Conference unifix::sailing

    Jim Bob
    
       The latest issue of Sailing World has a special section on the
    BOC with analysis of all the players, pictures, course legs etc.
    Let me know if you want mine, I'll be done with it by Friday.
    
    
       john

If she has access to Compuserve, the Sailing forum (GO SAILING)
has several updates weekly on the BOC.

Michael
"Latitude"

  John,

  I think she already bought a copy of that one.  Thanks anyway.


  Michael,

  I don't think she has access to compuserve, but I'll check.



   Thanks,


             Jim

    I heard on the radio last night that Mme. Autissier is in trouble 900
    miles S.E. of Australia in extremely high winds and seas.  Two EPIRB
    signals were received and an Aussie SAR plane was dispatched to the
    area.  No contact was made as of last evening according to the news
    report.  
    
    
    Brian

    
    	They have spotted the boat and dropped some more survival gear  to
    her.  The boat has been dismasted again.  The report I saw said she
    appeared to have nothing on board to make a jury rig with.  A
    Australian boat has been dispatched to her location and should arrive
    in 2 days to lend assistance.
    
    
    Forrest

    That's great news.  The report I heard was high winds from the
    NW with a horrible, breaking cross sea of 15m or more.  Not fun by any
    stretch.  
    
    Brian

    For a different view of the rescue of this lady see Warabi::oz Note
    126.  Please be prepared for some irreverence.
    
    Axel

    Rescue controversy
    5 Jan Canberra. 
    
    Criticism of the successful but
    expensive rescue operation of French sailor Isabelle Autissier is
    continuing with calls for an inquiry into the matter and claims that
    cheaper alternatives were ignored. Acting Defence Min Gary Punch warns,
    however, the continuing hoo-ha will damage Australia's int'l
    reputation. Opp'n spokesperson Joycelyn Newman wants to
    know whether there is to be an inquiry and if Australia will
    seek reimbursement from the multi-national company that were the
    race organisers.The rescue of Autissier saw an around-the-clock watch
    kept on her craft by Orions flying from SA to her severely damaged
    yatch drifting in the S Ocean more than 1000 km from Australia.  After
    plans to send a frigate to her rescue were announced she was rescued by
    a Seahawk helicopter. Early estimates of the cost range from 1 to $2 mn.
    
    [This is an extract from an Australian on-line news service.  Orion =
    Anti-submarine reconnaisance aircraft.  SA = South Australia.  The $
    figure is in $AUS, approx $750k to $1m US] 
                     

I read the topic in OZ about the rescue effort.  What I have missed is a general
encapsulation of what has happened.  The OZ notes center on the expense of
dealing with an (almost a quote) 'spoiled rich xxxxx, in a rich man's toy'.  I
like reading OZ for their Austrailian centric view of the world (ours tend to
be US centric).  Some time you should ask them what they REALLY think.

Anyway, just what were the chain of events with Isabelle Autissier.  My
understanding is that she lead by some incredible margin after the first leg,
then things happened.

Doug Claflin
dtn 592-4787

	All I really know is that she was dismasted twice. She was 5 days 
ahead of the second place boat (Steve Petingil (something like that) on 
Hunter's Child) at the end of the first leg. 5 or 6 days into the second 
leg she was dismasted in a 40knot gale. Apparently she fashioned a jury 
rig and continued on to try to finish the second leg. Evidently the jury rig
was also knocked over and she was left with nothing to make a rig again. 

	I don't know what else happened to make it so bad. I do know that 
at least one of the go fast gadgets on her boat was a canting keel which could
be shifted from side to side enhancing that could also be done with water 
ballast. I think she also had an articulating bow pole. It sounds like a boat 
that could do a lot to generate power. I'll bet she was going pretty fast. 

	Geoff

The first dismating happened because of a shrowd fixture which gave way about
1275 miles south east of cape Good Hope. She managed to put up a jury rig with
a spinnaker pole ... and still managed to peak at 10 knts ... but still took
6 days to make it to the Kerguelen Islands (approx. a 1000 miles from where 
she dismasted).

Immediately after the dismasting her land crew found a mast on the Reunion
Islands (1200 miles north of Kerguelen) and ship carried it to the Kerguelen.
- No airports on the Kerguelen.

