- il y a 7 mois
ALMA Class Globe 580 - 2025 / 5 bateaux en contreplaqué de 80 m construits par Keri Harris naviguent autour du monde Interview ...
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00:00G'day Kerry, we're in Fiji.
00:15Wulavanaka.
00:17Oh, a nice shirt by the way, oh look at that shirt, ooooh, very Fiji-ish.
00:22So how are you feeling?
00:23Really well, yeah, very well rested, enjoying Fiji.
00:26Yeah, absolutely.
00:27I'm actually looking forward to the restart though, already.
00:31Don't tell me you're organised this time and you're ready to go.
00:34Don.
00:35You know me.
00:37Well, we'll just do a quick recap, I mean, because if I just tell everyone, remember
00:41we did this in Panama, it was a really fascinating one-on-one, so if you want to know a bit more
00:46about Kerry's background, we won't redo it all, it's all in that interview.
00:50And that was an eye-opener, yours was one of the classics all time.
00:54Anyway, so we've now carried on, but I think, what was missing when you left Antigua, the
01:01National Australian Academy?
01:02So Antigua, the wind pilot mounting I'd reinforced didn't fit.
01:07That's right.
01:08No wind vane.
01:09No wind vane.
01:10Yeah.
01:11No wind vane.
01:12Because of the knockdown, I had problems with, no, the knockdown was afterwards.
01:15It was actually worse, wasn't it?
01:16Panama.
01:17Panama, yeah.
01:18Panama was a problem.
01:19So Antigua was a problem.
01:20Panama was a problem.
01:21Lifted out late.
01:22Second in, last out.
01:23I'd lost all my solar panels from the knockdown off Barranquilla of Columbia.
01:27That's right.
01:28I'd had a mighty whack to the transom, which looked like it had some superficial cracking
01:32on the glass laminate, so I wanted to root that out and fix it.
01:37And also, having left the original skegs, the sort of dag boards that go on the transom,
01:43for a bit of directional stability, they were left in France inadvertently, so I'd made
01:48some new ones, but I needed to be out of the water to reconstruct the mountings for them.
01:54So that still has to be done.
01:55So I'm going to lift the boat out here when Sid comes out, and we'll fit those finely.
01:59And then I'll experiment with them.
02:00I've built some curved asymmetric ones.
02:03We'll see how they work.
02:04Okay.
02:05So then you basically left 12 hours late, but you caught up really quickly.
02:09Yeah, and also I had, yeah, that was it.
02:11Yeah, we left late because of that.
02:13Caught up quite quickly.
02:15I actually rooted more towards the Galapagos, not from choice initially, but because I realised
02:20I had an ongoing problem with the spreaders.
02:23Having reinforced them in Antigua and repaired them, that was one of the jobs that was done.
02:27They were squeaking and panting again.
02:30Yeah.
02:31Excuse me, that's a beaver on floats.
02:34You know, they're not amphibs.
02:35They're just normal.
02:36One of my favourite planes.
02:37One of my favourite planes.
02:38And apparently the Chinese have just ordered about 200 new ones.
02:42Really?
02:43Yeah, yeah.
02:44You're kidding me.
02:45So there's a guy out in Canada who makes the parts for them.
02:48Yeah.
02:49Made the parts and kept all the Alaskan fleet flying everything.
02:51He's building new beavers apparently.
02:53Fantastic.
02:54You see the big amphibs they've manufactured?
02:56The big massive ones.
02:57You know, massive flying boats.
02:58Yeah, yeah.
02:59Yeah, they're the first in the world.
03:00They're my favourite aircraft.
03:01Flying boats, float planes, you know.
03:03Yes.
03:04Great.
03:05Oh, boys and toys.
03:06Anyway.
03:07The Sea King helicopter is basically a flying boat.
03:09Yeah, we've got a lot of noise here.
03:10We've got a boat yard next to us as well.
03:12And they've been scraping any failing, but he stopped.
03:14So we've got to keep moving.
03:16Anyway, we digress.
03:17So, okay.
03:18So you get through that and you're heading down.
03:21Yeah.
03:22So I thought, okay, I've got to route a bit more towards Galapagos.
03:25My thinking was that if I had to find an anchorage, I'd put in there probably off Postbox Bay.
03:31So I didn't have too much problem with entry regulations and fix them while I was at anchor.
03:37But actually we had a day when there was quite a light swell, not much wind.
03:40So I was able to climb the mast and pack them out.
03:42If you remember with the local coins and webbing and it stops on the panting, but they deformed subsequently.
03:48So I've actually replaced them again, but this time I put the replacement pair of news spreaders on.
03:54And what I have done, and you'll notice even in the marina, looking at the rig, I've got a little bit more mast bend than many.
03:59More than I'd like.
04:00And it's just because what I'm doing is putting on extra rig tension to stop the risk of that or prevent the risk of that happening again.
04:08So I think that's the best way to deal with it.
04:10Yeah.
04:11Okay.
04:12So just the classic piece of film that I've seen for the whole race is you climbing your mast while you're out there, knowing full and well, this could be risky, but let's just see what happens.
04:23You get up and all of a sudden you say, I think I better get it down.
04:26Because the boat's starting to go down.
04:29You can see it's starting to round up.
04:31And you get down really fast.
04:33That would have been so funny if you didn't make it in time.
04:36Oh, I'd have been, as you know, I'd have been, the mast would have been horizontal in about two seconds.
04:41Absolutely.
04:42And then it would have slewed around.
04:43I'd be dragging the water.
04:44The weight would come off, the rig would come back up again.
04:46Then it would have come back up, yeah.
04:47And I'd get swung and then it would, and we'd be in this endless cycle of the boat capsizing, dunking me, lifting up.
04:53Oh boy.
04:54Have you shown all your Navy mates?
04:56No, no.
