OceanPlanet damaged

As 35 knot winds grind Bruce Schwab's Open 60 up against quay wall in Key West

After a successful Key West Race (Ft. Lauderdale to Key West), Bruce Schwab's Vendee Globe Open 60 OceanPlanet was damaged against a concrete seawall in a storm.

A fast moving cold front swept across the Florida Keys, producing steep waves and winds that pinned OceanPlanet and many racing boats against a dangerous concrete pier. Thankfully, no one was injured, but unfortunately OceanPlanet was badly damaged and will not be able to compete in Key West Race Week.

Schwab reports: "Utterly heartsick barely describes how I feel. Saturday, Jan 14th was one of the most horrible mornings of my life that I can remember, worse than anything in my two circumnavigations. To see our boat get damaged was a nightmare, and all day I was in a state of shock. The seawall we were moored to is quite dangerous as the basin is completely exposed to the northwest, but apparently no one realised how bad it was going to be. The end result is that we won't be able to race KWRW, and will be several months getting repaired.

The reality of being pinned next to a concrete seawall in big waves and 35+kt winds was worse than anything that I have experienced in my two solo circumnavigations. Our fenders had exploded and the last docklines were breaking just as I arrived, so we were naked against the cement. When we were blown back into the boat behind us (a Kiwi 35), I ran to the transom to attempt to push us off (The motor was on and in forward gear but I had yet to discover that it needed to be in full throttle to keep us from going backwards), but that was a completely hopeless concept. I almost got caught underneath the 35's outboard as slipped and fell down as our transoms careened over and under each other. It was like a horror movie as I scrambled back out of the way, and sat for a moment in horrified disbelief as I watched the outboard whack down on our deck/transom corner, rip away from the back of the Kiwi, and completely munch away at both boats. Not a pretty, or safe place to be, so I scrambled back to the tiller and throttle and went full forward.

The boat moved ahead and the transoms disengaged, and I looked forward to see where we were relative to the French Open 60 ahead of us. Suddenly I heard a terrific crack and groaning and I turned to see our carbon radar tower (the one that I had to climbed up and repair during the Vendee) topple over just to seaward of the 35. The Spectra stays had gotten caught on the 35's outboard or the racks (who knows) and it ripped down the whole show. I grabbed our cockpit knife, went back and cut the stays so we could pull away.

There were many crews working to save their boats, but no sign of anyone on the 35. We (and I'm sure many others) would have kept a crew on the boat for the night but for some inexplicable reason no staying aboard was allowed. I later found out that the crew of the 35 were held up in travel, which kept them from being there to help.

We scraped and ground and slammed horrifically against the wall for what seemed like an eternity as I waited for OP crew Sylvain Allard to get back from the house with more people...he had arrived with me and when we realised this was an emergency situation I sent him back to the house. I yelled and cursed and screamed at the wind, the wall, the waves, and myself, and hoped that I would wake up soon. I didn't.

When everyone arrived we grabbed anything we could use as makeshift fenders and all the bigger guys tried to hold us off. Of course we kept yelling at each other not to get caught between anything and not to get hurt. It was terrifying.

The most effective of many items we used was our furled heavy reacher which we draped down in between the wall and the boat. After a while a marine assistance boat that was pulling boats off the wall finally got to us, and we escaped to the other side of the basin where we could hang away from a windward surface.

I was chewing myself to bits most of yesterday, but my incredible crew of supporters organised a team dinner at the house and everyone told me that all the shoulda-coulda-wouldas I was beating myself up with were not going to help. Here I'm supposed to be an inspiration to these great people and they turned it around and have helped me to look forward, not backwards. They are right of course, and I'm feeling more positive now.

OceanPlanet will be repaired. We will have a reunion of these super people at another event. Our fledgling OceanPlanet Foundation will be continue to build itself around the concepts of opportunity for shorthanded racers,cruisers, and youth, along with prominence for American shorthanded racers, and a new program for the Vendee in 2008. With all that, there's no time for me to be moping.

Many lessons learned. Mother Nature rules. No matter what you have accomplished, she doesn't give you special treatment and you can never let your guard down.

Most important? Always give all you can to your friends and supporters. You never know when you'll be finding it coming right back to you.

Bruce Schwab, Skipper
OceanPlanet