Association Forum - Golden Globe Race

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Golden Globe Race

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

glivs
Admiral

Member Avatar

USA
822 Posts

Initially Posted - 12/06/2018 : 20:01:14

OMG...five boats demasted. Susie Goodall pitch poled 2000 miles from the Cape (today - our time). She is hanging in there but took quite a beating...two days before rescue arrives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U90CJyvwWs

Gerry & Leslie; Malletts Bay, VT
"Great Escape" 1989 C-25 SR/WK #5972

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 12/09/2018 : 11:28:21

People who take small boats into the Southern Ocean single-handed and alone get no sympathy from me. It is what it always has been.

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

Derek Crawford
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3312 Posts

Response Posted - 12/10/2018 : 09:58:31

I once spent 3 days & nights in 40K winds and 16' seas which was pretty scary even on the 50' catamaran. I cannot imagine what 65K winds and 45' seas is like - and in a 35' boat no less!

Derek Crawford
Chief Measurer C25-250 2008
Previous owner of "This Side UP"
1981 C-25 TR/FK #2262 Used to have an '89 C22 #9483, "Downsized"
San Antonio, Texas

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 12/10/2018 : 13:26:33

quote:
Originally posted by Derek Crawford

I once spent 3 days & nights in 40K winds and 16' seas which was pretty scary even on the 50' catamaran. I cannot imagine what 65K winds and 45' seas is like - and in a 35' boat no less!

At least the 35' full-keeled monohull will come back up after a knockdown or even a pitch-pole. Not the catamaran. (Initial stability = high; ultimate stability = negative.)

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 12/10/2018 13:27:50

glivs
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
822 Posts

Response Posted - 12/10/2018 : 19:57:18

Crossing the southern ocean alone in a relatively small boat with minimal technology in today's world would seem to qualify as extreme but then I think about the vessels, knowledge base, and technologies that explorers and those seeking new lives placed their faith/trust in in the 15th to 19th centuries. As a species, we take on challenges.

Take home lesson (not new)....these little boats are @#$% tough and if you can stay aboard you have a better than fair chance of surviving even nasty situations. Modern technology offers the potential for rescue; the sailor has to manage to survive on board. With racers experiencing severe seas and knock-downs, I wonder if architects/open water sailors will re-think boat interiors to improve surviving such conditions. I was even impressed with Bruce's (Voyager) link in the other thread ("A Sweet Boat...") by the number of handholds inside the cabin of the Westerly Griffon.

As for pitch-poling....I cannot even imagine.

Gerry & Leslie; Malletts Bay, VT
"Great Escape" 1989 C-25 SR/WK #5972

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 12/10/2018 : 21:51:24

Well, this isn't the 19th century, and you don't exactly "cross" the Southern Ocean--it has no "other side". It has infinite fetch unimpeded by land, which leads to those incredible winds and seas that wipe out boats in various 'round-the-world races. And yes, these older full-keel designs are still pretty tough (until they meet the Southern Ocean), and 21st century communications, national rescue services, and commercial ships will save their sailors (at significant cost to nations and shipping companies). Susie Goodall was lifted aboard a freighter on 12/7, and I suppose her hull (with damaged deck) will wander the Southern Ocean for a few years or decades until it takes on enough rain, snow and spray to sink. So all of that proves...... what?

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 12/10/2018 22:02:42

Peregrine
Admiral

Members Avatar

830 Posts

Response Posted - 12/10/2018 : 22:15:26

https://www.npr.org/2018/12/08/674964828/cargo-ship-saves-29-year-old-sailor-in-south-pacific-after-her-boat-flips?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=203008&fbclid=IwAR09IkU_Hj43Tav2974fUYSyvcBQl4NPSncRon-bJi05qZhKubfNPSZMyP4

John Gisondi
Peregrine #4762

*

glivs
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
822 Posts

Response Posted - 12/11/2018 : 18:43:05

fwiw...when rescue appeared eminent, Goodall, with approval of the race officials, made the decision to scuttle her boat at the time of rescue. I haven't followed up to see if it was carried out. As for the other demasted racers, one made port on his own and two (if I recall) had arranged for or were seeking assistance to bring their boats in.

