Torresen Sailing Site Around the World of Sailing for September 23- Around Alone Special Edition

Torresen Sailing News Home	Torresen Home
Current Issue

In This Issue:
Special Edition from Charleston
Around Alone- How to sleep well when sailing Around the World
South Carolina- Due in Charleston within Hours
Project Amazon- Funds Needed
Modern University for the Humanities
Magellan- Ready to race
505 Worlds- 3 Races to go
Etchell's Worlds- Close finish
Star Worlds- Beashel is champ
Sydney Harbor Regatta

Around the World of Sailing Special Edition
This week Torresen Sailing Site is in
Charleston covering preparations for the start
of the Around Alone race.
I have been filing two daily reports
and will continue to do so until Saturday. You
can read these reports at:
http://www.torresen.com/aroundalone/chs_index.asp
So, most of the news if from Charleston
and about Around Alone. Please enjoy the
coverage and cheer for the Torresen Sailing
Site sponsored Modern University for the
Humanities sailed by Fedor Konioukhov.

How to Sleep Well When Sailing Around the World
        Saturday sees the long awaited start
of Around Alone, the worlds longest race for
an individual in any sport. The 16 mariners
entered will sail 27,000 miles.
        As the race is single handed, it is
quite apparent that you must sleep. It's also
apparent that sleep will not be as normal and
nice as in your comfortable and stable bed at
home.
        Race organizers and Dr. Claudio Stampi
have teamed up to assist the sailors in properly
planning their sleep patterns for the race.
        The starting point for the sleep planning
is the experiences of the sailors. If a sailor has
a sleep pattern that has proved successful,
Dr. Stampi likes to work with the sailor and
reinforce it.
        If not, Stampi then has some recommendations
and tips he gives. His advice is based both
on the practical and research he has conducted.
The practical includes skippering a yacht in the
Whitbread Around the World Race. Amongst the
research he has conducted are studying the sleep
habits of 120 offshore single handed sailors
who have competed in the likes of Trans Atlantic
Races etc.
        The basis of his sleep recommendations is to
nap frequently. The name for this sleep strategy is
polyphaisc. This term literally means many phases,
that is a lot of naps should equal good sleep for the
Around Alone skipper.
        It seems from research that the ideal nap
duration is 20 minutes. However, this varies. An
example of this is Mike Golding, skipper of
Group 4, will nap for 1 hour and 30 minutes
at a time. He'll do this twice in a 24 hour period,
once from 0200 to 0600 and again in the early
afternoon.
        Opposed to Golding, is fellow Britisher
Mike Garside who naps for 20 minute durations.
        Another consideration when thinking about
your sleep pattern, is whether you are a 'morning
person' or 'night person'. Morning people tend

to be better at shorter more regimented sleep.
They like to take short naps at regularly scheduled
intervals. Your evening person will tend toward
longer individual periods of sleep. Dr. Sampi says,
once they get in bed they like to stay there.
Cray Valley skipper J.P. Mouligne is more of a
night type person and sleeps for longer periods,
in the 45 minute range.
        So, once you figure out your sleep interval,
how much total sleep are you trying for ? Sampi
indicated that 4 to 5 1/2 hours is a safe amount.
If you sleep less than this you pay a cost in poor
performance.
        Finally Sampi indicates, that your level of
alertness is predictable. If you keep a sleep log,
noting when you are alert and when you are not,
you can help maximize effectives of your sleep.
Your periods of reduced alertness are when you
should try to sleep, maximizing what would
otherwise be inefficient time.
        Preparation and planning are the essential
elements of the Around Alone race. This state
of readiness needs to extend on board to sleep
patterns if you hope to win.
        For continuing reports from Charleston
and the Around Alone Start please visit the following url:

http://www.torresen.com/aroundalone/chs_index.asp

South Carolina
Robin Davie's Class II entry South
Carolina is due to finish her 2000 mile
qualifying voyage today.
The latest report is that he is
60 miles from Charleston sailing at a
speed of 10.5 knots. He ETA is 1800.
That's the good news. The bad news
is that he will start the race with a time
penalty of approximately 270 hours (depending
on his exact arrival time). This means
at the start his elapsed time will read
270 hours, while his competitors will start
at 0.
This leaves only 1 boat that is not
yet in Charleston. This is Wind of Change
Russia. It is believe this yacht is without
power for her communications gear, and so her
position is unknown.