04:57And I knew it had to be quick because I knew that my weight going up the height of the mast very quickly exceeded the writing moment of the bulb of the key.
05:05I'm glad you did the stability analysis before you got...
05:08It was all in my head.
05:09GZ curves and all that stuff.
05:10Degree in naval architecture, you know, yeah.
05:12It was so funny.
05:13So I thought you've got to be quick here and quick up, quick down.
05:17But anyway, I resolved it.
05:19Yeah, absolutely.
05:20Okay, we'll get off the technical side.
05:22How are you feeling?
05:23Like you...
05:24What was...
05:25If you can think back, when you made the decision to buy a boat and do the MGR, what was your perception of it then?
05:32You know, what you were getting into versus the reality of being here and you're still coming...
05:37I've got the results down there.
05:38You're fourth at the moment.
05:39Fourth or third?
05:40Fourth or third?
05:41No, you're third overall.
05:42Third, yeah.
05:43Third overall.
05:44Sorry about that.
05:45That's all right.
05:46No, you shocked me a fourth.
05:47That would be real bizarre.
05:48Third, yes.
05:49So it's still recoverable.
05:50Yes, okay.
05:51But you know, from the first impression, I'm going to do this, this will be fun, to being
05:54here now and you're still fourth.
05:55Third.
05:56So if I'm honest, even as I was...
05:59Until I started driving down from France to Portugal for the start, I still wasn't convinced
06:03it was going to happen.
06:04So I didn't really project my thinking too far.
06:06What wasn't going to happen?
06:07Your ability to make the start?
06:08Or you thought we wouldn't get it up?
06:10Yeah, I just...
06:11It just seemed too good to be true.
06:13You know, as you know, there are many...
06:16There are many sort of...
06:18There are many pitfalls where you can gain fines of being late, etc.
06:23And that's how you keep the race on track and stuff like that.
06:25And I was sort of worried that I was starting to mount fines if I wasn't careful.
06:29You know, this is all beyond the realms of possibility.
06:32And yeah, part of me just thought, this is just too good to be true.
06:35I'm not sure it's really going to happen.
06:38But you know, I should know you better.
06:40And I think that's in my mind.
06:41So I didn't raise too many...
06:43My expectations were not that...
06:45I didn't sort of have any preconceived ideas.
06:48I'm fortunate I sort of know this area, but only ever from flying into it.
06:52And if you recall, in the very first form we had to fill in, you said,
06:56why do you want to do the mini globe race?
06:58And I said, well, look, you know, with modern flights and communications,
07:01the world's become a small place, but I want to know how big it really is.
07:05So that was sort of my underlying intention.
07:07And I'm getting that sense now, doing this.
07:09Yeah.
07:10But, you know, I've been a seafarer all my life.
07:15So, you know, route planning, getting out there, doing stuff, that was never going to be an issue.
07:20So I just, even when I set sail from Lagos, again, I was late leaving, if you recall.
07:26But it was sort of, okay, here we go.
07:29We're offshore now.
07:30Right, it's about five, six days.
07:31See how this boat performs with a new deck layout.
07:33I mean, I can sail that.
07:34You had a great start.
07:35Yeah.
07:36Yeah.
07:37We absolutely.
07:38Yeah.
07:39Yeah.
07:40Absolutely flew.
07:41Once you got across the start line.
07:42Once you got across the start line.
07:43Yeah.
07:44There was, again, that was solar panel issues.
07:45Yeah.
07:46But, but hey, you know, they, they all seem to be working well.
07:51You know, I seem to manage the electrical generation, battery, power consumption, and the battery management is quite key.
07:57It's a bit like being in a sort of diesel electric submarine, you know.
08:00Yeah.
08:01You've got to, you've got to manage that battery power all the time.
08:03Yeah.
08:04So you sail the boat like a dinghy.
08:06That was the original intention.
08:07Yeah.
08:08Do you still feel as if you're doing that or you've had to temper it into an ocean racing boat as well?
08:12That's a good question.
08:13I think when I hurt my back, I was sort of holed up down below and I had to sort of really ease the motion on the boat.
08:19So I was in a spasm and quite a lot of pain.
08:21And I thought, well, okay, sail the boat.
08:23And I've also realised that I could just thrash myself helming all the time.
08:26And yet there are people out there, Renault really, who's got getting more performance out of his boat, but in a very relaxed way.
08:34And he's very generous with his advice.
08:36He's actually a bit of a mentor to the fleet.
08:39And if you ever ask him a question, he'll answer very candidly.
08:44So I think now that the boat doesn't really lend itself to my style of sailing.
08:48So you've got to sail it like an ocean going boat.
08:51You've got to be patient.
08:52You've got to accept that the polars of the boat are fairly circular.
08:56What that means is the predicted speed of the boat relative to the relative wind direction isn't going to change much.
09:04So you don't have the same benefits of sailing a little bit hotter, i.e. higher, closer to the wind, go a bit faster.
09:10So in the trade winds where we're running, you've just got to perfect the running, running, running.
09:14And that calls for some techniques that I don't particularly enjoy as much as I do, you know, when I can keep the mainsail up, for example.
09:22I've commented that on that in videos, but the boat is much more at ease with it and her performance is commensurately better.
09:29So you have to adapt your sailing to suit the boat you're in.
09:32And I love the boat, you know, it's great, but it's taught me to just chill.
09:38There was a bit of that when you put, you finally decided to ditch the South Atlantic for various reasons, wind vane,
09:47and you put on a beautiful Aries and I was stunned when I saw a photo of the installation.
09:51It's just fantastic.
09:52And I always say there's only, you know, the two best wind vanes in the world.
09:56If you want a survey pendulum, it should probably be an Aries.
09:58Yeah.
09:59And if you want an auxiliary rudder, it probably should be a Hydra Vane.
