Notes from a Sailing Bum is Brian's blog about all things currently going on in the world of sailing. It's an edgy insight written by someone who has 'been there and done that' if you will. The blogs have been picked up by various sailing outlets most notably Sailing Anarchy, the most popular sailing website in the world (by far). They are written when there is something to write about and can be read to the end long before your cup of coffee gets cold, or your beer gets warm. If you like and appreciate independent thought and good writing please consider buying me a coffee, or a beer, or chucking a few bucks into gofundme so that I can turn all my books into audio books. It all helps. Also please consider signing up so that they land in your inbox.

POT AU NOIR

Samuel Taylor Coleridge may have said it best when he wrote, "Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean." What he was referring to, of course, was that mind-numbing part of any circumnavigation of the globe—the doldrums, or "Pot au Noir," as the French so elegantly put it.

The 15-boat fleet competing in the Mini Globe Race is in the thick of it, with some sailors reporting searing hot temperatures and no wind as far as the eye can see. It’s what it is, but these sailors face a unique situation. Let me explain.

In most around-the-world races, the yachts transit the ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone—or doldrums) on a north-south axis. This means they are either sailing from Europe toward the southern latitudes or vice versa. The

LOG ENTRY - 3/31/2025 - (1 minute read)

trick for them is to hit the windless belt at its narrowest point and slice through it. In other words, make haste southward (or northward) as quickly as possible. However, for the sailors racing in the Mini Globe Race sailing their ALMA Globe 580s, their course from Panama to Fiji is more nuanced—it’s certainly not a simple north-south route. Instead, these racers follow a west-southwest course that mostly parallels the ITCZ. So, what’s the strategy?

Based on the Race Tracker, most of the fleet seems to have decided to bite the bullet and sail a more southerly course. This isn’t good for their distance-to-finish number, but it may be the only way to escape the clutches of this windless zone.

The French call this area the "Pot au Noir" for good reason. It really is a black pot—with hellishly hot temperatures, calm, glassy seas, and sudden, violent squalls that bring intense gusts of wind followed by torrential rain. And then, like a guy on a first date, the squall leaves as quickly as it came (sorry, couldn’t help myself). The "black" refers to the sky, which turns a furious shade of black as the squalls approach. If you’re not ready for it, a tropical squall can knock your mast into the water and give you an unexpected laundering.

Looking at the Windy app, there doesn’t seem to be any relief in sight. They’ll just have to suck it up, smear on plenty of sunscreen, and remember—this is the ticket they bought, and it wasn’t a cheap one. So, make the best of it and have fun.

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MY TRIBE

An around-the-world yacht race that goes over land? A strange sort of dichotomy, if you ask me. How is this even possible? Well, let me explain.

My friend Don McIntyre, known in the Sailing Anarchy forums as “the Mad Bastard,” may be a little mad—aren’t we all? And he may be a bastard at times—aren’t we all? But he is no fool. When planning his extraordinary around-the-world yacht race, the Mini Globe Race, Don wanted it to be attainable and affordable for ‘ordinary’ sailors, while also ensuring it was a complete circumnavigation. Good idea, if you ask me.

Here’s the problem. These sturdy ALMA Globe 580 boats can cross oceans and have proven to be stable, strong, and seaworthy. But Don, like myself, has

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seen the wild waters of Cape Horn, and there is no way anyone would think it’s a good idea to send a fleet of small boats around that notorious cape—against the prevailing winds.

Yup, the Mini Globe is going westabout around the world, unlike races such as the Vendée Globe or The Ocean Race, which go eastabout. So Cape Horn was out of the question. What then?

The only other reasonable choice was the Panama Canal. It’s a well-traveled transit point from the Caribbean to the Pacific, used by sailors thousands of times. Sounds like a reasonable option, but here’s the sticking point: to transit the canal, you need to be able to motor at a steady 6–8 knots. Otherwise, they won’t let you enter. The ALMA Globe 580s have small electric engines and can’t maintain that pace. So now what?

Well, if you’re a Mad Bastard, the only alternative is to truck the boats across Panama. Seems legit, right?

