Captain's Log

November 1, 2002

Hello all,
 
When a sailor circumnavigates the world, solo or with crew, and returns to their original position or ' outbound track ' it is called tying the knot or closing the circle. Well I closed the circle today of the North Atlantic. Big circle still to come......Let me explain.
 
In January of this year, but it seems a long time ago, BTC Velocity was unloaded from a container ship in Ft. Lauderdale, FL., thanks to the generosity of C & S shipping Australia, and was re commissioned. After that I sailed her up to Jacksonville, FL as a shake down and then solo off to Bermuda in early February. Since then BTC Velocity and I have sailed 13,980 nm ( all but 700 nm solo ) from Bermuda - Las Palmas, Canaries - Bermuda - Newport - New York City - Torbay, England, and just last night we passed by Las Palmas only 10 miles offshore. Get where I am going with now ???
 
When you bite off a big challenge like sailing around the world solo, its is mentally helpful to break up the task into a series of smaller goals and milestones. This way the endeavor does not seem quite as massive. I remember when my goal was to solo the Atlantic; however, after doing that 3 times this year the next goal was to circle the North Atlantic. Done. Now ?? Crossing the Equator another sailors rite of passage awaits approximately 1600 nm away.
 
Then there is ONLY Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope, Southern Ocean 1st leg, spotting icebergs, Tasman Sea, Tauraunga, International Date Line, Southern Ocean 2nd leg, Cape Horn, Salvador de Bahia, the Equator again, passing Bermuda on the way to the finish in Newport. Oh that does not sound so bad does it !!!
 
Regards,
 
Alan
BTC Velocity
Slowly ticking off the items on my ' to do ' list !!