brian A JOURNAL ABOUT BRIAN HANCOCK
brian Brian is the official magazine of Brian Hancock and is published by Great Circle Publishing Company. COVER PHOTO Billy Black PHOTO CREDITS Billy Black, Boris Herrmann, Don Bayley, Merijn van der Vliet, Andrew Green, On-Edition, Erlend Kvalsvik, Brian Hancock, Duncan Babbage, S. Greg Panosian, Adriano Costa EDITED BY Brian Hancock EDITOR Brian Hancock COPYRIGHT Great Circle Publishing Company September 2010
FOREWORD A Message from Brian Hancock We live in an age where marketing and promotion are keystones of any organisation and those that do it better, with more innovation, are the ones that thrive and prosper. I was thinking about this as I went about updating my website. The world has changed dramatically since the Internet came along, some of it for better and for sure, some of it for worse. I personally love the Internet. New media sites like Facebook and YouTube have revolutionised the way we communicate. It was not so long ago that one had to sit with pen and paper to write a note. You then had to dig through a drawer to find an envelope and stamp and then make a trip to the post office to send the letter through the mail. These days it’s all done with the click of a mouse and tens of thousands of people can be reached.
Brian Hancock 33 Waterside Road Marblehead, MA 01945 +1 617 314 4468 brian@brianhancock.org
So in the spirit of being innovative I though that an online magazine, this magazine, would be a more interesting way of reaching a broad audience than a website. The website that this magazine, or eZine as some like to call these online magazines, provides this incredible service all for free. I created the magazine, exported it as a .pdf file and simply, with a click, uploaded it to the website. The site converted it to a magazine. How cool is that and there was no cost to me, not even for hosting it on their server. Compare that with the $20 I was paying for my website to be hosted. I hope that you will take a bit of time to read through this slightly self-indulgent journal. At the very least enjoy the photographs and quotes. Better yet, if you need a speaker or someone to write for you, give me a call or drop me an email - it’s free, and easy.
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CONTENTS FOREWORD - Pg 2
SAILMAKING - Pg 14
ABOUT BRIAN - Pg 6
WRITING - Pg 16
SAILING - Pg 10
HEADY TIMES - Pg 20
SPEAKING - Pg 12
FLIERS - Pg 26 - 29
“The cure for everything is salt water - sweat, tears and the sea.” Isak Dinesen
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A Journal about Brian Hancock
I learned what every dreaming child needs to know. That no horizon is so far that you can’t get above it or beyond it.� Beryl Markham
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A Journal about Brian Hancock
About Brian “I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.� Robert Louis Stevenson
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grew up at the bottom of Africa in a small town with a big name.” This is the line that starts my book, The Risk in Being Alive (Nomad Press 2002). I actually grew up in Pietermaritzburg which was then a fairly small town nestled in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains about 50 miles inland from Durban on South Africa’s east coast. The town has grown into a thriving, bustling, multicultural metropolis and no longer resembles the place where I spent my childhood.
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n 1978 I left South Africa to sail across the South Atlantic to Uruguay. I had just completed a mandatory stint in the army and had a dream to sail around the world. My first circumnavigation was in 1981 in the Whitbread Round the World Race. I raced another Whitbread in 1985 and sailed part of a third in 1989.
All three experiences were different and they gave me a love for the sea and for adventure. The writer Isak Dineson wrote; “The cure for everything is salt water sweat tears and the sea.” I believed her.
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Waterside Road - in the Fall
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A Journal about Brian Hancock
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fter more than 200,000 miles offshore I began to find that sailing had lost it’s thrill. It was time for new challenges. I tried life ashore but the daily traffic and jams were no match for the freedom of the open ocean. I wanted a big challenge and entered the Around Alone, a sin-
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gle-handed race around the world. Unfortunately my efforts came to an abrupt end on the reef that surrounds Bermuda, the entire saga now indelibly recounted in my book and not worth repeating here. The only good thing to come out of it was that it forced me to change careers.
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self-published my first book, "Spindrift" which gave me the confidence to write more. I found that writing gave me the same enjoyment and freedom as I had experienced on the open ocean and knew that my career had made a subtle, yet distinct shift. Hundreds of articles and six books later I am slowly finding my stride.
