AROUND ALONE W
hen the sixth Around Alone Race gets underway from New York Har¬ bor on September 15, its most remark¬ able aspects from a local point of view are that two of the three Americans in the 14-boat fleet are Californians, and two of the boats were drawn by Bay Area designers and built on the West Coast. This marks the largest West Coast and the largest U.S. representation in this event's five runnings and 20-year history. By now, most oftyou are probably fa¬ miliar with at least one of those sailors, Alameda's Bruce Schwab. In numerous Latitude articles and updates in the last two years, we've detailed the design of his Open 60 Ocean Planet by Tom Wylie, its cold-molded construction at Steve Rander's Schooner Creek Boatworks in Oregon, its local shakedowns, and its eventual passage back to the East Coast. The former head rigger at Svendsen's Ma¬ rine and his Made In America syndicate have gotten as far as they have solely through grassroots donations, a real testiment to Bruce — and to the Bay Area's interest in fielding a world-class singlehanded campaign. The other West Coast skipper is Ma¬ rina del Rey's Brad Van Liew. Three years ago, Van Liew emerged from sailing ob¬ scurity to take third in Class II (50footers) in the last Around Alone — and gain the respect of many competitors who nicknamed him 'Cowboy'. This time he's back with a newer 50-footer, a strong team, and title sponsor Tommy Hilfiger. The other Bay Area connection is also sailing in the 50-ft Class II Division. That's Tim Kent's Everest Horizontal, a Jim Antrim design that started life in 1999 as the Alameda-based Conver¬ gence. She was built locally, too, right up the road at Jim Betts' shop in Truckee. Kent, the third American in Around Alone, is a Great Lakes sailor based in Milwaukee. The remaining 11 sailors represent 9 different countries. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of that is the dearth of French involvement — and new boats. Only 6 of the 14 entries were launched since 2000, and three of those are 40footers.
T
X. hose who follow the world’s globe¬
girdling races know Around Alone used to be the BOC Challenge, named for the British supplier of medical gases that sponsored the first four races in '82-83, '86-87, '90-91 and '94-95. When BOC dropped that sponsorship in '95, the race became Around Alone and ran under the auspices of Great Adventures, Ltd. in '98Page 172 • LtitwU 12 • September, 2002
Californians Brad Van Liew (left) and Bruce Schwab will represent the West Coast in the upcoming Around Alone Race. 99, For this current running, the race was acquired by Clipper Ventures (the folks that put on the pay-as-you-go Clip¬ per crewed round the world race), and is being run by British sailing legend Sir Robin Knox-Johns ton, who, coinciden¬ tally, also chaired the first race in '8283. Sir Robin had earlier achieved world¬ wide fame by winning the Sunday Times Golden Globe trophy in 1968, the non¬ stop round-the-world race which became the basis for both Around Alone and the world's other major singlehanded roundthe-world race, the Vendee Globe. The difference between Around Alone and the Vendee is that Around Alone is sailed in legs (five this time), while the Vendee is nonstop. Knox-Johnston an¬ swers the often-asked question of which is tougher this way: "It depends on the outside influences and this means the competition. In a race where the boats have to make stops, they tend to sail harder as they know they can make repairs in the stopover. A boat going nonstop must pace itself, as any
breakage that requires re¬ pairs in port means with¬ drawal from the race." In practical terms, both races cover the same basic route through the At¬ lantic and Southern Ocean, both are massive tests of stamina and seamanship, and both traditionally experience staggering attrition (only 9 of 15 boats finished the last Around Alone; only 15 of 24 finished the last Vendee) — up to and including loss of boats and lives. The BOC/Around Alone has claimed two competitors — Jacques de Roux fell off his boat in the '86-87 race, and Harry Mitchell and his boat were lost without a trace in the '9495 race.
The first three BOC/Around Alones started and ended in Newport, Rhode Is¬ land. The '94-95 and '98-99 races were based in Charleston. Clipper Ventures moved the start back to Newport for the upcoming race, then September 11 hap¬ pened. Around. Alone has now become part of a week of 9/11 commemoration in New York. So the Around Alone boats will compete in a crewed, non-counting, 160-nm feeder race that starts in New¬ port on September 12 and arrives the next day in New York. The Around Alone boats will then take part in the 'Sail For America' weekend, and then have theftofficial start on a line between Ground
AROUND ALONE 2002-V3 ENTRIES Skipper
Age Country
Boat
Uamched
Designer
) tti T-' ■
Tiscali
N. Zealand :e
Hexagon
Thierry Dubois 35 Patrick de Radigues Ga : Grt. Biitain Pindar :: Ocean Planet Bernard Stamm Switzerland Armor Lux CLASS II (40-50 feet) John Dennis 57 Canada 38 -V. ■ da* Tim Kent 50 USA Bermuda Kojiro Shiraishi 34 Japan Spirit of Yukoh* Brad Van Uew 33 USA Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America * 40-ft boat. All others in Class il are 50 feet.
1998 2002 1994 1996 1998 2000 2000
1994 1994 2001 1999 2001 2001 1997
Owen Clarke Joubert/Nivelt Group Finot Pierre Roland
Peter Ebbutt Lyons/Martin Jim Antrim Group Finot Group Finot
