Dr Stanley Paris has been forced to abandon his effort to circumnavigate the globe as a result of injuries and damage to his yacht, Kiwi Spirit.

The 76-year-old retired physiotherapist set out from Bermuda in December with the goal of circumnavigating the globe within 150 days, and becoming the oldest person ever to do so.

However Dr Paris suffered several technical problems and injured his arm and ribs in a fall on New Year’s Day morning.

In his blog detailing his voyage, Dr Paris said on Saturday that he had received e-mails from the boat’s builder and the designers of the 64ft cutter urging him to head to Cape Town, South Africa, rather than attempt to complete his journey.

The president of Farr Yacht Design, after seeing pictures of the damaged equipment told Dr Paris: “I think the widespread failures across so many systems, would have kept a crewed grand prix boat on shore. To have this combination of problems in your injured state is inviting disaster. Please make the prudent decision and stop.”

Dr Paris wrote that he had made the decision to divert to Cape Town, saying: “To continue in the face of the sage advice above would be foolish in the extreme, and cruel to my wife, family and friends. I must now abandon this dream.

“Life is full of disappointments — some big, some small. This is a big one as it involved four years of planning and execution. Made bigger still by the involvement of so many others, designers, builders, family, friends, and through social media, several thousand more, all now disappointed and perhaps relieved that with the mounting difficulties that the only right decision has been made.

“I should say I am sorry to disappoint so many. But there is one thing I can say and that is, ‘I tried,’ and that my spirit did not give up until those that I must respect made it clear to me that it was over. My physical condition improves daily and is not part of the decision.”

He added that he will not make another attempt, saying it would be another full year before he could start again and he had asked enough of his family already.

“The boat will be shipped from Cape Town to Maine, restored with the lessons learned, and be the fast family cruiser for which she was intended,” he added.

Even though his plans to circumnavigate the globe may be over, his journey is not. As of press time last night, Dr Paris remained in the middle of the South Atlantic, more than 1,500 miles west of Cape Town.