January 15, 2001

Photo of the Day

January 15 – ???

What the . . . ?

Photo Christopher Miller

(email Richard)

‘PlayStation’ Out

January 15 – Atlantic Ocean

If there was a favorite in The Race, it was Steve Fossett
and ‘PlayStation’. He had the most money, she’d been sailing
the longest, and she was the biggest boat. Unfortunately, she
fell victim to a critical system – the sails – that weren’t up
to the job, and as a result has dropped out. Here’s the story:

“0700 GMT Mission Control (UK) Sunday 1/14/01: After the
port daggerboard was shattered late on Saturday night, Skipper
Steve Fossett of the 125′ maxi-catamaran ‘PlayStation’ has advised
The Race officials early this morning that he has reluctantly
had to make the decision to withdraw from the 23,000 mile race
around the world. Key problems with the old 1998-2000 ‘delivery’
mainsail showing serious signs of wear – and ongoing breakage
– coupled with the daggerboard breakage last night – have led
Steve (after consultation with and fully supported by his crew)
to make the difficult decision not to pursue The Race into the
Southern Ocean.

“At about 21:40 GMT on Saturday night January 13, maxi-cat
‘PlayStation’ and her 13-man crew received a jolt as the port
daggerboard was shattered and broke off at the waterline. They
had just gotten back up to speed, having spent much of the day
at second reef during rapid repairs to a 3-ft tear in the mainsail
(at the first reef clew) from earlier on Saturday. The sail repair
was working well when the daggerboard incident occurred. It is
not yet known what was struck. Inspection of the remaining part
of the port daggerboard may subsequently point to the cause.”

After consulting with the crew, Fossett decided to withdraw from
The Race. “Now it’s the daggerboard. Just after we hoisted
the mainsail after a day of repairs, the port side daggerboard
was shattered and broke away. I suppose we probably could sail
around the world with just the starboard daggerboard, but the
real issue is the sails: We bought a new set of sails for The
Race because we doubted our old sails were fit to make it around
the world. When the new mainsail and solent broke before we got
out of the Mediterranean, we knew we were in trouble, but we
were game to give it a try with the old sails. Today’s repair
of the first reef clew by Nick Moloney looks good, but then the
second reef clew looks like it is starting to fail. We are destined
to be struggling with sail repairs for the rest of the way. We
just aren’t prepared to tackle the Southern Ocean.

“I laid out my reservations about our continuing in The
Race and asked the crew to tell me what they thought. They have
thrown their every effort into this project for months and in
some cases years. Some of them would like just to finish the
passage even if we were uncompetitive. I get to make the tough
decisions. Unless the crew could offer a persuasive argument
to continue we would have to turn back. The crew talked it over,
and came back to tell me they all supported my decision. I turned
the boat around and we’re heading for Miami. I doubt that it
is the way a skipper is supposed to make a decision, but that
is how it was done on ‘PlayStation’.”

In a further conversation with Mission Control this morning,
Fossett advised that all was well onboard and that they would
arrive in Miami/Ft Lauderdale in 10-14 days time. The mood onboard
is “one of disappointment, of course, but morale is pretty
good, considering. We are still very confident in the boat and
her structure – and in her tremendous speed and record-setting
potential.” Following replacement of the daggerboard and
refitting of new sails in Miami/Ft Lauderdale, Steve, ‘PlayStation’
and crew are now looking at targeting the Miami-NYC record and
the Transatlantic records – beginning this May.

That leaves the three Gilles Ollier designed cats – ‘Innovations
Explorer’, ‘Club Med’ and ‘Team Adventure’ – as the overwhelming
favorites. Currently ‘Club Med’ has a small lead on ‘Team Adventure’,
with ‘Innovations Explorer’ having moved up in the last day or
two. Here’s Grant Dalton of ‘Club Med’ commenting on the relative
speeds of the leading boats, and the condition of his boat:

On the bridge of ‘Club Med’, a calm night
Photo J.Caraës/Club Med

On PlayStation’s boom, repairing the mainsail
Photo Courtesy PlayStation

Sail repair aboard Innovations Explorer
Photo Courtesy Innovations Explorer

Graphic Courtesy Team
Adventure

“In moderate airs he (‘Team Adventure’) is faster than
us. We wouldn’t be surprised to find that he has a small reacher/genniker
on board. We built one but we didn’t like it and so we didn’t
bring it. For the light airs we built a Code Zero sail from North
3DL which we are really happy with. This sail is the main reason
we pulled forwards on ‘Team Adventure’ since the wind has dropped.
As in all major international regattas sails are playing a really
important part. If we had had a Whitbread-type stopover in Cape
Town we’d probably change a whole load of fittings on board to
make them stronger. The crew have done a really good job with
spare parts. They haven’t brought a lot, but they manage to bring
something out from down below that will do the job just fine
every time we have a breakage. Being at sea makes you resourceful.”

