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Leg
4
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One of the cool things I have onboard our Ocean Planet's computers is a treasure trove of pictures complete from the very beginnings of the boat. Last night I dug through them and poured over early construction shots. I was reminded how much time I spent visualizing what she would look like and what it would feel like to sail her.
Then I went out and hung out on deck leaning on the runner for a long while, watching her slide along effortlessly under a well lit full moon. I could look down at the deck under my feet and see her when she was in the shop at Schooner Creek Boat Works taking shape in many stages. What a time that was! And now here we are sailing on a beautiful night, anticipating landfall and another exciting new country. Yep, good times indeed.
While I certainly don't recommend around the world sailing as a smart career move, I do recommend taking an impossible dream, visualizing it, and making yourself believe that you can do it if you work hard enough. It may turn out to be even harder than you originally thought. You may come across huge stumbling blocks that seem insurmountable. You may not get quite the results you expected, but if you just don't quit you can make something amazing happen. And in how you overcome the obstacles and setbacks that you didn't expect, you will find out more about yourself and what you can do than you thought you would. What will surprise you is that this is one of the best parts of the whole adventure.
Talk to you later, from Brazil!
Bruce and Ocean Planet
Tuesday,
March 18, 2003 1315gmt
Lat: 19 24 S
Lon: 36 17 W
Heading 337T at 10.5kts
Wind NE by NNE at 20kts
Whew! About 400 miles to go! I can't believe how much hotter it has gotten in the past few days. I'm looking forward to seeing Brazil, but there is one thing I don't look forward to: I'll have to start wearing clothes! Haven't been for days now....;-)
Last night was another squall festival. I think I tacked eight times trying to pick my way through like a halfback trying to avoid huge tacklers. Unreefed and reefed the main several times, good exercise!
This morning I went "Bow Riding," where I lie on deck on the windward side watching the bow slice through the waves and letting the water crash over me. It's fun and although the water is rather warm it does cool me off a bit. Back in the vestibule I rinse off with a little fresh water from the Spectra Watermaker and voila! Clean sailor.
Good fast sailing aside from the nighttime squalls it looks like it will shape up to be a nice beam reach the rest of the way.
That's it for today.
Bruce and Ocean Planet
Monday,
March 17, 2003 1300gmt
Lat: 22 16S
Lon: 36 05W
Heading 038T at 9kts
Wind NNW at 15-20kts
Pressure: 1012mb
The wind is picking up resulting in a noisy, rough slog to windward. But at least it's relatively steady compared to yesterday where we played thunderhead pinball tacking back and forth on windshifts and working around some pesky rain squalls. These were tricky as they were not moving with the gradient wind, but rising and falling like giant pistons and forming diagonally across the wind. At least there was not much lightning, which I love to watch on land, but hate to be near at sea!
The wind sometimes changes dramatically around rain squalls and they have different effects depending on the stage of the cloud development. If they are really big you just need to be far away, but the smaller ones can give you several miles advantage if you play them right. Late yesterday, I discovered that the best shift seemed to be to windward of a forming line of them when usually it's better to leeward. It takes a lifetime to really get them right, but yesterday was great practice and was actually fun since they weren't nasty.
At the end of the day, I got a nice shot of a small (manageable-sized) one that we cut to windward of just as the sun went down and illuminated the upper high-altitude part of the cloud. You can see the low dark clouds at its feet. Often these block out the view of the towering anvil above unless you are far away, but on this one the view is fairly clear. I think at the time of the shot we were 4-7 miles past it as it slipped away behind us.
By the way, going back to our pre-Cape Horn crash jibe that broke the boom, I'm pretty sure it was the high angle of the knockdown that preceded the gybe that exceeded the operating angle of the special compass that guides our autopilot. After talking with my dad on the satphone (the guilty party for getting me involved in sailing in the first place), he came up with a simple yet smart solution: take the compass mount and put it on a slightly dampened swinging gimbal on the bulkhead (wall) where it is mounted. This will hopefully keep the compass from "digitally crashing" in a steep heeling situation. I did this while in Port Stanley in the Falklands and all we need now is get hit by a big wall of breaking water from the side while surfing at 15+ knots and test it out....;-)
Later
for now,
Bruce and Ocean Planet
Back to Top
Wednesday,
March 12, 2003 1100gmt
Lat: 34 47S Lon: 46 35W
Heading 012T at 10kts Wind: 10-15 from the west
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I was lying lazily in my bunk late yesterday afternoon feeling a bit groggy. I had just finished a chapter of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's book "A World of My Own", about his epic solo, non-stop circumnavigation (he was the first to do it) in the Golden Globe race in 1967. There are several great books about this amazing event that eventually led to the Around Alone and Vendee Globe races, but I digress....
