Next winter Steve White, a veteran of the Vendee Globe, plans on sailing solo into the prevailing winds, the wrong way around the Southern Ocean.
Only five people have done this to date - fewer than have walked on the Moon.
In previous posts for Kavas Yachting we have suggested an upwind / downwind itinerary for your charter holiday with us. With the winds coming from the N - NW you would plan your route so you head roughly N - NW for the first few days before turning back and having a comfortable ride back to the yacht’s base. The Meltemi can be quite fierce but even so you will often be in 25-30 degrees C of heat as you do so – the water over the bow will cool you off. Heading close to Antarctica Steve won’t have much in the way of sunshine to warm his bones as he flogs into the freezing seas.
Why do it?
Why do you go sailing? At some level you do it because you are down to your own devices and have to fix issues as they arise. At another level you know that it is dangerous with a real chance of being seriously hurt from a stupid mistake. Even after the inevitable problems you have faced at sea, you still come back for more. The sea casts a spell on many a sailor who just can’t walk away from it.
For Steve, this is a case of unfinished business. In 2008-09 he came 8th of 11 finishers of the Vendee Globe singlehanded round the world race. To even finish the race (29 started that year) is a hell of an achievement – to win it is something else. White wants this solo record attempt to be a jumping off point to begin a €10 million Vendee Globe campaign that could win the race.
The risks
Only five have attempted this solo record – there is a real reason for this. Even though he is timing the race to pass south of Cape Horn before the Southern Hemisphere’s Midsummers Day the weather won’t be as you will see in the Aegean by any means. Think of the weather down that way in summer as being similar to October in the UK. Deep low pressure weather systems charge toward Antarctica with winds regularly touching 70mph plus and the seas, having nothing to really stop them during an endless circuit of the globe, can build to almost 10 metres.
Where in a ‘Cape Horn snorter’ described above he would probably lay off or even give up the race, he will largely be fighting his way west against the wind. 20-30 knot headwinds won’t be unusual and on his former Volvo Ocean 70 the decks and cockpit will be constantly washed over with freezing seas. When Richard Shrubb met Steve in Les Sables d’Olonne at the beginning of the current Vendee Globe, Steve explained to him, “I hope to make headway against the record heading south down the Atlantic and then north again after passing the Cape of Good Hope. I expect to lose time heading into the weather” when he turns right at Cape Horn.
Another factor is something you will have experienced beating into opposing winds and seas – the boat slams and shudders as it hits the waves. Constantly accelerating into opposing seas and juddering to a halt can do serious damage to the boat. This is one of the reasons Steve’s campaign is very cheap by comparison to a campaign following the prevailing winds – he has to use a mono-hull because a trimaran such as Sodebo could break up from the constant thrashing. Steve is using an old Volvo Ocean 70 that can take the kicking yet will go very quick on the downwind legs.
The boat
Steve's boat interior
Steve plans on using a Volvo Ocean 70 that was originally built for the 08-09 Volvo Ocean Race.
These boats were designed to be sailed by 10 burly meatheads, and are built almost purely around speed. Even the toilet is carbon fibre! They are extremely wet boats to sail, meaning that the waves will blast over the deck in almost all wind conditions. There will be a number of modifications made to allow one man to sail it, with a watertight safety pod where he will live and work, as well as winching systems to trim his sails on his own.
Finally, he’s putting in two autopilot systems in that will do much of the sailing for him, and if one goes down the other will kick in.
To the start line
Steve is looking for sponsorship right now. The sales pitch he is putting to sponsors is essentially that when Kingfisher sponsored Ellen MacArthur’s solo round the world record in 04-05 they got £100 of publicity for every £1 they put in. Steve estimates that the whole campaign will cost £1.4 million and the sponsors will get £140 million in publicity. That could put an ambitious startup company in amongst the big boys in terms of global media coverage. (He has some interested potential sponsors right now and the campaign is not just a silly pipe dream!)
When Steve manages to get the sponsorship, he plans to begin the campaign around November 2017. Speaking to me recently he said, “We will go on standby on October the 12th for a November start. Ideally I need to go in November as recently there have been little Low Pressure areas in the South East Trade Winds in the early part of the year that could delay me coming back from the South Atlantic.”
Meanwhile back in the Mediterranean…
When you are beating into a F7 Meltemi and half the crew are green and depositing their lunches over the side under the hot sun, perhaps think about Steve’s campaign later in 2017: your own experiences are nothing to what this giant of ocean racers is about to face!
Enjoy the sunshine and fun while you island hop around the Greek Islands and mainland – it is a walk in the park compared to Steve White’s record attempt!
Richard Shrubb