Sometime this weekend, Yves Parlier and his Open 60 Aquitaine
Innovations will cross the Vendée Globe finish line
off France, completing the singlehanded race around the world.
Parlier will be the last of the finishers, but first in seamanship.
You may remember that while chasing the race leader on December
17 in the stormy Southern Ocean, Innovations jibed wildly
several times, resulting in her carbon fiber mast snapping in
two places. When Parlier vowed to continue all the way to the
finish, even his most ardent admirers figured he’d come to his
senses in a couple of days. They underestimated the man.
As was reported in Latitude’s February
‘Sightings’, Parlier jury-rigged a 40-foot section of the mast,
set a quadruple reefed main, and sailed to Stewart Island at
the southern tip of New Zealand. He then anchored, and, to make
a long story short, over a period of weeks he used incredible
ingenuity to fabricate a 60-foot carbon fiber mast – see the
accompanying photo – from the broken parts. Then – and this is
almost beyond belief – he singlehandedly managed to step the
mast – see the other accompanying photo – without any outside
assistance. It was an astonishing feat that required 17 hours
of work. This jury-rig held fast to Cape Horn and now almost
all the way up the Atlantic Ocean. We don’t know about the rest
of you, but when Parlier crosses the finish line, we’ll hoist
a drink to a man who is the definition of intelligence, courage,
perseverence and resourcefulness. Yves, you are ‘Lectronic’s
sailor of the year – if not the decade. We salute you.
Photos Courtesy Thierry Martinez
Blue Water Medal Winners
March 15 – San Francisco Yacht Club
World cruisers Roger Swanson and Gaynelle Templin are seen here
striking a pose in the cockpit of their Bowman 57, Cloud Nine,
while holding the Cruising Club of America’s Blue Water Medal.
It was recently awarded to them in recognition of their extensive
world explorations under sail. Swanson has 170,000 sea miles
under his belt after cruising for nearly 20 years. Cloud Nine
has sailed to some of the world’s most remote locations, including
two trips to Antarctica and an attempt at the Northwest Passage.
Check out the April issue of Latitude for the details.
Photo Latitude/Andy
The Race
March 15 – The Atlantic Ocean
Cam Lewis and Team Adventure are sailing past the Canary
Islands into 25 knots of wind, which is not the most comfortable
point of sail on a cat. A press report explains:
“Onboard, it would seem that sleep
is something of a problem. After the ‘To sleep well, you have
to be very tired’ comment from Jean-Yves Bernot yesterday, at
noon today Larry Rosenfeld explained that “the bunks should
be lengthened and padding added because the shocks against the
bulkheads cause at least knocks and bruises and could even lead
to broken ankles.” Broken ankles, not a normal sailing hazard.
Photo Courtesy Jacques Vapillon
Cruising Tuscany
March 15 – Tuscany, Italy
We’re not sure if it’s the same everywhere in the Bay Area, but
here in Marin, everybody seems to have a near fatal case of ‘Tuscany
envy’. Everybody wants their house to look like it was right
out of Tuscany, pretend they’re living like Tuscans, and naturally
wishes that the weather here was like it is in Tuscany in the
summer. We say the heck with all this posturing, if you like
Tuscany, why not cruise it? To that end, we recommend Italy’s
third largest island, Elba, located just a short distance off
the mainland halfway up the ‘boot’. We arrived at Portoferraio
from Monte Carlo late one night in June of ’94 with a hole in Big O’s exhaust system. We quickly discovered that Elba
wasn’t a good place to find boat parts, but that it was a lovely
and unspoiled island despite the fact it lives on tourism. Our
next stops were Marciana Marina, where we dropped the hook near
the harbor entrance for free, and Campo Nell’Elba. Our big mistake
was that we didn’t stay several weeks, but rather hauled butt
to Rome to catch a plane back to . . . work. What were we thinking?
Marciana Marina,Isola d’Elba
Photo Courtesy F. Ceccanti
Campo Nell’Elba,Isola d’Elba
Photo Courtesy Vannucci Ivana
Portoferraio,Isola d’Elba
Photo Courtesy A. Regoli
How Important Is Crew to Cruising Boat Performance?
March 15 – Cruising Circuit
Consider this: In last year’s Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, Baradozig,
an Outremer 55 catamaran finished in 15 days and 20 hours, the
18th fastest boat. Yet Gryphon, another Outremer 55 catamaran,
finished in 21 days and 13 hours – despite motoring for 16 hours
– and placed 200 positions behind her sistership in the standings.
There were many similar examples in which monohulls sailed 15
– 20% faster than sisterships. As always, crew is critical, particularly
when it can cut nearly a week off a transocean passage.
YOTREPS
March 15 – The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace
Who is out making passages in the Pacific
and what kind of weather are they having? Check out YOTREPS –
‘yacht reports’ – at http://www.bitwrangler.com/yotreps/
Looking for current as well as recent wind
and sea readings from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena
and the Mexican border? Here’s the place – which has further links
to weather buoys and stations all over the U.S.: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/stuff/southwest/swstmap.shtml.
