The siren call of Cape Horn

A MESSAGE from “Jack,” of whereabouts unknown, says:

“John, will you be featuring Webb Chiles in your blog? As I’m sure you’re aware, he has just arrived in Hilo. Be interested in your slant on it. —Jack.”

Well, Jack, I don’t know what can be said about Webb Chiles that hasn’t been said already.  He likes women. He has been married six times. He likes boats. He has sailed around the world, mostly singlehanded, five times. He writes books and loves music. He is artistic and poetic and, naturally, a wonderful seaman.

So why is he now sailing around the Pacific in an ultra-lightweight, downwind, planing hotrod of a Moore 24 called Gannet? It can’t be to break any records. Several Moore 24s have crossed from mainland USA to Hawaii, as he has just done. A boat half the length of Gannet has already been sailed around the world singlehanded. And, ironically enough, he himself has already sailed around the world in an undecked centerboarder, an 18-foot Drascombe Lugger. He chose the tradewind route, but I have always regarded that as his greatest feat of seamanship, eclipsing even the fact of his being the first American to round Cape Horn solo — in a different boat, at a different time, of course.

Webb has to be slightly nuts, I suppose, because he is now 72 and recently went blind in one eye. He and his Moore 24 are eventually heading for New Zealand, where, he says, he will decide whether to return to the States via the Cape of Good Hope, or via Cape Horn.

Webb is not shy of the publicity that helps sell his books, so perhaps this piece of news is just a teaser. Anyone who has followed his sailing career will be sure that he will choose the Cape Horn route, simply because it offers the greater challenge. He says the choice will depend on how the Moore 24 shapes up on the way to New Zealand, but he never worried about the capabilities of his Drascombe Lugger before he cast off her lines.

I think it would be generally agreed that the Southern Ocean is not the right place for a lightweight, singlehanded flier like the Moore 24, but there can be no doubt that the skipper’s experience and capability form a huge portion of what we call a boat’s seaworthiness.

Webb himself explains this latest whim by saying: “I simply like sailing oceans, settling into the pure rhythms of the monastery of the sea.”

It’s interesting that he should think of the sea as a religious home for monks. He claims not to be religious himself, but many sailors who have undertaken long solo voyages have come to regard the wide open oceans as a strong source of spiritual comfort.  Webb actually reminds me of Bernard Moitessier, the famous French singlehander, who said he was never really happy unless he was at sea in a small boat, preferably alone.

We shan’t know for quite a while whether Webb will tackle Cape Horn, but I hope he uses the time available to think about what would happen if his little boat lost her mast, her keel, or her rudder down there in the Screaming 50s. It wouldn’t be pretty.

Ø You can follow Gannet’s track at http://my.yb.tl/gannet; and learn more at www.inthepresentsea.com

Today’s Thought

Life ought to be a struggle of desire toward adventures whose nobility will fertilize the soul.

— Rebecca West

Tailpiece

Here’s some advice for the semi-adventurous, the ones who may not be as bold as Webb Chiles:

 Don't join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects.

(Drop by every Monday, Wednesday, Friday for a new Mainly about Boats column.)

Spare a prayer or two

IT MUST SEEM VERY STRANGE to landlubbers when sailors talk about speed being the enemy of safety on seagoing sailboats. What speed, for Pete’s sake? You call 10 knots speed? My grandma goes faster than that on her skateboard.

Well, it’s all comparative. Ten knots is twice as fast as 5 knots, so if you’re sailing around the world, or just racing across an ocean, you get there in half the time in the faster boat. And, because boat speeds are so slow, that represents a saving of weeks or months.

In discussing the design of ocean racers, the British sailor and research scientist C. A. Marchaj[1] mentions five factors that have “a deleterious effect on seaworthiness.” They are:

1. Lighter displacement
2. Greater beam and a flat bottom
3. Reduced lateral area of the hull (separated fin keel and rudder)
4. Higher center of gravity, and
5. Increased freeboard

I mention this because there are two 16-year-old girls sailing around the world right now, each vying for the record for the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe alone, non-stop, and unassisted.

One, Jessica Watson, is sailing an S&S 34, a fairly conservative design, well-proven and fairly heavy, with a reasonably large underwater lateral area. She relies on an old-fashioned wind-vane self-steering gear that uses no electricity. And she has been plodding along quite gently for months. She is now within a few thousand miles of Sydney, Australia, where she will finish.

Abby Sunderland is sailing an Open 40, a radical racing design that is a handful even for a strong man. She is of light displacement. She has great beam and a flat bottom. She has reduced lateral area of the hull. And she relies heavily on generating enough power from solar panels, wind chargers, and a diesel engine to charge the large bank of batteries needed to run the electric autopilot that must do all the steering. And she is very fast, of course, because she was designed for speed above safety. Too fast for a simple wind vane to be effective, in fact.

Abby’s kind of boat is fine in heavy weather if you can keep her going fast. If you can’t, she is likely to be capsized by a large wave, and she is likely to remain upside down a considerable time (as Isabelle Autissier’s similar boat did) because the hull is shaped like a flat iron. Indeed, recognizing this possibility, the designer has provided ballast water tanks on each side, so that in case of a 180-degree inversion, Abby can pump water over to one side to make the boat heel until the long thin keel sticking up in the air can get enough grip to right the boat.

Only a week after her start from Marina del Rey, California, Abby ran into trouble with her power-hungry equipment. “The fact is I am just not able to generate enough power with my solar panels and wind generators to keep up with all of my energy needs. We didn't budget enough fuel for me to run my two alternators as often as I have been needing to ...” She had to put into Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, for repairs, and to restart her record attempt – which will make for an awkward end to her bid, since she won’t be able to finish at her home port where the crowds will be waiting.

Late last week, down in the Furious 50s, Abby experienced autopilot problems and had to steer by hand for half the night in strong winds and high waves. This is the problem with a radical boat that will not look after itself when the chips are down, as a more conservative boat like Jessica’s will do. The problem is simply crew exhaustion, because you can’t just lock yourself down below and go to sleep. Abby’s boat must be kept moving, and moving fast, to stay seaworthy.

I have to say that I think Abby’s boat is most unsuitable for her quest. Some will disagree and I respect their opinions, particularly since Abby has shown herself to be an extraordinarily capable sailor.

But she’s approaching Cape Horn right now on one of the most dangerous sections of her circumnavigation and I am praying that nothing goes wrong with the mass of complicated electronics on which her life depends. If you’re in the habit of saying prayers before bed, you might want to slip one in for Abby for the next week or so until she can head north into calmer waters.

[1]Seaworthiness: the Forgotten Factor, by C. A. Marchaj (International Marine, Camden, Maine)

► Jessica Watson — http://youngestround.blogspot.com/
► Abby Sunderland — http://soloround.blogspot.com/

Today’s Thought
What are the wild waves saying,
Sister, the whole day long,
That ever amid our playing,
I hear but their low, lone song?
— Joseph Edwards Carpenter

Boaters’ Rules of Thumb, #32
The best pencil for chartwork is one with a medium lead. A No. 2 works well. A softer pencil makes a bolder line, but tends to smudge. A harder lead is more difficult to see and erase. It also digs into the chart and shortens its life. Whatever you use, be sure to include a good eraser. It’s the navigator’s best friend.

Tailpiece
One of the greatest kindnesses you can do for your friends is to trust them with your secrets. They feel so important when they tell people.