2003

Ocean Planet Adventures
Thursday, July 03, 2003

Ocean Planet news and coming events,
July 3, 2003

So much to absorb these days. Italian sailor Simone Bianchetti is gone. For all of us who knew him from the Around Alone, it is strange and sad to see someone who seemed so nearly indestructible pass away. There is no comparison to the loss his wife and family must feel, and my heart goes out to them. It is hard to know what to say, but I will say this about Simone: I don’t think I have ever met anyone with so much personality and spirit as him, perhaps it was just too much to fit into one body. Now he lives on in all of us.

Fellow American Around Alone sailor Tim Kent has found his boat, Everest Horizontal, and she is now at a dock in Bermuda. EH had capsized after keel damage on the return leg of the Bermuda 1-2 race, and thankfully Tim and his crew were quickly rescued. The bad news is that the boat is quite beat up and the rig was broken and had to be cut away. He faces a huge task to restore the boat to racing condition, and I wish him the best of luck. I know that he won’t give up easily.

These events send my mind reeling back to the race and being with these guys at the stopovers. It will be a special experience for me to reminisce go through my slide show with everyone at my upcoming talks. I hope to see you there, and you might want to make reservations at the Corinthian YC talk which is already filling up:

Thursday, July 10, at the Corinthian YC in Tiburon: http://www.cyc.org/speakers/bruceschwab.html

Saturday, July 26, at the Stockton Sailing Club.

I recently did an interview with The Log, a great California boating newspaper. Here it is if you want to check it out: http://www.thelog.com/news/newsview.asp?c=64180

Don’t forget: Ocean Planet will soon be sailing two overnight ocean runs: from Bristol, RI, to Rockland, Maine (July 16/17), and the return trip (July 21/22). We are going to Maine to represent MAS Epoxies at the Wooden Boat show happening July 18-20. Supporting Crew slots are still available for what should be some fun rides. How many chances do you get to sail on an Open 60?

Bruce
Skipper, Ocean Planet