Category: Uncategorized

Another One Goes On Standby…: If you love round-the-world sailboat racing, 2004 was a kickass year. We started with Steve Fossett and Cheyenne, racing Olivier De Kersauson and Geronimo. We got Francis Joyon setting a solo, non-stop record that was astounding. And we ended up with Ellen MacArthur chasing down the Vendee Globe racers. And now, barely into 2005, and with Ellen Mac still at sea and beating a record I thought might never be beaten, Bruno Peyron and his maxi-cat Orange II are on standby to take a run at the outright, non-stop record. Orange II is a beast, a second generation 120-foot rocketship. She had to pull out of a Jules Vern attempt last year with a rash of breakdowns. But since then she has gone on to claim the 24 hour record by sailing an unbelievable 706 miles while almost nabbing Fossett’s epic transatlantic 4 day, 17 hour record (Orange II missed by a half hour).

Peyron’s aim for this lap is to both beat Olivier De Kersauson’s Jules Verne Trophy time of 63 days, and, more important, nail Fossett’s outright circumnavigation record of 58 days and 9.5 hours (Fossett refused to pay the Jules Verne fee). If he succeeds he will reunite the outright record and the Jules Verne record, doing us all a favor by making speed sailing just a little less confusing. To do it, he’s got a crew of 14 (mostly French) that has 171 transatlantic crossings, and 21 circumnavigations among them. There’s no good looking weather window right now. But stay tuned. These guys will be off in the next week or two…



“Okay, Bruno. The Anglos are stealing all our records, so let’s whip this nag around the planet to reclaim the honor of our glorious Republic…”

Boesmansgat Tragedy–Dave Shaw Disappears: Regular TWC readers will be familiar with world record deep diver Dave Shaw, who in October got to a stygian 270 meters (885.8 feet) during a dive in Bushman’s Cave (Boesmansgat) in South Africa. The dive was all the more remarkable because while at the bottom Shaw found the body of diver Deon Dreyer, who had died diving in Boesmansgat in 1994. Great guy that he was, Shaw organized a rescue dive attempt last week to retrieve Deon’s body for his grateful parents. On Saturday, Shaw slipped into the 64 degree, crystal clear water. The dive to the bottom took about 15 minutes, and Shaw had about 5 minutes to free Dreyer from his gear and start passing him from diver to diver (arrayed at seven depths) toward the surface. Then Shaw would have to spend about 11 hours working his way back to fresh air as he decompressed from the unbelievable depth. Diver Don Shirley was at 220 meters and the first link in the chain to get both Dreyer and Shaw back up. He waited and waited. No Dreyer. No Shaw. Shirley heroically descended to 250 meters to look for Shaw. But he immediately got hit by decompression sickness, and started vomiting. Disoriented he had to head for the surface, where he was immediately tossed into a portable decompression chamber. Any further rescue attempts were called off so no additional lives would be lost. Shaw was declared missing and dead. Tragic. You can read all about it here.

Shaw had become a friend of TWC, and we were looking forward to hearing from him after the dive was over. Of course, you can question his decision to risk his life to retrieve a body. He was planning to go to a world record depth (hard enough on its face) AND perform an intricate rescue (Dreyer’s gear was stuck into the bottom mud and Shaw had to try and cut him loose and put him in a body bag). But Shaw had no question that it was the right thing to do. As for the risk: “The dive is a huge challenge. I am quietly confident that we can get Deon up. I am not putting myself in any danger to get his body,” he said. Unfortunately, he was very, very wrong, and now there are two bodies at the bottom of Boesmansgat, and a widow with two young children grieving for Dave Shaw. If you want to learn more about Shaw, spend a few minutes paging through his website, and his report on his plans to recover Dreyer.