The wind, which had favorably changed to the west allowing us to tack onto port and head north, was switching back to the north and turning the boat east. I hoped it would switch back so that I wouldn't have to get up and tack, but 10, 20, 30 minutes went by and I begrudgingly got up to begin the process. First I shifted the cabin gear before transferring the water ballast, all the while taking my time in hope that the wind would agree to turn back. It didn't, so I popped on deck to have a final look before transferring the water.
I was flabbergasted to see the most stunning full double rainbow I have ever seen. Two complete colorful hoops, with the main center one filled with a mysterious light glow. It was huge! So big in fact that the legs of the bows were actually behind some low clouds on the horizon. Grabbing the camera for a few shots, I was then transfixed for several minutes.
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When I remembered about tacking, I looked at the compass and the wind had begun to switch back west, and I didn't have to tack! I did have to move the cabin gear back to port, but it was well worth it. I guess the rainbow was a gift show by God/Allah/Jesus/Mother Nature/the Virgin Mary/Neptune/Rama/Vishnu/the Great Albatross/Oz/the Good Witch of the North/our Ocean Planet, etc, and they needed to get my attention with the wind shift so that I wouldn't miss it! Glad that they did as it reminds me of how lucky I am to be here on this fantastic boat. With all the challenges that have come our way, we are in one piece and at the very least I haven't ever sat down buck naked on a hot pressure cooker (you'll have to read Sir Robin's book to get that one)....;-)
I know I shouldn't be sending so many pictures (expensive), but I couldn't resist as these are great. Even so, they don't do the rainbow justice but will give you an idea of it.
Bruce and Ocean Planet
Tuesday,
March 11, 2003 1330gmt
Lat: 36 56S
Lon: 47 05W
1500 miles to Salvador Bahia, Brazil
I had some feedback after yesterday's update, and I guess I didn't make it clear enough how fragile Ocean Planet's financial situation really is.
It boils down to this: If we don't raise enough money by the time Leg 5 starts, I may be forced to withdraw from the race. These updates will have to stop as I simply cannot responsibly afford to run up ever mounting communication bills that we cannot pay.
These updates are expensive and without the required communications we will be disqualified anyway. It's a tough call: Do I keep running up the bills in the hope that we'll get more support, or stop running up costs before they are out of control?
It will be heartbreaking after getting this far to be forced to pull out. Ocean Planet is now more ready than ever, but we simply can't afford to race. I will have to start unofficially and sail safely (slowly) home to put her on the market to pay our bills.
My dream is keep the boat and to race the Vendee Globe, but that is a long way off and we can't meet our current obligations. I guess if I have to pull out I will still be able to walk into a classroom and say that I sailed solo around the world, but that won't be the same as saying that I officially finished the Around Alone and the Vendee Globe.
Please keep us going!
In the meantime, we are on starboard tack a few hundred miles from the South American shore. A low pressure trough is predicted to come off the land which should give us a nice header to tack on and ride for a few days. Probably still upwind but close to the right direction!
Bruce and Ocean Planet
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Sunday,
March 9, 2003
1315gmt Lat: 41 38S; Lon:45 51W
Wind: 5-10kts from the west. Pressure: 1016mb
Conditions have been very nice the last day or so, and I've been appreciating what a great boat this is and how lucky I have been. I'm pretty much taking it easy, playing it safe and we're still easily going by Koji and Tim who caught up while we were getting fixed in the Falklands. In a day or two we'll be beating our brains out again, but for now it's great.
The hardest thing right now is watching Graham and Derek and not being able to help them. They have both lost their masts and have enormous difficulties facing them to get fixed and continue the race. I can only hope that somehow they pull it off and that we'll see them in Salvador and at the finish. The frustration must be unbearable for them.
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Although this is a singlehanded race, today I discovered a stowaway! Priscilla the Penguin must have slipped aboard in the Falklands. I've introduced her to Wilson, and they have doing great in spite of the cultural and language differences. We've all been listening to music, and I've been playing guitar for them and having a good ol time. They were worried when I went out to the end of the boom to relead the 2nd reef line this morning, but now they know I'm pretty handy at that sort of thing. I think they might have thought I was just another unreliable musician.
