Around-the-World Sailing Race : Harrowing Tales of Wild Indian Ocean Crossing

Britain’s Harry Harkimo, at 61 the oldest sailor in the BOC single-handed race around the world, arrived today in Sydney, Australia, aboard his 41-foot sloop Double Cross, the last to finish the second leg of the race that began here in September.

Two things dominated the thoughts and conversation of the 18 racers as they prepared for the next and longest leg, the 8,200 nautical-miles across the South Pacific, around Cape Horn to Rio de Janeiro. It will start Jan. 18.

One thought never far from their minds was of fellow racer Jacques de Roux, 50, of France, who apparently fell overboard 230 miles south of Sydney. His boat, Skoiern IV, was found adrift, but he was missing.

The second topic was the appalling conditions most of the racers experienced during the last half of the 6,500-leg across the Indian Ocean from Cape Town.

Guy Bernardin, aboard Biscuits Lu, said: “It was absolutely the worst voyage of my life. I tore the mainsail, one staysail, a headsail, and my roller-reefing went out the first week. I lost my radar (dome), and the track to my mainsheet traveler tore away.

“I pushed the boat too much this time. It’s OK if you have a crew, but when you are by yourself, it is different. The next leg, I will not strain everything as much.”

Americans Dave White, aboard Legend Securities, and Mike Plant, on Airco Distributor, crossed the finish line just 90 minutes apart.

Said White: “The Bass Strait was the pits. (The conditions were) the most volatile I’ve seen. They were murder. Heavy, steep seas reaching 30 feet, howling winds, and very confused seas . . . it was scary.”

Plant, 35, finished the leg first in Class 2 in his 50-foot boat but it was a bitter victory. Plant had been less than 100 miles astern of De Roux when the Frenchman was lost.

“We had one hell of a race together,” plant said. “The last couple hundred miles were extremely tough. I wasn’t sure I wanted to come in at that point (after De Roux was lost). I don’t want first place under those circumstances. I had someone to chase before. It made me really push. Now it won’t be as competitive as it could be.”

Plant sailed the leg in 34 days 16 hours, just under the record of 35 days set by Philippe Jeantot in a longer boat during the 1982-83 race. His total time at the halfway mark is 82 days 7 hours, putting him sixth overall, ahead of four Class 1 boats.

Plant recalled the southern ocean:

“(Two weeks ago) the barometer just kept rising, and the wind just kept building. You know that one out of every 100 or so waves is going to hit you, and you realize there is not much you can do. You just have to have faith that your boat will take that much punishment.”

Plant was knocked down several times and rolled upside down once.

“That was the worst. It’s not very smart to heave-to in 40-foot seas. So you steer along with it and try to stay away from the big ones--or they’ll break right over the top of you, and the boat will round up and roll. The only thing you can do is stay at the wheel and drive. Because if you don’t, it’s just a matter of time before something bad happens.”

John Martin, skipper of South Africa’s Tuna Marine and winner of the first leg, had a near disastrous second leg. His elapsed time for the leg was 35 days 4 hours for a combined total of 77 days 5 hours and fourth place overall.

“I have never been so happy to arrive anywhere in my life,” he said. “It got to the point where I wasn’t even trying to race. I was trying to survive and get to Sydney so I could race the third leg.”

Tempted to turn around and head back to Cape Town shortly after the start, when everything started going wrong, Martin decided to sleep on it. “So I went to sleep for seven hours and when I woke up, I said, ‘There’s no way I’m going back.’ ”

One night he was rolled twice. “It was blowing so hard that I had only a small jib up and I was surfing at 12 knots. I decided to go down below. Then I had a funny feeling about life. I closed the hatch when I went below, and 30 minutes later all hell broke loose; it was a pitch-pole, roll, nose-dive.

“I tried to piece it all together afterwards, looking at the damage. I really don’t know what happened, except I was suddenly on the roof, then I was on the engine, then I was walking on the side of the engine casing--water pouring all through the cabin.

“I thought we were upside down, then it seemed we’d come up, but I decided to go up on deck and see what was happening. All the rigging (hundreds of feet of various control lines) was stuck in the wheel and enormous waves were breaking over the boat. I just grabbed the wheel and held on.

“I had no oilskins on. I steered the boat that way for five hours. That night was the first night of the whole trip I had taken my boots off. And I thought, Well, I’m either going to die by being rolled again or I’m going to die of hypothermia.

“We’ll have our work cut out for us to get ready for Leg 3, but I’m looking forward to getting back in front. For right now, though, you don’t know how happy I am just to be here.”

Work at the dock was frantic.

American Mark Schrader, skipper of Lone Star, said the three leading French boats arrived “badly broken and virtually sinking.”

Big crews of skilled people are swarming over those boats, practically rebuilding them. They’re getting all new sails and much of their gear is being replaced.

Philippe Jeantot, who arrived with a 100-gallon-an-hour leak in his Credit Agricole III, discovered three of eight keel bolts sheered off and a four-inch separation between the keel and the hull.

American Warren Luhrs, dismasted south of Sydney, arrived with a jury rigged sail on his Thursday’s Child. He and his support crew have repaired the mast with an internal aluminum sleeve.