Round-the-World Sailboat Race Begins

Jan. 2, 2001 -- Seven boats have embarked on a high-speed, high-stakes race around the world beginning in Spain and set to end a little over two months from now in Marseille, France.

The Team Adventure boat, skippered by Cam Lewis, took an early lead in the race, sprinting 18 miles ahead of a boat sponsored by Club Med.

“The boat’s working great. Everything is up to speed and so far we’re off to a great start,” said Lewis.

The sailors are manning some of the biggest and fastest sailboats ever set on the seas. Most are around 125 feet long, and can reach speeds of up to 45 mph — all in an effort to circumnavigate the globe in 65 days and shatter Jules Verne’s 1873 vision of traveling Around the World in 80 Days.

Good Conditions

The race began Sunday off the coast of Barcelona on Sunday at 2 p.m. local time. Conditions were ideal: Clear skies, smooth seas, and good winds.

The morale among the 14-member Team Adventure crew was great — especially since they got their sails up very quickly.

Living conditions are tight, but comfortable. The crew is working in short shifts with a quick turnover — four hours on, and four hours off. Bunks on the boat are 6 feet long — but stacked closely, so there’s hardly any head room.

But the crew is well-acquainted with one another, and such conditions are not expected to produce any strain. They even made an effort to build up camaraderie by living together in the French village where their boat was built, while it was being built.

Among the crew is Randy Smyth, an accomplished sailor who has sailed with Lewis several times before. Smyth’s claim to fame was piloting a catamaran that capsized in the Pierce Brosnan film The Thomas Crowne Affair.

Another is Rick Deppe, a crewman who is doubling as a photographer. He sprained his ankle fairly badly in port, and is taking things easy while things are smooth.

And there’s Fred Carrere, an experienced sailor who lives in Ithaca, N.Y., and works as a builder. He jokes that he had a mid-life crisis, and decided to take a few months to sail around the world.

Not a Cruise

On Sunday, the crew had an inaugural dinner of chicken and pasta.

Preparations were modest. Most of the food on board is freeze-dried, to conserve the weight that would otherwise go to water. The crew used utensils that were combination forks and spoons — forks on one side, spoons on the other — ostensibly for the same reason.

For convenience, they also ate their meals out of plastic dog bowls — a quick lean over the side of the boat with bowl in hand, and the dinner dishes are clean.

But this is a race, not a cruise, and perils are expected along the way. The race has few rules, boats with cutting-edge designs that have never been fully tested and a treacherous course that has never been run.

The sailors will sail from the Strait of Gibraltar, down around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, via the wind-torn Southern Ocean, where waves can rise 60 feet, to the Indian Ocean.

Then, heading through Cook Strait between New Zealand’s North and South Islands, across the Pacific, they will round Cape Horn at the tip of South America, and make their way back up the Atlantic to end the race at Marseilles, France.

Steve Fossett, the skipper of the Playstation, another boat in the race, believes if a boat flips over in stormy conditions, men are sure to die.

“One or two crew members would be thrown clear of the boat as it flips and would not be recoverable. There’s a risk of several crew members being caught under the nets and drowning.”

Safety Precautions

For weeks the crews have been training for that possibility. Each boat is equipped with at least one life raft. But the boats are also designed to float and function while completely upside down.

Inside the cabins, there are waterproof bags filled with food and crucial communication equipment. In the event of a disaster, each sailor will try to put on a rubber suit. The suits are designed to keep the wearers warm and dry, even in freezing waters, for several days.

If a boat does flip over or become stranded at sea, one of the first things the crew will do is activate as transmitter. For the next 48 to 72 hours, it will emit a constant mayday signal.

ABCNEWS’ Andrew Morse and Bob Woodruff aboard the Team Adventure boat contributed to this report.