Bruce, Ocean Planet and crew
Fixin in the Falklands - Part 2
Tuesday, March 4, 2003
Making a mess in the Falklands!
Just a quick one as I got to go rig the boom! Thank heavens for Eric Chase of Chase Boats, he's been a hero. Also big thanks to MAS Epoxies for the supplies!! More later, but here's some pics.....
Bruce and Ocean Planet
 Bruce Grinding |
 Bruce 'n Eric |
 Carbon on Deck |
 Cooking Boom |
 Deck Ready for Carbon: |
 Fixed!!: |
Sunday,
March 2, 2003 1500gmt
Port Stanley, Falkland Islands.
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More and more I am learning that this world is SUCH a strange, interesting, and amazing place.
Here at where I thought was an obscure, desolate, and detached location, I have met a number of resourceful, helpful people and encountered strange coincidences. More on this later.
Nearing Port William Bay, that leads to Port Stanley, I was struck by sight of stunning white beaches and beautiful rocky hills. Unfortunately, I found out later that the beaches I saw are still mined from the Falklands war! Not the best place for beachcombing. Beating into the main bay against a 40kt headwind was a bit dicey as I had to short tack my way in under staysail only avoiding rocks and kelp beds. After getting far enough upwind, I dropped the staysail and motored through the narrow entrance into Port Stanley Bay.
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I was pleasantly surprised to see a colorful small town with a few boats anchored and, believe it or not, a couple of windsurfers blasting back and forth in the screaming winds. I could barely maneuver in the wind and here these hardy souls were out having fun! Turns out that they were the son and crew of famous French adventure Jerome Ponce's small ship which had just returned from South Georgia with an aft deck full of reindeer to take to his island on the west side of the Falklands. What a trip. Anyway, after a scary docking (only one more busted lifeline stanchion), several of the helpful crowd said they have been following the Around Alone online and they all knew who I was...it gets even better....
Invited to dinner with our friendly new team, it came up in conversation that we had stopped in Bayonna Spain in Leg 2. Turns out that most of the folks at the table have spent a bunch of time there and knew all about the place!!! Last night at our second dinner our host even wore a shirt from the fantastic yacht club there that had treated us so well. Of all the places in this huge world that we chance to visit in this tiny town of 2000 near Cape Horn, we find we hit the same spots....I don't know, it all seems kind of strange. Or just plain magic?
Gotta go, grinding to be done on the deck...Erich is working on the boom. Brazil is waiting!
Bruce and Ocean Planet
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Ocean
Planet in the Around Alone - Update
Thursday, February 27, 2003 1320gmt
54 17S, 62 30W
Back in the Atlantic!
Yesterday was a big day for me and Ocean Planet. A goal that had always seemed unattainable came true as we rounded Cape Horn after more that three years of very hard work. I did my best to savor the day on behalf of so many who have helped us get so far against such long odds. To build a new American Open 60 primarily from donations, devoted support from many smaller sponsors (rather than one big one), and the sweat of so many friends and our team.....and to race against some of the top European Open 60 teams in class one of the Around Alone....it's overwhelming!
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Sure it bugs me a little that I'm in last place (just barely) on points, but I feel great about this boat and am very proud of how I have sailed despite a few growing pains and accidents. I knew that our progressive boat was probably too new to win, but we have met a number of important goals. One is to show and develop the potential of Ocean Planet, which if you have been watching closely has shown tremendous speed in many conditions. I have the pictures of the current leg leader behind me a few days into this leg to prove it, too....;-)
The next big goal is TO FINISH THE RACE. It won't be all easy as I have to be very careful not to break anything else! To that end I am stopping at Port Stanley in the Falkland islands and meeting composites pro Erich Chase to fix our baby up for the roughly 3,000 miles to Salvador, Brazil. I have run through countless jury rig possibilities in my busy brain to avoid stopping, but all risk further damage to our still new mainsail or deck. We simply can't afford that and facilities in Brazil are limited. There is plenty of time to be careful, arrive in Salvador in a good basic state, and then fine tune for a top leg finish in Leg 5 and our arrival back in the U.S.
There is a long way to go, but somehow we'll do it, just watch.
Bruce and Ocean Planet
Wednesday,
February 26, 2003 1330gmt
Lat: 56 06S, Lon: 68 06W
28 miles from Cape Horn!
