Conference unifix::sailing

    I'm glad this note started. I've been looking for information since I
    realized the race started this past Saturday. I'm a little bit shocked
    to hear that many participants have no sailing experience, this sounds
    like it's asking for trouble.
    	How can one get up to date information on this race. After
    following the Whitbread a few years ago I'd very much like to keep
    informed on the progress of this race. Thanks for any help.
    
    Geoff

Some had No Experience when they applied but they have all since done over 
3,000 nm, including, if me memory is right,  the Fastnet.  

All yachts have a professional skipper.

However Inexperienced sailors sailing round the world does sell more papers.



BT announced a fax service which is updated every 20 minutes. I don't know the 
number but I'm sure Pete Gough will input it soon.


	:')


		Gregg

    I have seen videos of two different sailors going through the roaring
    40s with the wind at their back. Absolutely incredible. I also recently
    read an article that recounted a French couple's rounding of Cape Horn
    on a small beach cat. They waited for "perfect" weather, cheated by
    cutting though some really shallow sections, and still had trouble
    going east to west. I cannot image trying to beat into that hellish
    natural blender for several days.
    
    Wonder what the odds are of a couple people getting killed in this
    race? As one who likes to push the envelope on his boat, this seems
    crazy to me. I guess I am getting old ;>( . Then again, 100 years ago,
    the clippers used to do this run as a matter of course. I would love
    to see a listing of the "ordinary" folks who paid for such an
    adventure, and what they do for a living.
    
    john
    

>    the clippers used to do this run as a matter of course. I would love
>    to see a listing of the "ordinary" folks who paid for such an
>    adventure, and what they do for a living.
>    
>    john
>    

	There is a complete listing in last month's Yachting World, or
	was it Yachting Monthly.  They had an entire supplement on
	the race. Interesting reading. I'll try and dig it up.

	Cheers,

	Herby
	

The crew of British Steel II..

Skipper - Richard Tudor, 32 year old sailmaker.

Crew -  Company Director ( Aged 46 )
        Builder ( 29 )
      	Training Consultant ( 45 )
	Trading Standards Officer ( 31 ) 
	Fisherman ( 29 )
	Chartered Surveyor ( 36 )
	Management Consultant ( 52 )
	Company Director ( 48 )
	Company Director ( 43 )
	Electrical Engineer ( 48 )
	Company Director ( 44 )

	The last two places are taken by crew who only do one of the 4 legs.
	These slots are open, on some boats, to employees or representatives
	of the Sponsor.

	The other crews are very similar, though on average, a little younger.
	Other professions represented include Plastic Surgery, Students,
	Teachers, Lorry Drivers, a good scattering of computer people,
	a vet and a Journalist from the Daily Telegraph.

	I have seen the boats close up, and they bear little resemblance to
	Whitbread boats. They are solidly built, with small deep cockpits and
	big strong equipment. The mast is fairly short and thick by racing
	standards. Down below, there are several small cabins, to help keep it 
	dry and warm, but there are no unnecessary comforts at all.

	After 5 days, the boats are very spread out, with 40 miles between the
	front and back boats

	Chris

		

    Without trying to pour cold water on this exercise (:-)) and probably
    with a lot of deep down jealousy..it wasn't just the clippers who used
    to go round the Horn the wrong way.  Cook did it in 1769 in a boat not
    much bigger than these yachts, without radio, satellite navigation,
    packaged food etc. etc. and he went a long way further south than these
    guys are likely to do, and he didn't lose a single man.
    
    Even more amazing are people like Magellan who didn't even know where
    he was going.  OK, so he cheated by going through the straits which by
    pure co-incidence had his name on them, but not a bad effort all the
    same.
    
    And what about the square rigger that tacked into the wind for over a
    month (someone remind me of the details please) before getting around?
    