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urrounded by so much beauty a move into graphic arts was an obvious one. I am self taught, but capable, and have written and produced a number of sponsorship proposals, websites and magazines including this one. It’s a growing passion and one that combines my writing skills with a love of beautiful imagery.
The same applies to my years spent as a public speaker. In the past two decades I have spoken to hundreds of groups around the world from small yacht clubs across North America, to a large outdoor crowd of 3,500 people in New Zealand. Telling stories and illustrating them with stunning images is my way of sharing the joy and fulfillment I have
experienced as an adult.
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inally, and I know it's a clichĂŠ, being a parent is the toughest and most rewarding job in the world. My children continue to bring wonder to my life and I am eternally grateful to them because having wonder really is one of the true gifts of life.
Waterside Road - in Winter
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A Journal about Brian Hancock
Sailing “In time, and with water, everything changes.” Leonardo da Vinci
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ailing, in the beginning, was just a way to see the world and to avoid the realities of a real job. At least that was how it all started, but it soon turned into a passion that fortunately turned into a career. In the early ‘80s professional sailing was just starting and I was lucky enough to be on the cutting edge of a movement that made millionaires out of some people and household names out of others. I am neither, but I have seen more open ocean and experienced more of the highs and lows associated with life at sea than most. It has been immensely rewarding. Sailing has given me a basis by which I can measure everything in my life. I know what it’s like to be cold and scared. I know how it is to be surrounded by immense beauty. I have enjoyed the camaraderie that comes with accomplishment and I have experienced the serenity of a few weeks alone at sea. I can’t think of any other way to live a life or make a living.
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eading a sailing resume is a bit like licking dry toast so I will spare you, but my sailing highlights include participating in three Whitbread Round the World Races. In 1981 I raced as a Watch Captain on the American yacht Alaska Eagle. In 1985 I raced with Simon Le Bon (he of Duran Duran fame) and his crew on Drum and in 1989 I sailed with the first, and by happenstance, last Soviet Whitbread entry, Fazisi. Between Whitbread’s I deliv-
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ered boats, raced on others, and saw the world. When I had had enough I retreated to my house in Marblehead, Massachusetts, but never for long. The pull of the open ocean is too strong.
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n 1998 I bought a boat with the intention of sailing solo around the world in the Around Alone, a single-handed circumnavigation race. It was a highly strung 50-foot carbon fiber custom designed racing machine. It was also a money gobbler and the only way I was going to get around the world was to find a sponsor, something that proved to be more difficult than I had anticipated. Fate intervened, and at the end of a solo Atlantic crossing I collided with the reef off Bermuda, damaging the boat and effectively scuttling any prospect of entering the race. I retreated to Newfoundland (on another boat) to ponder the future and decided it was time for a life-change. Newfoundland was also where I wrote my first book SPINDRIFT.
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am still involved in sailing and cofounded the Portimão Global Ocean Race, the world's first ever solo-double global ocean race. Sponsored by the Portuguese city of Portimão the race is destined to become the preeminent global ocean race. Meanwhile I rekindle the joy I have for sailing on a daily basis by mucking about in small boats with my children.
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GREAT CIRCLE
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A Journal about Brian Hancock
Speaking “Listen attentively, and above all remember that true tales are meant to be transmitted; to keep them to oneself is to betray them.� Baal-Schem-Tov
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am a story teller at heart. Sometimes that fact is blurred by titles such as ‘professional sailor’ or ‘author’, but deep down all I really want is to live a full, fun life and share it with others. My books and articles are one way of doing that, but a more immediate way of reaching people is through public speaking. Over the last two decades I have given close to a thousand presentations
ranging from small intimate book readings, to corporate motivational presentations. Each show is a unique opportunity to connect and inspire and I know for a fact that dozens of people have made life changing decisions after listening to my stories. I still get the occasional postcard from a far off port thanking me for jump-starting a new life.
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iving slide shows and after dinner talks was originally a way to supplement my income when I first started sailing, but they have grown to become a very
real part of my lifestyle. I started out with a borrowed box projector that was bought at Sears in 1962 and slowly built my show to include music and videos. The whole thing can be run from my laptop and often is, but I still like giving the old slideshows, albeit on a newer projector.
