Totally unhinged

Our Around Alone correspondent, The Snake, takes us on a mental tour of a singlehanded sailor

'One sailor...one boat...around the world...alone' runs the race slogan, though many feel that between the words 'one sailor' and 'one boat' the phrase 'totally unhinged and mentally unstable' should be inserted. That the Around Alone is possibly the most demanding yacht race is without doubt; the lack of experience of some of the skippers, though, will only become evident over the forthcoming circumnavigation.

The Around Alone is a unique assembly of talent and audacity ranging from well funded, well founded professional skippers on modern Open 60s in Class 1, to unknown, untested and under-budgeted 40s and 50s in Class 2.

The only American entry in Class 1 is Bruce Schwab ( Ocean Planet) in a Californian designed 60. It seems that Schwab's designers have chosen to ignore the twenty years of Open 60 design experience gained in France and dominated by Finot and have produced a boat quite unlike any 60 in existence. This has caused much head-scratching on the pontoons among the European teams and it will be interesting to see how the talented Schwab matches up.

Swiss sailor Bernard Stamm with the lethally fast Bobst Group-Armor Lux has much of the money riding on him for Class 1 favourite while Briton Emma Richards on Pindar has caused a media frenzy and been compared to Lara Croft, although happily Emma is usually less heavily armed, but will shake-up the all-male fleet. Richards has already caused a stir arriving in Rhode Island five hours before the deadline imposed by the race organisers after completing a 4,000 mile, four week long solo trans Atlantic qualifier.

Without doubt most talk has been around Kiwi Graham Dalton's Hexagon misfortune in breaking his mast during his UK to USA qualifier. Returning to England Dalton rented Kingfisher's spare mast, some antique pre-Vendee Globe sails and set off again. Hexagon arrived in Newport late with tattered sails hanging off the boom and solent furling system incurring a staggering time penalty. It is a great credit to Dalton's tireless shore crew and team from Southern Spars preparing the new mast that he will be on the start line in good shape.

In the marina Class 2 has been dominated by Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America skippered by American Brad van Liew. Van Liew's boat is by far the most visually striking 50 footer, decked in Hilfiger livery with a steady stream of fashion models parading across the deck. The cockpit is a mass of pouting and hair flicking - and that's just Brad. Many consider that Brad may worry the Class 1 backmarkers throughout the race.

Japanese entry Kojiro Shiraishi on Spirit of Yukoh has the newest designed Class 2 boat, a French designed and built 40 footer. After an epic qualifying sail from Japan to USA it is unsurprising that the threatening Shiraishi has been bedevilled with keel problems since his arrival. Spirit of Yukoh spent a week on pop-stands being refitted and is now back in top form for the start.

Over the past two weeks the fantastically efficient Newport Shipyard (the race base) has been a frantic site. Were it not for the yard's high professionalism it is unlikely that many of the competing boats would be in such good shape to race. The yard's travel lift and crane have seldom been static; lifting the boats for faring and antifouling or heeling them over for 90 degree AVS (angle of vanishing stability) tests.

Other than forklift trucks the fastest moving objects at the yard are the race scrutineers. Armed with clipboards these worthy men have the ability to make a skipper and shore crew's life an utter misery when applying some of the more absurd rules. This year's favourite...an 8 inch ship's bell must be carried. This, I am sure, is a huge relief to all skippers racing. It will be interesting to see how the American scrutineers measure up to their European counterparts who are usually under achieving yacht designers or yacht club worthies. Whether the Americans will prove to be as partisan as their Old World colleagues has yet to be seen.

Clipper Ventures, the race organisers have behaved impeccably; altering a couple of the race rules when approached by skippers, most notably over weather routing and met information. Originally any individual information to a skipper provided in a stop-over port or during a leg of the race was forbidden. This is implemented to prevent bigger budget teams from buying information or services unobtainable by the less wealthy projects. The ruling has now been changed and in port receiving tailor made met information is now legal. Furthermore, it was pointed out by a couple of the Class 2 skippers that even if they did have access to this purchased information they would have absolutely no idea what to do with it.

There is much to be said for an open approach to weather routing and met information as it may stop some of the unpleasantness involved in a rule infringement that is very hard to police. It would also prevent any malicious gossip and wasted time in front of protest committees...the unjustified sniping over personal routing during the last Vendee and the ugly Gartmore v Kingfisher and Ecover debacle during the EDS Transatlantic Challenge last year.

Socially the pre-race, Rhode Island diary has been quiet with the exception of a massive barbeque thrown by Class 1 team Pindar. The team have a crew house on millionaire's row, Bellevue Avenue, where many of the feaux French chateaux and monstrous mansions that appear to have been teleported from a virtual Gloucestershire are probably visible on eastern seaboard weather satellite photos. Pindar's house was fairly modest by comparison but would still probably get the Beckhams into a lather. With none of the tiresome speeches that seem mandatory at these races, the party cranked until the early hours with many choosing to undertake personal angle of vanishing stability tests to the accompaniment of skipper Bruce Shwab on the guitar whose repertoire was, thankfully, more Abba than Aerosmith.

Next stop New York.

The Snake