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Brad with his two lieutenants, J.C. Caso (in the middle) and Jeffrey
Wargo (at right). Photo by Olivier Blanchet/Velux 5 Oceans.
qualifies on all three fronts. Displacing just 8.5 tons, it is one
of the few, if not the only Open 60 with a tungsten bulb
affixed to its stainless steel, canting keel. As Van Liew likes
to tell the audiences he regularly speaks to, having approximately
5,000 square feet of sail area gives Open 60s like his
a power-to-weight ratio not unlike that of a windsurfer.
“This particular boat has about the same freeboard as
Tommy Hilfiger (the 50-footer he sailed in the ’02-’03 race),”
he explains, “So it’s a really wet ride.”
Man-eaters is the term he occasionally employs to offer
a sense of what it’s like to handle a sailboat this powerful on
your own. “These boats can really eat you up if they’re not
under control. But when they’re going right, there’s nothing
like an Open boat.” And he should know after taking two of
them around the world.
To optimize the boat for the coming race, Van Liew and
his team have made a number of modifications and
upgrades. They’ve replaced and reconfigured almost 90 percent
of the deck hardware, acquired all new sails, and Van
Liew himself has rewired the entire vessel, something he also
did to prepare for his two other around-the-world races.
Down below, one of the most visible modifications is
the ultra-Spartan nav station. When he’s not on deck, Van
Liew will spend much of his time below perched in a fivepound,
carbon-fiber chair that snaps onto two of the four
carbon-fiber posts that support the boat’s low coach roof.
The chair faces a small, gimbaled, carbon-fiber table, just
large enough for a laptop computer. According to Caso, who
custom-built both table and chair, “That’s all you need. If
you have to spread out charts, you do that on the floor.”
He’ll also be carrying two innovative hydrogenerators
that deploy from the transom. Each features a variable
pitch propeller that allows the device to generate power
without creating discernable drag. Van Liew says that
these generate about 40 amps when the boat is moving at
10 knots. Having them on board, he says, will enable him
to forgo roughly 40 gallons of diesel on each leg of the race,
fuel that would otherwise be needed to run the generator
and keep the batteries charged.
Despite all these innovations, Van Liew still faces the
disadvantage of lacking a title sponsor. Ironically, that just
may give him an edge. Ultimately, the Velux 5 Oceans Race
is a test of resilience, a challenge of coping with just the
resources at hand. And those who’ve grown accustomed to
getting by on that basis should have the upper hand. Stand
by. Only the coming months will tell.
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For additional information on Brad Van Liew’s Team Lazarus, log
onto www.oceanracing.org. For more on the Velux 5 Oceans Race,
log onto www.velux5oceans.com.
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News & Views for Southern Sailors SOUTHWINDS September 2010 49