10:02And so you fit on the Aries and you put a post up and the boat's slewing all around the place, just that and the other,
10:07and say, hey, anyone got any tips on how to get this bloody thing to sail straight?
10:10And then you pan around, you've got all these mainsail and everything going down.
10:14And I thought, oh, no, Terry, I mean, Kerry, just get over it and get some, get rid of some of the main, you know,
10:20because you can only go so far, like a wind vane is like a fuse, you know, as you know, you've got to, anyway, but it was kind of fun.
10:25It was slightly tongue in cheek when I said that.
10:28Yeah.
10:29I knew I hadn't said that quite right.
10:30And it was funny because Renault replied very seriously.
10:33Yes.
10:34He told me things I did know, but it was very kind of him.
10:37But, yeah, the Aries is really good.
10:39Well, I would say, I mean, the South Atlantic's a really good servo pendulum wind vane.
10:43Yeah.
10:44It's, you know, for what it's designed for, really good.
10:47It's just we're trying to push these boats so much harder that we need quite a lot of control authority.
10:53You know, in the South Atlantic, they couldn't be more helpful about advice on how to set the boat up.
10:58And we've provided feedback on any modifications we made.
11:02So, you know, I'm a big fan of them and they're still a partner for the class.
11:05So I hope people won't think that they're not up to the job.
11:07No, look, I got a very objective view on it.
11:10You know, I think the, I forget what the price is now, excuse me, for the package is about €1500, I think, something like that,
11:17with the mounts, this and the other.
11:18So cost benefit factor is huge.
11:20Yeah.
11:21I'm not saying what I've always been saying.
11:22I'm confident that the South Atlantic get around the world, but you've got to look after it.
11:26You've got to tweak it.
11:27You've got to keep, make sure the nuts and bolts aren't coming loose, things like that.
11:30You buy a Hydrovane, bolt it on the back and you forget it.
11:32It's like an outboard, you know?
11:33Yeah.
11:34So there's a difference, but there's a difference in budget.
11:36And a servo pendulum is a servo pendulum.
11:39I like the idea of a servo pendulum over auxiliary rudder.
11:42Yeah.
11:43So when the second hand Aries came up for sale in the Marquesas, I thought, well, okay, it's heavy.
11:50It's as heavy as a Hydrovane, in fact.
11:52Yeah.
11:53And I thought, well, I'll put it on.
11:54And I had to mount it on my anchorage.
11:56So I just sort of connected up.
11:57Perfect job.
11:58Yeah.
11:59Put it on a, on the main halyard.
12:00You know, I did it all on my own.
12:01Just, I think a bit surprised.
12:03Oh, okay.
12:04It's on.
12:05And even the Danish owners who kindly sold it to me, they're waiting for a Hydrovane for
12:10their boat, a Puffin 42.
12:13And they came out and they said, well, actually, it doesn't look that big on the boat.
12:17No.
12:18We thought it was going to be overscaled.
12:19I was surprised.
12:20Yeah, I was surprised.
12:21It looks right.
12:22And it's incredibly powerful.
12:23And what I just need to be, I think the, the, the, the thing I need to avoid,
12:27now, or the thing I need to address is when it goes lock to lock on the wind vane, it
12:33drops too quickly.
12:34I played with the weight.
12:35That wasn't the issue.
12:36And, um, again, speaking to Renault, who really is our fleet guru, I'm going to follow his
12:42advice.
12:43And he suggested putting some sort of elastic tenuation on it so that you, you increase
12:48the resistance as it goes further over.
12:49So you're trying to keep it in that sweet spot where it's, it's hunting by the side of
12:53vertical by five or 10 degrees.
12:54You can desensitize just by angling it back.
12:56You think that would be enough?
12:58That's what it does.
12:59Yeah.
13:00If you, you're desensitizing, as you pivot it back, you're getting less fulcrum, you know,
13:04cause they've got less weight at the top.
13:06You've still got the wind blowing.
13:07What it would contend though is when you're running, you then you're also losing the sensitivity
13:10of response from the projected wind area.
13:12Yeah.
13:13So you're sort of trying to offset the fact you, if anything, you need a bigger vein, you know,
13:17because of the running sensitive, you require running downwind, but you don't want it to flip
13:21along.
13:22Yeah.
13:23So we'll, we'll see.
13:24Let's see how you may be right.
13:25We'll tell you.
13:26It's yeah.
13:27That's why I say you got to, it's balanced.
13:29It's full.
13:30You need to learn to fly.
13:31I mean, you're a flyer.
13:32So you know exactly what's going on.
13:33You know, all the, all the things about aerodynamics and pressure.
13:36Hydrodynamics.
13:37Yeah.
13:38All that stuff.
13:39I mean, they're pure genius.
13:40Yeah.
13:41No, no, no.
13:42I knew Nick Franklin quite well as a friend, you know, we, I was the agent for a long,
13:44long time.
13:45He was a great guy, you know, really interesting.
13:47Um, but anyway, that's, we do want to make it into wind veins, but, but people, I've got
13:50to say you're tweaking more than anyone.
13:52You put in some good modifications on the South Atlantic and I thought yours was really
13:56good.
13:57And, and, uh, anyway, it's an interesting story, but I think we're only down to, uh, Adam's hanging
14:01onto his South Atlantic and, uh, maybe one other, I forget.
14:04Yeah.
14:05Anyway, all cool.
14:06Joshua, I think.
14:07Yeah.
14:08So, uh, physically you look okay.
14:09You didn't come on with a lot of flab, like a lot of us, you know, but how do you feel,
14:13you know, like physically?
14:14Yeah, really well.
14:15Apart from putting my back into spasm, but I, that's a longstanding injury from my teens.
14:19Yeah.
14:20And as I worked out, I had a big, you know, like a relapse 34 years ago, 17 years ago.
14:26So actually do the mass, I guess it was due about now.
14:29Yeah.
