I was obsessed with the Whitbread in 1997 - 1998. It was early in ocean sailing coverage on the web.
Email reports and GPS tracking were the keys. But when they came in to port on each leg they published photographs. Those were the days of film so the photographers were crew members.
The effort was enormous - 4,000 to 5,000 calories a day.
I was in awe of the round the buoys intensity across oceans. The leg from Capetown to Fremantle saw all eight boats finish within 20 miles of each other. Then came the ice.
I rooted for the Dutch team Brunel Sunergy (after all my earliest known forebear arrived in Nieuw Amsterdam in their own ship in 1612). And they had a great photographer ....(damn can't remember his last name) whose photo of the boat on a screaming reach I look at every time I sit at our dining table.
A high point for me was taking the helm of my law partner Eileen's friend Avis's boat to escort the fleet as thousands of us escorted the fleet out of Baltimore.
The round the world race was won by EF Language skippered by the great American sailor Paul Cayard. A champion in the 21 foot Olympic class Star and America's Cup challenger, this was his first ocean race where miles and hours, not seconds mattered.
Email reports and GPS tracking were the keys. But when they came in to port on each leg they published photographs. Those were the days of film so the photographers were crew members.
The effort was enormous - 4,000 to 5,000 calories a day.
I was in awe of the round the buoys intensity across oceans. The leg from Capetown to Fremantle saw all eight boats finish within 20 miles of each other. Then came the ice.
I rooted for the Dutch team Brunel Sunergy (after all my earliest known forebear arrived in Nieuw Amsterdam in their own ship in 1612). And they had a great photographer ....(damn can't remember his last name) whose photo of the boat on a screaming reach I look at every time I sit at our dining table.
A high point for me was taking the helm of my law partner Eileen's friend Avis's boat to escort the fleet as thousands of us escorted the fleet out of Baltimore.
The round the world race was won by EF Language skippered by the great American sailor Paul Cayard. A champion in the 21 foot Olympic class Star and America's Cup challenger, this was his first ocean race where miles and hours, not seconds mattered.
Among the highlights was the third place leg finish by the all female drew of EF Education skippered for the leg by the great French solo sailor Isabel Autissier
- gwc
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