Annals of Adventure–This Time It’s Personal!: Right now, somewhere off the coast of Africa, there is a large–you could even say chubby–Frenchman named Olivier De Kersauson, in a large–you could even say ugly–trimaran named Geronimo, traveling at 20-30 knots. DeK and his crew of grizzled misanthropes are trying to break the east-west transatlantic record, which runs from Cadiz, Spain to San Salvador, Bahamas. This record is called the Discovery Route because it supposedly mimics the course Columbus steered to the New World (navigator that he was he thought he had arrived in Asia). Normally, I would be cheering Geronimo on. De Kersauson is a veteran record breaker, a colorful character who loves to play mind games with the rest of the sailing world, and a genuinely funny guy. But in this instance I can’t. The current holder of this record is Steve Fossett and his 120-foot catamaran PlayStation, which took 9 days, 13 hours, 31 minutes and 18 seconds to make the crossing last February, at an average speed of 16,93 knots. And grinding winches, washing dishes, and trying to avoid any major injuries was yours truly. Fossett had a great crew and I rode their coattails all the way across, so the one and only world record I have–or ever will have–is the East-West Transatlantic Sailing Record (and Fossett was nice enough to send me a framed certificate in case anyone doubts it). Therefore, I sincerely hope that De Kersauson and his crew sail safely….but very, very slowly. If one of the floats fell off, or the mainsail blew up, I can’t say I would be entirely unhappy. They are a bit behind our run for the moment, but we blasted out of the blocks and then slowed down toward the finish. So I’m preparing the voodoo doll and any other bad weather juju I can for the middle part of the run. Let us pray…..



Big, Bad, Geronimo: Maybe that guy will fall off the bow…that should slow ’em up…..