"So all of that proves...... what?" - What defines purpose or meaning, fortune, fame, the thrill of adventure, because its there, shear joy...? To each their own. Many have payed dearly for pursuing what some considered foolish pursuits, including Magellan, Earhart and Grissom. Countless others remain nameless. Of the 18 or so racers who started the 2018 Golden Globe Race, only they can answer what they envisioned the purpose. That said, those, if any, that succeed whether due to luck, timing, or skill will likely be looked upon as heroes by some.

I'm not arguing Dave, just rambling on on a cold dark December evening. I'm done...time to move on...and dream of days racing around those odd looking inflatable buoys on the bay or simply spending the afternoon sailing back and forth with no destination other than to return to where I started. But then "all of that proves...... what?"

Gerry & Leslie; Malletts Bay, VT
"Great Escape" 1989 C-25 SR/WK #5972

bigelowp
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1736 Posts

Response Posted - 12/12/2018 : 17:17:25

I suppose when I was young -- much younger -- the idea of an ocean race would have had it's appeal. As maturity sets in (or senility) I find Long Island Sound challenging enough. Yes, in the right conditions I could be demasted, but the probability that I would be out in those conditions is minimal, and shore is never that far away. Ode to youth!

Peter Bigelow
C-25 TR/FK #2092 Limerick
Rowayton, Ct
Port Captain: Rowayton/Norwalk/Darien CT

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 12/14/2018 : 17:31:40

quote:
Originally posted by glivs

...Magellan, Earhart and Grissom...

Bu-u-u-u-t... These were people who pushed the envelope in ways that expanded the horizons of our civilization. Now everyone knows you can sail around the world, or fly around it in a couple of days if you prefer. And you can do it without exposing yourself to the Southern Ocean, which is sorta like going over Niagara Falls in a barrel--if Niagara Falls were 1000 miles from civilization where some government military and shipping company would be tasked with trying to find your barrel.

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

Peregrine
Admiral

Members Avatar

830 Posts

Response Posted - 12/14/2018 : 19:48:45

I'm sure many here know of Bernard Moitessier.
For a good winter's read, read "The Long Way" by him.

"The Long Way is Bernard Moitessier's own incredible story of his participation in the first Golden Globe Race, a solo, non-stop circumnavigation rounding the three great Capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin, and the Horn. For seven months, the veteran seafarer battled storms, doldrums, gear-failures, knock-downs, as well as overwhelming fatigue and loneliness. Then, nearing the finish, Moitessier pulled out of the race and sailed on for another three months before ending his 37,455-mile journey in Tahiti. Not once had he touched land."

John Gisondi
Peregrine #4762

*

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

Members Avatar

USA
5851 Posts

Response Posted - 12/15/2018 : 06:15:55

Young people don't necessarily engage in risky adventures to prove anything. They do it to rebel against the prospect of living a boring, ordinary life. They don't want to spend their life doing mundane things. They have an unrealistic belief in their ability to cope with anything that might happen, and think it unlikely that they'll need help.

It would be a dull world if none of us ever dared to take a calculated risk. Everything we do involves risk. Riding a motorcycle or driving a car or sailing a boat is a calculated risk. Sailing around the world is simply a bigger risk than sailing around a bay.

Without adventurers there would be nobody to write accounts of their adventures to stir our imaginations. Because they take risks, we don't have to. We can vicariously experience their adventures without sharing their risks.

Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind"
previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22
Past Commodore

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 12/16/2018 : 09:40:03

quote:
Originally posted by Steve Milby

...We can vicariously experience their adventures without sharing their risks.

And, if we live in Australia, NZ, or Chile, we can share the cost of the searches and rescues in the Southern Ocean, where for me, their weird obsessions are not "adventures". But I'm just old...

Advice from a "Master Marine Consultant": Stay out of the Southern Ocean.

Want to do something out of the ordinary, not boring, worthy of the very real risk and genuine admiration? Do some work for Doctors Without Borders. Yemen anyone? Nigeria? Congo?...

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 12/16/2018 09:45:40

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

Members Avatar

USA
5851 Posts

Response Posted - 12/17/2018 : 19:28:07

quote:
Originally posted by Stinkpotter Want to do something out of the ordinary, not boring, worthy of the very real risk and genuine admiration? Do some work for Doctors Without Borders. Yemen anyone? Nigeria? Congo?...