Almost there! The waves, while subsiding, seem to be giving their final efforts to entertain themselves at my expense with the odd surprise breaker now and then. Such a sense of humor.
The visibility is lousy, constant drizzle, rain, and hail. I can't imagine what this place must be like in the winter! Just think of all the ships that had to come this way before the Panama Canal....no wonder the place is littered with shipwrecks and rich with tragic tales. Think about this too: only 400 miles south-southeast of here is the Shetland Islands just off of Antarctica! Not far east of there is Elephant Island, where Ernest Shackleton's crew of the ice-crushed "Endurance" awaited his return to rescue them after his desperate sail to South Georgia Island to get help. Talk about cold, amazing story there, BRRRR!!!
Don't know if it will clear up for pics when I get to the Horn (which is actually a small island), let's hope so. By the way, it's actually pretty shallow water here, my depth sounder just picked up the bottom at 368 feet.
More
later,
Bruce and Ocean Planet
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Saturday,
February 22, 2003 1430gmt
Lat: 53 50s, Lon 95 00w
After a short nap, I woke up hoping that last night was just a nightmare, but it was not, and the reality is that we are wounded yet again. I am so.....well, I won't try to describe how I feel. I have been sailing a very careful leg to Cape Horn, staying out of danger but close to the competition and was ready to make an all out attack from the horn to Brazil for third place or better. So much for those plans! Now the challenge is to see if I can fix the boat at Cape Horn or the Falklands, and somehow manage to finish this leg and the race. Hoo boy, it's going to be a struggle.
What's ironic is that my autopilot has been awesome, perhaps the best in the fleet, but with only one fatal flaw. After taking a serious knocking from a big breaking wave it would lose itself for about 30 seconds. We've only had a few knockdowns, and I've always been able to save it before the autopilot looped us into a jibe, but I was always awake before. This time I was out
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I've been kicking myself since I actually had plenty of time after I woke up to disengage the autopilot first, then run to the cockpit, but I usually just hop out and grab the tiller before disengaging, and I didn't think of it fast enough. 20/20 hindsight of course.
So now the beautiful new boom (that wasn't even paid for yet) is broken and we have a nice hole in the deck where the runner jammer used to be. I stuffed a towel in the hole to slow the water coming in until it dries out enough to stick down a covering of some kind. We are sailing okay with just the working jib for now and as it lightens I'll change to the heavy reacher to keep the speed up.
Drat!! So close to Cape Horn and the 3,000 miles of tough, tactical racing to the leg finish in Salvador Bahia, Brazil. I was really looking forward to duking it out. I hope I can figure out how to fix the boat and get to Brazil not far behind! I'll figure something out since right now I'm pretty mad, er, motivated. Another Pic
Bruce and Ocean Planet
Saturday, February 22, 2003
I'm sad to say that we were laid out by a BIG breaking wave while I was napping. It knocked stuff everywhere and woke me up, but I was groggy and realized too late that my autopilot had lost its marbles and was headed for a crash jibe in 40kts of wind. I scrambled for the tiller when I became aware of what was happening, but only made it to the vestibule when the 35ft boom came over and crashed into the runner. A lot of stuff broke all at once. The boom broke right where it hit the runner, the runner deck block exploded and then the runner jammer ripped out of the deck leaving a good sized hole. Just what I needed!
It has taken me several hours to clean up the mess as best as I can for now, and I am sailing under headsail alone. A fair amount of water came in through the hole in the deck. If I can get some supplies sent to the Falklands, I will stop there and see if I can fix the boat.
I'm okay other than being dispirited and tired. And broke.
Bruce
Friday,
February 21, 2003 1340gmt
Lat 52 54.6S, Lon 102 23.6W
Well, we need to head more south sooner or later to get down to the Latitude of Cape Horn, so when I jibed back on to starboard jibe this morning that will probably be the last jibe for a couple days. Fine with me as I have jibed four times in the last 24 hours trying to be on the correct side of the windshifts. That may not sound like much for a crewed boat, and it's pretty easy with the unstayed rig, but there is so much gear and weight shifting to with it and that's what's tiring! About 20 minutes of lugging containers and sails from one side to the other and getting them properly stowed. Gets me warmed up, anyway....;-)
I've been going over and over the predicted winds for the rest of the way to the Horn, and I'm hoping I can work the angles to get right on the tail of Hexagon and Tiscali. I've managed to shake Emma, but she's taking it easy till the big left turn. Not a bad idea given the risks out here if anything goes wrong. Every now and then I wonder if I should have played the game of "iceberg dare" with Bernard and Thierry, but for me that's not really sailboat racing and it's not for me. Also, as Brad reminded me the other day, I'm probably the only Class One boat without hull insurance. Perhaps I'd be just a little braver with the budget to fix anything we might break once in Brazil!