Dave Shaw, Diver and Human Being Extraordinaire…

Have A Wet (and Snowy) Ass Weekend…:

Wetass Technology–Eagle Cam: Speaking of birds (see below), here’s a tiny camera that provides a real, and spectacular, birds-eye view. Strapped to Tilly The Eagle, the camera follows the action as Tilly soars, rolls, looks for prey, and has an incredible aerial dogfight with a territorial buzzard. You can watch it all online, and it’s all mesmerizing. Thanks, Tilly, for the great ride…



“Finally done showing off with that camera, are you? Well, how about catching me some dinner before you land, you funky-feathered prima donna…”

Wetass Sport #3…: How many of you have thought to yourself: “I wonder if I could jump out of an airplane, fall to earth, and land safely…WITHOUT A PARACHUTE!? Probably none, because it’s a pretty, umm, stupid thing to wonder. Luckily, there’s always someone who dreams the impossibly stupid dream, and sport advances. In this case, that someone is an idiot, I mean creative genius (and Superman) named Jeb Corliss. Corliss, along with wing(ding)man Luigi Cani, are testing a wingsuit (which looks sort of like a superhero costume for an average 6 year-old) that they hope to land safely without a parachute. They’ll probably attempt it this year. “It’s very important to land with zero injuries,” says Corliss. Ya think? Anyhow, you can watch a cool video of the project here.

Now, crazy as this all seems, it turns out that there are lots of birdmen (and birdwomen) out there (though still landing with ‘chutes). And in case you imagine you are an eagle among mortals, you can buy your own wingsuit here. Before you leap, make sure to check out the FAQ, which say that you can fly up to 3 miles at 60-90 mph if you jump from the plane at 13,500 feet. They also provide answers to important questions such as “Can I fly on my back?” (Yes, but not very well) and “What if I land in the water?” (“If you don’t have immediate help, avoid this situation by all means. This suit wasn’t made for fish.”). There’s also an advice section (don’t let your spouse see this) which addresses what are euphemistically called “Possible Funky Situations.”

So what does it all look like? Just check out this video (are those flying Elvises?). And if you have five minutes and want proof that these guys have a sense of humor, check out this nicely done Top Gun satire. The birdpeople. Who knew…



Birdman: “What the f*ck are you staring at…?”

Sydney-Hobart Inside Account…: If you’ve been depressed and feeling like you missed out on this year’s Sydney-Hobart race, check out this excellent diary of the race, written by John Baxter of Doyle Sails Chicago. It’ll give you a good taste of the world’s most brutal offshore race. Plus, it’s got lots of good pics. And if, after reading it, you’re ready to book your ticket to Sydney next year, you hereby qualify as a certified Hardass Wetass…



Skandia Drifts Away…

(Photo: Ian Mainsbridge/PPL)

Try, Try, Again…: These guys all need to do a little more math before they pull these stunts again. Check ’em out:

Incoming!

Uh-Oh!

Ooof!

“Damn. I never wanted to be a poster boy…”

Ellen On The Edge…: Big Mac is having a brutal time getting to Cape Horn. Just check out her latest e-mail, and ask yourself how you would be coping:

“Hi there world out there… Today I feel a bit like I have awoken into a new world…. i have an aching hunger inside me which has been absent for