Well, there were other options. If you’ve ever been to Panama, you know you can always find someone who can ‘help’—for a price, of course. One operator suggested he could tow the fleet at the required speed, but he didn’t come cheap.(US55,000) Let’s just say Panama is full of hustlers. So, the best option was still to truck the boats 55 miles from the east to the west coast. The boats were hauled at Shelter Bay Marina, loaded onto two specially modified trailers, secured tight, and are now being transported to the ‘other’ coast. There, they will be unloaded, have their masts reinstalled, and be prepped for the next leg of the race—a 6,700-mile Pacific crossing to Fiji via Mystery Island, Tahiti, and Tonga.

Mad Bastard or mad genius? You decide. For now, I’m sticking with Mad Bastard. That’s more my tribe.

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CUT A BLOKE A BREAK

It’s getting a little tense for our Belgium friend sailing in the Vendee Globe. Denis van Weynbergh is hoping to become the first Belgium sailor to complete this iconic around-the-world yacht race, but time is running out. There is a time deadline and the clock stops at 08:00 French time tomorrow (Friday)

As I write this, that's in 20 hours time. If van Weynbergh didn’t have bad luck he would have no luck. He lost his mainsail halyard lock a few days ago and had to rig up some kind of jib with a spinnaker halyard to serve as a mainsail. Then the wind started to howl right out of where he needed to go and we all know how important it is to have a working mainsail when going upwind.

Then to add to his misery there is a traffic separation zone on the southwest

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corner of Spain that he had to avoid or get disqualified. He made his way through the (relatively) narrow gap - I guess everything is relative when you have sailed 25,000 miles alone around the planet. Denis van Weynbergh has made it into the Bay of Biscay and wouldn’t you know it, the wind crapped out; completely.

So with 20 hours left on the clock, he has 278 miles to go and is sailing at a sad 4.4 knots. There is a band of wind ahead of him. If he can hook into that southwesterly wind he can make it, otherwise they will shut the door on him and he won’t be able to call himself a Vendee Globe finisher.

Let’s see how this plays out. Send good vibes and let’s hope that there is a reception for him ten times larger than Charlie Dalin who won the race and rode in on a strong westerly wind doing 25 knots. Life is not fair, but that’s why we love it.

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DRIVING YOUR MINI AROUND THE WORLD

On one side of the world the Vendee Globe is winding down. There are just three boats still to finish. By the way 40 boats started that marathon race, 33 will finish (hopefully) which is incredible, but anyway I digress. On the other side of the world, Antigua to be exact, another around-the-world yacht race will start this Sunday. The Mini Globe Race, or MGR for short. Okay I know that you might not have heard of it, but now you have.

The Mini Globe Race is for single-handed sailors and I don’t mean those sailors having just one hand. It’s for solo sailors racing their ALMA Globe 580 yachts around the world. Don McIntyre, himself a solo circumnavigator, came up with the idea inspired by John Guzzwell and his 21 foot yacht TREKKA. Guzzwell

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sailed alone around the world back in 1957 (when I was just a dream in my Dad’s pants) and inspired many of us wannabe sailors to get off the couch and do something.

Don, like many of us, felt that global yacht racing was totally out of the reach of most sailors and came up with the idea of building your own boat, a small 19-foot (5.8 meter) yacht, mostly out of plywood from a set of plans that you could purchase, and then enter this incredible event.

No one ever said that it’s to be easy. As many of us know, just getting to the start line can be the hardest part, but this Sunday 15 intrepid (can’t stand that word but can't think of a better one) sailors will set off from Antigua heading for their first stop; Panama. Now I don’t want to piss off anyone with politics, but the boats won’t transit the Panama Canal - they will be trucked across Panama. (screw you trump)

From there it’s a transit of the Pacific, stops in Australia (to throw a shrimp on the barbie - not the doll!) and South Africa (to chew on some biltong) and then Recife in Brazil (go for the all-meat special) and then a slog back to Antigua (for of course a well deserved rum punch). That took me 22 seconds to write. The race will take more than a year and a lot of it won’t be easy, it never is once you throw yourself at the mercy of the wind gods. The sailors will, however, see some of the most beautiful places on earth from Tahiti to Tonga - doesn’t that just roll off your tongue?