14:30Did it go with a bang or just snuck up on you when it happened?
14:32Yeah.
14:33Pretty much sort of a, it's always hard to say with backs.
14:36Yeah.
14:37I'd suggest it was more, it had, it had been degraded slightly and then I twisted it quite
14:43badly, um, in rough weather, actually just trying to clip on the lee cloth.
14:47Okay.
14:48At the point a wave hit me and I just, I think it just twisted my, my sort of, uh, you know,
14:53back very, very, very violently.
14:55Okay.
14:56So you haven't had to dip into the first aid kit other than painkillers?
15:00So I did, well, I had a play, you know, because when I've done this in the past, they inject
15:03your morphine and muscle relaxants.
15:05And I thought, well, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna do morphine.
15:07I don't know how to write the M on my forehead if I'm already out of it.
15:10Um, so I took some other, yeah, I can't remember what they were now, but they were, yeah, yeah,
15:15they were the diazepam or something.
15:17They were, they were the, what's some of the controlled drugs.
15:19Yeah.
15:20And yeah, they seem to be effective.
15:21Yeah.
15:22Must've been cruel lying on your beautiful, soft, fluffy doona, you know, when you were
15:28rolling around in the sea, uh, not cause he doesn't have anything.
15:32He sleeps on a plank.
15:35It's just unbelievable, but not the best when you've got a crook bag.
15:38No.
15:39And also, uh, I'm redoing the Lee cloths here cause Peter installed them, but they come
15:43from the edge of the bunk rather than going right in balls for the former sort of hammocks.
15:47I'm making new ones.
15:48And I think that will help it.
15:49Still no mattress.
15:50So no mattress.
15:51No, and actually when it was hot, too hot, there was no yoga mat, but, um, as it cooled
15:55down, I put the yoga mat back in cause it was a bit more comfortable on the, on the hips.
15:58Cause there's not, there's not that much fat to sort of protect the bony bits.
16:03Yeah.
16:04Bony bits.
16:05Hmm.
16:06Okay.
16:07Amazing things there.
16:08So, so, um, what, what has been your biggest challenge so far to get this far?
16:14And, you know, how, and how do you feel the fact that you're here?
16:16Is it sunk in what you're doing?
16:18Yes.
16:19I mean, it has, I guess I never looked at it as that sort of great achievement because
16:23we're, we're not yet halfway.
16:25So until we've, until we've got through Torres Strait around the Cape of Good Hope, maybe even
16:30had to weather a tropical storm on the way, you know, it feels like the Atlantic is the home
16:35and, you know, as we all know, the Atlantic isn't necessarily that easy either.
16:39So just take it a day at a time.
16:42I still have the ambition to do well podium.
16:44I think Renault's got a good lead.
16:46Is it unassailable?
16:47Well, we'll see because a lot can happen between now and arriving back in Antigua for all of
16:52us.
16:53Certainly hope no disaster befalls any of my fellow competitors or me.
16:57Yeah.
16:58But, you know, there's still to play for and I haven't sort of lost sight of that ambition.
17:01But like I said, I've tempered the way I sail a bit.
17:03Yeah.
17:04And I have to be a little bit more, it almost makes me a bit more philosophical.
17:07Yeah.
17:08So this has been more a journey of self-discovery as well.
17:12There's, there have been things about the way I approach life and family and friendships
17:17and, you know, you've got a lot of time to ruminate on that.
17:19Oh yeah, you've got a lot of time to think.
17:21Yeah.
17:22Yeah.
17:23Yeah.
17:24Really good.
17:25One of my big losses was when the charging leads for both my shocks headphones sort of
17:29died.
17:30So I could no longer charge them.
17:31So I couldn't listen to any literature on Audible anymore.
17:34So I've just had my own thoughts to occupy my head.
17:37Yeah.
17:38Yeah.
17:39My biggest revelation was on Trekker.
17:41Yeah.
17:42Coming across after 40 years of adventuring.
17:43I'm halfway across the Atlantic.
17:44I finally realised why I do all this stuff and it was to prove something to myself.
17:48It was a revelation.
17:49So I had the same feeling.
17:50Do you know what it is?
17:51It's about, I'm not a coward.
17:52Yeah.
17:53Everything you do is about proving.
17:54And I think men, males, have that built into them.
17:57You know, you've had a military career, relatively untested.
18:01I like extreme sports, but everything you do is partly it's about seeking certain approbation,
18:06whether it's filial, paternal, familial, friendship.
18:10But it's also about fundamentally, no, I know I'm not a coward.
18:14If something bad's happening, I can work through it.
18:17Yeah.
18:18It's quite puerile in a sense, but it's very much the case.
18:21Well, it's amazing.
18:22It hit me like a brick because I finally, you know, you just realise it's a reversal thing.
18:27I don't have to prove anything to anyone anymore.
18:29I don't give a damn.
18:30No.
18:31I'm really enjoying it.
18:32It proved the concept of the 580, which was like a, another big tick the box.
18:35Yeah.
18:36Because they had a lot on the line with that.
18:37And I thought, this is great.
18:38This is fantastic.
18:39So we've, we've been there, done that now.
18:41And so, you know, life feels good.
18:43We've got all these races going on and people and places.
18:46Yeah.
18:47And it was a big revelation.
18:48So.
18:49Now I think sometimes you need to stand back and take stock of everything you've achieved
18:53and particularly with MGR, OGR, GGR, all the three big ticket, non world sailing races,
19:00ocean races, and they're all in yours.
19:02And when you see the team that's running it, it's you and Jane.
19:07I mean, I, I have great admiration for you.
19:09It's all good fun.
19:10Yeah.
19:11But thank you.
19:12Um, so how many people told you you were crazy when they found out about what you're
19:15doing before you did it?
19:16So most people who knew me anyway, probably had that presumption.
19:21So I'm not sure I am crazy.
