Great American II battered

Sailing in big seas and 35 to 40 knot winds with no sail except a heavily-reefed jib, Great American II lost ground over the last few days and is currently only 600 miles ahead of Mandarin’s comparable position.

Battered by one storm and battening down for the next, Rich Wilson, skipper of the Melbourne-bound trimaran Great American II today paid tribute to Captain James Cook and other early navigators of the Southern Ocean.

"How did Captain Cook do it?" asked Wilson in a satellite email today. "He came down here, getting to 72 degrees south, over 200 years ago. He had poor food, poor clothing, only one ship, and no one had a clue where he was until he returned. He did have his great curiosity, leadership, seamanship, and, in my mind, a full load of personal bravery."

Wilson, from Rockport, Massachusetts and his co-skipper Bill Biewenga, from Newport, Rhode Island, are sailing Wilson’s 53-foot trimaran Great American II from New York City to Melbourne Australia in pursuit of a sailing record that has stood for a century and a half. The record belongs to the Mandarin, an American clipper that logged 69 days port to port in the winter of 1855-56, while carrying prospectors to the Australian Gold Rush.

Wilson’s trimaran was today 1,880 nautical miles southeast of Cape Town, South Africa, and 2,754 miles southwest of Cape Leeuwin, Western Australia, at 24 degrees 29 minutes south latitude and 57 degrees 6 minutes west longitude.

"We have passed Isles Crozet, and the next mark on our course across this desolate ocean is Kerguelen Island," Wilson said today. On her present heading, Great American II will pass 400 miles north of Kerguelen, remote home for a French weather and scientific base.

"I'm in touch via satellite email with Capt. Murray Lister aboard the containership Cape Sorrell. Murray was Mate aboard the refrigerated containership New Zealand Pacific which rescued me when my trimaran Great American capsized off Cape Horn in 1990. New Zealand Pacific, also known as the Big Red Lady is 810-feet long and capable of handling the roughest weather, but Murray says they never took her south of Kerguelen.

"I understand a bit better now why some solo round the world sailors race once, maybe twice around the world, but almost never a third time. Who would want to come back here? We've only had one blow, with another due tomorrow, but this is a long ways from anywhere. It's lonely, vast and desolate, with only the amazing albatross for company. What would we do without the albatross?"

"Great American II holds together although she took a pounding in the last blow. We have retreated somewhat north and are trying to make 5 degrees of longitude (222 nautical miles) per day. Our chart of the Southern Indian Ocean is folded to show South Africa to Kerguelen Island. When we get to 70 degrees east, then we can turn it over, and see Australia. That will be a good day!"

The attempt to break Mandarin’s record is the latest education adventure program undertaken by Wilson’s Boston-based sitesALIVE! web site at http://www.sitesalive.com. Using satellite communications, Wilson and Biewenga share their daily experiences with schoolchildren who link to an accredited curriculum delivered on the Internet to classrooms throughout the United States and Australia.