Many sailors have cruised or raced in Antigua, indeed Antigua Race Week, the Superyacht Challenge Antigua and the Classic Yacht Regatta Antigua all call that beautiful island the place to be, but this will be the first time an around-the-world race has started and finished from their shores. Oh, and the Transatlantic Rowing Race finishes in Antigua which reminds me that one of the MGR competitors, Jasmine Harrison had previously done the rowing race slogging her boat into Antigua after 70 days at sea. She also, according to the MGR website… “In 2022 she was the first female to swim the full length of the British Isles, from Lands End to John o’ Groats.” (whoever he was…:)

I guess my point is this. There are no French sailors in the MGR. Instead they are an eclectic group from across the globe. The Vendee Globe is mostly French sailors and I wish it wasn’t because it’s such an amazing event, but so hard to get into from the high budgets to intense boats, say nothing of the extraordinary speeds and frightening conditions they have to face. Maybe the rest of us ‘normal’ sailors can be inspired by the MGR.

Sell the minivan, clear a spot in your garage, buy the plans and build your boat and you too can join the few who can call themselves solo circumnavigator's.

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SMALL BOAT FANTASY

What is it about small boats that’s grabbing sailors by the nuts and making them do strange and difficult things? When the word on the street is ‘bigger is always better’ why then would people, probably without telling their partners (I speak from experience), secretly hold a torch for another lady, one that could potentially eat them alive and more than likely tear them apart?

I dunno, but I can relate and while I’m relating and reminiscing, let me introduce you to the Mini 5.80. Okay many sailors out there may not have heard about the Mini 5.80 so let me give you a thumbnail. The whole idea was first floated by Australian sailor Don McIntyre. I note, by the way, that in the SA Forums he is called ‘the mad bastard.’ I don’t agree with this sentiment.

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Don is a visionary and is striving to put offshore sailing within the financial reach of ‘the rest of us.’ By that I mean those that dream big with a pot so big that it’s impossible to piss into, until now.

The Mini 5.80 are home built, plywood sloops just under 19 feet in length. They have a crash box in the bow and watertight compartments and look like they are built for business. They remind me of a pitbull with a heart of gold (Ed?) The boats are proven, seaworthy and 12 of them lined up in Lanzarote in Spain ready to take off on an adventure of a lifetime; a solo circumnavigation of the world. Now I am pushing close to the Big 70 but I still feel a little tingle in my toes when I think about the audacity of all of this. It makes me want to be 21 again, full of piss and vinegar and ready to take on the world. Did I mention that these boats are home built?

The boats will sail the first leg from Lanzarote to Antigua as a warmer-upper. It will be a milk-run under the bottom of the Azores High. After Antigua the real meat starts. The fleet will sail directly to the Panama Canal and then across the Pacific with a stopover in Fiji. From there it’s on to Cape Town, South Africa with a stop in Darwin in Northern Australia. From Cape Town it's a hop and a skip back across the South Atlantic to Antigua. Already my head is swimming with vision of brown skinned girls in brightly colored dresses in the South Pacific and a few shrimp in the barbie in Oz and some kingklip and prawns in the lee of Table Mountain. What’s not to like?

The race started on Saturday, January 11 in very light conditions. I know that it wasn’t perfect made-for-TV weather, but it was a good way to ease into the race and by Monday morning the fleet have cleared the Canary Islands and are dipping their toes into the deep Atlantic waters. The wind has been up the chuff and the entire North Atlantic stands ahead, the horizon curved like outstretched arms just waiting for them.

Right now, the leader, British sailor Keri Harris is rolling along at a gentle 5 knots with a nice easterly from behind.

Follow these dreamers, misfits and potential champions as they race their soap boxes around the globe. It’s gonna be fun and from my perspective it will be safe and a life changing experience. Cicero, the Roman philosopher, might have just said it the best. “There are three types of people. The living. The dead. And those who are at sea.”

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DEATHS IN THE HOBART RACE

Okay folks don’t try this at home. It seems to me that with so much sailing coverage going on from the Vendee Globe, the Class Globe 5.8, the Sydney Hobart, the Cape to St Helena race and a whole lot of others that it almost feels as if anyone can jump in and become an instant offshore sailor. Just add water. Truthfully I am not this kind of person but I am urging any and all would-be offshore ocean sailors to stop for a bit and take a closer look at what’s involved.

What’s involved can be moments of pure magic. What’s involved can be moments of pure terror, and sadly, as we have recently learned, what’s involved can also mean death. I am, of course, referring to the two recent

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deaths in the Sydney Hobart Race. That’s one race on the International Circuit that has eluded me and I know why. It’s a rough one. Let’s take a closer look.

