March 20, 2019. Day 166 of the Figure 8 Voyage. Mo and Randall complete a full circuit of the Southern Ocean with their second Cape Horn rounding, having sailed 15,343 miles in the Roaring Forties in 110 days.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Born and raised in Northern California, Randall Reeves, 59, grew up reading and dreaming of the sea. He learned to sail on the rivers of central California and often “borrowed” the family sailboat for solo ventures to the San Francisco Bay. These turned out to be formative escapades. While in college, Randall interviewed world-famous solo sailor Bernard Moitessier for his campus radio station. He began his own solo adventures in 2010 with a twoyear Pacific loop in a 30-foot ketch. In October 2019, Randall Reeves became the first person to complete what he calls the Figure 8 Voyage, a solo circumnavigation of both the American and Antarctic continents in one season, this aboard Moli, a 45-ft aluminum expedition sloop built in 1989 by Dubbel and Jesse of Norderney, Germany. The double loop of the globe, comprising some 40,000 nautical miles sailed, lasted 384 days and took Randall twice around Cape Horn and up through the Arctic’s Northwest Passage. In 2020, Randall was awarded the Cruising Club of America’s Blue Water Medal. Randall sent in daily posts from sea that included high-resolution photographs, which he has used to produce his first publication, a picture book of images from some of the remotest places on the planet. The Figure 8 Voyage book can be purchased on his website, figure8voyage.com.
issue 64 2022
29
