Kristofer Harley Harlson plans to circumnavigate the globe, nonstop, aboard an 8-foot sailboat hes built specially for the purpose and christened Sea Biscuit. Whether the proposed voyage will be a success remains to be seen, but theres no question Harley and his tiny craft have succeeded in stirring considerable controversy.

We decided to contact Harley directly to see what all the hoopla was about and get some details about him, his boat and the planned circumnavigation.

SCA: What do your friends and family think about the risks youll take to own the record for smallest boat around the world nonstop? Do you have children, and what are their thoughts?

HARLSON: I must admit that my friends and family are concerned about the risk. Some think Im nuts, but all, on some level I think, admire the effort, and all support me. My wife believes in me the most of all because she knows and trusts me. I have no children of my own, but I have two stepsons Ive had little contact with who dont know about it. I suppose theyll see it on the news when I come back.

SCA: For some ocean crossing small-boat sailors, the experience seems to be a sort of spiritual quest. Others appear to take a more methodical, pragmatic approach. Gerard d'Aboville, who rowed across the Pacific in 134 days, was asked if he prayed when his situation was at its worst. He said he did not. He said his God was action, and when we he felt he could not go on, he just did something. Is there a spiritual element to your endeavor, or do you view the outcome as mostly in your own hands?

HARLSON: This is a highly personal question, of course, but I dont mind answering it at all. I must say that my experience contains elements of both. That is, I believe it is my job to do everything I can to help myself as I plan and execute this journey. But I believe, ultimately, that I am in Gods hands. I will most certainly pray at sea, but not for my survival; I think mostly to maintain a conscious contact with my Creator. My boat and myself have been prayed over, the boat blessed, and whole congregations of churches have put me on their prayer list. I believe prayer is a very powerful thing, at that has been scientifically proven. I certainly wont discourage them. I could use the help.

SCA: Thoreau once said he ...never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. Have you always been a solitary person?

HARLSON: I think that I am a rather solitary person. While I Thoreau-ly enjoy being with people, (Was that a little too punny? Groan.) , I am very comfortable in my own head. I dont really need to be with others, as I think some do, and I believe this will be a definite plus when alone at sea. Im not the type that has to have television or radio on all the time. Especially when alone, I enjoy being with my own thoughts tremendously. (I am, after all, a very remarkable fellow!)

I believe it is my job to do everything I can to help myself as I plan and execute this journey. But I believe, ultimately, that I am in Gods hands.

SCA: What do you see as your single most challenging problem on this voyage?

HARLSON: The size of the boat itself is the most challenging problem, of course, in respect to comfort and seaworthiness. I must admit, though, that I find the term seaworthy rather subjective. I honestly believe that my Sea Biscuit is far more seaworthy than many boats that go around, including those fragile shells known as the Open 60s that are used so extensively in the Vendee Globe and other offshore races. Plus I find after two years of working in and on her, that there is something inherently comforting in her smallness. She is rock-solid and I find sleeping in her like being cradled in my mothers arms. She and I have grown very accustomed to each other, and I find her the perfect extension of my mind and body.

SCA: What do you consider the weakest link in the design or execution of Sea Biscuit?

HARLSON: I believe her weakest link is the fact that she, like any sailing craft, must have spars to hold up her sails. I have done everything I can to make sure that Sea Biscuits twin rear masts are up to the task, but with the pounding that she will undoubtedly take in the south, I expect that when, not if, she is pitchpoled by the breakers, her masts will undoubtedly eventually fail. For this reason, I am bringing four telescoping jury-rig masts with me so I can replace them and continue on with my voyage. I may very well have to complete my final leg across the Pacific under jury-rig.

SCA: Have you been in touch with Gerry Spiess, Hugo Vihlen or other sailors who have experience with similar extreme voyages?

HARLSON: I have not. But I would be most thrilled to hear from any of my heroes. Hugo and Gerry are most certainly amongst them. I have read both of these sailors books over and over, along with anything else I could find on the subject.

SCA: What is the extent of your sailing experience? Have you made other small-boat passages or done other adventurous things?