    Axel - who is getting slightly bored by media hype big bucks sailing
    races and is a long-time Captain Cook fan.
    

re .6:

Attempting to round Cape Horn in a square rigger could be an incredibly 
dangerous and difficult task. One description of a winter rounding 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific is in "The Cape Horn Breed" written by
a man who was at the time an apprentice officer making his first voyage 
(non-stop from Ireland to Valpariso, Chile). This was sometime between
1900 and 1910. Something like a third to half of the crew were either
killed or crippled for life and the hardships were utterly appalling.
This book is a grimly realistic narrative of what life on a square
rigger was really like. Romantic it wasn't. For an equally grim
fictional account read Sterling Hayden's "Voyage". The British Steel
Challenge crews will be on holiday by comparison, though not a holiday
I'd much enjoy. 

    The record for slowest passage around the Cape is more like three
    months.  Read it somewhere in a sailing mag when two people recently
    tried to set a speed record for the passage in a catamaran.
    
    A plot of its course showed it going backwards for much of the time. 
    Navigational difficulties were cited as a major contributor.  A three
    month beat in Cape Horn conditions is beyond comprehension.
    
    - gene  

Square riggers have great difficulty going to weather. In the mid 1700s 
Captain Bligh (yes, he of mutiny on the Bounty) was sent from England to 
Tahiti via Cape Horn. After attempting to round the Horn for two or 
three months, he gave up and sailed to Tahiti via the Cape of Good Hope.

In the voyage described in "The Cape Horn Breed" the ship was blown to
leeward almost into the Antarctic ice pack. (Prior to reaching the Horn
they had to extinguish a fire in their cargo of coal. The coal was
shoveled on to the deck by hand until the fire was found deep inside the
cargo. A squall or storm with the coal on deck would likely have
capsized them. Later they unstepped the steel foremast themselves 
without the aid of a dockyard to repair a crack. Had to save every 
possible penny for the owners, you know.)

Being lost in the ice apparently was a not uncommon fate. Collision,
dismasting, and capsize (from shifting cargo and/or huge waves) were
other frequent disasters. 

    ... and a figure from a book on the Cape (was it "They Fought the Cape"
    or something like that) I found frightening, in one particular year
    some 6% of all British mariners were killed ((!!)) in the effort. 
    
    Imagine 6% of all workers in your Digital plant dying while doing their
    job.  Labor saving/life saving devices were not encouraged - expensive, 
    don't you know.  Cheaper to get another bloke...

    That means any individual sailor who rounded the Horn had a 94 % chance
    of making it ok.  Not bad odds when you consider the times and WHERE
    you would be sailing.
    
    Jeff

    At the Horn are you close enough to the South Pole to make
    magnetic compasses unreliable?

Joshua Slocum, who made the first single-handed round the world trip did it
'the wrong way' ( I think )

His hugely enjoyable book about the trip, called 'Sailing alone around the world'
or something like that, is a real classic.

Chris.

    Was he the one that fell asleep with exhaustion and woke up drifting
    around the Milky Way on the West side of the cape?  I read an excerpt
    I think that details that part of the experience.  Miraculously there
    was no grounding and smashing of the hull.  A little too exciting for me 
    thank you.
    
    Brian
    

    Joshua Solcomb did take 3 months to get around. HIs book descibes
    repeatedly being blown back when he was in sight of being thru.
    
    Charlie Porter spent 3 YEARS paddling a Kleper kayak around the horn.
    But he stopped to do things like climb Horn Mountain. Then he came back
    up here (Pepperel MA) built a 28' rowboat and organized a rowing junket
    ACROSS the Antartic ocean, Cape Horn to Antartica. My friend Henry
    Szostek built the rowing rigs for the boat, and talked to some of the 4
    rowers. It does make you wonder why some people do these crazy thing!

The fleet are now 2,000 miles into the 5,500 mile leg to Rio. 

