Around the World--Single-Handed

The ultimate in sailing challenges is the BOC Challenge Single-handed Race Around the World.

As one of the interested says, “Hundreds of men and women have climbed Everest; only a handful have raced alone around the world via Cape Horn.”

He is Georgs Kolesnikov, 43, of Newport Beach. Such an adventure has been his lifelong dream. When he was a teen-ager, he drew what he called a “continent and island-hopping course around world” on a National Geographic map. “I didn’t know you could sail across oceans to do it.”

Now he’s going to do it. In a small shipyard in Vista, he has begun the initial lofting, or laying out the lines, of his boat under the supervision of the vessel’s designer, Eva M. Hollmann, a naval architect and mechanical engineer. The vessel will cost about $475,000 to build and equip.

The vessel, named Great American, will be 60 feet long, the maximum permitted under rules of the race sponsored by The BOC Group, which is a British-based multinational corporation specializing in industrial gases, health care, carbon and welding products.

The Great American will have a fin-keel, a reinforced spade rudder, the necessary self-steering gear, be sloop-rigged with 1,685 square feet of sail area, and, according to Kolesnikov, be capable of 20 knots plus. Of course, it’ll be spartanly outfitted so a person can live and sail alone throughout the 27,000-mile race, with mandatory stops only in Capetown, South Africa; Sydney, Australia; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The race starts Aug. 30, 1986, in Newport, R.I., and ends there.

Of the 17 boats that started, only 10 finished the first BOC race in 1982-83. A French boat, Credit Agricole, with Phillipe Jeantot at the helm, won after 159 days of sailing time. No one died but two boats sunk in the Southern Ocean and two went aground.

“The race route south of all the mainland masses will send Great American into the fearsome roaring Forties, the southern latitudes where no land breaks the force of the winds and where waves can crest at 120 feet,” Kolesnikov said.

“I suppose that’s one of the attractions, one of the many components of the immense challenge the BOC race represents. When I was 7, I saw a genuine Force 9 storm from the deck of a small steamer during a December crossing of the North Atlantic. To this day, I cannot recall seeing anything more impressive as those towering green seas. Awesome, of course, but with a wild beauty that can be more captivating than any woman.”

Kolesnikov admits to thriving on challenge. He finds strength in solitude. He is a former motorcycle test rider and racer, an accomplished outdoor survivalist with mountaineering experience and an ultra-distance runner. He bought his first boat 12 years ago and has sailed 10,000 miles, mostly single-handed.

Primary funding for the Great American entry comes from companies whose names start with the words Great American and American.

About 50 vessels from throughout the world are expected to enter the race, sponsored by The BOC Group, a British-based multinational corporation specializing in industrial gases, health care, carbon and welding products. Perhaps 35 boats will start.

Sailing Notes

Jim White of Balboa Island, on whose dock I’ve been refurbishing my sadly neglected Swampscott dory boat, furnished me with the following little verse by Dick Emmons which sums up why we sailors suffer such matters.

“It’s not much fun to scrape one’s boat / As unused muscle fails you, / And yet there is this hopeful note: / It’s good, friend, for what sails you.”

The Vessel Assist Assn. of America, a company providing towing assistance for recreational boaters in non-emergency situations, has opened for business in Newport Beach. They will handle calls for assistance refused by the Coast Guard under a recent policy. The Vessel Assist firm will operate from Dana Point to Point Dume and out to Catalina Island. The initial fee is $79 a year, with an annual renewal fee of $69. This covers minor mechanical assistance, delivery of fuel or equipment and towing service.

The Coast Guard has established a trial toll-free safety hotline to publicize recall campaigns for defective equipment and take complaints about possible safety defects in vessels. The number is 1-800-368-5647 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays.

One of the highlights of a Bring Home the Cup Festival Sept. 22 will be a 12-meter race on San Diego Bay at the Downtown B Street Pier. It is a fund-raising event for San Diego Yacht Club’s America’s Cup Challenge ’87.

Sponsored by the Pacific Corinthian Yacht Club, the eighth annual Classic Yacht Race (wooden yachts designed before 1952) will be Aug. 10. The course is set between Ventura Marina and Channel Islands Harbor.