 Last
week I reported that Temenos II was having keel trouble in the middle of the Indian
Ocean. The good news is that, despite some severe weather,
Dominique Wavre and Michele Paret are still in the race and currently
in third place - although they're 1622 miles behind the
leader. They're planning a stop in Wellington NZ to repair
the keel. Servanne Escoffier on 5th place Educacion sin Fronteras
told of big winds, towering seas and
surfing conditions that have seen his boat reaching average speeds near
20 knots. The fleet is now at the halfway point and beginning
to set sights on returning to Barcelona.
Day 45– December 25, 14:00 GMT - Position
report with distance to leader
1. PAPREC-VIRBAC 2 - Jean Pierre DICK / Damian FOXALL - 0
2. HUGO BOSS - Alex THOMSON / Andrew CAPE - 194
3. TEMENOS 2 - Dominique Wavre / Michele PARET- 1622
4. MUTUA MADRILENA - Javier SANSO / Pachi RIVERO - 1955
5. EDUCACION SIN FRONTERAS - Servane ESCOFFIER / Albert BARGUES - 3120
Abandoned - VEOLIA ENVIRONNEMENT - Roland JOURDAIN / Jean Luc NELIAS
Abandoned - ESTRELLA DAMM - Guillermo ALTADILL / JONATHAN MCKEE
Abandoned - DELTA DORE - Jérémie BEYOU / Sidney
GAVIGNET
Abandoned - PRB - Vincent Riou / Sebastien JOSSE
In Quotes – Alex Thomson, Hugo Boss:
“Ho, ho, ho – Merry Christmas! It’s been
an aggressive night with big,
dark clouds and lots of wind. We haven’t had time to do much
(for
Christmas) apart from drink a bottle of champagne and open a couple of
presents. Later we’ll have a freeze-dried roast lamb and
vegetables!”
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Last Updated ( Friday, 18 January 2008 )
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 December 19 2007 - Somewhere
in the middle of the Indian Ocean, one week away from the nearest port, Dominique
Wavre and Michele Paret are sailing on Temenos II in the Barcelona World Race. Their
keel is threatening to fall off. My thoughts go out to them and I think
about Simon LeBon, former lead singer of Duran Duran. During the 1985 Fastnet
race in England the keel fell off of LeBon's 78 foot maxi-yacht Drum. The boat capsized and LeBon and his
crew were trapped inside it for forty minutes. They broke through the hull and clambered on top of the overturned vessel. See the image at right. All were fortunately rescued. Drum didn't sink and was salvaged. After being
fitted with a new keel Drum went on to more races including the Whitbread
round the world race later that year. Drum was designed for speed rather than
safety. The hull was made light so that it would plane on top of the water.
The engineers who calculated the strength required around the keel obviously
blew the calculation. But, to be fair, in the early 1980's the concept of
a light weight 78' ocean racing sailboat with a planing hull was relatively new.
Limits were still being tested. It's harder to understand the problem arising
today.
Here are links to the keel story and other boating stories
from around the world:
- Round the world sailboat racers risk losing keel in middle
of Indian Ocean: - Stuff
- Powerboat with zero carbon footprint to seeks to set around
the world speed record - Metro UK
- German swan breaks off affair with plastic boat
for love with a real man: - ShortNews.com
- X-41 voted best racer/cruiser sailboat for 2008 - SailWorld.com
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 05 July 2008 )
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My Dad says the best vacation he ever had was the week long bareboat
charter we took in the British Virgin Islands for his 65th
birthday. We snorkeled among colorful fish and hiked through
caves at Norman Island, swam ashore from our mooring for daiquiris at
Beef Island and listened to a first rate steel drum band under a
moonlit sky with accompaniment from small surf at Cane Garden Bay on
Tortola. We ate well on the boat and went out for a few great
meals ashore. I especially remember seeing a rainbow lit by a
full moon. I didn’t know that rainbows could be
seen at night. It was a fantastic trip that I look forward to
sharing soon with my wife and kids.
One of the great things about bareboat sailing the BVI is that the
required experience level is pretty low. Navigating is nearly
all line of sight. “Head toward that hill on that island over
there.” There’s virtually no tide or
currents. And the steady wind rarely goes over
20mph. Compared to sailing around New England it’s
a total piece of cake. For the seasick prone an itinerary can
be created such that the longest passage is under 3-4 hours.
For my Dad’s birthday trip we chartered from the Moorings and
were completely satisfied. The quality of the boat, the
lowest cost “value-line” (no longer offered) was
high. Equally, if not more important, they made everything
easy, from getting provisions at the beginning to cleaning up and
leaving the boat at the end. My next bareboat charter will be
from them.
The cost of a bareboat BVI vacation for my family of four is comparable
to a trip to Disneyworld when staying at an in-park hotel. A 33’ Beneteau is plenty nice for two adults and two small kids (when everyone gets along). At high season (winter) Moorings offers this boat
for $372 a day. The rate drops to $275 a day and less for low
season.
Here’s a link to Moorings. Even if you
don’t take a trip it’s fun to think about one.
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