HARLSON: My father, now deceased, taught me to sail in a small 16-foot plywood sailboat. We would often take her out in inclement weather and in winds that most would find far too dangerous for a boat of that size, both in salt-water and on Lake Washington, a huge inland lake in my home state. I remember one time when we were hiked out, with the lee rail buried in the waves and water sloshing into the cockpit; my father looked over at me and asked, Are you scared? I answered, No. He looked back at me curiously, and said, Sheese! I am! Later, my Dad purchased an Erickson 23, I believe it was hull #4; the sales brochures didnt even have photographs yet, only line drawings. Our Erickson got much the same treatment. I remember on many occasions, hearing small-craft warnings on the news and my Dad and I heading straight for the boat. All the powerboats would be returning, and wed be heading out! I left home as a teenager and hit the road, spending much time hitchhiking up and down the West Coast. I finally had the opportunity for an ocean voyage when I met a guy who had sold his 24-foot fiberglass boat to a guy in San Francisco and had to sail down from Seattle to deliver it. We took the offshore route and stayed pretty much 200 to 300 miles offshore the entire voyage.

I have done other adventurous things. Ive spent time hiking alone in the North Cascades Wilderness, and also spent about a month and a half alone in the desert about 40-50 miles east of Los Angeles. Like I said, Im comfortable in my own head.

SCA: What is your planned route? From where exactly will you depart? How long do you expect to be at sea?

HARLSON: I dont wish to divulge my exact departure point or time until Im already well out to sea. If you want to know why, just go ask Hugo Vihlen. Hed understand. Ill be heading directly south with the prevailing wind and the California Current until Im about even with Mexico and then Central America where Ill be swept westward by the current. When I get to the southern latitudes Ill be swept eastward by prevailing winds and currents, past Cape Horn, well south of the Cape of Good Hope, south of Cape Leeuwen, Australia, south of Tasmanias South East Cape, until I am just south of New Zealand. Then I will head north until I reach the Northern Current, which will sweep me home to the Washington Coast. I anticipate that the journey will last some 12 to 14 months, but that figure and my route may change slightly after sea trials, when I know what kind of performance to expect from my tiny craft.

SCA: We recall Gerry Spiess wedging himself in among his stores on his 10-foot Yankee Girland he wasn't trying to sail all the way around the world. How do you propose to carry enough provisions for such a long voyage in your 8-footer?

HARLSON: I guess that wins the prize as the most-asked question. It really is the secret to my whole voyage, and Ive held the answer very close to the vest. I spent literally four years finding the answer. To pull this off I must have the most nutritional, most compact foods I could. They obviously cant be the kind of things you eat at home. First of all, nutritional needs are different at sea. Im going to be very restricted in the tiny Sea Biscuit, and so my needs are even different than most sailors, who have to work a lot harder on their larger boats. Still, I have taken a few cues from other sailors. I intend to grow sprouts for fresh veggies like Sir Francis Chichester did. Im going to bring some beef jerky, as did Gerry Spiess, and also some other dried meats. Im bringing a years supply of these survival tablets that were developed for the space program. A dozen of these tablets daily are supposed to be enough to survive. And Im bringing a years supply of the survival cakes intended for use on lifeboats.

I dont wish to divulge my exact departure point or time until Im already well out to sea. If you want to know why, just go ask Hugo Vihlen.

Ill also bring a few flat cans of sardines, some Balance Bars, and a couple other types of very compact canned meats. Im bringing flour with which to make; you guessed it, sea biscuits! Ive developed a method using a Norwegian KrumKake Iron to make a flat cracker-like biscuit in about sixty seconds with my one-burner propane stove. Im bringing a 25-pound sack of Basmati rice that Ill cook in a small pressure cooker on my propane stove. I also have a small emergency stove that uses military surplus fuel tablets. And finally, in every little nook and cranny where a tiny space is left over, will be some 400 single-serving tubs of peanut butter, which when mixed with a tablespoon of oil, adds 500 calories to my daily intake. When I can catch fish or other sea life I will. A net will be strung across Sea Biscuits stanchions to trap on deck any flying fish that smack the sail, and Ill experiment with a telescoping fishing pole and some small lures.

