Truly an All-Around Athlete

One of the things that I have noticed about experiencing the sea is that nothing lasts. There is always a level of your current experience, which seems more intense than what you have been exposed to in the past. In other words, good things never last, bad things will always change to good, and there is always someone out there who has experienced more wind, a bigger wave or a colder day.

--Brad Van Liew, sailor

In two days, when many of us are settling onto the couch to watch football or baseball, Brad Van Liew will be setting sail from Torbay, England, to Cape Town, South Africa.

His trip, the second leg of the Around Alone sailing race, will cover 6,880 nautical miles. If all goes well, he will sail into port sometime before Thanksgiving weekend.

“By then, the Trojans ought to be right in the thick of things,” the USC graduate said during a phone interview.

By then, how his alma mater is faring will be one of the last things on his mind. He and the 12 other skippers competing in the race will have long since put such trivial interests behind them.

Their only concerns will be resting and preparing for the third leg, then the fourth and fifth. With luck--and it’ll take some luck--all 13 will complete the circumnavigation of the world and will sail into Newport, R.I., next April.

This is the sixth running of the Around Alone, a single-handed competition held every four years. In the previous five, only 56 of 87 sailors made it to the finish line. Most who didn’t suffered equipment failure or fatigue. Six were forced to abandon their vessels and, fortunately, were rescued. One ran aground and lost his boat, one fell overboard and was never found, another mysteriously disappeared along with his vessel.

As for Van Liew, 34, a Mount Pleasant, S.C., resident who grew up in Southern California, he finished third in his class the last time the race was held, in 1998-99. Afterward, he needed back surgery--twice.

Why go through such an arduous struggle again?

“The last time, I was just hoping to finish,” he said. “This time, I want to win.”

*

The passage at the top of this column was taken from Van Liew’s log Sept. 28, a day he spent crashing through the North Atlantic in the face of 30- to 40-knot headwinds, in the late stages of the first leg from New York to Torbay.

Van Liew had made astounding progress early on, using a steady tailwind to build a huge lead. The 50-foot Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America has been called a hot rod. It has a wide beam, a thin carbon-fiber hull and other lightweight and somewhat experimental components. It streaks along smoothly--and remarkably quickly--downwind, but takes a beating when traveling upwind.

For five consecutive days, Van Liew sailed upwind. He couldn’t sleep. The pinging sound of his hull slamming repeatedly onto the ocean was deafening.

“It was like living in a tin drum,” he said.

He wondered how long the boat could weather such a pounding. But eventually the wind eased and, on the morning of Sept. 30, Freedom America glided peacefully across the finish line at Torbay, more than 600 miles and nearly three days ahead of his closest competitor in Class II, vessels 40 to 50 feet.

His time of 14 days 16 hours 56 minutes 49 seconds was even better than one of the larger and supposedly faster vessels in Class I, 50-60 feet. Bernard Stamm of Switzerland was the swiftest of that bunch, setting a solo trans-Atlantic monohull record aboard the Bobst Group-Armor Lux, with a time of 10:22:48:38.

There is the obvious reward for being the fastest during any of the five legs--each small victory brings the sailors one step closer to an overall victory. But doing so also buys time with family and friends before the start of the next leg.

When Van Liew sailed into Torbay, his wife, Meaghan, and 6-month-old daughter, Tate Magellan, were there to greet him. They’ll see him off Sunday and will accompany him in spirit during the long haul to Cape Town.

“They’re what keeps me going,” Van Liew said. “My wife will e-mail photographs of our daughter and that’ll help keep my spirits up.”

*

That there are only 13 sailors this year points to the nature of the race. The routes are long and the seas treacherous. Although they have the support of their teams, the sailors, by and large, are on their own in a vast and often turbulent world.

“You never get used to it,” Van Liew said. “There’s really no way to prepare for the mental anguish that goes along with so much solitude.”

This year’s race has one female sailor, England’s Emma Richards, 27, who skippered the Pindar to a fourth-place finish--out of seven boats in Class I--during the first leg. It also has a diabetic, Canada’s John Dennis, 57, who piloted the Bayer Ascensia to a fourth-place finish in Class II.

This 28,000-mile race will be tougher than any of their previous journeys. And therein, most likely, lies the attraction. To simply finish this race is an achievement. To do well is a bonus, and to win, even though there is no cash prize, is the ultimate accomplishment.

“The better we can do, the better we make ourselves feel,” said Van Liew, the only sailor in the field who finished the 1998-99 race.

*

Because their vessels require nearly constant attention if they’re to run at optimum speed, the sailors will be depriving themselves of precious sleep for nearly all of the waterborne portions of their seven-month excursion.

Van Liew has his daily regimen down to a science. He will sleep an average of 4 1/2 hours a day in “mini-naps” averaging 26 minutes. Breakfast is cereal and coffee. Lunch is an energy bar or two and dinner is dehydrated meat over rice or pasta.

Since a light boat is a faster boat, the inventory is small. Sailors have been known to cut toothbrushes in half and tear the covers off books to keep weight down.

Van Liew will carry only 26 pounds of food for every 30-40 days. He’ll burn 5,000 calories a day and lose several pounds a week.

The voyage is just as taxing mentally. Van Liew’s philosophy is that each day he puts behind him brings him that much closer to his objective--and to the warm embraces of family and friends.

“The reality is that the longer you’re out there by yourself, the more survivalish it becomes,” he said. “When I first leave, I really miss hanging out and enjoying a glass of wine or a beer with friends. And by the end I find myself latching onto what little things I have that are tied to my lifestyle.”

They include “a splash of wine” every few days with dinner, listening to music, reading a book and, of course, watching Tate Magellan come to life on the computer screen.

News and Notes

* Hunting: Thousands of deer hunters who long ago had purchased tags to hunt this month in several zones within the Angeles, San Bernardino and Cleveland national forests are among those being kept out because of closures designed to minimize the threat of fires. The zones affected are D11, D14, D15, D16 and D19. The Department of Fish and Game is offering no refunds but is offering--until Tuesday--to exchange the tags for tags good in zones not affected by closures. The DFG and hunters have been highly critical of the U.S. Forest Service and the lack of adequate notice given them.

* Saltwater fishing: Pacific Queen skipper Bill Cavanaugh reports “some of the most phenomenal albacore fishing I have ever seen” off Morro Bay. He was referring primarily to Monday’s bite, during which 22 anglers boated 251 tuna averaging 30-40 pounds. “The fish were biting full-speed for 2 1/2 hours,” he said. “Words can’t describe it.” The vessel has moved from its San Diego port and can be reached at (858) 483-8990.

Closer to home, yellowtail are making the biggest splash. The Toronado out of Pierpoint Landing in Long Beach on Thursday had 108 on its deck at Tanner Bank. Some of the fish topped 30 pounds.

* Scuba diving: Skin Diver magazine, which for the last 50 years has been bringing the underwater world to life, closed its doors Wednesday. Citing financial reasons, Primedia pulled the plug on a monthly magazine that boasted a circulation of more than 200,000. The November issue, now in print, will be the last.

* RV Show: The 50th annual California RV Show begins a 10-day run today at Fairplex in Pomona. Free prostate cancer screenings will be offered to men 40 and older. Show admission is $6, $5 for seniors and free for children under 12. Hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily. Details: (909) 274-9215.