19:22I'm pretty rational.
19:23I had a really nice compliment from a friend and, uh, on Facebook.
19:27She'd be, she was a crew member of mine when I was a commanding officer of a ship.
19:30And, uh, she's great fun.
19:32She's very frank candid.
19:33And she said yesterday, she says, you're a bit of a cross between Robinson Crusoe and
19:37James Bond.
19:38I'll take that compliment.
19:41Yeah.
19:42Even though Dan Turner, before he had his haircut, you know, he was probably the more Robinson Crusoe
19:47of us.
19:48Oh no, he was bloody, you know, yeah.
19:50Yeah.
19:51It was classic.
19:52Wilson, you know, Wilson Island is just out there.
19:54I'm going to take him to it.
19:55I told him, I said, look, it's just over there.
19:57You can just about see it.
19:58So we'll have to go there.
19:59But he's cut his hair now.
20:00So he blew the whole thing.
20:01You know, we don't get the photos, you know.
20:03Yeah.
20:04It's a complete change.
20:05Yeah, absolutely.
20:06Um, okay.
20:07So that's, I'm a bit worried.
20:08He looks like a serious yacht racer now.
20:10I know.
20:11He's going fast.
20:12He's a chameleon.
20:13Dan is a real chameleon.
20:14Holiday Dan, we call him.
20:15And he, he's really tuned into Renault's advice as is Pilar on getting the best out of
20:20the boats with the hydrovanes and stuff.
20:21So you'll see them.
20:22I mean, they, they're like three boats that just follow the same track and path.
20:26Absolutely.
20:27Pilar's problem was she didn't do so well in that first leg.
20:29So she's running, I've got the results down there.
20:31I should have brought them up, but she's running fourth, I think at the moment or whatever.
20:34She was unwell.
20:35She, if I remember, I mean, if you remember in the, in the transat, she went too far south
20:39for a period and she suffered then.
20:41And then she was unwell.
20:43She thinks it's sort of inspired by some food allergy coming across the Caribbean.
20:48So you, you struck me as the most racing minded entrant before the start of the whole
20:55fleet.
20:56Yeah.
20:57I thought, wow, this guy's hot.
20:58And now you're still maintaining that.
21:00You've had some issues and some problems, no excuses now when you leave here.
21:03Um, but walk us through your average racing day on the boat from sunrise to sunrise.
21:08So the sun's coming up.
21:09Walk me through what your typical day is, you know, when you've got a good back.
21:13So sunrise, I've probably already been up for quite a while.
21:16Um, as you know, but sunrise is always a great moment because it's just no matter what
21:20you've put up with in the night, that's the revelation of the conditions around you.
21:24And particularly when it's rough, you know, when it's become rougher during the night,
21:27the seas are big and in your mind, they're more intimidating than they are by sunrise.
21:31So that's good.
21:32That settles you into the boat.
21:34I don't actually eat a great deal.
21:36The, the, I have a quick breakfast, a sort of freeze dried muesli or something, heat some
21:41water up on the jet boil, grab that, drink some hot water or maybe a tea or a coffee or
21:46something.
21:47And then really it is okay.
21:49It's my, make sure I've got the right amount of sail area up as much as possible.
21:53If I've been sailing slightly less, if I say, for example, overnight, I've had the A5 up and
21:59I think I really need to put the A3 up.
22:00I'll quickly change spinnakers, peel spinnakers and take the boat.
22:05ship in hand, you take her off the autopilot and then helm her as long as I can really.
22:10Before I do a quick log entry, navigation update, check where I am, where I'm going.
22:15Now I have Starlink again.
22:17I'll also do, I'll take a quick break.
22:20Once I see the yellow bricks updated, I'll have a look at the yellow brick tracker.
22:24Really I only look at that once a day.
22:25I'm not interested in it too often because you can get a bit too obsessed with where your competitors are.
22:30You just need to, at this point, you're looking at sort of global positioning compared to everybody else
22:35and where you need to go high or low of track.
22:38I'll have a look at windy, but I'm, you know, we talked about this.
22:43I'm very circumspect about the sort of results it gives, but I'm looking at the trends in the weather.
22:48And just to reassurance, I don't need to sort of move north or south of the sort of great circle route or rum line I'm on.
22:55I just helm, helm, helm, helm, sail, try and get the most speed out of the boat,
23:00try and keep as much sail area up as possible, of course, while I'm helming.
23:04Go as fast as I can.
23:06And I'll take a bit of a break early afternoon, probably about 1400, 1500.
23:11I eat my sort of main meal of the day, another freeze-dried meal, have a coffee, some water.
23:16And sunset's quite early, so you've only then got a few hours.
23:19And I might take just a bit of a nap at the middle of the day when it's really hot just to get out of the sun for a bit.
23:25And then it's back helming, sailing as much as possible, and then ready for the night at sunset.
23:30Take some photographs, reprimand myself for not having done lots of video footage for McIntyre Adventures during the day.
23:37Maybe take a picture of yet another beautiful sunset.
23:40I know, you get so many, eh?
23:42Yeah, I mean, you know how it is. So it's difficult to sort of embellish the day or dramatise it.
23:48You deal with what comes up and sometimes there are things to fix too.
23:51But so far, touch wood, I've had very little, even very little wear and tear on any of the equipment.
23:56So Pete built a good boat? Where's it at? What are the breakdown service issues, things like that?
24:01So, really there aren't any. I mean, it's just sort of, I'll end for end halyards.
24:05Here, I've, my fault I didn't change some sheets over early enough, some of my really good Halitec Rooster lines.
24:12So I had a little bit of fraying on those, so I've replaced those.
24:15Little bit of splicings to do here and there.
24:17And I've painted the interior of the boat, or I'm in the process of doing that, just to keep it more clean and hygienic.
24:22What colour?
24:23White.
24:24White, okay.