SCA: Of the other famous small boats that inspired your design, which had the most influence on Sea Biscuit?

HARLSON: I borrowed Sea Biscuits one-piece keel structure from Gerry Spiess 10-foot Yankee Girl, her rig from Kenichi Hories 9-foot Mermaid II, except for the dual masts, influenced by Ted Brewers SO-DU-IT!, but standing straight up as in Mermaid IIs single mast.

SCA: Obviously you consider Sea Biscuit strong and capablewhat can you tell us about her construction and materials?

HARLSON: This is an area where Ive received much criticism, but Ive decided to do it my way in spite of that. I built her keel-first, with three layers of _ inch plywood in most places, but five layers between my berth and the bottom of the bilge. Two main bulkheads were built at right angles to the keel structure from two layers of plywood and then reinforced on the sides with two-by-fours and more layers of plywood elsewhere until the main bulkheads were about 3 1/2 thick. My berth and seat were added, then the thin plywood sides were then put on and a deck of 1/2 plywood bent in a crowned shape over the top. On the interior I stapled in sheets of 1/2 inch mesh galvanized steel fabric which was then slathered with flexible polyurethane to bond it to the plywood. The ballast of _ inch slabs of scrap steel was bonded to the bottom of the bilge, about 200 pounds in all. Then the ribs were laminated in about every ten inches using thin strips of wood that could take the rather abrupt curve into the bilge. The ribs were actually laminated in right over the ballast to help hold it in place. The entire inside was then coated with 3?_ inches of closed-cell foam for insulation and floatation. The framework for her cabinets was then installed and attached directly to the main bulkheads and ribs. After that, an inner hull was built up of polyester resin and fiberglass cloth and woven roving. The exterior of the hull is coated with Kevlar cloth and System Three epoxy. Then the seams where the hull sides and keel join, and the bow seams, were reinforced with woven roving and epoxy. The entire hull was then covered with a layer of fiberglass cloth and epoxy to protect the Kevlar layer. The deck was covered with a graphite/ Kevlar hybrid cloth saturated with epoxy, and the seams where the deck and hull sides meet were reinforced with fiberglass tape and epoxy. A final coat of epoxy over everything topped it off before the paint went on. Her doghouse was constructed of bulletproof _ inch thick Lexan scavenged from a bank tellers window when the bank was torn down.

SCA: Do you believe a properly designed and equipped small boat can be as safe or safer than a larger boat in open ocean conditions? Why, and in what ways?

HARLSON: Absolutely, though its a mixed blessing. A large hull structure that spans several waves is subject to terrible, unpredictable forces that can break it or tear it apart. A small boat such as Sea Biscuit has only one wave to deal with at a time, so it sort of bobs like a cork. A small boat is also much stronger for her size than a larger boat and so is less easily broken. The downside to this is that its much easier for a breaking wave to turn Sea Biscuit over or even pitchpole her, and life strapped to that same cork is pretty turbulent. I have tried to build in some redundancy as far as broken masts goes as I mentioned earlier, so I think the main drawback to the small boat is mainly discomfortno small matter when youre inside a boat for a year or more.

SCA: What sort of testing will you subject Sea Biscuit to before departing?

HARLSON: Sea Biscuit will first be float-tested with all her supplies aboard, fully rigged on a local lake. If that goes well, or after supplies are relocated to get her to float on her lines, she will go for a sail. From there she will be tested in Puget Sound or connecting waterways to give her a taste of salt, and some more intensive wave action. She may brave the Straits of Juan De Fuca at this point also, again to test her in some heavy wind and waves. After that, she goes to the Washington coast, where shell go for a cruise of about a week. The coast here is subject to a shallow continental shelf that extends more than a hundred miles out to sea. As a result, the Washington coast kicks up some very nasty wave action, often with breaking waves of 45 feet or more and cold howling winds from the north. I should have a pretty good idea how Sea Biscuit will perform at this stage, and I can then make an informed decision whether to proceed with the voyage around the world, or go back to the drawing board and punt.

