Captain's Log

December 16, 2002

Hello all,
 
Recently I have had the opportunity to hear some refreshing questions from non sailors that must be on the minds of many who are not closely associated with Ocean Racing or perhaps just boats in general. Here are two comments / questions that give ' food for thought '.
 
Heard on the dock in Cape Town " it's amazing with all the work going on, that they made it to Cape Town at all !! "
Question from a student taking part in the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute educational campaign, Learn around the World " why is your boat always broken ?? "
 
So why is it that we are always seen frantically repairing our boats in each port right up until late in the evening before the start ?? So many reasons. Some are due to the individual characteristics of the skipper, who just like those of you on land, leave multiple things until the last minute or perhaps are not as organized as you might be !! Others are truly fixing things that have broken, but by and large the sounds of hammers, jig saws, drills and those boats who seem to always have some one ' up the mast ' are all doing nothing more exciting than modifications and preventative maintenance.
 
Lets take my boat for example. I arrived at noon on the  8th December, exactly 6 days before the re start on 14th December at 12 noon. The first day and the day of the start are too short for getting anything done. So that left me with 5 days to physically and mentally recover from 50 days at sea, as well as get the boat ready, and there is that other element, spend as much time as possible with my lovely wife and son. There was also a full day of required weather briefings, press conferences, safety instruction / inspections and other race organizer related events. So that left 4 days.
 
The work list entailed 4, 10 hour days on the boat, plus other times either side of the race related events. Here is what we accomplished and the tools used !! I apologize for the mostly ' boat lingo ' used below, but sometimes only the applicable word(s) will do.
 
Drill: Design, fabrication and installation of deck handrails, cockpit steering position braces, and 2 hand holds below. ( all safety related ) New cockpit jammers for roller furling units control lines, new jammer for tack line, replacement of VHF antenna. Re assembly of Genoa furler with a 3 screw to increase strength of sections. ( modification / enhancements )
 
Up the mast: New spinnaker halyard for the one that let go in the last leg, plus genoa, staysail and main halyard replacements. The others had done 20,000 nm. Installation of a Windex. ( enhancement ) Repair of masthead light. Inspection of mast from top to bottom. Re installation of Genoa Furler. Hoist and modifications on new Genoa sail and Staysail.
 
Saw : Repair and replace battens in main sail.
 
Fiberglass and Carbon : Repair bowsprit
 
Also: Purchase and stow Food for leg three. Fill water and fuel tanks. Clean inside and outside of BTC Velocity. Employ diver to check and clean hull. Assemble fiberglass and epoxy kit, in event of breakages in southern ocean. Have engine serviced, fan belts replaced, engine throttle control replaced, oil change etc. Install Iridium ( satellite phone ) software for communications. Repair Sat C unit, which had corrupted software.
 
Well that's most of it and those of you who have or do have a boat know that sometimes the simplest of tasks can take forever on a boat !!
 
I would like to thank my wife Becky, who really worked hard to keep my head straight during this ' formula one ' pit stop and did great job of buying the food for this leg and finding us a lovely house to stay in away from the boat in our brief relaxing times. My father Stanley who flew from the US for 2 1/2 days and was of great help and Herve Le Gal who I employed to do many of the tasks above that just would not have happened with out his skills.
 
Regards,
 
Alan