The Hobart has been running since 1945 and is one of the granddaddy's. The start is in Sydney harbor, one of the most spectacular sailing venues in the world. Christmas celebrations are over and while most of the rest of the previously colonised world are packing up the boxes after Christmas, some still partially hungover Aussies (and others) are getting ready to race to Hobart. More often than not it’s a shitfight. The sparkling waters in the lee of the Sydney Opera House are like a tonic; the bit that lies in wait after you sail out past Sydney Heads can be more like a bitter pill.

In 1998, six people lost their lives doing this race. On the surface it looks to be a breeze. Get away from the spectator craft, sheet on and point your bow south and Hobart here we come, however there are some potholes along the way. The low pressure cells that have taken time to incubate in the Southern Ocean may lose some of their strength by the time they hit the island of Tasmania, but they still pack a punch and before you first sight Flinders Island off Tasmania you have to deal with that nasty stretch of water known as the Bass Strait. The low pressure systems funnel between mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania and where there is a funnel, there is a wind increase. The waves also trip over themselves in the relatively shallow water of the Strait and just when the Christmas pudding hangover starts to subside, you get the shit kicked out of you. It happens almost every time and it almost always claims some victims.

The Sydney Hobart race touts itself as a race for amateurs and professionals alike. It’s a bit like getting a day pass to play at Wimbledon against Novak (not Skip, the other one). You know that as soon as you step out onto center court that you are going to get pummeled. Same too for those hoping to tick one off a bucket list item and the promise is that Hobart is a pretty good place to pick up chicks after a long, hard sail. Unfortunately for two men on two different boats they didn’t get to see their next sunrise. In separate incidents 55-year-old Roy Quaden and 65-year-old Nick Smith were injured and died. I don’t really have much to say beyond that it’s a tragedy that should have been avoided, and I would like to kick the arse of each and every person that offered the platitude, “oh they died doing what they loved.” It shouldn’t have happened and we need to rethink things and do NOT send any more thoughts and prayers…:)

I read somewhere that one of the victims was ‘paying to play.’ Again I don’t want to be that damp squib at a tea party but let’s not forget how things turned out among those ‘paying to play’ to climb Everest.

I have been writing about the Vendee Globe. There is not much to say. The fleet is crushing it. Eleven boats are already around Cape Horn, the rest in hot pursuit. The leader, Yoanne Richomme knocked a full three and a half days off the Vendee record from France to Cape Horn and even more impressive he knocked off 4d 10h for the fastest time between Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn set by by Armel Le Cléac'h in 2012.

Here is just one of the reasons why I like this race. It has evolved; for the betterment of the overall event and more specifically for the safely of the sailors. I look at some of the boats out there competing in offshore races and they look like someone took a Farr 40 design and on a Monday morning blew it up on a copy machine to 50-feet or more. The boats are a joke. There is no protection. A washing machine size wave can slam you in the teeth and you are expected to like it. I took up solo sailing because I knew that I could hide down below in relative safety. It’s plainly suicidal to park off on deck, half asleep, and try and race a tightly strung piece of carbon across an angry ocean.

I am the last person on the planet that would ever suggest any kind of regulation, but seriously folks, the great Syndey Hobart race is not for weekend warriors looking to meet some chick or cross one off their bucket lists. If we don’t start to take this seriously I’m afraid that there are going to be more deaths. I speak from experience. I am not the smartest one out there and by most measures of stupidity I should already be dead. But I’m not and for what small amount it’s worth I am urging Race Organisers to get their priorities in order. It should not be about the record number of entries, or the size of the spectator fleet, it should be about the people. And making sure that they know what they might be in for and making sure that there are no sad families welcoming in the New Year.

Oh, and before I forget the venerable Pip Hare arrived under jury rig in Melbourne with a big smile on her face. Happy New Year.

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HITTING SUBMERGED OBJECTS

It’s all over Red Rover. All over before it even really began. The two boats that set off this past weekend in the hopes of crushing the Jules Verne Trophy are now limping back to port with broken appendages.

Ultim Sodebo skippered by Thomas Coville and Trimaran SVR Lazartigue skippered by Francoise Gabart both contacted their shore teams with similar news. They had hit some submerged object at high speed and sustained foil damage. It’s obvious a deal breaker for both boats, but SVR Lazartigue was designed to fly as much as sail and a lot of effort was put into their foil package. A broken foil is like a bird trying to fly with a broken wing (okay I know that’s overused but I can’t think of a better way to say it - or maybe I

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can. A broken foil is a bit like my uncle Keith on Thanksgiving after flattening a bottle of Mount Gay and trying to find the door to go home.

