Offshore Sailing - Ocean Navigator

01 Jan

Crash landing ends navigator's dreams

Ocean NavigatorOffshore Sailing

A crash landing in a privately owned vintage military plane destroyed the dreams of a commercial airline pilot who had hoped to start an airborne school for navigation enthusiasts. The 1944-built, AT-7/SNB-type warbird (featured in this column in Issue # 106, May/June 2000) was being brought down to an airstrip near the owner's home in Urbana, Ill., when the craft's wheel brakes suddenly locked, sending the plane end-over-end. Eventually it came to rest on its back, according to Douglas Brutlag, a commercial 767 pilot who was flying the plane with a partner . None of the crew was injured, he…

01 Jan

Brad Van Liews Record Run

Ocean NavigatorOffshore Sailing

Around Alone sailor Brad Van Liew set a new World Sailing Speed record this weekend when he ran 345.03 miles from 0300 GMT on Saturday to 0300 GMT Sunday. On this final stretch of his run to Capetown and the finish of Leg 2, Van Liew clocked an average of 14.37 knots, the longest distance sailed by a 50-foot monohull sailboat for a 24-hour period. If verified by the World Sailing Speed Council, Van Liew will have broken J.P. Mouligne's 1998-'99 Around Alone record aboard Cray Valley. On Monday morning, Dec. 25, Van Liew was approximately 480 miles from Capetown…

01 Jan

Volvo race boats' vitals displayed at race HQ

Ocean NavigatorOffshore Sailing

An oversized display of sailing instruments is mounted on a section of mast at the headquarters of the Volvo Ocean Race in Southampton, England, which can be programmed to receive almost real-time updates from any one of the eight competing boats. Each of the boats, which were on layover in Cape Town at press time, following the end of the first leg, is equipped with B&G sailing instruments. Feedback to headquarters is refreshed every 10 minutes, providing the race operations personnel with access to round-the-clock information, like boat speed, wind force, direction and relative angle, and compass course. Each of…

01 Jan

Swedish inventor going 'round again

Ocean NavigatorOffshore Sailing

Sven Yrvind, the Swedish sailor and inventor formerly known as Sven Lundin, is hard at work building another of his funky sailboats this time for an ambitious east-about solo circumnavigation that includes Tristan de Cunha Island, Tasmania, and Cape Horn. His latest vessel, Bris Orädd, a 22-footer with a thick foam core and polyester fiber skin, incorporates the inventor's passionate belief in utilizing the latest technology in unconventional ways. Yrvind has made numerous high-seas voyages aboard his various little craft, including a transatlantic with his artist wife Olga in a 15-footer; to Tristan de Cunha in a 20-footer; and around…

01 Jan

First powerboat race 'round the world

Ocean NavigatorOffshore Sailing

The first-ever round-the-world powerboat race will begin from Charleston, S.C., in January 2001 in a fleet of vessels that at first glance appear more like lake cruisers than extreme powerboats. The 20-foot aluminum vessels, designed by Dave Jackman, are self-righting, and they will be operated by a two-person crew on a voyage that is expected to last 10 months. The vessels' 20-hp engines can make turns for a top speed of six knots (six knots!) and will likely be built by the Arkansas-based SeaArk, a manufacturer of commercial aluminum vessels. Contact Magellan Challenge race organizer Jim Betts in Point Pleasant…

01 Jan

America's first aircraft carrier

Ocean NavigatorOffshore Sailing

Thaddeus Lowe was interested in "getting high," even in the early years of his youth. Born in 1832 Lowe had little formal education, but styled himself an "aeronaut," or balloon pilot. His theories on air currents and balloon travel led him to believe he could navigate a balloon to any geographical point by choosing the appropriate altitude where the wind would blow in the direction he desired to travel. After a number of successful ascents in a balloon of his own construction, he undertook a voyage from Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 20, 1861, to test his theories. As with most…

01 Jan

Captain Bligh's Portable Nightmare

Ocean NavigatorOffshore Sailing

Captain Bligh's Portable Nightmare4,162 miles across the Pacific in a rowing boatby John TooheyThe fastidious cartographer and right-hand man of Capt. James Cook fell in reputation from one of the highest positions in the Royal Navy to one of infamy. A slight by a sycophantic crewmember, in a posthumously published account of the voyage of Resolution, kept Bligh from the fame and wealth accorded many of those who had also sailed with Cook in lesser positions. He then went on to lose command of Bounty and spend many months adrift in an open boat before fetching Tahiti. John Toohey's gripping…

01 Jan

Barking dog' navigation aids pilot

Ocean NavigatorOffshore Sailing

As we all know, a good navigator should never fail to take advantage of any cue that aids him in piloting his vessel through hazardous coastal waters, particularly when the weather is thick. Nova Scotian Jock Fleming was one who readily subscribed to this theory. One morning in 1864, as the American Civil War was beginning to wind down, the citizens of Halifax awoke to the news that a Confederate sea-raider, the C.S.S. Tallahassee, John T. Wood commanding, had entered port for repairs. Although Halifax was officially a neutral port, Royal Navy personnel there made little effort to hide their…

01 Jan

One man's waste is another

Ocean NavigatorOffshore Sailing

A passion for recycling and a love of steel has prompted a Maine sailor to combine his interests by building, in his back yard, a 113-foot schooner entirely of recycled and scrap material. Harold Arndt has worked in the industrial waste and surplus industry for many years and has seen a lot of material go into the scrap pile that could be perfectly useful somewhere else. As a result, Arndt likes to say that the word "waste" is a misnomer. "Waste is a resource in the wrong place at the wrong time," Arndt said, while pointing to the many piles…

01 Jan

Fiddler’s green

Ocean NavigatorGood Reads, Offshore Sailing

EMIL "BUS" MOSBACHER, JR. America's Cup Skipper and OpSail Chairman Two-time America's Cup winner Emil "Bus" Mosbacher, Jr., died August 13, 1997, at the age of 75. Raised on Long Island Sound, where he was an eight-time International One Design champion in the 1950s, Mosbacher skippered the 12-meter Weatherly to victory over Australia's first Cup challenger, Gretel, in 1962. Two challenges and five years later, Mosbacher was at the helm of the Intrepid when she swept Australia's Dame Pattie in four races. The opposing helmsman in both series was Jock Sturrock, who also died this year. (In 1970 the same…