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Latitude 38
• August, 2013
HARRY HECKEL, JR
Your Sailing Resource!
coupling, and make it to the secure anchorage by 3:30 a.m. Stuart slept through the entire ordeal. Thinking more about the delivery to the Virgin Islands, I've decided to include the Chagos Archipelago in the itinerary, as I know I would regret not including this extraordinary Indian Ocean stop. What's funny about paper charts is they can make potential destinations seem way out of the way, even when they only involve only a few extra miles. For example, one time we were at the Greek island of Santorini about to sail 475 miles trip to Malta. The north coast of Crete was down at the bottom of the chart, so just out of curiosity, I added the ancient capital of Crete as a waypoint. It turned out that it would only add 18 miles to our 475-mile passage. By the way, I'm told that Harry Heckel, the oldest person to sail around the world solo twice, published a book titled Around the World in 80 Years. I'm hoping one of my crew will bring a copy. We met Harry in Borneo in 2000. While in Norfolk, Virginia in '05 or '06, we presented Harry with a certificate of achievement on behalf of Latitude. If I'm not mistaken, Harry is now 97 years old! As much as my family has enjoyed Australia, Cath's homeland, we're eager to move back to our adopted home of the U.S. Virgin Islands. For one thing, I've been driving a car ferry back and forth Harry Heckel's book 'Around across the Brisbane River — every the World in 80 Years'. five minutes for 13.5 hours a livelong day — for the past 10 months. I can't wait to quit this mind-numbing job in three weeks and cast off Gallivanter's lines to begin sailing home to the Caribbean. By the way, I've just completed everything necessary to upgrade my Aussie marine license from a Master 5 to a Master 4, which means I can move up from driving 80-ft vessels to 230-ft vessels. It was a major pain in the ass getting the upgrade, but the sea time I've gained working here in the Land of Oz is also applicable to upgrading my USCG ticket when I get back to the Land of the Free. For those interested in crewing on Gallivanter, I can be reached at svgallivanter@yahoo.com. Please do not contact me if: 1) You're not super enthused about the opportunity, or 2) You're not sure you can take the time off from whatever else you're doing or family obligations. Thanks. Kirk McGeorge Gallivanter, Hylas 49 Brisbane, Australia ⇑⇓CAPSIZING MOD70S I watched the terrific June 3 'Lectronic video the Wanderer took from onboard while the MOD70 Orion sailed across Banderas Bay at speeds up to 35 knots. Pretty cool! Then, in the June 24 'Lectronic and on page 72 of the July Latitude, I saw the photo and story of the MOD70 Spindrift flipping over and breaking her mast during the La Route du Princes series in Dun Loaghaire, Ireland. Since the Wanderer and Doña de Mallorca were lucky enough to be aboard Orion for that sail on Banderas Bay, I'd like to know whether you were concerned about the tri flipping or whether you felt pretty secure. Bill McClintock San Jose