Conference unifix::sailing

    Dodge Morgan's achievement is truly remarkable and I have nothing
    but respect and admiration for him.
    
        I don't mean to belittle Morgan's effort, but somehow...
    
    It ain't in the same class as Chichester's circumnavigation. 
    
    Somehow, (and I'm having trouble with this,) Chichester's voyage seems
    to have been more in time, or rhythm, with the sea and Nature and God
    (or whatever your supreme being is). Based on what I've read about
    Morgan's effort (program seems a more appropriate term), his voyage
    was a confrontation with Nature. He had a Machine built to make
    this specific trip. And it's quite a boat!!
    
    Maybe the big difference to me is that Chichester's voyage was a
    romantic adventure where Morgan's effort has a corporate high-tech
    flavor for me. 
    
  I almost wish you hadn't asked this question because it makes me sad
    to think that there aren't many opportunities left to do what
    Chichester did.
    
    And if you hadn't guessed by now, I'm still rooting for Don Quijote.
    
    Ed

    yea...
    Ed

More interesting to me is Tania Aebi's circumnavigation, as
chronicled in "Cruising World".  It isn't non-stop, but she
is doing it single-handed (not counting the cat), in a 26-foot
boat, and she was 18 yrs old when she started last year.

As of early December she was in Tahiti, having left New York
at the end of May 1985.  (See April Cruising World for latest
article.)

Tania's achievement is certainly impressive. Hell, if she can do it, so
can I. On the other hand, I am appalled at her lack of knowledge,
especially in regards to maintaining and repairing her boat. I wonder if 
she could cope with a serious emergency without help.

While Dodge Morgan's nonstop circumnavigation is also impressive, it is
not on the same level of achievement as earlier nonstop
circumnavigations -- Robin Knox-Johnson in his 32 ft ketch, Bernard
Moitessier, Naomi James [?], and any others. As I recall, Chichester
stopped in Australia. Morgan has the benefit of 25 years of additional
high technology since the first nonstop circumnavigations and a boat
reported to have cost $1 million. The only thing that should have kept 
him from setting a new record was sinking. American Promise, by the way,
has been chartered by Richard Konkolski for the next BOC race. The BOC
rules require the removal of the electric winches and the electric
Stoway mast. This will make sailing the boat a mite more work.

    Morgans boat (as documented in SAIL I think) makes the space shuttle
    look simple in its hydraulics, electronics and redundancies.  For
    a 60 foot boat, a good bit of the space normally set aside for living
    area has been converted to house desalination units (so he can wash
    down the decks while at sea),redundant pumps, hydraulic systems,
    and a set of batteries that would make any u-boat captain drool.
    I think Hood built it.                   
    
    The price was a bit over $4M I think.  Its a perfect model of our
    high tech society. 
    
    "A tall ship and a host of digital instruments to steer her by...."
    
    Rick

    Rick,   It think it might be more accurate to requote "...and a
    host of digital instruments to steer her..." .
    
    Thats not to put down Dodge, but lets face it, Magellan he aint.
    
    Walt

Yes, the hull and internal systems were done by Hood's Little Harbor 
Boat Yard. Deck was done by another builder in Maine. $4 million sounds 
high -- published reports are in the $2 million range for the boat and 
the circumnavigation.

    So what are we getting to here ?
    
    Sounds like all Dodge had to do was make the money, swab the decks,
    change fuses, drink all the beer and not have to put up with any
    of us for 4+ months.
    
    Walt (who couldnt resist being a smartass on Friday afternoon)

Ohhhh, come, Come, COME now!  "A tall ship and a star to steer her by?"  
Oilskins streaming by the whale oil running lights?  Frozen fingers in 
the rigging and the whistle of the cat o' nine tails?  Tradition, like 
all good things must be kept in perspective.

Above all, admit to yourselves that Dodge has beaten every one of us to 
the punch in that he has been able to A)  Amass several millions of 
dollars and B) spend some, but not all, of A in a fashion that the rest 
of us dream about but few if any will observe up close much less perform 
in person.

He didn't better the record and he didn't even break it.  He SHATTERED 
it!  And he did it through his own personal energy, organization, drive 
and guts.  How many readers of this file could even face a 40 foot sea 
without passing out cold, never mind staying sane when your boat falls 
off the top of one.  So what if he had electric winches?  How many of you 
got to work today on horseback?

For the true Purists there is Tim Severin recreating the voyages of St. 
Brendan and the like, but while the old mariners have their place in 
history, so do the new ones.  To belittle Dodge's achievement because of 
the equipment he used is like shrugging off Chuck Yeager overcoming the 
sound barrier because he didn't do it in a biplane.

And not only did he (Dodge) establish an entirely new class of 
solo-circum-nonstop performance but the technology he worked out in the 
attempt will form a foundation for anyone following in his footsteps.  
You think Magellan wouldn't have used SatNav had it been available?  
Couple of years back this Marconi rig idea was considered to be heresy.

Lastly, keep in mind that Dodge might have some other mountains to climb 
after this one.  Magellan himself only got as far as the Phillipines and 
of the 240 original members of the expedition only 18 (count 'em) made it 
home.

To paraphrase a wiser sailor than I: 

Many a great voyage was completed because there was no other option.


Shackleton, Bligh, .....

    ref .9:
    
    You're right; I couldn't agree with you more. However in support of the
    other side, I do believe  that those who do/did it using but a sextant
    and a lead line for navigation deserve "extra" credit. In these days of
    Satnav, radar, etc., I DO appreciate the accomplishments of the
    "traditional" way. 

    

Well, AMERICAN PROMISE is on stands in Little Harbor Boatyard in 
Marblehead. She looks no worse than if she'd spent the summer on a quiet 
mooring. The only obvious damage is a broken antenna on the stern pulpit 
mounted EPIRB.