Today... during my internet wanderings... I ran across this web site:

http://www.avivachallenge.com/index.asp

It is about a young lady (Dee Caffari) sailing solo aboard the "Aviva"
a Challenge 72' Class yacht... and attempting a solo circumnavigation
the hard way.

She left England the latter part of November and is headed west via
the Southern Seas as her routing. In the last few days or so... she
rounded the "Horn" and reported in at about 53 degrees South...
and 139 degrees West.

It appears to me that her sponsors have "deep pockets" and the
vessel... support team... much less the aforementioned web sit
are first class. Needless to say... she is also a very accomplished
skipper as well.

Any how... some of you may enjoy following her trials and tribulations
via the web site. She has state of the art communications aboard so
she posts quite regularly.

Best regards

Bill

Wow. She is cute. It would be rough, but I could handle
being "stuck" sailing with her for half a year.

wrote
Today... during my internet wanderings... I ran across this web site:

http://www.avivachallenge.com/index.asp

It is about a young lady (Dee Caffari) sailing solo aboard the "Aviva"
a Challenge 72' Class yacht... and attempting a solo circumnavigation
the hard way.

She left England the latter part of November and is headed west via
the Southern Seas as her routing. In the last few days or so... she
rounded the "Horn" and reported in at about 53 degrees South...
and 139 degrees West.

It appears to me that her sponsors have "deep pockets" and the
vessel... support team... much less the aforementioned web sit
are first class. Needless to say... she is also a very accomplished
skipper as well.

Any how... some of you may enjoy following her trials and tribulations
via the web site. She has state of the art communications aboard so
she posts quite regularly.

Best regards

Bill

It would be rough, but I could handle being "stuck" sailing with
her for half a year.

You know Bart... the same thought ran through my alleged mind
as well. (smile)

Apparently she previously skippered this same vessel with an all
male crew (18) around the world as well. Obviously... she is now
trying it on her own.

Admittedly I don't know that much about boats... but it certainly
looks like the "Aviva" has all the "whistles and bells". Like I men-
tioned earlier... she has some fantastic financial and logistical
backing. Must be nice...

Bill

(wishing he could be the cabin steward... heh heh)

wrote:
Today... during my internet wanderings... I ran across this web site:

http://www.avivachallenge.com/index.asp

It is about a young lady (Dee Caffari) sailing solo aboard the "Aviva"
a Challenge 72' Class yacht... and attempting a solo circumnavigation
the hard way.


She's singlehanding one of the BT Challenge boats, they sail
around the world "the wrong way," people line up to pay for
crew spots. Crazy.

BTW the boats are steel, but built for speed.

DSK

They pay like 14K a leg. 5 legs X 3 people

helps pays for

http://minihane.tripod.com/btglobalchallenge/boat1.JPG

Joe

Circumnavigate north to south then south to north.

No one has ever done that.

Amen!

"DSK" wrote in message
...
wrote:
Today... during my internet wanderings... I ran across this web site:

http://www.avivachallenge.com/index.asp

It is about a young lady (Dee Caffari) sailing solo aboard the "Aviva"
a Challenge 72' Class yacht... and attempting a solo circumnavigation
the hard way.


She's singlehanding one of the BT Challenge boats, they sail around the
world "the wrong way," people line up to pay for crew spots. Crazy.

BTW the boats are steel, but built for speed.

DSK

Bob Crantz wrote:

Circumnavigate north to south then south to north.

No one has ever done that.


My impression is that some of the dirigible flights of the
late 1920s and early 1930s came pretty close to that.

DSK

Someone decided that a British woman should be the
first woman to go around the wrong (safe) way. Let us
understand what is really going on here. Could it be this
event happened purely out of national pride? Or was
this primarily a good advertisement for the BT Global
Challenge and a way to make money off of an insurance
company named Aviva?

Dee Caffari is mostly a lucky woman to be sponsored to do
this event. I have to admire her. What male sailor cannot
help but admire an attractive and capable female skipper?
Aviva knows her tale will stir the hearts of many around the
world, and it has. That is good advertising, but I feel it
diminishes the event.

Nearly anyone can do something like this, with a measure
of determination, and the right backers. Or perhaps the
right backers and a carefully chosen skipper. The skipper
is certainly less important that everything else. Obviously a
pretty face opens some doors, and being a woman is a
requirement for a female event like this.