The new mast was of course just a temporary solution and wasn't really made
for her boat. Why it went over is not clear. The problem with the second dis-
masting was that it was compounded by rudder damage and a fairly substantial
leak. That's primarily why she asked for help. Also she may have left the 20 ft.
pole at the Kerguelen, since the new mast was probably not adequate to carry a
spinnaker.

    This is going to have effects you may not think about at first but....
    
    I just got back from New Zealand where all the trade magazines
    (regular newspapers too) are going crazy about a new rule to take effect in
    Feburary whereby any boats (commercial or personnel) will not be able
    to clear port without meeting a specific set of safety criterica. The
    reason given is the huge expense in Search and Rescue for boats or
    skippers that are either not up to the challange. Examples of the race
    to Tahiti this summer were used. The organization of races by a group
    has brought out people who believe there is greater saftely in numbers,
    and therefore more prone to embark on long passages that they would not
    do on their own.
    
    The problems being discussed are:
    
    1. The actual regulations are not published, but are due to be enforced 
       in a couple of weeks.
    
    2. Does a Country have the right to hold a ship with a foreign 
       registration against it's will? (think about the QE II fiasco a couple
       of weeks ago)?
    
    3. What are the implications on the N.Z. shipbuilding industry where
       many people have been stopping for repairs and to wait out the storm
       season. Current estimates are approximately 600 such ships there.
    
    4. Who will be responsible for administering the program. What can NZ
       do if the ship just plain leaves?
    
    5. How long before other countries do the same?
    
    If one is not a sailor, a lot of these rescues are hard to swallow
    knowing it is your money paying for them. 
    
    
        john
    

    Certainly it will mean that a lot of cruising sailors will give
    Kiwiland a wide berth...

I just read an article in the SMITHSONIAN magazine, (Feb 95?).  I found it to be
a nice general article about the BOC and Steve Pettigal (sic) in particular.  
There are some nice, though not dramatic pictures.

In general the SMITHSONIAN writes to the same audience as the NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC, but at a slightly more sophisticated level.

Doug Claflin
dtn 592-47877

    Friday night was the awards banquet for us beer can racers at Jubilee YC.
    
    Entertainment was a 1.5 hour presentation on the BOC by the skipper of
    Thursday's child. His name escapes me, but he was from New Hampshire. 
    Some of the things that spooked me included:
    
    1.  The french were budgeting 2-3 million US$ a boat. He was
    at $300,00 and was still scraping money together days before the race.
    Because of this, there were delays in getting the boat ready. So his
    trip to the azores and back prior to the race (an offical shakedown had to
    be done) gave him only days to refit the boat before the race. This
    meant he could not even pull the hull to check the bottom. 
    
    2. Presure to stay in the race is incredible because of sponsers.
    Leaving South Africa, gear started blowing up, but he didn't want to 
    risk going back to fix it. This magnified itself in the roaring 40s.
    These guys are getting pushed big time to compete.
    
    3. When Issablle Austissier's mast broke, she headed for islands
    controled by the french gov. The mast was flown from France to the
    closest airport via the french airforce. Our boy broke his rudder.
    The replacement showed up in Syndey quickly. Too bad it was for
    a different boat . 
    
    4. when he asked Hunter Marine for the polars on the boat (builders and
    original owners), they refused! He and a friend wrote a software
    program that he believes were very close.
    
    5. I had a chance to ask him for his thoughts on whether he believed
    governments should come to the aid of a person doing a high risk sports
    like singlehanding around the world. His reply was that he saw no
    difference between himself and fishermen, and they should come look for
    the racers.
    
    6. They all had small handicams onboard. There is one snipet of a racer
    totally losing it. His langauge would embaress 9 out of 10 old salts.
    This tirade went on for 4 minutes. One better have a low key
    personality if they wish to try this race.
    
    7. He said he would only do the race again if he was financed properly.
    (I noticed thursday child is for sale for $180,000 if anyone is
    interested ;>)  ).
    
    

Nice summation John, it was Arnie (Arnold) Taylor.

Yes, Arnie said he would really like to do it again, but only for a 
'properly' funded syndicate. AND that some one else would do the fund raising 
so that he could concentrate on the boat.

I think he did remarkably well considering that his boat was several 
generations old and deffinitely slower.

John, you should consider inviting Arnie with his videos to the 
mid_winter special!