Wanderlust 3 Sailing Adventure: Latitude 38 Interview

March 2008

Part 2 of 5

38: But be honest, is an 11-month circumnavigation a realisticgoal for most sailors?

Harker: Yes, it is, and even for singlehanders. With crew, it would have been an easy jaunt. The biggest factor is how much time people want to spend in places. It might sound as though I rushed around the world, and I certainly did move much faster than most cruisers, but it’s not like I didn’t stop at places. For instance, I spent nine weeks inAustralia - even though I'd only planned on spending three. Of course, that meant Ihad to race across the Indian Ocean. It turned out there wasnothing wrong with that, as I didn't find anywhere desirable to stop in the Indian Ocean on the way to South Africa. I spenttwo days at Christmas Island, two days at Cocos Island, andthree days on Mauritius - which was about one day too long. There's nothing in the Indian Ocean on the way to South Africaexcept a few islands with water and sand, and there's much more beautiful water and sand in the Bahamas. Right: Mike in Sydney Harbor

I also spent quite a bit of time in South Africa, which I loved. Here's why: I just happened to arrive in Durban at thesame time as the Clipper Around-The-World fleet. And it just so happened there were 14 front row slips, but just 13 Clipper entries. So an ambitious Hunter dealer arranged for my boat to be put in the 14th slip at the same time as the Clipper group. This apparently confused some of the thousands of people who showed up for the celebrations, because I was treated like a superstar! People thought that I was famous. (Laughter.) They had bands, big crowds, and it was a really big deal. Right: Welcome to South Africa with the 'Clippers' in Durban

Since my boat was in the front row, I was visited by many people, among them two families, each of which had 15-year-old sons. One was named Marx, and he was the South African Laser champion. The other was Pieter, and he’s about to do the Santa Cruz to Panama leg of the Clipper race with his mother. Anyway, about an hour after leaving my boat, both youngsters returned and sheepishly asked if they might sail with me. I told them I would take them if they could get approval from each of their mothers. When the mothers assented, the boys jumped up and down like crazy. Right: Pieter and Marx in Durban South Africa

The two youngsters sailed all the way to Cape Town, a distance of about 800 miles, with me. We were together for five weeks, as we had to stop all the time to avoid the famous storms that blow along the southeast coast of Africa. Most Latitude readers are probably aware that, in that part of the Indian Ocean, you get a storm lasting three days, then two days of lull. It happens like clockwork. You have two days of calm, then three days of gale-force winds - and I mean a real 50 knots of wind, not just 30 knots. Plus, the strong current flows in the opposite direction to the wind, so the seas become big, square, and horrendous. I don’t know what it’s like to be caught in those conditions because we managed to avoid them, but it would not be fun.

But having to stop all the time meant getting to visit all these great places like Knysna, or Port Elizabeth. My favorite was False Bay, the last one before rounding the Cape of Good Hope. I did a presentation at the local yacht club, then let the two boys sail my boat around the Cape. They were great kids.

38: Did their parents pay for them to sail with you?

Harker: No. My rule with crew is that they pay the expenses necessary to get to my boat and to return home but once on the boat, I pay for all the food and other expenses. I would never pay anyone to crew for me.

"I don't think I ever sailed
upwind - except for three
days off Cape Town."

38: How much of your circumnavigation was upwind?

Harker: (Long pause.) I'm thinking about it really hard, butI don't think I ever sailed upwind - other than three days nearCape Town. It would also have been upwind from Vanuatu to

Sydney but, when I got to Brisbane, I waited three days for thewind to change direction, then continued on with a fair wind. I don't sail with the wind on the nose because I don't like it. As I think back, the wind was always on my stem quarter,except for the Windward Passage between Cuba and Hispanola,when it was on my port beam. It usually blew on my port quarter, except in the South Atlantic, when it blew on thestarboard quarter. My boat was heeling to starboard for eight months, then to port for two months. (Laughter.) Right: Leaving Sydney with the new Parasailor

38: What was your worst weather?

Harker: I never had any really bad weather. The only roughstuff that I didn't wait out was 36 to 40 knots of wind between Samoa and Vanuatu, but it was coming from my stem quarter, so it wasn’t bad. The seas were big, however, maybe 18 to 20 feet. They’d been generated by 70-knot winds in the Southern Ocean. Some boats further south got dismasted, and some mariners were drowned down there. But Wanderlust 3 handled the conditions well with three reefs in the main and a staysail. We were doing about 9 knots, and the boat was loving it. Wanderlust 3 doesn’t heel as much as my 466 did, so it was quite comfortable. She’s also a dry boat because she has a bit of a hollow or concave in the bow that causes the water to shoot out to the side instead of up and over the deck. I had some waves crash onto the dodger of my 466, but that never happened with my Hunter 49.

38: What other differences have you noticed between thetwo boats?

Harker: The H-49 tracks better downwind and doesn'tyaw as much. She behaves like she has a long keel, yet sheturns on a dime. She also feels like a much bigger boat.

38: Was her larger size a problem?

Harker: Not at all. My 466 was actually only 44’6”, while my 49 is 49’11”. Plus, the new boat has a plumb bow and carries the waterline almost all the way aft, so she’s truly a much bigger and faster boat.

38: What did you consider to be a good day's run?

Harker: Wanderlust 3 had no problem sailing at 8.5 knotsfor hours on end, so I had many 24-hour runs in excess of200 miles. My best week was from Christmas Island to Cocos Island, during which time I covered 1,396 miles in seven days, or an average of just a hair under 200 miles per day. For a luxurious and relatively heavy boat being singlehanded by a guy who wasn’t racing, I thought that was pretty good. Right: Christmas Island

38: How did you get your weather info?

Harker: I got GRIB files via SailMail when atsea and, while on land, I used the U.S. Navyforecasts from fnmoc.navy.mil and Passageweather.com. The SailMail files come in black and white and are based on the color charts from the U.S. Navy. But the Navy has the best ocean weather info around. They are really good. Plus, they can provide you with a lot more information than just the surface winds and sea conditions.

38: Did you see many other single-handers?

Harker: It seemed that no matter where I went, I was introduced to “that other singlehander.” There was never more than one, but there was always one, and they were usually French. Three of them were women. One of them,Jeanne Socrates, had done the last Singlehanded TransPac in her 37-ft Najad Nereida. She was going around the world on a ‘fast’ circumnavigation too and having a great time. Interestingly, I’ve never met another singlehander on a boat larger than 40 feet. Most of them have older style boats, with long keels and lots of overhang. I don’t know, maybe it just means they couldn’t afford newer and more expensive boats, but they were having just as much fun and adventure as I was. Right: Cocos Keeling

38: Did you have any problems with any port officials?

Harker: No. But I always make an effort to present myself well, and I’m very courteous. I smile, I’m patient, and I’m never demanding. But above all, I put myself beneath the officials, letting them know that they are in charge. They love that! (Laughter.)

WATCH FOR PART III