Meet the Lone Men and the Sea

So, how is your Christmas going?

Brad Van Liew’s is, uh, different.

The Los Angeles sailor wrote by e-mail from the Southern Ocean: “The last 24 hours have been a real gut grinder . . . the hard wind with the cold water. This place has been no fun.”

Russia’s Fedor Konioukhov: “I have wind up to 50 knots . . . huge mountains of water. I am really scared and tired.”

Jean-Pierre Mouligne: “I think about my wife Kate, spending Christmas at her parents’ in Rhode Island . . . my mother, brother and sisters in Paris, and I wish I could be there with all of them. I could be drinking champagne and eating fine food instead of being tossed around in wet boots somewhere south of Australia.

“But do not feel sorry for me. Nobody has forced me to do this.”

Such is life for those solo sailors in the Around Alone race, thousands of miles from friends and family--or anybody--as they battle a series of storms on Leg 2 from Cape Town, South Africa, to Auckland, N.Z.

And they’re the lucky ones. France’s Isabelle Autissier, who won Class I on Leg 1 from Charleston, S.C., was limping toward an unplanned stop at Tasmania for repairs.

George Stricker, a 63-year-old former Marine from Kentucky, was struggling to return to Cape Town, down to his last sail, after aborting his third attempt at starting Leg 2 and finally conceding in despair, “This race is not for me.”

Stricker’s withdrawal this week left Van Liew, 30, as one of only two Americans among 14 competitors and the only one in contention. Robin Davie of South Carolina was several time zones behind after starting Leg 2 almost two weeks late.

Van Liew, sailing the 50-foot Balance Bar, finished third in Class II on Leg 1 and is running third on this one, behind Mouligne and Britain’s Michael Garside.

“I, on the other hand, would enjoy a relaxing Christmas with a slow morning and some wine at dinner,” Van Liew wrote.

“So my request to Santa, other than a safe arrival in Auckland into the arms of my wife, is for the weather to relax to a 15-20 [knot] northwesterly with a controlled sea.

“I am assuming, of course, that Santa can fit down [my heater’s] little exhaust pipe because that’s about all I have in the way of a chimney. I will even leave him a Balance Bar and some milk under the tree! I have a miniature little African Christmas tree which was a gift from Meaghan.”

Van Liew’s wife was in Chicago with her parents but monitoring his progress several times a day. “It is really rough out there,” she said after talking to Van Liew by satellite phone.

“The storms will continue through Christmas.”

The winds and thrashing waves twice knocked Van Liew’s boat down on one side, but he said, “I doubt the mast hit the water because the wind instruments are still there.”

Meaghan Van Liew said her husband had deviated from the optimum course to look for milder weather, which means he’ll sail more miles to reach Auckland about Jan. 6-8. “His spirits are good,” Meaghan Van Liew said, “[but] there are not a lot of opportunities right now for sleep.”

She said Van Liew probably will dine today on a dehydrated version of Leonardo de fettuccine, “his favorite,” topped off by an almond brownie Balance Bar from his sponsor for dessert and a bottle of Merlot wine.

Then, if can manage it, he’ll open some gifts stowed aboard by his family at Cape Town.

The best one, Meaghan said, is that “the boat is holding up tremendously.”