a while, and the sea and sky that have been so agressive are now flat and grey – both. The last three days of sailing have been undoubtedly the worst of my career. Never before have i experienced winds more unstable, more agressive, more unpredictable.. With a low pressure forming to our NW we found ourselves getting literally ‘run down’ by the energy and cold air rushing north to build it. My body has been pushed beyond its limits, once again i found myself screaming at the heavens. I am sure that I have never been as tired as that in my life. Sleep – such an easy thing to say – but an impossible thing to achieve in such unstable conditions. Winds have been all over the place – changing in direction by 50 to 60 degrees at times, and changing at times in strength my 30 knots in the space of a few seconds. In effect the worst conditions for a multihull, as capsize is a real possibility – and i have to say that flying along with one reef and the solent in 44 knots of breeze made me talk to myself constantly telling myself we were in fact going to make it. Yesterday was the worst day, with massive squalls, the same wind that was not predictable – the day begun with a constant 30 knots after a 47 knot gust, I was sailing with 3 reefs and staysail. I’m now full main and genoa. Reefs in, reefs out – body aching. I apologise to the albatross that came closer in wonder what my cries were all about. I was past it, just past it – empty, exhausted. But at that stage with no escape, no button to push to make everything ok again…no way to hide from the alarms and wake ups from continuously interupted doses – absolute exhaustion. I tried checking the weather out, and characteristic of the day the grib i picked up came in 6 days out of date – i didn’t realsise so that threw me completely, and the end never seemed to be in sight. But one thing which does, did and wil always help is reading the e-mails of support. One yesterday from Oli, one of the team members who sent an unbelievable mail which could not help but pull you up on a bad day and the thousands that are flooding in to the website. I sat there reading peoples encouragement, and quite honestly cried. Cried just to see the support of so many people from so many places – it’s humbling. I feel like they must be for someone else who is doing somenthing incredible. Yesterday evening the situtation changed – i could feel things were improving ater the final blast which was a hail storm. Not just any storm but an inch and a half of sleat in the cockpit. I don’t know where the energy came from, as my eyes had been burning red with tears just moments before, but I made a snowman and fter that – slowly but surely – everything began to get better. By daylight i was on full main and genoa – and now i have a light breeze – but finally, thank god – a more predictable one. this is ellen out – about to eat something…”

Plus, she severely burned her arm, survived a crash gybe, and…oh yeah..another massive storm is about to pounce on her. Somehow she’s almost 4 days ahead of Joyon’s record pace, but at this point I think she’s mainly preoccupied with getting past Cape Horn alive…



Storm Watch: “With another one on the way, I’d better make the most of this balmy Southern Ocean weather…”

Vendee, Vendee…: The three leaders (Le Cam, Riou and Golding) are all around the Horn and headed north up the Atlantic toward the finish. Click here for latest daily report and here for positions. Less than 100 miles separates the top 3, which is simply unbelievable after two months and more than 20,000 miles of sailing. Any of these guys could win, and we’re in for a thrilling final leg. Just consider that in 2000 Ellen MacArthur was more than 400 miles behind the leader, Michel Desjoyeaux, at the Horn, and still managed to pass him (albeit very briefly) at the Equator. Despite its blood-curdling reputation Cape Stiff was exceedingly gentle on the top three. Here’s Mike Golding’s account:

“The cape was fantastic. It was a beautiful clear day with a sea breeze from the east. At around 60 miles from land I could clearly see the mountains. I don’t know if that was because of a refraction of the light. I really enjoyed the late evening at the Cape. I was about 3 miles off at around midnight GMT. I opened a rather large bottle of champagne and had a little drop or two! I haven’t kept a count on how many times I’ve passed the cape but I think it must be 7 or 8 times. I remember that each time I’ve been surprised by the weather. I only have one recollection of a time when we had really strong winds. I was racing crewed and we had 55 to 60 knots of easterly, which is very different from this time around. It’s generally been quite kind. It is clearly a big relief to have left the Southern Ocean. The icebergs put a different perspective on things. Any three of us (Golding/Le Cam/ Riou) stand a chance of winning now. Any of us can pull away little by little. I firmly believe that anything is possible…”

And don’t miss the fantastic video (taken from the air and on land) of 2nd place racer Vincent Riou rounding the Horn on PRB, which can be found on the Vendee Globe website video page. If you ever wanted a good look at the famous headland, this is it. Leader Jean Le Cam’s video of a Southern Ocean iceberg is pretty cool, too. God, I love the Internet…



Riou Rounds In The Sun: “Wow! Am I truly at the bottom of the world or is all that New Year’s champagne causing hallucinations…?”

Wetass Video Of The Week…: I’ve never gone BASE jumping, and I probably never will (at least voluntarily). It’s a bit too artificial for me (I like my near-death experiences to come at the hands of Mother Nature). But it sure does make for some great video. So check out this fearsome compilation of killer jumps. Oh, Mama…

“Damn, this sure is a popular spot…”
(Photo: Marc Audap)