Project Amazon
Sebastian Reidl and Project Amazon
are a Class I Around Alone entry. They are
Canada's only entry in the race.
To be blunt at this point Project Amazon's
race is in jeopardy. Reidl needs several things
to help him across the starting line. For
instance, he is need of several spools of line
so he can run new reef lines on his unique
cat ketch rig.
Reidl and his team are selling
Project Amazon merchandise here at the
Charleston Maritime Center. In a unique
twist you can have your name on the boat.
To get your name on the boat $ 20.00
donation is required for adults and $
10.00 for children.
If you would like to assist
Project Amazon financially or know of
any sponsorship opportunities please
For more information on
any aspect of Project Amazon's
situation please call Project
Amazon Project Manager John Brooman at
(843) 814-3698. After this weekend he
may be reached at (604) 990-5185

Modern University for the Humanities Update
The international partnership between
the Torresen Sailing Site and Fedor Konioukhov
continues its growth this week in Charleston.

Fedor and his team are in the end stages of race
preparation. MUH has all new North Sails. One
of the major remaining projects is fitting new
rams on on MUH's autopilots.
This week has been my first chance to
meet Fedor. Although not an English speaker,
Fedor communicates well. It's obvious that
he is an intense man. Although he has taken some
time out for things such as a christening of MUH,
mainly he has worked throughout the week readying
the boat.
While Fedor may not have the sailboat
racing experience of some in the fleet, his
varied experience should see him through the race.
Many things that might phase a less experienced
person will not get to Fedor.
If you have a chance to view the boats
in person, on TV, or on the Internet look to the
boom and the transom where our www.torresen.com
logo is proudly displayed.
Plan to check Around the World of Sailing
and the Torresen Sailing Site for frequent
updates on Fedor's Around Alone experiences.
For a profile of Fedor visit:

http://www.torresen.com/aroundalone/fk1.asp

Magellan Alpha- Ready to Race
Mike Garside of England will
sail Magellan Alpha in Around Alone's
Class II. Here is the latest from
team Magellan Alpha:
Magellan Alpha has had a lot longer
in the water than the three other
Finot designed boats built by JMV,
Cherbourg and arrived in Charleston
at the end of the Atlantic Alone
race with very little repair work to be
done.
The boom had to be marginally shortened because it was overlength by a few
inches and this proved
to be the most serious problem as the
work was not carried out until this final
week despite the fact that the problem was
explained to the manufacturers two months
ago and the boat has been in harbour in
Charleston for the last seven weeks. The hold up
has delayed Mike's sailing plans and it looks
as if it will be Thursday before he can get
out on the water for final checks and tests.
Mike is full of praise for the service provided by Autohelm/Raytheon and
ProFurl. Both companies
have had experts on the spot to to checks and repairs.
"I'm very glad I chose the brands used by most
of the solo skippers," he said. "Their back up
here has been superb. We had a power surge
due to operator error (mine) at the end of
the Atlantic Alone race and Autohelm has
checked and repaired everything. They've
also fitted a fail safe system to stop
it happening again."

505 Worlds
        With three races remaining, the New England
based American team, of Nick Trotman and
Mike Mills are the leaders of the 505 World
Championships. Their position was solidified
by their first place in Tuesday's race.
        The British team of Ian Barker and Dan Cripps
are in 2nd, 10 points back. 3rd is the defending
world champion team of Mark Upton-Brown and
Ian Mitchell. They are 12 points out of 1st.
        To see how this series concludes,
please vist: http://standard31.infoboard.net/ft/505worlds.html

Etchells Worlds Have a Champion
This talent packed regatta has concluded and

the winner is Dirk Kneulman of Canada. Going into
the 6th and final race only he and American Peter
Duncan had a mathematical chance at a win.
Kneulman match race Duncan and came out
on top. Duncan ended up with a DNF in race 6.
This allowed New Zelands Russel Coutts to sneak
up to 2nd place.

Star Worlds
        The venerable Star class has a new world
champion, Colin Beashel of Australia.
        Overall the top 3 finishers were:
1. Colin Beashel / David Giles, AUS, 22 points
2. Torben Grael / Marcelo Ferreira, BRA, 23
3. Alexander Hagen / Helmert Thorsten, GER, 46
        Top American finisher was: Peter
Vessella and crew Mike Dorgan in 10th place.

Sydney Harbor Regatta
        This is a full on dress rehearsal for the Olympic
Sailing Regatta. There are several USA sailors who
have done well to this point in the regatta.
        In the 49er class, there are two American
teams in the top 5. Standing 4th are the Seattle
based team of Jonathan and Charlie Mckee.
In 5th is the team of Morgan Larson and Kevin Hall.
        John Mydral is sailing a strong series in the 42
boat Laser class and is sitting in 4th.
        The final American performance of note is the
Soling team of Tony Rey/Tony Burnham/Dean Brenner.
They had a successful first day of the match racing
portion of the Soling competition going 2-1.
        For more results please see:

http://www.sydney.olympic.org

Current Issue