Sven Yrvind
FIRST EXLEX MODEL 2018
Sven Yrvind is a Swedish sailor, boat builder, and writer. He is famous for sailing alone across oceans in tiny boats of his own design.
Yrvind has made several ocean crossings in his tiny boats. In 1980, Yrvind rounded Cape Horn in ‘Bris II’, a 20’/5.90m boat of his own design. Alone and in the middle of winter, a record for the smallest boat ever to round the Cape. This achievement won Yrvind the 1980 Royal Cruising Club medal for seamanship. In the Roaring Forties, he allegedly collided with a whale.
The EXLEX
Completed in early 2018 Sven’s latest boat is the ‘Exlex‘. It is 5.76 meters long with a 1.04-meter beam. On May 30th, 2018, 79-year-old Sven set out in her for New Zealand, which he had hoped to reach sometime in March 2019. Unfortunately, he had to abandon his attempt at the beginning of July, and sail to Porto Santo. Due to design flaws that made Exlex too unstable, slow, and hard to handle.
Since then he is designing an improved model of Exlex and willing to make another attempt. Now in 2020 Yrvind is already doing tests on his newest and improved Exlex. His boat equipped with 6 SUNBEAMsystem Tough+ Panels of 39w each. That provides him a total power of 234w. The new Exlex solar power system is enough to power many devices. Such as his location devices, cameras, and other types of equipment. While the flush cables provided him a seamless installation with no wiring exposed.
Below you can see a little bit of his installing process, and also a video of one of his trials last year. You can also visit his website and stay updated with his adventures.