24:25I know, it's a simple bilge coat.
24:26But, you'll be pleased to know that all the lee cloths and the bimini over the hatch are all going to be boule fabric finished.
24:34So, really cool and loud.
24:35Oh, okay.
24:36A bit like the soiling I did up in Hawaii.
24:38Yeah.
24:39How was the, how did you cope with the temperature?
24:41Because it got bloody hot and mould and, you know, water down below this time.
24:45So, that's also why I'm painting it.
24:46The one thing Pete did do, is I think he painted the interior in haste.
24:51And so the texture and the paintwork does allow, if you're not careful, that black mould sets in things.
24:56And it's not, you know, it's just speckling here and there and it's quite difficult to clean off.
25:00I've always used sort of disinfectants and biocides to clean the interior of the boat.
25:05But even those don't keep it at bay with the humidity.
25:07So, the new paintwork make it easier.
25:09It's brighter.
25:10It's more, you know, it's easier to keep clean really.
25:13Yeah.
25:14That's cool.
25:15Yep.
25:16Have you got your head around the next leg, 9,700 miles to Cape Town?
25:21I've been looking at it periodically, not in detail.
25:24I'm sort of in the sort of zoomed out I'm going to do.
25:27I have yet to do the sort of zoom in part and really come to grips with some of the planning and preparation.
25:32The missive you sent out, that was really helpful in terms of your predictions on basic timelines and what have you.
25:40We'll see how they pan out.
25:41But actually, that's quite a useful planning guide.
25:43Something we could have done ourselves, but to see your intentions and the restart dates, et cetera, is shaping the thinking on that.
25:50Yeah, I've got a pretty good idea about the routing I'm likely to follow.
25:54Yeah.
25:55What's the objective now?
25:56So, you're going to be all on the start line together?
25:58Yeah, so I'm happy with that.
26:00I struggled a bit with the fact we all leave at different times.
26:03It's hard to keep the sort of impetus of this is racing.
26:06And that's the logic.
26:07This is also, it's not just a round the world yacht race and one design boats.
26:12It's a sort of opportunity to explore some beautiful parts of the world.
26:15And we've got some great stopovers.
26:17So, it's difficult not to sort of get too seduced by the sort of life ashore and get back to sea.
26:23So, you have to reset each time, but you're resetting on your own.
26:27And you and I have talked about how if you arrive by daylight, you leave by daylight, you've got nice conditions.
26:32And bless his ears, Renault has had that.
26:34You arrive by night, you leave by night, you're making life hard, hard, hard.
26:39And invariably there's no wind, so you're also falling behind on the clock.
26:43So, my first objective is to overtake Dan Turner on the positioning and timing overall,
26:49make sure I get back into second overall.
26:51And then I'll work at trying to get ahead of Renault for the leg, for a leg win.
26:56Well, that's my objective.
26:58Yeah.
26:59And I know that we're moving into our Australian competitors' home territory.
27:04So, tactically, they're going to have an advantage on ocean currents, meteorology and positioning.
27:10So, yeah, that's their home territory like the Atlantic is ours.
27:14Yeah.
27:15Okay.
27:16So, you're about as far away from England as you possibly can be, even though you live in France, but we'll say France as well.
27:21But what's been the biggest single challenge, not with the boat, but for you, the biggest single challenge to get to Fiji?
27:27You know, like you personally?
27:29I just don't feel, actually I don't feel it's been a challenge.
27:35I mean, and I don't mean that.
27:36No, no, no, exactly what you're saying.
27:37I mean, no, we're just taking my stride.
27:39I think it's like, no, it's all been fine.
27:41I haven't had any, I haven't felt tax challenged, you know.
27:47Okay.
27:48Well, at the back in mind, there's always a sort of financial niggle.
27:50You know, we spend quite a lot of money on satellite communications.
27:53And then my French mobile phone company, because I put a local SIM card in, but when that expired, it went back onto roaming data or whatever.
28:00And suddenly it's like 500 euros, 500 euros.
28:02Oh, jeepers.
28:03You just think, they did that twice.
28:05You think, yeah, there's a thousand euros I could have kept.
28:07So SFR, if you're listening, hmm.
28:11Bloody hell.
28:13Yes.
28:14Mobile phone companies.
28:15Yeah.
28:16Yeah.
28:17Yeah.
28:18Crikey.
28:19That's a throw.
28:20And what about, I mentioned this to everyone pretty much.
28:22You know, before the MGR was not about Starlink.
28:27You know, the MGR was a personal challenge.
28:29It was here, there, wasn't even on the agenda.
28:31And all of a sudden, Mini Starlink turns up and all of a sudden, everyone think, what the hell.
28:35Virtually everyone picked up a 200 bucks Starlink in Panama.
28:38Yeah.
28:39But it's changed the face of the race to a degree.
28:42Right.
28:43Describe your opinion on that one.
28:45You know.
28:46Well, you may recall, I lost one overboard off Panama.
28:48So I had it.
28:49I had, I had nothing going across the Atlantic in terms of satellite connectivity, other than the Iridium phones.
28:56Because the Iridium Go, I could not really download any data on that.
29:00Same, same really all the way to Panama across the Caribbean.
29:03I had it briefly as I was heading towards the Galapagos and lost a dish overboard.
29:09And so, again, I had none of it until really Tahiti.
29:13So I had no real weather forecast predictions, no yellow brick tracker appreciation of where the competition was.
29:19I mean, when I spoke to Sid, he'd sort of give me broad brush positions.
29:24But you have to be very careful about, you know, relative positions.
29:27It's got to be ideally lat long and there's always some sort of transposed errors come in.
29:32And you think, that doesn't make sense.
29:34So I asked quite a lot of him.
29:36But even that didn't really help.
29:37So Starlink enables you to be very independent and resourceful.
29:41And it also gives you the ability to communicate with friends and family.
