing out of stacks of aluminum plates, and connected to the tent; two 40-foot containers on top of each other. The bottom one is for storage, the one on top is a combined office and home. Three years into the project, Strynø has a bed, a little refrigerator, a cooking place, and a portable computer. That’s it. From early morning to late evening, the work continues, and with very few exceptions there are only two hands to do it: his own. Apart from the actual welding and building, the project takes patience and overview: financial planning, contact and cooperation with sponsors, constant acquisition of knowledge and equipment – a lot to ask of only one man. A rather extreme way of life – but the Danish Madman is driven by the need to take things as far as they can go. This becomes clear as he talks about the thoughts and experiences behind his plan. 53
Close to Death During the late 1990s Michael earned some fame in Denmark – one of the country´s major TV networks sponsored a series of expeditions, where Michael climbed some of the highest mountains in Himalaya. The Danish people could, safe on their sofas, follow his struggle on three solo attempts to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Very few people have done that without oxygen, and most climbing experts called it suicide. Strynø’s background as an athlete was bodybuilding, not climbing. Chances of survival were not good at all – and on top of that, the weather was against him. A regular storm began to blow during his first attempt, and Michael was forced down, a few hundred meters from the top, more dead than alive. 54
From Mountains to Oceans The following year he was back. That time, Everest played roughly the same trick on him, and the damage to Michael’s hands, feet, and lungs were now quite substantial. The message was clear: No more Himalaya. But luckily enough, the globe has other assets to offer. If I can´t go high, Michael thought, I must stay low – maybe even at ocean level. Most of the world is covered with salt water, and these vast surfaces of nature can be as challenging and unforgiving as the mountains of Himalaya. A Caribbean holiday took him out on a charter multihull and MULTIHULLS Magazine • May/June 2006
Strynø, who was originally educated as a blacksmith, noticed that the boat was built of aluminum. Well, he thought, I could actually build one of these things myself, if I wanted to. His sailing experience was limited to a few trips around the Danish coast with his father back during his childhood, but he knew from his climbing years that a strong will together with hard work and dedication, could take him anywhere – also at sea – so the ocean became the next field of interest. On the way back, he said to his girlfriend: One day I’ll build a boat like that.
MULTIHULLS Magazine • May/June 2006
An Ill-Mannered Rottweiler Michael Strynø has never done things modestly. In his book “Mother God” – about the years in Himalaya – he writes: I have always wanted to make my own decisions. As a child, I was known to bite people who tried to decide what I could do and what I couldn’t. When my parents took me for a walk, it was always with a harness, equipped with a rope. They later told me that it was like walking an ill-mannered Rottweiler. Unsurprisingly, school was not a success. Strynø says, that it felt like a long time in prison. So, in his own time, it
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was full speed: Michael climbed trees like other kids – only higher. He jumped with bikes – later motorcycles – longer, wilder, more dangerously than the others. To do things all the way, to the limit, became a habit. His way of doing things did not get him a lot of credit in the little Danish community where he grew up, so Michael got used to doing things for himself – the influence of others would mostly mean a restraint. A very individualistic personality was the result, and it became increasingly difficult to fit in and be part of a normal life.
madness to try to climb Mount Everest alone, without oxygen tanks. His friend having no doubt: Yes, he said, it would be as good as impossible. In his book, Strynø writes: In that moment, I knew what I wanted to do. The Race A similar story lies behind the decision to circumnavigate the globe alone. “The Race” back in 2000, where giant cats raced around the world, were covered in TV shows worldwide. Michael saw the start on TV, and
As a born perfectionist, Michael spends the necessary hours to get it right. Even professional, experienced aluminum boatbuilders are amazed at his results.