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y talks can be modified to suit the audience or occasion. The after dinner slide and music presentations are popular, as are my seminars. I have given a number of keynote addresses to business groups and have a brand new multimedia slide and video presentation aimed at motivating and inspiring people.
Note: See the end of this magazine for fliers aboout my current presentations.
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Sailmaking “Racing sailboats is like standing in a cold shower ripping up $100 bills.� Anonoymous
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n the late 70s, shortly after finishing a stint in the South African army, I got a job working at Elvstrom Sails in Durban, South Africa. Back then sails were lofted by hand on a large wooden floor. It was more art than science and I fell in love with the craft and the atmosphere at the sail loft. It was hardly like working, as much of my time was spent sailing, testing new designs and doing sail trials with cus-
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tomers. I realized then that work and life are one and the same. After my first Whitbread Round the World Race I was hired to work at Hood Sails in Marblehead, Mass in their big boat division but what I really wanted to do was spend more time out on the water and after two years I left Hood to do another circumnavigation. It was only in 1994 that I got back into sailmaking full time joining Doyle Sailing in Marblehead, but the industry had changed. It was no longer a romantic fanciful life; it was sales, sales, sales and I was not the world's best salesman.
I do, however, still sell the occasional sail inventory built by my good friends at the Quantum sail loft in Cape Town South Africa. They make a beautiful product at a very reasonable price. If you would like me to work with you on your project, be it a circumnavigation or an around the buoys project, please feel free to contact me.
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f you want to learn more about sails and sailmaking you can browse and download chapters of my book, Maximum Sail Power (Nomad Press 2004). Hailed by some of the greats in sailing like Tom Whidden of North Sails and solo circumnavigator Sir Robin Knox Johnston as the definitive book on the subject of sails, the book is sadly out of print.
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Writing “When I write it truly does feel as if I hold the world in my hands.� Brian Hancock
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The first article I wrote was in 1980 for a South African sailing magazine. I had an ancient typewriter which I placed on an upturned bucket while sitting on the deck of a small yacht sailing between the Cape Verde Islands and Gibraltar. The ribbon was so old that many of the words were illegibly, but I remember the thrill I felt as I typed away looking out over the expanse of undulating ocean and wishing I was good
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enough to make a living out of writing stories. Since that day more than two decades ago I have written over a 1000 stories and carved a niche for myself as a sailing and adventure writer. With modern technology I can still write while I am at sea, but now I can type the piece on a laptop, take an image with my digital camera and upload them both via satellite directly to and editor for instant publication. The changes in technology allow me to write from any-
where in the world and it’s a freedom and lifestyle that I cherish more than just about anything.
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fter colliding with the reef off Bermuda at the end of a solo transatlantic passage I knew that my days as a professional sailor were numbered. Over the years I had written a number of stories about my travel and adventures. They were done for my daughter so that she had
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some record of what her Dad got up to when he was away from home. After fixing the boat in Bermuda I retreated to Newfoundland (on another boat) to lick my wounds and to pull my collection of stories into a book. It was meant to be a cathartic experience. I later published the book entitled "Spindrift, True Tales from Scattered Parts of the Planet" which did moderately well. More importantly it gave me the confidence to pursue a full time career as a writer.
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pindrift was picked up by Nomad Press and turned into The Risk in Being Alive. Old stories were revamped and new stories were added. Nomad than took on a project I had long wanted to write; a comprehensive book about sails and sail technology. Maximum Sail Power was published in 2003 and also went on to moderate success. The book that has done the best was one I ghost wrote for Nick Moloney, a good friend who sailed around the world non-stop to set a new circumnavigation record. Chasing the Dawn was released in Europe only. A manuscript for a book I wrote for Canadian sailor Derek Hatfield recounting his solo circumnavigation sits with a publisher in Canada while my latest book, a stunning coffee table book done for UK based BG Group about their successful sponsorship of the winning boat in the 2004/5 Global Challenge was released with great reviews. In the Fall of 2010 my newest book, Grabbing the World, will be released. It’s a personal memoir about my experiences founding a new global yacht race, the Portimão Global Ocean Race. the sub-title is A Memoir of Inspiration, Perspiration and Betrayal. Read the book and you will discover the darker side of human nature.