But at the Brazil stopover I will be by myself this time. We have exhausted all of our credit and resources and can't afford to fly anyone there. Oh well, we did a great job on the boat in NZ so hopefully (fingers crossed everyone) there won't be much to fix for the last leg.
I've been eating like crazy. Being surrounded by a bunch of food in this tiny environment it is pretty hard to resist! In addition to all my regular food stores, many friends in NZ baked cookies and goodies that are taking a while to get through! Although someone has to do it, so I take the job seriously....;-) To be honest, I could live off my Mariner's Vitamins Prometan Bars as they are really good and I've become almost addicted to them. But I do eat quite a variety of stuff, to keep it interesting.
Let's hope this wind keeps blowing all the way to the Horn! A few folks have asked me if I will go for the "Cape Horn earring" after the race. I think so. It will be nice to have something to show for all this and to remind me that it wasn't just a long, strange dream.
Back the chilly dream waters,
Bruce and Ocean Planet
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Squallarama
Wednesday,
February 19, 2003 1350gmt
Lat: 51 45s, Lon: 118 24w
Cold nasty squall after colder nastier squall. With hail and lots of nice, fresh, cold seawater. Decks are quite clean now, that's for sure.
We are being tossed, rocked, pummeled, twisted, shook, knocked, blown, rattled, vibrated, blasted, careened, and....well, you get the idea. Too little sail up, then too much, then way too much, then way too little again, so I've settled on 3rd reefed main alone for now until things stabilize.
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Passed really close to Emma on Pindar yesterday within a couple miles, but the visibility is not so good so there was no visual contact. Would have tried harder to find her but the squalls intervened.
Anyway, here's a couple pics of the beautiful scenery....actually, it IS quite spectacular, but one doesn't stay out there too long watching unless one has to!
Stay
warm,
Bruce and
Ocean Planet
www.everyocean.com/oceanplanet
Sunday,
February 16, 2003 1300gmt
Lat: 50 17S, Lon: 144 37W
Wind NNW at 20-25kts
Heading 100T at 14-16kts
Pressure dropping...from 1024mb 24hrs ago to 1013 now. Wind picking up too, and all of this is from a low pressure trough approaching from the west. Hard to say exactly when it will cross over since we are moving along with it, but when it does (sometime tomorrow?) the wind will switch from NNW to SSW in a just few hours. This will make for some interesting wave action as the swell and chop from the old wind crashes into the new. Could be fun? NOT!!
The moderate wind beam reaching that we've had for the past few days has been idyllic sailing, but it has been painful from the racing side as Ocean Planet is not yet fully optimized for this. We are faster than before. I'd say the bow mods and the weight shifting we did in New Zealand has added a good 1/2 a knot on a reach. This leaves another 1.5kts to go as we were a solid 2kts slower on a beam reach before. So now when we are going 12.5kts and a boat like Hexagon is going 14kts.
However, as the front approaches and the wind picks up we are starting to fly and will be much closer in speed. Can't wait to see the next position report and see if we are holding our ground! Err, water, that is... Our goal in this leg was get out of the gate in the front (we did), stay a bit north to avoid the ice (we are), and get to Cape Horn as close as possible to the bunch since that's when the conditions might get good for us again. Staying in one piece is kinda important too!
Today a runner block blew up with a bang...looks like we need to go up a size on those. There is a black smudge on the upper third of the mainsail where I think the sheave hit before heading off into outer space. Good thing this is an unstayed rig or when the block went that would have been game over for a conventional mast! To fix it I just turned the boat away from the wind a bit and kept sailing while I tied on a new block.
Yeehaa! Just hit 20kts on the GPS and we're smokin now! Pretty soon I'll have to roll up the heavy reacher and go down to the working jib, but I'll hang on as long as possible as this is too much fun.
