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.)