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riting books and articles is rewarding, but perhaps the most enjoyment comes from covering sailing events. In recent years I have been the “voice” for two extraordinary events, the Around Alone single handed around the world race, and the Oryx Quest, a non-stop race around the world out of the Middle East. The latest communications technology allows me to bring these events, which for years took place in obscurity, to a loyal following of armchair adventurers around the world. I love these events and it’s good to see them now being followed by a mass audience.
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“I would rather be ashes than dust. I would rather that my spark should be burned out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled out by dry rot... the purpose of man is to live, not exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.� Jack London
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Heady times Reprint of article written for Prestige Magazine.
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hese are heady times for armchair sailors. On October 11 the Volvo Ocean Race got underway from Alicante, Spain. A day later the inaugural Portimão Global Ocean Race set sail from Portugal and on November 9 the big one, the Vendée Globe started from Les Sable d’ Olonne, France. Three different around-the-world races, each with their own character, their own place in the global sail-
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ing scene, all of them bound to bring drama, excitement and pure inspiration to sailors around the world. As co-founder of the Portimão Global Ocean Race and a veteran of three Whitbread Round the World campaigns (the Whitbread now being the Volvo Ocean Race) I feel that I have some perspective. It’s only my perspective and I know there are other infinitely more qualified voices out there, but this is my point of view, for better or worse.
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hings could not be better for offshore ocean racing and by extension, the broader sailing community. Eight full blown, cutting edge, VOR 70’s are hurtling around the planet dragging corporate sponsors to exotic destination with PR machines in tow. Mainstream celebrities want to be seen with the sailors, and vice-versa. Offshore sailing has arrived squarely on our radars as a dynamic, media driven, cash guzzling public relations bonanza and it’s about time. The teams, their sponsors and the race is a phenomenon and if you have not witnessed up close the power and
A Journal about Brian Hancock
excitement of a Volvo 70 at full cry, I suggest you try and make one of the inshore races. Actually it looks quite good in HD on a big plasma screen but you need the spray and sound to bring it to life say nothing of a bit of blood and guts when it all goes wrong.
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or the Volvo Ocean Race sailors life on board is brutal; there is no other way to describe it. Day to day existence revolves around squeezing the most speed from the boat, 24/7. I read that on board Team Russia they carry only a single spoon per person with three spares. It’s an effort to save weight but less than two weeks into Leg 1 they had already lost four spoons.
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I wondered how that dynamic played out on board and if it was still considered a good idea. In my day we had wine with dinner, every night, and a cabin to sleep in. Granted the equipment was not up to the task and half-inch wire sheets used to snap with alarming regularity, but that was all part of the adventure. Same too with the suicide of the Russian skipper in ’89. I was his Watch Captain! I took up solo sailing shortly after that.
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have only admiration and respect for the Volvo Ocean Race, the sailors and the corporate circus that accompanies the race over a period of nine months. By contrast the Vendée
Globe might as well be a different sport. France turns out in full force for these modern day argonauts. When their race started from Les Sable d’ Olonne there were traffic jams 20 miles out of the city as people poured into the tiny seaside town for the start. Race officials estimate that more than 800,000 people visited the race village in the weeks leading to the start of the race. When the first boats arrive back next February hundreds of thousands of “ordinary” men and women (and their dogs) will be there to welcome each and every sailor back home to France. Those who are not French will be made honorary citizens for their arrival as the Vendée is a uniquely French event. For
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those of us who love sailing and wonder why the rest of the world does not see things our way, go to France for the finish - your heart will be warmed.
boats too complicated to sail and you start running out of sailors to compete in your event. You can’t have a great event without great competitors.
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he Vendée, like the Volvo Ocean Race are both at the pinnacle of their success. The Vendée had 30 boats on the start line, half of which are serious contenders for winning. The fleet included two past winners as well as a number of other veterans who have sailed that gruelling race more than three times. Unfortunately for the Vendée this is the swan-song for many of the competitors. Add to that the campaigns are becoming prohibitively expensive and the
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t’s this reality that convinced myself to step into the breech and create a new around-theworld race, one that is affordable for sailors while still meeting their aspirations and goals. The Portimão Global Ocean Race will become a serious player on the world sailing scene precisely because it fills a need that seems to be getting bigger. We are lucky to have this race sponsored at a time when the economy is in a free fall, and we are thrilled to have the Portuguese city of Portimão as the
home for the event. The main objective now is to get our 10 sailors back safely to Portimão next year and use their collective experience to build upon. So far, so good. The first leg provided some close racing and better yet, it provided some great television with shows broadcast in Portugal, Chile and Germany. The sailors are enjoying the experience and loving the ports that they have visited so far. From our perspective in Cape Town with one leg down we can look back and be proud. Wellington, Ilhabela and Charleston are still there to be discovered. So while the Portimão Global Ocean Race is not the Volvo or Vendée, it is slowly creating it’s own identity and own following.