Ranking of 01-15-01 / 1100 GMT / 0300 PST

1. Club Med dtf 19,007
2. Team Adventure dtf 19,054 / dtl 47 miles
3. Innovation Explorer dtf 19,136 / dtl 129 miles
4. Warta Polpharma dtf 20,474 / dtl 1,467 miles
5. PlayStation dtf 20,808 / dtl 1,801 miles
6. Team Legato dtf 21,146 / dtl 2,139 miles

Note: ‘PlayStation’ is still officially racing until they
reach land and ask for assistance. Her position will be included
in the official standings until then.

The Money Guys from the Pacific
Northwest

January 15 – St. Barts

In the January 11 ‘Lectronic,
we asked readers to guess the identities of the two moneybags
brothers from the Pacific Northwest who were in St. Barts over
New Year’s with their mighty megayachts – and who the two even
bigger moneybags were on yet another yacht in St. Barts. On January 12, we got as far as the
brothers being from the MacCaw clan of Seattle, but didn’t know
who belonged to which boat. Dick Enersen of San Francisco says
he knows for sure.

Craig, by far the richest of all the MacCaws, owns the 283-ft
‘Tatoosh’ and the 43-ft half size version of the sailboat ‘Stealth’
that lives aboard her. He is also the money behind the Seattle
OneWorld Challenge for the 2003 America’s Cup. John, who is the
real sailboat racer in the family, owns the 323-ft motoryacht
‘Grand Bleu’, the 72-ft Dubois ‘Bellatrix’ that lives aboard
her, the 118-foot daysailer ‘Extra Beat’ that’s in Newport, Rhode
Island, and used to own the 115-ft ketch ‘Christine’ that was
often berthed in Sausalito or at the St. Francis YC. Bruce owns
the 115-foot motoryacht ‘Skye Time’, but is really into car racing.
Keith is the only brother who really isn’t a player in the big
boat world. According to Enersen, “These guys obviously
have shitheaps of money, but are good guys in the bargain.”

Hangin’ with the big boys in St. Barts
Photo Latitude/Richard

The two other guys who were in St. Barts over the holidays?
Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen, who were aboard
Allen’s 199-ft motoryacht ‘Meduse’. If we’re not mistaken, they
were Med-tied next to Jennifer Lopez and Puff Daddy, which would
make sense, because Allen is a music freak with a state-of-the-art
recording studio in the boat.

Anyway, there was an article in Sunday’s New York Times by Herb
McCormick that brought many of these names together. During an
email interview with Craig MacCaw aboard ‘Tatoosh’ in the Caribbean,
MacCaw said that he and Larry Ellison of the St. Francis YC’s
Oracle Racing America’s Cup effort might have become partners
in their campaigns rather than competitors. According to MacCaw,
when Ellison heard that there was to be an America’s Cup effort
from the Northwest, he assumed that it would be from his rivals
Gates or Allen. There’s nothing Ellison would like to do more
than beat Gates and Allen. But by the time MacCaw announced that
he was the one behind the Pacific Northwest effort, Ellison had
already announced, and it was too late for the two efforts to
become one. MacCaw also said he’s long been a student of the
America’s Cup.

Darwin to Bali Instead?

January 15 – Indonesia

Until violence started to take its toll in Indonesia, one
of the most popular cruising rallies in the world was from from
Darwin, Australia, to Ambon, Indonesia. In fact, quite a few
West Coast cruisers have participated. But the event had to be
canceled last year as rioting swept over Ambon and much of Indonesia.
Indonesian officials, however, don’t want the event to die, so
they have asked that race officials create a Darwin to Bali rally.
Bali as yet hasn’t suffered from violence. For details, visit
www.darwinambon.octa4.com.au/darwin-ambon/