Let’s just put it bluntly; there is a lot of junk floating out there, say nothing of big fish. The first time I nearly hit a half submerged container was on a delivery across the Atlantic in 1979. I was on a Swan which, back then, were built like brick…, well you know, and maybe we wouldn’t have sunk, but we might have. Later that year during the ill-fated Fastnet Race the same bricksh*t house Swan almost sank when some rib frames parted and water started to flood the boat so we might not have survived hitting a container which, by the way, we only just missed because one of the crew was wandering the foredeck checking for chafe and yelled for the helmsman to alter course.

There is not much that a sailor can do about it. I have read many stories of containers falling off ships, a lot of containers and while the ocean is vast it’s still a bit like playing Russian Roulette. If you are crew on one of those boats or indeed an IMOCA you always sleep feet first, not the other way around. Going 40 knots, then 0 can be a neck breaking experience; literally.

Both boats will return home to repair the damage and get ready to take off again. There is still plenty of gnarly weather to help them break the record. It’s worth noting, however, that both boats were behind the track of the current record holder IDEK Sport. Well, just when you thought that you might have escaped buying all those Christmas presents, it’s time for the crew to find their Amex cards, which I am sure were well stowed away, and start spreading some joy.

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VENDEE GLOBE UPDATE

Imagine for a moment that you are alone on a huge IMOCA 60 barrelling across the Southern Ocean. Your average speed has barely dropped below 20 knots and the bursts are into the mid 30s. You have made it to this remote part of the planet after years of planning, preparation, frustration and sheer will and the hopes of ten of thousands of people are hanging on your success.

It was just another day at the office for the British sailor Pip Hare in the Vendee Globe. Pip has become a sweetheart of the race not only because of her always bubbly, upbeat personality, but also because she’s respected as a world class sailor competing on a level playing field against some of the top male French sailors who have for decades dominated the event. Pip was

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cruising along, the autopilot driving and Pip (thankfully) below decks when the massive carbon mast came crashing down. If you have ever been sailing and a top spreader gave way, or worse yet, the mast broke you will have some point of reference, but not really. Out on San Francisco bay on a summer afternoon not far from a pub that serves cold beer is a little different that being all alone 800 miles from the nearest land. Pips hopes and dreams of completing her second Vendee were crushed in that split instant. Now five days after the rig failure Pip is sailing toward Melbourne, Australia with a small jury rig and her trademark big smile back on her face. Pip, in my opinion, represents the guts, grit and determination that women around the world display every day just to get through daily life, and while she won’t finish this Vendee, I am sure that she has inspired many with her energy and grace.

So, that aside…, and I am not making light of it but the race goes on and there has been a lead change at the front of the pack. Yoanne Richomme on Paprec Arkea has taken over the top spot from Charlie Dain who has owned that position for the last two weeks. As of this Sunday morning Richomme leads Dalin by 35 miles, both boats enjoying (relative term) a strong NNE’ly wind and averaging mid 20’s for boat speed. They, and third place Sebastienne Simon, have passed Point Nemo which is a spot on the planet that is the furthest from any land anywhere, except, of course the land a mile beneath them. They are north of the exclusion zones and on a fast romp for Cape Horn. There are three boats in a tight pack just south of Point Nemo. Behind them Boris Herrman has left the comfortable surroundings of the three leading females in the race and pulled in 7th place.

Most of the boats are trundling along the exclusion line, a line added by the race officials that demarcates relatively safe waters from downright dangerous waters. Below the demarcation zone is the shorter great circle route that would shave off quite a few miles. It’s also an area fraught with icebergs; a fun time said no one.

Personally I am a tad gobsmacked by the progress that the fleet is making. It has been just four weeks since the start in France and the leaders will be around Cape Horn before Christmas. In the early days (yes I guess that I am that old) we would budget a full six weeks just to get to Cape Town and that was fully crewed.

While the Vendee fleet is making sailing news, four days ago without too much fanfare the Ultim trimaran Sodebo and a crew of 6 took off for a second time this month in their effort to set a new Jules Verne record for the fastest non-stop circumnavigation. At last check they were 80 miles off the pace set by record holder IDEC Sport. Thomas Coville and his crew were trundeling along at a fairly respectable 33 knots. They hope to lap the planet in under 40 days and 23 hours.

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