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“Mother, mother ocean, I have heard your call. I’ve wanted to sail upon your waters since I was three feet tall You’ve seen it all, you’ve seen it all.” Jimmy Buffett
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A Journal about Brian Hancock
A rguably one of the most
experienced sailors in the world, Brian Hancock has logged ove r a q u a r t e r m i l l i o n o f f s h o r e m i l e s ra c i n g b o t h f u l l y c r e w e d , a s w e l l a s s o l o.
He has competed in three Whitbread
Ro u n d t h e Wo r l d ra c e s b u t t h e s e d ay s t u r n s his attention to managing and promoting offshore s a i l i n g e ve n t s . H e wa s r e c e n t l y C o m m u n i c a t i o n s D i r e c t o r f o r t h e O r y x Q u e s t , t h e f i r s t n o n - s t o p c i r c u m n av i g a t i o n ra c e for maxi-multihulls to start and finish in the Middle East.
B r i a n i s t h e c o - f o u n d e r o f t h e Po r t i m 達 o G l o b a l O c e a n Ra c e, a n e w
a r o u n d - t h e -w o r l d ra c e t h a t s t a r t e d f r o m Po r t u g a l i n O c t o b e r 2 0 0 8 . T h i s e ve n t , ra c e d e i t h e r s o l o o r d o u b l e - h a n d e d o n 4 0 - f o o t b o a t s , i s a w h o l e new concept in affordable offshore sailing.
B r i a n i s t h e a u t h o r o f s i x b o o k s a n d h a s w r i t t e n f o r e ve r y m a j o r s a i l i n g
publication in North America and Europe. His book, The Risk in Being A l i ve , h a s b e e n a n i n t e r n a t i o n a l s u c c e s s . 33 Waterside Road - Marblehead - MA 01945 brian@brianhancock.org +1 617 314 4468
Brian Hancock has, by his own admission, lived a charmed life. In 1979 he set off to sail across the Atlantic and ended up sailing around the world - three times. In 1981 he raced the gruelling Whitbread Round the World yacht race; 27,000 nautical miles through searing heat, bone-numbing cold, massive waves and a host of unimaginable thrills. It was so compelling that he did it again four years later. And again four years after that on a voyage that was cut short by the sudden suicide of the yacht’s captain. “You need to do something in your life by which you can measure all other experiences,” Hancock is fond of saying. “Unless you know what cold really feels like, you don’t know what it is to be warm. Unless you have been really hungry you don’t know the full pleasure of food. More than a quarter-million miles offshore have given me some yardsticks to measure the full extent of the first fifty years of my life. And prepare me for the next fifty.” In this lively presentation filled with music, images, video and engaging narrative, Brian talks you through recognising the fears that hold us back from living a full life, reaching our full potential and perhaps most important, recovering from setbacks that will inevitably occur. 33 Waterside Road - Marblehead - MA 01945 - 1 617 314 4468 - brian@brianhancock.org
THE RISK IN BEING ALIVE, a new presentation by renown offshore sailor and adventurer, Brian Hancock. Based on his
best-selling book by the same name, this presentation has it all; dramatic sailing
through some of the worst waters on the
planet, close encounters with wild africa and climbing mountains in the Tierra del Fuego, known to early explorers as the “uttermost part of the world.”
Brian’s unique style that combines stunning images, video and music with his dry narration has captivated audiences for almost two decades.
“There is always a risk in being alive, and if you are more alive, there is more r i s k .” Ibsen Brian Hancock 33 Waterside Road Marblehead, MA 01945 +1 617 314 4468 brian@brianhancock.org
www.brianhancock.org Cape Horn in a full gale