ALAN SAILS INTO SALVADOR
29th March 2003

Wet, weary and ready for a bit of time on dry land, Alan Paris finally sailed into Salvador this morning to take fourth place in Leg 4 of the Around Alone. His official finish time was 09:40:23 local time (12:40:23 GMT). The last few miles may not have the toughest of the leg, but they were surely the most tedious. Drenching rain lashed the city throughout the night, that heavy soaking tropical downpour that flushes rats out of alleyways and brings the banana boats to a standstill. On board BTC Velocity Alan nursed his damaged rig as the wind went from flat calm to almost gale force. "It was a bit wet," Alan said with characteristic understatement. "But the good news was that I got my own private wind shift that allowed me to make course without having to gybe, so that was really nice."

It has been a shade under seven weeks since Alan and BTC Velocity left the fair shores of New Zealand and headed back into the Southern Ocean on the longest and toughest leg of the race. Bracing for another sleighride across the bottom of the world Paris found the sailing quite pleasant. "Here we are, BTC Velocity and I, deep in the formidable Southern Ocean," he wrote. "We are far away from land and approaching for the first time the latitude of 50 degrees south, known affectionately as the Furious Fifties, but there is something wrong. I am having fun!" The reason for Alan’s merriment was a huge high pressure system located in the southern Pacific that was bringing a steady flow of westerly winds, none of them blowing more than 20 knots. The fine weather continued most of the way to Cape Horn, but not all the way as the barometer plummeted and the conditions turned gnarly. On March 7 Alan became the first Bermudian to round the infamous Cape single-handed. "Hi friends and family," he wrote. "Well we did it. After 26 days from Tauranga and a hell of a day today, BTC Velocity has rounded Cape Horn." It was a momentous occasion making for a day that Alan will never forget. Two knockdowns right at Cape Horn made the skipper realize how vulnerable he was. "I was on deck taking down the mainsail when three waves came together and over we went. Suddenly I was looking at the surface of the water a few inches in front of my face." BTC Velocity bobbed right back up again and Alan carried on with his journey.

BTC Velocity had just started to head north when the first real treacherous low of the passage nailed him. "Actually it was two systems combined into one," he said. "The thing I remember most was the density of the air. The sheer strength of the wind. I was just far enough north to miss the real brunt that Derek got, but we still got consistently over 50 knots." Derek Hatfield, sailing right at Cape Horn at the time, was not so lucky. An errant wave pitchpoled his boat. Knockdowns and gale force winds started to take their toll on the boat and just north of the Falkland Islands a critical piece of rigging let go. It was the same piece that had failed on Leg 3. This time there was no place to stop so Alan rigged a jury rig and nursed the mast all the way to Salvador.

"I could not afford to lose my mast," he said. "I kept a reef in the main and never put pressure on the mast at all. I had to make it to Brazil." When BTC Velocity crossed the line this morning the first thing Alan did was to head to mast and give it a massive hug. Landlubbers might wonder about that kind of behavior, but sailors know it well. Leg 4 was one known for carnage and Paris was happy to not be a part of it.

"I don’t have that much to do to prepare for the next leg," Alan said. "The new rigging should be in Brazil by now, I just hope I get it cleared through customs. I have to put my radar back up again after I took it down when I saw it hanging by a single screw. Other than that BTC is in good shape and ready for the last leg to Newport. I even managed to fill my fresh water tanks during the rain last night so I don’t have to worry about the local drinking water." Like his boat, Alan looked ready for the next leg. Sure a week or two on land would be nice but Alan Paris is ready to put the Around Alone behind him. If he makes it safely to Newport he will become the first Bermudian ever to solo-circumnavigate.

--- Brian Hancock great.circle@verizon.net

Source: Around Alone Official Site