Wow! That would be exciting, and I've never performed delicate surgery before! Where do I sign up?

Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind"
previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22
Past Commodore

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 12/18/2018 : 07:07:50

quote:
Originally posted by Steve Milby

...I've never performed delicate surgery before! Where do I sign up?

My daughter and son-in-law were field HR and financial managers for them in D. R. Congo, Nigeria, and Haiti (right after the earthquake). There are also logistics, legal, political, and other roles all over the world, including regional HQ work for the committed but faint-of-heart. End of commercial. I'm just not impressed by inwardly-focused attention-seekers... How about the pilots, rescue swimmers, and even freighter crews taking small boats out in the raging oceans to save them?

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

Kim Luckner
1st Mate

Members Avatar

USA
96 Posts

Response Posted - 12/18/2018 : 10:37:04

"if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging"

Seeadler
'79 C25 SR/FK #1432
Mentor Lagoons

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
5231 Posts

Response Posted - 12/18/2018 : 22:38:13

Just as a reality check, this short video should give you an inkling of a nice sailing day out on the Southern Ocean.

Note that the sky is fair, the winds are only about force 5 or 6, and the mountainous waves are hardly breaking at all.

Note also that the boat is using a sea anchor or drogue chute to prevent a broach, and that the auto pilot appears to be steering the boat.

N.B. that waves generally appear smaller in videos. Chilling!!

Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain � Milford, CT

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

Members Avatar

USA
5851 Posts

Response Posted - 12/19/2018 : 05:24:00

That video, as well as the pitchpoling of Susie Goodall, makes you appreciate the feat of Sir Earnest Shackleton, who sailed a 22 ft. boat, ballasted with stones, 600 miles through those seas with a crew of 5, in order to save his shipwrecked crew stranded on uninhabited Elephant Island in the Antarctic. It has often been described as the greatest small boat voyage ever. If you haven't read the account or watched the PBS video about it, you should. Most libraries probably have both.

Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind"
previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22
Past Commodore

Ben
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1234 Posts

Response Posted - 12/19/2018 : 09:21:00

Wow, that video is amazing! To do that in a Leopard 39 catamaran too! Gutsy stuff! Thanks for sharing!

Indeed Steve, Shackelton's story is amazing. He's one of my heroes.

Ben
Beneteau 361
Viking Kitty
Columbus, Ohio

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 12/19/2018 : 15:29:05

That might be categorized as a light-air day on the Southern Ocean. The North Atlantic looks like that frequently. It takes even a little more guts (or something else) to sail the Southern Ocean in a catamaran than in a full-keeled Golden Globe boat. In the cat, if you go over (broach or pitch-pole), it's unlikely you'll come back up.

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

zeil
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Canada
1297 Posts

Response Posted - 12/19/2018 : 17:55:22

One of the strangest and facinating tales ever described is the tragic story of Donald Crowhurts who participated in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. His voyage is factually recorded in a book called: The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst. Quercus. ISBN 978-1-68144-181-8.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Crowhurst
https://www.google.com/search?q=sir+jonhston+knox&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b

Donald Charles Alfred Crowhurst (1932 � July 1969) was a British businessman and amateur sailor who died while competing in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, a single-handed, round-the-world yacht race. Crowhurst had entered the race in hopes of winning a cash prize from The Sunday Times to aid his failing business.

Instead, he encountered difficulty early in the voyage, and secretly abandoned the race while reporting false positions, in an attempt to appear to complete a circumnavigation without actually circling the world. Evidence found after his disappearance suggests that this attempt ended in mental breakdown, possible insanity and suicide.

It was the race in which Sir Robin Knox-Johnston was the first person to sail single handed and non-stop around the world between 14 June 1968 and 22 April 1969.

Henk & Johanna
"Floating", a few off your "barnacles".
"Someday Lady" '95 C250WB #151 ('03 - 2016)
"Sea ya" 30ft Bayliner (04-2018 - 09-2018)
"Mariah" '96 C250WB #191 (05-2019 - 15-05-2023)
"Lady J" '00 C250WK #499 (05-2021 - 09-2022)

Ben
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1234 Posts

Response Posted - 12/20/2018 : 07:00:33

Henk, you're absolutely correct, the story of Crowhurt's participation in the original Golden Globe Race is fascinating, tragic, and hard to read about, (at least for me). The race wasn't good for hardly any of the participants, and if I remember correctly, Knox-Johnston was the only one to finish. I think Nigel Tetley's later suicide could be attributed to his decision to participate in, then subsequent failure in, the race.