Is This It? One day in 1996 Strynø sat in his office. He was manager of a discothèque, and the place was running all right. His house was refinished. Outside, he says, it was raining. He looked out of the window and asked himself: Is this what I am going to do for the rest of my life? As one might expect, the answer was ‘no.’ Michael immediately acted out the consequence, sold the whole thing and went off to Himalaya. Before he went, he had asked a friend, who was an experienced mountaineer, if it would be complete 56
could not sleep the whole night from sheer excitement. He tells about it as we are sitting in the upper container where a small window overlooks Øresund – the sound between Denmark and Sweden. He says: “The experience that night was very clear and obvious. Here it is. This is what I want to do.” As the boat will go in the water during spring of 2006, sea trials and training will begin. We will be back with a closer look at the Danish Madman learning to navigate “Gladiator.” MULTIHULLS Magazine • May/June 2006
The Boat Multihulls dominate just about every speed record at sea – they are, as we all know, simply faster than monohulls. Michael was not in doubt when deciding what type of vessel he should choose: It had to be a multihull. During recent years, trimarans have often proven to be somewhat faster than cats, and Michael had no preferences based on any previous knowledge – he had never sailed a multihull at the time of the decision. The tri was designed by Arne Borghegn, a Danish designer known primarily for steel monohulls designed for ocean crossings. He was, of course, inspired by modern oceangoing tris like Foncia, IDEC and others, but together they agreed on a construction that was less extreme. Breaking world records at the early stages of his sailing career is not realistic – the goal with this boat is completing a course, and in a respectable time – hopefully faster than any other Scandinavian. Deciding on size was the next problem. A very big boat would be expensive and demand a long building period, and a small boat – especially a multihull – would risk problems with Southern Ocean waves. So 50 feet LOA was found to be a good compromise. Choosing building material for the boat was easy – an aluminum multihull gave Strynø the impulse to begin with, and for good reasons: Aluminum is light, strong, can absorb impacts, and is not a very expensive material. First and foremost, it had the advantage of being a material that Michael could process himself, being a blacksmith with expertise.
As the computer simulation shows, the boat is solid but fast. It has high, curved beams, well above the water – their wave-breaking abilities are still being worked on, and the result will end up somewhat differently – and the volume of the amas is as generous as any other modern tri. The 12-meter beam is not extreme, but enough to reach high speeds. Weight will be approximately 7 tons, which is moderate, but still in the light range for a 50-foot boat. No foils or rudders in the amas (keep it simple philosophy) – and on top of the whole thing... a 21-meter carbon wing mast. Given in square meters, the sail plan is: mainsail 105, genoa 63, jib 30, and asymmetric spinnaker 220. The name of the vessel reflects the attitude that drives the enterprise: The boat is called “Gladiator.”
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The Plan Part 1: The project consists of three different phases, stretching out over as much as 15 years. This boat – the first of two – will be in the water by May 2006. Then 6 months of training and sea trials will follow, before the first trip around the world starts off in December 2006/January 2007 – this time with a crew of 2-3. The goal is a new Danish record around the world, and as an important side effect: training, routine, and knowledge to Michael, before the following singlehanded enterprise. Start and finish is Copenhagen, Denmark. The route heads north of Skagen at the northern tip of Denmark, through the English Channel, and south through the Atlantic, passing the Canary Islands before rounding the Cape of Good Hope,
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turning east at the southern tip of Africa. Then the Southern Ocean part of the voyage begins, with bearing toward Australia, through the Cook Strait of New Zealand, and into the southern part of the Pacific. Cape Horn will be left to port, before the final trip north through the Atlantic will take “Gladiator” to the finish in Copenhagen. Part 2: After the first circumnavigation, both boat and skipper should be ready for the singlehanded adventure. And off he’ll go, as soon as finance, media, and weather conditions are set straight. That time the goal – besides completing the mission – will be to set a new Scandinavian record – breaking Jan Moellers 168 days from 2004. The route will be the same as the first time around.
Part 3: By then, Michael should be ready for a hit at an existing world record: Around the world, singlehanded, the “wrong way” – that is to the west, against predominating winds and currents. The plan is to build a very big monohull for the purpose – 130 feet – also in aluminum. Drawings are already being worked out. Television networks will be offered the opportunity to follow the adventure, in roughly the same way as the Danish TV2 did in Michael’s Himalaya years – at this time the position is still vacant. A book is planned, and media coverage in magazines and newspapers are already, even before the first boat is finished, taking place in many countries. Sponsors so far are many, mainly producers of equipment: International, Scanmast, Viking, Raymarine, Poly Ropes, Volvo Penta, OH Marine, Aage Hempel, Andersen, Furlex, Armacell, and MP Sail. The project can be monitored more closely at the official web site, where news, pictures and videos are constantly updated. The address is: www.roundtheglobe.org
Still upside down, the bulkheads and stringers of the main hull are being welded.
Be sure to check out the web site for an indepth look at this project: www.roundtheglobe.org
The main hull is taking shape. On the floor to the right, the beams are being born.
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