29:44And what I really enjoyed, I put together one video.
29:47But to achieve it, the app I had to do it well, you had to have internet access to sort of cut and edit.
29:53And that was a really pleasant distraction.
29:56So I want to do more of that.
29:57And you couldn't do that without Starlink, the Mini Starlink.
30:00And the other thing is, the costs of Starlink compared to any of the Iridium and traditional products is just way, way lower.
30:07It brings it all into an affordable level with a performance that's commensurate with your internet at home.
30:13And it draws very little electrical power in real terms.
30:16The Starlink Mini is an incredible design.
30:19The game changer.
30:20Yeah.
30:21Do you miss the sense of isolation?
30:23You know, like it was a solo sailor, because there's always this vision, always solo around the world, you know, blah, blah, blah.
30:28But now it's Starlink.
30:29I think that would be self-imposed if you were seeking that, because actually, why not communicate with friends and family?
30:36And the nice thing is, it's the sort of feedback you get.
30:39People actually would like to see more.
30:41You think, well, I don't want to inundate Facebook with scenes of my, you know, another nice sunset and I'm having a great time.
30:48But there seems to be a real appetite to follow it.
30:50So I'll try and do a little bit more of it on the next leg.
30:53And again, you can do it without Starlink.
30:55So I don't think it changes the isolation.
30:58I think you have to be a little bit of a masochist to say, for example, I want to do a non-stop round-the-world race or sail.
31:05I'd love to do a Vendée Globe.
31:06But you know, that's quick and it's quick and dirty and it's fast.
31:09But if we were to do it in these boats without stopping, without communications, I think we'd all be a little bit strange.
31:15Just a little bit.
31:16Yeah, it was never the agenda to lock it out completely, but it's now.
31:19I never thought we'd be doing what we're doing, you know.
31:21No.
31:22It's quite crazy.
31:23So what's been the most amazing or the best part?
31:26Not a sunset, not a sunrise.
31:27Something has got you really hyped or really emotions.
31:30So I was genuinely euphoric approaching the Marquesas Island.
31:35The beginning of French Polynesia.
31:37Because we'd had, I can't remember, you know, 30-odd days at sea, maybe more.
31:41And it had been quite overcast.
31:43So I knew they were 25 or 30 miles away.
31:46Sunset came.
31:47There seemed to be the inversion cleared and the visibility at lower level cleared as well.
31:53And suddenly I could see not just low-lying land, but sea cliffs and, you know, really mountainous terrain.
32:02And I thought, wow, this is just incredible.
32:05And I found that really emotional.
32:07And I don't know if the contributing factor was the amount of time between seeing land.
32:12But I think it was also because they were just so breathtakingly beautiful.
32:15And it was sunset.
32:17And it was nice sailing conditions.
32:19And you were there.
32:20You were there.
32:21You were there in your little boat.
32:22But you know, in my mind, it never occurred to me, oh, I won't make it.
32:25The only part of the race where I think, yeah, this could be tricky is going to be Cape Good Hope.
32:32And what you've done in designing the chronology of getting around Cape Good Hope,
32:37the sort of day's allowance to be in port if people want to go to Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town,
32:43you're de-risking that too to some extent.
32:45My thought was, no, I set out.
32:47I get around Cape Good Hope.
32:48Come what may.
32:49Battle the weather.
32:50You break something.
32:52You sort it out.
32:53You keep going.
32:54But we're going to be doing it in a slightly different approach.
32:57Probably a de-risked and much more pragmatic approach.
33:00So even that, I wouldn't say it's lost its, I've lost trepidation for it.
33:07But I mean, that's where my focus is.
33:08It's getting around there safely.
33:09Yeah.
33:10And in one piece.
33:11Yeah.
33:12And that's always been there in the back of my mind.
33:13Yeah.
33:14Do you miss the Navy?
33:15So the Navy, that's a really good question.
33:19The camaraderie of the Navy, the people I know, that still exists.
33:23So I had a wonderful career.
33:26It's a great organisation.
33:28But, you know, we see developments and changes in organisations and institutions as we grow
33:33older.
33:34And in our armed forces where they're competing for budgets.
33:37They're in a very uncertain world in terms of security.
33:41People questioning also their validity and their purpose.
33:45You know, it generates great people.
33:48It's got great equipment.
33:49Also the ships and aircraft that I flew became obsolete.
33:53So there's a new raft of the Type 31 ships coming in.
33:56So the Navy's sort of, the Navy today is already not quite the Navy in which I served.
34:02So I can track its history back to the sort of 17th century and many, many, many great stories
34:08of heroes and leaders.
34:10And so I'm honoured to have been a part of it.
34:12But I guess I don't miss it.
34:14And it really is because I still have contact with all the people I was fond of while I was
34:18serving in the Navy.
34:19Yeah.
34:20Do you visualise things?
34:21Do you visualise the finish?
34:23You know, like finally getting through it all and stuff?
34:25Yeah.
34:26So this is a bit, this is a bit big about yacht racing, dinghy racing is you have to, you
34:30have to visualise being in the lead.
34:31You have to visualise winning.
34:32You have to visualise the right shift coming in.
34:34Because if you don't, when you find yourself in that position, you're just not mentally
34:39prepared for it.
34:40And then you start doing things that could be detrimental to, you know, like you see the
34:44people who are not familiar with being in the lead in a race and they sort of have a self-imposed
34:49pecking order.
34:50And Paul Elstrom wrote a bit about this and Eric Twinome.
34:53And then they, then when they find themselves in that position, they sort of oversheet or
34:57they do everything they should do.
34:58How did I get here?
34:59They sell differently.
35:00Absolutely.
35:01And lo and behold, the fleet overtakes them again.
35:02So you don't want to find yourself doing that.
35:04So yeah.
35:05And it's like in everything in life, you have to visualise what it is.