The leaders ( Interspray ) are 120 miles ahead of the last boat ( Rhone Poulenc )
but the fleet are spread out across 320 miles sideways. British Steel II is 2nd
and Coopers and Lybrand 3rd.

Chris

Copied without permission from Southern Evening Echo (Southampton England)
Friday 9 October 1992


"Turtles and whales ahoy"

"Southanpton skipper Ian MacGillivray on board the British Steel Challenge yacht
Pride of Teeside has reported seeing a wealth of wildlife as the fleet crosses 
the Atlantic.

"Last night the Pride of Teeside crew, who lost their promising first lead a few
days ago, and are now in ninth place out of ten yachts, saw turtles swimming
nearby.

"And as the Ocean Vigil Wildlife programme gathers momentum, crew members on 
the fourth place boat Group 4 have logged a school of sperm whales.

"With 3,136 miles voyage to Rio de Janeiro on leg one. British Steel II has 
edged back into the lead. The yachts are expected to arrive in Rio at the end
of October.

"Interspray, the yacht sponsered by Southampton firm International Paints was
today lying in second place.

"The crew reported enjoying a fantastic sail overnight, after light winds made 
for a frustrating day."


				end of report		

The first yacht, British Steel II has just arrived in Rio. They were a few hours
ahead of Interspray and Heath Assured. The pack are still about 400 miles away,
with the last boat, Commercial Union, on its own 1000 miles back.

There were no serious incidents on any of the boats, although one of the British
Steel crew lost the end of his thumb.

The boats are restricted to only set of sails for the whole race, and, for some
reason, they are not carrying sewing machines. One of the yachts tore their kite
from top to bottom and had to hand stitch the whole thing, which took them 
several days.

More news as the others arrive,

Chris

    Yesterday saw the 4th,5th and 6th boats finish, all within 80 seconds!!
    
    One-design racing at its best.
    
    The next leg, to Hobart, Tasmania, via Cape Horn starts on Nov 15th
    
    Chris
    

Copmmercial Union Assurance,the last of the yachts crept into Rio last night,
 9 days behind the leaders and 6 days behind the 9th place boat.

The crew have been unhappy about their skipper since before the start and the day
before they arrived in Rio, they sent a telex to the race organisers, whilst the
skipper was asleep, asking them to replace him before the next leg.

Will Sutherland, the skipper, resigned after the boat crossed the finishing line
and slipped away in a dinghy before they docked. He has been replaced by John
Merryweather, a 27 year old with 60,000 miles of experience behind him.

Some cruel person pointed out that Commercial Unions advertising slogan
'We are behind you all the way' seems particularly appropriate now.

Chris

Leg 2 started from Rio to Hobart this weekend. 

Another Skipper, from Rhone Poulenc has left the race citing 'personal reasons',
although there was no hint of mutiny as on Commercial Union. He has been replaced
by the highly experienced multi-hull racer Peter Phillips. Only one crew member 
in the fleet decided that he couldn't continue, because of persistant sea
sickness on the first leg.

Hofbrau Lager has a journalist from the Daily Telegraph on board for this leg,
and he will be radioing through daily reports from the Southern Ocean.

Rather them than me

Chris

The boats are now half way to Hobart, and Nuclear Electric are still leading,
although their lead, which was once nearly 200 miles, is now down to about 40.
Commercial Union, with their new skipper, has found some form and is lying second.

All yachts have to pass North of an arbitary point in the Southern ocean, to
keep them away from the Icebergs, and most of them have now done this.

The Southern ocean seems to have been fairly tame, plenty of strong winds but
nothing really serious yet. In spite of this, four of the boats have broken
the bottle screws which hold up their forestays, but none of them lost their 
masts. The screws seem to have suffered more fatigue than expected, and one 
possible explanation is that the hulls do not flex as much as glass-fibre ones,
passing all the shocks onto the rig. The entire fleet will be upgraded in Hobart.

