CNN – When faced with the most ferocious waves on the planet, most people would seek protection in the largest, sturdiest vessel they could find. But when Swedish pensioner Sven Yrvind sets out on his ambitious mission to circumnavigate the globe, it won’t be in a hefty ship piled high with food, creature comforts and telecommunications equiptment. Instead, the 73-year-old plans to traverse the high seas cocooned in a sailboat only slightly bigger than a bathtub. For many, the proposition of sailing non-stop around the world for a year-and-a-half in a vessel just three meters-long will sound rather ambitious, and coming from a man well past the retirement age, downright far-fetched. Indeed, few would likely take the idea seriously were Yrvind not one of the world’s most respected boat-builders. “People have said it’s a suicide mission,” said Yrvind. “But a big boat is actually more dangerous than a small one. You’ve got bigger forces throwing you around — a bigger engine, a bigger beam, a bigger deck. ”My small boat is like a little capsule — nothing can happen to you. It’s like throwing a bottle in the water — it will capsize, it will pitchpole (somersault), but it will always come back up,” he added.

I don’t care that this guy is one of the world’s most respected boat builders. He’s going to die. Not that I want him to or anything, but it’s just common sense. Elderly people and bathtubs don’t mix. How many stories have you heard about an old person slipping in the tub and breaking their hip or something? Like a million. Now put that person out in the middle of the ocean where Life Alert is out of range and it’s a guaranteed tragedy. Plus this dude is clearly already senile. A big boat is actually more dangerous than a small one because you’ve got more forces throwing you around? That makes sense. Because when I think of being alone in the Atlantic I’d definitely want the smallest boat possible when the wind picks up, the swells get fat and the sharks start circling. Dead man walking on deck!

PS – Whenever an unlikely person tries to be the first one to circumnavigate the globe it never ends well. Remember that broad Amelia Earhart who tried to be the first woman to do it? How’d that turn out?