SCA: Tell us about the kayak membrane, the Lexan window, and other unusual features on Sea Biscuit.

HARLSON: I have designed a Kayak-like membrane that is more-or-less permanently installed; though it can be removed by unscrewing its frame from the hatch opening. Its a pleated affair with elastic at its center that seals around me as I poke myself through the hatch. This feature is simply to help keep the seas that will occasionally wash over her deck from pouring into the boat. The Lexan windshield and side windows are reinforced where they join with an aluminum frame. The windshield is attached directly to Sea Biscuits two-by-four hatch frame with a bracket of galvanized steel.

Another unique feature is Sea Biscuits ventilation system. A vane-directed air scoop at the masthead forces air down through one of her hollow masts. The air is then directed through a small duct to an outlet up in the bow. The air then flows through the hull, past me, and is collected at the base of the other hollow mast where it is ejected at a point eleven feet above the deck. There are stopcocks at the base of each mast that will allow me to stop or slow the airflow, or in the event of a dismasting, the water flow. Also, inside each masthead is a snorkel-like ball that seals the hollow masts if Sea Biscuit is knocked down or pitchpoled to prevent water from flowing into Sea Biscuit through her masts.

She will be steered by hand with a steering line in her interior that connects at the stern to a bicycle-like encased cable that goes through hull to be connected at the rear of her rudder. She is self-steered with a 70s-style trim-tab vane when on a reach and when going directly downwind, her twin staysails will go wing-in-wing and her sheets crisscrossed through a series of blocks and connected to the same point on the rudder where her steering cables connect???

SCA: What electronic gear will you carry? Will you have a ham radio or other means of long-range communication? How will you power your electronics?

HARLSON: I am carrying two hand-held GPS units, with a sextant and attending manual for backup. I have a short-range marine-band handheld radio to contact ships that happen by. I will be connected to an Inmarsat transceiver that will give me e-mail capability and weather data for the area Im in. The transceiver will be powered by two 26 AH lantern batteries that will allow it to function for 18 months. My main battery, a 12-volt 85 AH marine sealed-cell, will be kept topped-off by solar cells on deck. This battery will be used only to power my laptop. I power it on, take care of my e-mail business, and then power it right back off to conserve battery power. Cabin lighting is provided by three LEDs powered by a Baylis clockwork generator. There are no running lights. Its extremely unlikely that a ship would see them anyway due to Sea Biscuits diminutive size. Ill have to watch out for them instead and shine a light on my white sails to make my tiny craft visible. Flashlights, headlamps, etc. will all have their own batteries, which will be recharged with a solar battery charger, perched temporarily in one of the side windows.

SCA: How will you entertain yourself or pass time during the inevitable lulls?

HARLSON: Im bringing some miniature books to read, a fipple flute to play, a harmonica, a Grundig AM/FM Short-wave radio that is powered by a clockwork generator. I intend to sketch, keep a ships log, and write much of my book about the journey while at sea. I also have an acoustical guitar that I cut down to very small dimensions to play while Im out there. Im also bringing several cameras and a miniature camcorder to record highlights of the trip, which Ill show at speaking engagements upon my return.

SCA: Will there be some way for our readers to monitor your progress?

HARLSON: I will be very happy to send Small Craft Advisor position reports from my Inmarsat transceiver four times a day. They include a lot of data such as my position by latitude and longitude, wind, wave and weather conditions at my current location, and a map showing my track across the oceans. Getting that information to your readers will then be your responsibility. Ive also purchased a DMR200 D+ unit from Pole Star to track Sea Biscuit.

Thank you for this opportunity to share a little about my voyage with your readers. I hope I havent bored them.

-Kristofer J. Harley Harlson
-Sea Biscuit Around the World 2006-2007

Update: In August 2006 Harley aborted his first attempt shortly after launching, reportedly citing leaks and the need for additional ballast.

For more information on Sea Biscuit go to www.duckworksmagazine.com

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