Chris

In a complete turnaround, the winners of leg 1 - British Steel II - have just lost
their rig after a rigging screw failure. This is 6th failure of the screws, but
the first lost mast. They will now try and set a Jury rig, and aim for New
Zealand. 

The other part of the turnaround is that Commercial Union, who came last in the
first leg by quite a long way, is now leading the race, after taking a different
route to the previous leader, Nuclear Electric.

The Southern Ocean is now living up to expectations with 60-70 knot headwinds
and big seas.

Chris

The first three boats have completed the second leg of the British Steel
challenge, by arriving in Hobart. Nuclear Electric, skippered by John
Chittenden, the only skipper with Southern Ocean experience, was first,
followed by Commercial Union, who had a disasterous first leg, and
Hofbrau Lager, who limped in with a serious crack round the mast at deck level.

All the boats will have their rigs removed, inspected and the forestay bottlescrews
will be upgraded before the start of the next leg.

British Steel II, who lost their mast about as far from land as possible, have
arrived in Wellington, NZ to refuel and restock, before motoring to Hobart
where a new rig is awaiting them. They stopped of in Chatham Island to refuel
earlier, and were lent an old mast to build a very short jury rig.

There is a debate whether to send the boats round Amsterdam Island ( about
38�South ) as opposed to Kergulen Island ( about 46�South ) on the next leg
to Cape Town, to keep the boats away from the worst of the weather and cold.

Chris

The 10 yachts have now set off from Hobart for Cape Town, after several weeks
of rest and repairs.

Following the rig problems on the second leg, the organisers proposed a 
change to the course to take them further north, out of the really strong
winds of the 40's and 50's, but a vote amongst the crew ( who have all paid
�14,500 for the trip ) showed 80% of them in favour of the original course 
( Leave Kergulen Island to port ) and so this is what they will do.

The masts ( two of which were seriously cracked and a third was lost ) have
all been thoroughly examined and overhauled and the forestays and their
bottlescrews all replaced. Apparantly the designers originally specified 19mm
and appropriately sized screws, but they then downgraded it to 17mm. The riggers
also downgraded the bottlescrews ( standard practice apparantly ) and they didn't
stand up to the strain.

Chris

    All yachts have now arrived in Cape Town, after a leg free of major
    incident, but full of violent storms which tested the crew and boats
    severely. The leg was won by Group 4, with Hofbrau Lager in 2nd and 
    Nuclear Electric, still the race leader, in 3rd.
    
    These three are expected to be the main contendors for first place 
    when they set off for Southampton next month.
    
    Chris
    

The final leg from Cape Town to Southampton has been marred by the loss of one
of the crew members who fell off the stern of 'Heath Insured' whilst she was 
running downwind at 8 knots, off the African coast. The crewman, a 50 year
old carpenter, was not found, inspite of an 18 hour search. The yacht has
now rejoined the race.

The full story has not been told, but in the southern ocean, all crew wore
life jackets, safety harnesses and personal radio beacons. It is assumed that
in the warm sunny conditions they are now experiencing, such precautions had
been abandoned.

The boats are now entering the doldrums, with three yachts still in with a
chance of overall honours, and everybody wanting to be first one home up
Southampton Water.

Plans for the next race are alrady well advanced, with 20 Humphries desinged
80 footers planned. The race sponsor has also been found, but not announced,
as have 12 of the boat sponsors. The route ( even which direction ) has not been
announced.

Chris

The first boats to finish arrived in Southampton on Sunday Morning. "Group 4"
managed to arrive first and had to wait to see if they had made up enough
ground on "Nuclear Electric" to win overall. However, the latter boat crept
in a few hours later to win by 70 minutes ( not very much in a round the
world race ! ). Hofbrau Lager is expected to be third overall.

The crew, all of whom were amateurs, excpet the skippers, have now got to try
and adjust to normal life. Many have no jobs to go back to, and some no homes.
However, I am sure they would not have swapped the experience for anything.

Chris