Actually sailing the event is not all that hard in a boat that
has been modified to be easy to sail which is how every
other ocean racer should be rigged!

Note the contrast between Chay Blyth's BT Challenge which is
a pure hungry money-grab, set up with hank-on-sails and a
ridiculously huge 18 man crew, to Dee's sensible roller furling
set up.

Perhaps now the fools that are suckered into paying Chay Blythe
small fortunes will understand the boat really only needs one or two
people to sail it around the world--not 18 people. This serves to
gross $810,000/boat for Chay Blythe, or $9.72 million for all 12
boats--Plus sponsor money, as the names of these boats change
to suit the sponsor.

In this case I wonder how much the insurance company Aviva is
contributing? Does the even make a profit? I would expect it
does. At a minimum it is advertising for future BT Global Challenges
with renamed boats.

Given a more realistic crew size Chay would not make so much
money on the BT Global Challenge. Most of the sailors were not
hard-core sailors--they freely admit these are people going through
middle life crisis. I have more respect for individuals who do it all
on their own--the fund raising, the rigging, the PR, and the sailing,
whether it is something as simple as a transatlantic crossing or a
major event.

All that aside, I have to say I really like the way Aviva is rigged.
Steel is strong, the boat is easy to sail, and it is large enough to
relax. Sailing in the Southern Ocean means watch keeping can
be like Robin Knox-Johnston's where he would sleep 8 hours at
a stretch on Suhali. These steel boats are well designed for ocean
cruising, and not terrible risky outside the shipping lanes.

What would have made the whole thing interesting is if they had
made it a race with 12 different women skippers racing for the
prize of the historical distinction of being the first woman to sail
around the wrong way. The woman who won that would have
earned well deserved and serious distinction. The way Dee is
pursuing this record--if you want to call sailing the easy way around
a record, is simply a matter of time, like a job promotion based
not on merit, but on longevity.

"DSK" wrote ...
wrote:
Today... during my internet wanderings... I ran across this web site:

http://www.avivachallenge.com/index.asp

It is about a young lady (Dee Caffari) sailing solo aboard the "Aviva"
a Challenge 72' Class yacht... and attempting a solo circumnavigation
the hard way.


She's singlehanding one of the BT Challenge boats, they sail around the
world "the wrong way," people line up to pay for crew spots. Crazy.

BTW the boats are steel, but built for speed.

DSK

"Bart Senior" .@. wrote in message ...
Note the contrast between Chay Blyth's BT Challenge which is
a pure hungry money-grab, set up with hank-on-sails and a
ridiculously huge 18 man crew, to Dee's sensible roller furling
set up.

http://tinylink.com/?3DNELMWczN

They're offering more than one type of pay for berth option, this looks
interesting, and fairly reasonably priced, and logistically anyways, easier
for partcipants as it's a out and back deal.
As far as the racing round the world berths, they are pricey, but consider
the available options re/time and money. They will let you crew for a leg,
where else could you do this for $20k, and only need that amount of a time
commitment to do, if you wanted to do some sailing for an extended period in
the southern oceans?

John Cairns

"John Cairns" wrote

"Bart Senior" .@. wrote in message ...
Note the contrast between Chay Blyth's BT Challenge which is
a pure hungry money-grab, set up with hank-on-sails and a
ridiculously huge 18 man crew, to Dee's sensible roller furling
set up.

http://tinylink.com/?3DNELMWczN

They're offering more than one type of pay for berth option, this looks
interesting, and fairly reasonably priced, and logistically anyways,
easier for partcipants as it's a out and back deal.
As far as the racing round the world berths, they are pricey, but consider
the available options re/time and money. They will let you crew for a leg,
where else could you do this for $20k, and only need that amount of a time
commitment to do, if you wanted to do some sailing for an extended period
in the southern oceans?

John Cairns

I think this it is far better to do it yourself. $20k to suffer in the
Southern
Ocean? It's absurd! A novice should learn in more benign conditions.

Chay Blyth, is mercenary, and not doing this for the best interest of the
people involved. I would never recommend people to spend that kind
of money to puke in the Southern Ocean. I would recommend they put
the money towards purchasing their own boat, alone or in partnership,
and learn in gradual stages.