Later
for now,
Bruce and Ocean Planet
Saturday,
February 15, 2003
Lat: 49 48S, 153 25W
Wind NNW at 12-16
Heading 092T at 12-14kts
As Ocean Planet and I slide almost effortlessly in great conditions across the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, I think back to the great experiences I had on the NZ stopover....
 I even got to drive...;- |
One of the coolest things I got to do in New Zealand was go for a sail on the "Te Aurore" a Maori/Polynesian "Waka" catamaran replica of the type that the original settlers sailed from the Polynesian islands (I don't know which islands) to the land we now call New Zealand. I met and befriended the crew and the folks who built the boat and actually sailed it to Hawaii(!!!) using the complex traditional Polynesian navigation system based on the stars. I learned a little about this ancient knowledge and how it works which fascinated me to no end.
I don't know much of the system, but some of what was explained to me was very interesting and makes perfect sense. As the seasons go by the stars in the sky do not move much at all. Certainly nothing like the sun and the moon which in comparison are all over the place. If you are at a certain latitude, the stars rise and fall at certain locations on the horizon. So one way to determine if you are at the correct latitude for a particular island or location is noticing if two stars (you would have to know which two, of course) rise on the dusk horizon at the same time. If you were too far north or south, one of the them will rise before the other! The ancient navigators had the entire sky and major stars all mapped out. Without a compass, they could quite precisely guide the boat on a steady course by markings on its perimeter and how they aligned with the stars in the sky. I think this is totally cool.
Even though I can do celestial navigation (if I have to) by the sun, it seems mechanical and clunky compared to the mystery and magic of how the original voyagers found their way around the Pacific. Another amazing fact is that much of the navigation data (for something like 80 islands!), is stored in a series of chants that have been passed down for generations. This data was nearly lost but is now being recovered. On the boat I was honored to meet the Waka skipper Jack, his crew, and Hector, a Maori elder and priest who is a traditional navigator himself.
Hector, Jack, along with John Panoho and friends are working to resurrect and preserve the Maori version of this system which is of incalculable cultural value. I was able to spend a little time with them at the Around Alone race village where they had a booth for their program. They showed me great hospitality and even wore and sold our shirts and hats on our behalf to help support Ocean Planet! If that wasn't enough, on the morning of the Leg 4 start, John appeared with Hector and they presented me with a "Karakia" for good luck, a beautiful Greenstone with a lot of spiritual value. Hector, holding the stone, then blessed me and Ocean Planet for a safe and fast journey. What an awesome gift! I have to say that I do feel safer.
On my solo race and voyage around the world, one of the most special things is getting to touch upon the cultures of the sailing people that have gone before me. Though centuries have passed and technology has changed the world, we are all spiritually tied together in experience by traveling the great seas on this earth, the Ocean Planet.
For more information on "Te Aurere" and their program, please contact John Panoho at: john@dialogue.co.nz
Bruce
and Ocean Planet (the boat)
Skipper,
OCEAN PLANET
www.everyocean.com/oceanplanet
Back to Top
Thursday,
February 13, 2003 1300gmt
46 20S, 166 47W
It has been really fun to be at or near the front of the fleet and have nice sailing conditions. The serious stuff starts in a day or so when we will have 35 knots of wind straight from the north driving us to the south. I'll keep pushing hard, if I can stay close to the leaders till Cape Horn, then the race re-starts there.
Ocean Planet seems a bit better with her modified bow, but mostly we have had good conditions for her and I have been putting her in the right place at the right time. The tactical challenge really comes when the conditions start to favor the other boats.
Psychologically, when it gets rough it will be hard to keep the pedal down as technically the race is over for me at the next stop in Brazil. Especially if I break ANYTHING. We have no finances left whatsoever and there are still a lot of bills to pay. The boat needs to make it back in one piece in case we have to sell her to pay the bills, but I guess I'm gambling that if I stay near the front it will somehow bring some sort of financial miracle. Each stopover so far my friends and supporters have performed magic already, so it is hard to ask them to do more than they already have. They are such an inspiration, and I can't believe we have made it this far! Right now we don't even have enough to buy the food for the next leg, so I have my fingers crossed for more miracles....
