BACKSailor Paris passes a test of character
| For Alan Paris, sailing single-handedly around the world was always going to be a test of character, not to mention endurance. Around Alone might have been a highly-competitive race, but through Paris’ eyes at least, the dash to the finish would always be secondary to the fight for survival. Both the mental and physical challenges were enormous and that the affable Bermudian ultimately ended up in ninth place overall and fourth in Class Two mattered little. What did matter was that he finished – a feat which proved beyond the capability of three skippers in a starting fleet of 13. Still at sea is Canadian Derek Hatfield who – beset by repair problems following a frightening incident off the notorious Cape Horn – didn’t even set off on the final leg from Salvador in Brazil until some three weeks after his fellow entrants. Paris’ goal was always to arrive safely and with his home for the last nine months, BTC Velocity, still intact. But at the end of his epic voyage yesterday, the Bermudian hinted he would have liked to have been slightly more competitive. “Did the boat live up to expectations? Yes and no,” he mused shortly after stepping ashore. “If you look at the other ‘thin’ boat in the race, he also came last in his class. I guess thin is out and fat is in. “After 196 days at sea, you’ve tried every sail combination, every sail angle, and you know your boat well. “What I learned is that I couldn’t keep pace with the other two 40-foot boats. In certain conditions they could pull away and I couldn’t. “I came to terms with that early on and realised that my first goal was to finish. I wanted to finish well and I didn’t want to finish last. “In three of the five legs I was not the last person over the line. Performance wise I would have wanted to do better . . . but it’s ok that I didn’t. “I wanted to try and finish and I did.” Solo sailing pioneer Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who congratulated Paris in a phone call from England yesterday, had endorsed that philosophy when he spoke about the race before last September’s start. “All around the world races are tough, some are tougher than others, however there is none more demanding on the individual than Around Alone,” he said. “In each around the world race, the courses may be similar, the frustrations of the calms, and the fear of the giant waves of the Southern Ocean the same, but there the comparisons stop. When you sail non-stop around the world, the boat must be conserved all the way. One small piece of damage early on can mean removing any chance of a win.” As for future sailing endeavours, Paris made it clear he had no intention of repeating such an adventure, although racing will remain a part of his life. “When you’ve done something like this you aren’t going to sit back in a rocking chair,” he said. “But I don’t have anything particular that I want to do, sailing wise. “l’ve never done the Newport-Bermuda race. So to do that every couple of years would be fine with me. And I really enjoy the Wednesday night sailing in Bermuda. “But there’s nothing eating inside me anymore. I’ve achieved what I set out to achieve.” |