I've read three books on the race, all three of which are excellent reads if anyone is looking for some good books on the subject. A Voyage for Mad Men, A World of My Own by Knox-Johnston, and my favorite, The Long Way by Moitessier. Moitessier's narrative, I found, to be more philosophical about the race and about sailing in general, which spoke to me more than Knox-Johnston's book. And if I remember correctly, Moitessier was a couple weeks at least ahead of Knox-Johnston and very close to the finish, but decided he didn't want the media attention of winning, so diverted away from the finish line and continued sailing to Tahiti. Moitessier was a truly interested man.

Ben
Beneteau 361
Viking Kitty
Columbus, Ohio

Peregrine
Admiral

Members Avatar

830 Posts

Response Posted - 12/20/2018 : 09:09:17

quote:
Originally posted by Ben

Henk, you're absolutely correct, the story of Crowhurt's participation in the original Golden Globe Race is fascinating, tragic, and hard to read about, (at least for me). The race wasn't good for hardly any of the participants, and if I remember correctly, Knox-Johnston was the only one to finish. I think Nigel Tetley's later suicide could be attributed to his decision to participate in, then subsequent failure in, the race.

I've read three books on the race, all three of which are excellent reads if anyone is looking for some good books on the subject. A Voyage for Mad Men, A World of My Own by Knox-Johnston, and my favorite, The Long Way by Moitessier. Moitessier's narrative, I found, to be more philosophical about the race and about sailing in general, which spoke to me more than Knox-Johnston's book. And if I remember correctly, Moitessier was a couple weeks at least ahead of Knox-Johnston and very close to the finish, but decided he didn't want the media attention of winning, so diverted away from the finish line and continued sailing to Tahiti. Moitessier was a truly interested man.

I have only read the Moitessier book (see post above) and it seems his makeup was more suited to being alone with hardship for a long period of time and indeed even though he was going to win the race he changed course and made for the South Seas.
Remarkable book, remarkable man.
There is a film that is a bit hard to find but is worth searching for.
If anyone finds a link to the film could you post it? Thanks.

John Gisondi
Peregrine #4762

*

zeil
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Canada
1297 Posts

Response Posted - 12/20/2018 : 15:42:27

You may enjoy the following documentary called "Deep Waters"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9NS6Uq9-zk

Peregrine
Admiral

Members Avatar

830 Posts

Response Posted - 12/20/2018 : 18:47:47

quote:
Originally posted by zeil

You may enjoy the following documentary called "Deep Waters"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9NS6Uq9-zk

Thank you.
Not sure "enjoy" is accurate but glad I watched it.
I did find this. It is Moitessier's footage of his voyage. The text is French but the dialogue is Spanish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQgDqFyRBBo

I still recommend the book. The English translation is quite good.

Here is a Google translation of the notes from the YouTube page;

Journey to the limit of the sea narrates the 300 days of travel invested by the French navigator Bernard Mointessier in going around the world on its own and without stops. The images, filmed by Mointessier himself, are a brushstroke of the 45,000 miles traveled on board a boat, the Joshua, and with which he completed a round and a half to Earth, without stopovers, alone, setting a world record. The images are of the same navigator during this trip, during the first edition of the regatta for solitary sailors Golden Globe (now Vendee Globe), in 1968. This broadcast is in Spanish, in the program "The thematic night", dedicated to the eternal Travellers.

John Gisondi
Peregrine #4762

*

Edited by - Peregrine on 12/20/2018 18:57:26

bigelowp
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1736 Posts

Response Posted - 12/21/2018 : 20:44:08

Henk:

Yes, the Crowhurts story is fascinating. Darned, once again you bring to life an interesting sailing story!

Peter Bigelow
C-25 TR/FK #2092 Limerick
Rowayton, Ct
Port Captain: Rowayton/Norwalk/Darien CT

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.