In the meantime, we are close reaching at 11.5 to 12kts. I'm staying a bit north so that we can bear off when the northerly blast comes. We'll see how it all shakes out....;-)
Later
for now,
Bruce and Ocean Planet
 two hours after the start... |
Monday - February 10, 2003 2300gmt
What an exciting farewell from Tauranga and the start of Leg 4! There was an amazing turnout on the docks, complete with Maori warriors doing the fearsome "Haka" dance, and a huge flotilla of boats out to view the start. We had a moderate reach for the first few miles and since then it has been all over the place and really light last night. It has been pretty much hand-to-hand combat so far with Bernard, Thierry, and Graham, with Simone not far behind. In the light air drifting, we kept taking turns passing each other all night. This morning was stunning, with sunshine, dolphins, and the four of us Open 60s within a mile of each other, quite a sight.
To all of my shore crew, friends, and volunteers who worked like maniacs the last couple days (the last few weeks actually) to get Ocean Planet ready, I can't thank you enough. I also want to give some kudos to the great boatbuilders, repair crews, the boat yard, etc, in Tauranga. All the beer in New Zealand should be yours....:-)
I head out across the Southern Pacific with a mixture of fear and excitement. I have very little desire to see icebergs (at least not from a racing sailboat!) however, right now there is an iceberg more than ten miles long directly NORTH of the Falkland Islands, which means there are more likely a lot of smaller ones around Cape Horn and on the way there. This is definitely the most challenging trip of my sailing life so far, or life in general for that matter.
The attached photo was taken two hours after the start...
Bruce
Schwab
Skipper, OCEAN PLANET
www.everyocean.com/oceanplanet
Saturday, February 1, 2003
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In case you've been wondering what I've been up to...the truth is I hardly know where to begin. Work began in a flurry right after arriving, thanks to help from a bevy of American cruisers here in New Zealand in addition to inspired Kiwis. Some even drove or sailed down from Auckland just to see Ocean Planet and offer their help! I have been overwhelmed by the support of them and of the terrific town of Tauranga, which has pulled out all the stops to make this stopover an unforgettable New Zealand experience.
I'm sitting in the media center office where computers have been set up for skippers and teams to connect to the world. At the other end of the parking lot is the Western Bay Finance race village, a fun place with food, music, prizes, and the HSBC education tent for kids. The awareness of the Around Alone race here is absolutely amazing. No matter where you go in town, if I mention that I'm with the race I get a great response ("You guys are totally mad! Here, have one on me..."). It seems like EVERYONE knows about the race and we have been treated like kings. Gift baskets, a big pack of $30 vouchers at local restaurants, and free adventures for the skippers like glider flights and skydiving! My partner Jeanie was here so I took a couple days off so we could spend some time together and sightsee, a nice change of pace...;-) We did the glider flights the other day, and I was nervous, but what fun!
Huge thanks to Garth and Wendy of "Velella," a Wylie 31 they sailed down from Auckland just to slave away for a week helping me. Also spending a lot of time on the boat is Tom Petty (no, not the musician) off the Wylie 60"Roxanne," Ayn Woodruff (formerly of Alameda), Keith & Susan Levy, and Kiwi Graham Dawson just to name a few. Now that Ashley, Rich, Jason, and Steve have arrived we are going flat out. I decided to go ahead and squeeze in a modification to our bow that Tom Wylie and I have been thinking of for a while, in addition to fixing our water ballast tank and gobs of other
details. All the other boats are flailing away too as the next leg is the longest and most serious one of all. New Zealand is a fantastic place to get difficult work done on your boat for a really good price (the next best thing to our builder Schooner Creek Boat Works!), so now is the time to do as much as we can!
Yes, I'm walking the plank financially, as always, but I am getting hungry to keep adding speed and put more Open 60's behind me. I like to be in front and that's where we will be sooner or later, even with our very different boat.
Sorry that our website went down (long story), but please check our new website at www.everyocean.com/oceanplanet. Also, look for some BIG changes there soon, along with an announcement on a new venue to follow Ocean Planet, sailing forums, ocean racing, and the care of our oceans in general!
This update is but a snippet of the adventures I'm having here, and I will pick up the pace on the updates for the rest of the stopover, I promise... BTW, attached is a nice look at OP's new "nose."
Sleepless
in New Zealand,
Bruce
Ocean Planet is made possible by donations to The Made in America Foundation, and also by our suppliers:
|
AMD | Doyle
Sailmakers | Forespar
Composites | Infomatrix
| www.lee-kahn.com
|Nobeltec | MAS
Epoxies |
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Metropolis Metal Works | Nexus
Instruments | Samson
Rope Technologies |
| Spectra
Watermakers | David Haliwill Design |