2002

Home > Journals > Around Alone preparations

• Bon Voyage shindig – Feb. 9, 2002
• Puerto Vallarta Race Update – Feb. 26, 2002
• Puerto Vallarta Race Update – Feb. 27, 2002
• Post Puerto Vallarta Race – Mar. 3, 2002
• Panama Bound – Mar. 6, 2002
• Panama Bound – Mar. 7, 2002
• Panama Bound – Mar. 8, 2002
• Saturday at Sea – Mar. 09, 2002
• Adventure in Guatemala – Mar. 14, 2002
• Another day in the tropics – Mar. 15, 2002
• We’re in Panama! – Mar. 18 & 19, 2002
• Almost to the Atlantic. – Mar. 20, 2002
• Ocean Planet is now in the Atlantic. – Mar. 21, 2002
• Ocean Planet Yuck! – Mar. 22, 2002
• Ocean Planet 250 Miles down, 984 to go! – Mar. 23, 2002
• Flop. flop… – Mar. 24, 2002
• Bangin’ though the Caribbean – Mar. 26, 2002
• Back in the big wild open. – Mar. 27, 2002
• Beautiful Day – Mar. 28, 2002
• Almost There! – Mar. 30, 2002
• Antigua Arrival, no foolin’! – Apr. 1, 2002
• Paradise Found – April 6, 2002 
• Hey there! – April 10, 2002 
• Ocean Planet Antigua Update #1 – April 11, 2002
• Ocean Planet Antigua Update #2 – April 12, 2002 
• My Early Birthday Present? – Apr. 14, 2002 
• Antigua Update #3 – Apr. 16, 2002
• Antigua Update #4 – Apr. 20, 2002
• Antigua Sailing Week, T-2 days. – Apr. 26, 2002
• “Tomorrow we Race” – Apr. 27, 2002
• Antigua Sailing Week – Apr. 29, 2002
• Antigua Sailing Week – Lay Day – May 1, 2002
• Last day of racing – May 3, 2002
• The delivery North to Charleston – May 08, 2002
• 732 miles from Antigua – May 10, 2002
• We’re here! – May 13, 2002
• Less than one month(!) – May 18, 2002
• Finishing and modifying – June 9, 2002
• The race is on….against time! – June 14, 2002
• Better late than never! – June 24, 2002
• 24 hours in – June 26, 2002
• Mariner’s VitaminsT & Dodging freighters – June 27, 2002
• Now we’re havin fun – June 28, 2002
• A balancing act – June 29, 2002
• Fairly mellow – June 30, 2002
• Slower going now – July 1, 2002
• The “Azores high” – July 2, 2002
• Too much lightning! – July 3, 2002
• Independence day – July 4, 2002
• Whew! – July 5, 2002
• Almost there! – July 6, 2002
• An incredibly wonderful place! – July 7, 2002
• Horta, Faial, in the Azores! – July 8, 2002
• Off to Newport! – July 11, 2002
• Good karma – July 13, 2002
• ‘middle’ to the Atlantic – July 15 & 17 , 2002
• “white squalls” – July 19, 2002 
• A big improvement – July 20, 2002 
• North wall of the Gulf Stream – July 22, 2002 
• Return delivery to Newport – July 23, 2002 
• First days in Newport – July 27, 2002 
• Sleepless in Newport – August 2, 2002 
• Heroes in Newport! – August 4, 2002 
• Nice progress – August 10, 2002 
• She still floats!! – August 15, 2002 
• Great advice from my friend – August 20, 2002 
• “Dialing for dollars and playing it by ear.” – August 22, 2002 
  • Providence Journal 
• “Ground Zero” in Newport, RI  – August 28, 2002 
• ‘Sail for America’ announcement – August 30, 2002
• Up at 5 a.m. – Sept 1, 2002
• Eight days to go!!!! – Sept 4, 2002
• Eight days to go!!!! – Sept 07, 2002

Around Alone preparations 2002

PV – Panama – Charleston – Azores

“Hi Mates!! You know I got on board in SF to head to San Diego with a sack of oranges from my back yard, and obviously all the other boats have apples. Welcome to Open 60 racing. On the one hand, it’s frustrating to be grinding against these boats that have been optimized for moderate conditions, on the other, it’s great for us because we’ve been able to really focus in detail on trimming in running conditions to optimize Ocean Planet. 

For instance, in light air running, when you’d think that you should throw all weight overboard, we are faster tanked up with water ballast and sheeted in hard. The trick is to go as fast and high as possible on the apparent wind. Takes some getting used to for our crew (I can’t drive all the time…). With more wind you can ease the sheets and even dump ballast as you square up. Last night was beautiful, with a full moon and warm, moderate air. At one point we flew by a boat from the fleets that had started in the days before us like they were standing still. What fun, they must have wondered: “Who in the heck is that!?”” – Puerto Vallarta Race Feb. 26, 2002

 

“I am just a little over 24 hours and 250 miles into my trip to the Azores. I was going to really take it easy for a couple of days, but something changed my plan . . . . .another sailboat! Ok, it was just a cruiser, but I couldn’t resist putting up the small genniker and blasting by them. Another reason is that I need to get NE soon enough to latch onto the bottom of a low pressure system tomorrow that should give me a big push across the pond.” – June 26, 2002