35:08And then you have a reference and a datum against which to compare events.
35:12I do it all the time.
35:13Yeah.
35:14I think it's the nature of positive people.
35:15You say, oh, it's going to be great.
35:16We can do this.
35:17We can do that.
35:18And then James says, don't even talk about it.
35:20Don't, you know, but you got to, it's interesting to see that because that's the, you know,
35:25it's a competitive nature, but not only competitive, it's achieving goals.
35:28Yeah.
35:29If you don't visualise it, you're not drawn into it.
35:30If you don't think it, it's never going to happen.
35:32Yeah.
35:33If you don't have an imagination, dreams are never formed, you know, because it starts
35:36from all that sort of stuff.
35:37And I can see you're an achiever.
35:38So, uh, so what's next after the MGR?
35:40Well, that's a good question.
35:42Um, so I'm really tracking the race to Alaska.
35:45I think that's good part.
35:46Oh, I've thought about that about five times.
35:48Yeah.
35:49I'd love to do that.
35:50I really liked the idea of an Angus road cruiser for some sort of, I'd like to build
35:53one of those.
35:54Uh, there's an Angus road cruiser.
35:57I've always said I'd like to sail a mirror dinghy around Britain.
36:00Isn't that funny?
36:01When the first boats had was a mirror dinghy, we were going to take it all up through the
36:04barrier reef.
36:05It sounds like peas in a pod though.
36:07Isn't it crazy?
36:08It's spooky.
36:09And you know, part of my rationale is we're losing, we're losing people in sailing.
36:14You know, you see the number of secondhand yachts as, you know, they've got nice yachts, but
36:19there's nobody really to take over and buy them or see them as an opportunity.
36:23And partly it's because quite a lot of the entry boats that bring people into dinghy racing
36:27and sailing are quite expensive, quite high tech.
36:29Yeah.
36:30And the mirror dinghy created the sort of revolution in dinghy sailing and racing in Britain and
36:34the late sixties, as did the enterprise dinghy.
36:37But these were things people built themselves and then they formed sailing clubs in, you
36:41know, reservoirs and gravel pits or on the coast.
36:44Well, I just want to show that it's still a valid boat and it's capable of great things.
36:48Oh boy.
36:49Cool to my mate, cool to won't be watching this.
36:51But anyway, going back to, I don't know when, you know, before 2000 or whatever.
36:55And the, the deal was, this was a challenge.
36:57You've got 500 bucks to buy a mirror.
36:59Right.
37:00And you're going to sail it from, we're going to sell it from Brisbane up to Cape York.
37:03Right.
37:04And that was inspired by a guy who got a mirror and he put an HF radio on it and all the gear
37:08this has sailed all the way around the Australian coast up to up north and stuff.
37:11Like about 15 years before I read about it in a modern boating magazine.
37:15I thought, ah, that's cool.
37:16So I buy him a mirror, you know, it's all looking good.
37:19And then Quilter did in the end, it all started to fade a bit because of time and work and stuff.
37:23And Quilter ended up buying a hobby 18 and that he took off all the way.
37:26Oh, that's cheating.
37:27Yeah.
37:28And I never really got my mirror going.
37:30But anyway, we gave it away in the end.
37:31But, but yeah.
37:32I'm a big fan of, um, do you remember Frank and Margaret Dyer?
37:35Yeah.
37:36Who used to sail there Wayfarer.
37:37Oh yeah.
37:38I read all those.
37:39Incredible what they did.
37:40And there's the guy, you know, um, Katie Strickland just brought it up again.
37:43The guy took his mirror from, well, all down the Rhine and all that stuff.
37:46Yeah.
37:47Yeah.
37:48I don't know his name, but he's, I was following him on Facebook about it.
37:50And he's a great raconteur as well.
37:51Yeah.
37:52Yeah.
37:53So he didn't, he didn't push his days runs much, but his observations on places he visited
37:57and stuff were just, uh, maybe we should do a mirror around the world.
38:00Ooh.
38:01No, we're not going there.
38:02I think they would lock us up if we suggested that.
38:05Yeah, exactly.
38:06Oh, we could go on for a long time, but we can't.
38:08So, uh.
38:09Oh, and there's one other thing.
38:10Sorry.
38:11It's just also my daughter's due to fit.
38:12My elder daughter's due to finish her PhD.
38:13And I did promise that we would cycle from Columbia down to Chile.
38:16So along the Andes and Bolivia and Peru and Ecuador.
38:19So we've got that on the cards.
38:21So before or after the OGR?
38:22This will be before the OGR and then the OGR.
38:25Yeah.
38:26I've got, I'm hoping to do the OGR.
38:28That's beautiful.
38:29Yeah.
38:30Okay.
38:31Sailing around the world with a fully crewed yacht using the old whipped red route.
38:34I mean, that's a.
38:35Yeah.
38:36It's a beauty.
38:37It's a beauty.
38:38And different challenges from sailing on your own, which I'm looking forward to.
38:40Totally.
38:41Yeah.
38:42Anyway, we won't go there.
38:43I've been talking to you about.
38:44All right.
38:45We better wrap this.
38:46So, uh, thank you very much, Kerry.
38:47Thanks.
38:48Uh, good luck with the next one.
38:49Hopefully you'll be organized on the start line.
38:50Uh, just, you know, even with a shirt like that, you know, it's all looking pretty cool.
38:54Fantastic.
38:55Okay.
38:56See you in Cape Town.
38:57Oh no, we're going to see you at the start.
38:58It's going to be a big day, actually.
38:59Quite a few people here talking about coming out.
39:01The start line's just offshore.
39:02So they come out in their tenders just, just off the.
39:04I'm visualizing it already, Don.
39:05Oh yeah.
39:06Cool.
39:07Okay.
39:08Bye.
39:09Bye.
39:10Bye.
39:15Bye.
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