2001
The latest News from OCEAN PLANET
May 9, 2001
“Pacific Sail Expo” and after…
The very first race for OCEAN PLANET will be this saturday, in the annual crewed race around the southeast Farallone Islands. This is a classic race here in Northern California and will be a great opportunity to show off what OCEAN PLANET can do. I hope that there is a good breeze! Our start will be around 9:45am, and we will try to set a course record.
The Farallone Islands abound with sea life. I look forward to introducing our beautiful new boat to all of the whales and other creatures that we see out there. There won’t be a lot of time however, as we will be going by pretty fast.
Despite great press coverage and a huge public turnout for OCEAN PLANET at Pacific Sail Expo, we haven’t landed the level of sponsorship needed to race the first European races we had planned. I am disappointed, but in a way it is a relief, since there was a very short time to prepare.
Our schedule now is to do a few tune-up races like this saturday’s Farallones race, and prepare for an assault on the Singlehanded Transpac record to Kauai, Hawaii. OCEAN PLANET is capable of demolishing the existing record, so that would be a lot of fun and good practice for me. Other races that we are interested in are the crewed Transpac race from Los Angeles to Oahu, and the Transat Jacque Vabre that is doublehanded from Le Havre, France, to Brazil.
We will continue to work hard at finding additional sponsorship. In the meantime, the continuing donations to our non-profit foundation are REALLY appreciated.
A great big thank-you to all of our Official Supplier Sponsors that have helped create OCEAN PLANET:
AMD (All of our computers have “AMD on Board!”)
Doyle Sailmakers (OCEAN PLANET uses Vectran D4 sails)
Forespar Composites (Custom carbon bowsprit, bunks, and 16′ radar pole!)
Nobeltec (The very best in electronic navigation)
Metropolis Metal Works (Custom Titanium and stainless steel fabrication)
Samson Rope Technologies (All of our lines are Samson)
Spectra Watermakers (The most efficient watermaker available!)
MAS Epoxies (Custom resins used extensively in our hull and carbon rig)
Thanks guys!
Bruce Schwab
Skipper, OCEAN PLANET