A
LOOK BACK BY BRUCE
26th March 2003
With
just under three weeks to go until the start of
Leg 5, there are many days to fill and probably
not enough stories to go around, so for the next
week or two I am borrowing the story telling expertise
of some of the competitors. Today’s guest
editorial spot goes to Californian Bruce Schwab,
skipper of Ocean Planet. Strictly speaking Bruce
did not sit down and write this story; he actually
wrote it over four years ago, but it’s an
interesting look back at how one gets bitten by
the solo sailing bug, and what starts as an idea
turns into an Around Alone campaign. Here is Bruce’s
story.
On
Oct. 13, I headed for France to see the "Open
60" class boats gathered in Le Havre for
the double-handed Transat Jacques Vabre. This
turned out to be one of the most spectacular sailing
events I've had the chance to see. As soon as
I arrived in France I zipped to Le Havre as fast
as I could via cab and train. When I walked out
onto the street in Le Havre, I immediately got
a clue of the towns support for the Jacques Vabre
Race. There were flashy posters and billboards
advertising the event everywhere! The boats were
easy to find, and the crowds already forming on
the walkways above the docks. What a scene! 10
Open 60 monohulls and 8 Formula 60 trimarans showing
off the highest tech hulls and rigging I have
ever seen. The Euro programs are very well funded
and it shows. Each side of the long harbor was
lined with a 1/4 mile of hospitality booths by
the boat sponsors, along with temporary bars,
restaurants, clothing, and sailing knick-knack
shops. A great example was the large booth by
Catherine Chabaud's sponsor Whirlpool Europe.
Staffed by attractive women wearing natty yellow
suits (matching the boat, of course), with a detailed
scale model of the boat, an exciting promo video
running constantly, and several of whirlpool's
latest euro version washing machines. Thousands
of people, and hundreds of school kids ogled the
boats
I
spotted Brad, said hi, and shot several rolls
of excellent spy photos with my telephoto lens.
Brad introduced me to his friend Mike Garside,
with whom he had a neck & neck battle with
for 2nd place in the last Around Alone. Until
Brad broke his mast, that is. I managed to find
a classic cheap French room and sacked out. On
Friday Brad got me past the security guards onto
the docks, and aboard Gartmore Investment (Josh
Hall) and Fila (on loan from Giovanni Soldini
to couple of his ace crew for this race). I whipped
out my pocket throw-away flash cameras and shot
away.
My
trip had already been worth it, but the best was
yet to come. Desperate to get a ride out to watch
the monohull start on Saturday, (the multihulls
start a day later) I found the press center on
the second floor of the 3 story "Race office/convention
center" and made my pitch to the queen of
press boat access ("Ah...ve ah verry verry
full"). When my mention of my own Vendee
program got an unconvinced look, I mentioned that
I was also writing an article for the prestigious
Northern California magazine "Latitude 38".
This worked like I had hypnotized them and soon
I was armed with a pass onto a press boat with
Mike Garside, a French TV crew, and 2 reporters
for "Yachting World".
Words
cannot do justice to the pandemonium surrounding
an Open 60 start in Europe, but here goes: As
if racing monster 60 foot sloops doublehanded
to Columbia wasn't enough, the start was downwind
to a leeward mark and then a beat back up to weather,
before they could depart for good. Each of the
high-end boats had a full crew on board to help
get the main up, etc., before the extras hopped
into their respective team inflatables to watch
their bosses have at it themselves. The spectator
fleet, which was in the hundreds, were kept to
one side of course. We on the press boats however,
zipped around at will within talking distance
of the racers. A squadron of eight helicopters
kept hovering annoyingly close as the crews deployed
giant gennikers or asymmetrical spinnakers. Suddenly,
our press boat headed back into the Harbor, apparently
to get the TV crew to the editing room, and then
we went back out to allow Mike to say a final
good-bye to Josh who danced a happy jig on his
foredeck. Even in the light air the 60's soon
disappeared over the horizon. I gave a brief interview
to the "Yachting World" writer, and
then it was back for beers at one of the hospitality
bars in the harbor.
The
turnout was even wilder for the Sunday start.
I shot some great pics before I ran out of film.
You'd have to see it to believe what it's like
watching the trimarans fly 2 hulls at 25 knots
from 30 feet to leeward in a press boat driven
by a mad Frenchman. I'll stick to monohulls for
now, thank you. As of today (Tuesday) one of them
has already flipped and is out of the race.
In
my hotel many of the questions I had wanted to
solve began to gel in my head and I stayed up
most of the night making notes for my own boat.
As impressive as the Euro Open 60's are I am more
confident than ever that we can make a better
boat. I also know that given the enormous and
still growing popularity of these races, we will
provide a terrific return for our sponsor's investment.
Just being an American entry will be a huge hit.
Isabelle Autissier, who I had just met, told me
that the Vendee is at least 10 times larger than
the Jacques Vabre, with something like a 100 thousand
people a day for weeks at the start & finish.
It's time for a competitive American entry in
the Vendee, I really want to beat these guys.
And I think we can do it.
---
Bruce Schwab ocean.planet@earthlink.net
www.everyocean.com/oceanplanet
Source:
Around
Alone Official Site
