Annals of Adventure–Jules Verne Smackdown: Well, it looks as if Olivier De Kersauson and his 125-foot trimaran Geronimo have joined the non-stop, round-the-world-record-breaking party. DeK is now officially on stand by, waiting along with Steve Fossett and his maxi-cat Cheyenne, for a good weather wind to speed south from the English Channel to the Equator and beyond. Geronimo is all loaded up, with 63 days of food (the current record is 64 days, so they’ll be getting pretty hungry if they aren’t on the pace). And each crew member is allowed 20 kilos of gear. That sounds like plenty, until you realize that includes foul weather clothing, boots and safety equipment. Once all that stuff is tallied up, you’re usually left with a few t-shirts and a change of underwear to get all the way around the world. So, when might this all happen? The weather window both DeK and Fossett are looking for is so specialized, it is almost certain that if the right system comes along both boats will leave at almost the same time. Even better would be if they agreed in advance to leave at EXACTLY the same time, so we’d have the ultimate global drag race. We’ll see. For now, Fossett’s weather team does not see a good window until maybe January 26, but the Atlantic is a fast-changing game board, so you never know. Stay tuned. It’s three hulls versus two, French versus American, man versus the elements. In short, it’s going to be a kick-ass show…..



Giant Geronimo: “Heh-heh, the Americains will choke on our spray….”