Excerpt from the Torresen Sailing Site Interview
with
Neal Petersen
Torresen Sailing Site: What made you decide: I want to
sail around the world by myself ?
I had raced as a boy on small
boats in Table Bay. I wanted to race on the good boats, but
people said that I was not good enough. I felt I was, and the only way that I thought that
I could prove it, was to race a boat by myself doing every job to the best of my ability.
Then in 1982 the BOC Challenge stopped in Cape Town and I met the third boat finishing,
Richard Broadhead. Before he even spoke to the press, he answered every question I asked
of him. I realized that I could one day race alone, and the dream to race around the world
was born. He changed my life in some ways. Then seven years later at the Long Beach Boat
Show, I met Mark Schrader, who again impacted my life and I began planing to race in the
BOC Challenge. From the time I met Broadhead, till the time I stood on my boat crossing
the first leg finish line, was 14 years. I was 28 years old.
Torresen Sailing Site: What changes have been made to
No Barriers for this race ?
I have done a complete
overall to the boat. Put in an engine which I never had, new rudder
bearings, strengthened the mast base, sand blasted the deck and re-glassed it thanks to my
sponsor, Phillips
Industrial Services. I have put about six months work into the boat on the hard at the SC
State Ports Authority's Columbus Street Terminal. She is like a new boat again.
Torresen Sailing Site: What is the sleep and/or watch
system you use when sailing No Barriers
solo ?
I normally sleep about 20-30
minutes at a time in ideal conditions. In very
rough conditions where I am reefed in heavily and the boat is lively and bouncing, I get
about 30-45 min snoozes. In the light airs, I am too frustrated to sleep much knowing I am
missing a wind puff. Each sleep pattern is interrupted by popping up on deck for a minute
or less, peering at the radar screen and instruments, then back to sleep. I might put a
session of 6 snoozes in, then, be up for a while. One cannot stockpile sleep. This slowly
catches up with me, and after a few days of this, I might ignore one alarm and stay sacked
till the repeat cycle, getting then an hour. Collectively in a 24 hour period, I will get
between 4 to 6 hours sleep