I'm getting ready to hit the sack when my host, Brad Van Liew, throws an old North Face sleepingbag onto the inflatable bed in his guestroom-cum-kid's playroom. It is late summer in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, just north of Charleston, and Van Liew and his wife, Meaghan, have the air conditioner cranking.
"In case you get cold," Van Liew says. "It's been around Cape Horn two times, so it should do the trick."
"Are you going to use it for the Velux 5 Oceans Race?" I ask, referring to the latest iteration of the BOC/Around Alone franchise, set to start October 17.
"Sure," Van Liew says, with a shrug. "It's a good sleeping bag."
I smile and shake my head. How to buy a good sleeping bag for camping? The thought that the Class II winner of the 2002-2003 Around Alone race should use the same sleeping bag for three circumnavigations seems nothing less than amazing.
And refreshing, especially in this age of bloated racing budgets--a la the America's Cup and the European solo sailing industry. At press time, Van Liew's Team Lazarus campaign was still looking for a title sponsor, but that hadn't stopped him from soldiering on. Nor had it dampened his enthusiasm.
In late 2009 Van Liew, now 42 years old, enlisted the aid of French ocean racing veteran J.C. Caso to help with the Lazarus campaign. Caso, in turn, led him to the veteran Open 60 Pro-Form, which was built in 1998 and most recently served as Marc Thiercelin's ride in the 2003-04 Vendee Globe. Van Liew also recruited Jeffrey Wargo, project manager for his successful 2002-2003 Around Alone a board the Open 50 Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America.
Of course, he also has the support of his wife, Meaghan, who has served as his tireless campaign manager since the 1998-1999 Balance Bar campaign, when he finished third in the Around Alone, despite being dismasted midway through Leg 4, from Punta del Este, Uruguay, to Charleston.
In January, Van Liew, Charleston-area sailor Kevin Hogan, Caso and Wargo sailed Pro-Form from La Rochelle, France, for what proved to be an epic 38-day passage to Charleston. After that the team got straight to work preparing the boat for the race, in which it will compete as one of nine boats in the new Eco 60 class (see sidebar). They have reconfigured the rig and deck layout to suit Van Liew's particular sailing style, updated the boat's electronics, installed solar panels and hydro-generators in the interest of reducing the boat's dependence on fossil fuels and mended the inevitable wear and tear that results from years of heavy use.
In many ways, Van Liew has been fortunate. Pro-Form has been systematically upgraded over the years, with everything from new underwater appendages to a new rig, and she is far faster than when she first left the builder's yard. Nonetheless, Van Liew has had his work cut out for him undoing the many modifications he feels could slow him down at sea.
Marc Thiercelin, for example, stripped the boat of as much deck hardware as possible in the interest of reducing weight. Thiercelin was happy to leave the cockpit and go to the mast to put in a reef. Van Liew, however, prefers having the sail controls he needs at his fingertips at all times, which meant revamping almost the entire cockpit layout.
Despite not having a title sponsor, Van Liew says both he and Pro-Form, which he has since renamed Le Pingouin, French for "Penguin," are well prepared for the five-leg, 30,000-mile event. Indeed, he says that thanks to the hundreds of donations he's received--some in-kind, some financial--he has been able to work Le Pingouin up to where she will be one of the strongest boats in the nine-boat field. Samson Ropes, for example, is supplying Van Liew's cordage, Harken is providing winches, Simrad is providing a multi-function chartplotter, Spinlock has supplied various hardware, Awlgrip has provided the materials necessary to spruce up Le Pingouin's topsides and Gill is helping out with apparel. For this latest time around the world, Van Liew is going with a B&G electronics package and also receiving support from West Marine and OnDeck USA. AlpineAire Food is helping out with provisioning, the same as with his other campaigns.
"It really is gratifying the way friends from our previous campaigns have rallied around," Van Liew says. "Sailors and friends from the Charleston area have been especially helpful. Without the support of a whole lot of people, this simply wouldn't have been possible."
He adds that he and Meaghan have been in similar situations before. "Balance Bar came aboard just weeks before our start in '98, while Tommy joined us just a few months before the 2002 race, so we're used to uncertainty."
In the meantime, having to get by on a shoestring budget has meant plenty of long days, something I experience first-hand watching Team Lazarus put the keel back in the boat in preparation for launching. Working with nothing more than three small manual pneumatic jacks and dozens of wooden wedges and shims, Van Liew, Caso, Meaghan's brother Brendan Fitzgerald and Charleston-area sailor Tim Eble spend hours slowly inching the 12-foot-long fin and 3-ton bulb into place. Because the keel's canting mechanism is machined to such tight tolerances, there is no room for error. A fraction of an inch too far forward or aft, and the keel root will be misaligned, possibly getting jammed in the case, setting them back hours. Working under the hot South Carolina sun alongside a 600ft dry dock in the gritty Detyens Shipyard is not for the faint of heart. But the crew remains focused and professional throughout--even when it appears the forward bearing might have become jammed mere millimeters from success.
"A big program in France will have a specialist for everything. One person will be in charge of the carbon work. Another will be in charge of electronics. Someone else will be in charge of the rig," Van Liew says as the crew takes a breather. "Here everybody is a generalist."
It is the same back at the Van Liew household. Boxes of Team Lazarus T-shirts and piles of Team Lazarus stationary 4 types of sleeping bags stand as mute testament to the fact that the Van Liew's comfortable home amid the South Carolina pines also serves as the team headquarters. Indeed, chez Van Liew presents a fascinating juxtaposition of utter normalcy and sailing professionalism. In the dining room, a big yellow teddy bear sits next to a trophy Brad won on the fourth leg of the 1998-99 Around Alone. Elsewhere framed photos of Tommy Hilfiger face off against shelves of kids' books. Van Liew spends an hour every morning answering e-mails before heading off to the boat. He also puts in another hour-long e-mail session each night. Throughout the day, he is continually on the phone, organizing equipment deliveries or putting out logistical fires.
In spite of the hectic pace, both Van Liew and Meaghan remain enthused, in large part because of the owners of the aforementioned teddy bear. Although Van Liew is as focused on winning as ever, he and Meaghan have a couple of kids now--Tate and Wyatt--which has added a whole new dimension to the event.
"The first time we did the Around Alone, the goal was to see if I could make it. The second time the goal was to win. This time the goal is an adventure for the whole family," Van Liew says. "The kids will be with us at each port. It's going to be a lot different in many ways. I've never had to say goodbye to my kids at the start of a leg before. But it's going to be great."
Van Liew planned to depart for La Rochelle in early September, so that he could arrive in plenty of time for the September 26 race deadline. The delivery, which he will be doing with Fitzgerald, Caso and Eble, will also provide some sea time to fine-tune the boat before the actual race.
The first leg starts in La Rochelle and finishes 7,500 miles later in Cape Town, South Africa. Leg 2 starts in Cape Town on December 12 and finishes in Wellington, New Zealand. Leg 3, which starts on February 6, goes 7,400 miles around Cape Horn and finishes in Salvador, Brazil. Leg 4 starts on April 10 and finishes 4,000 miles later in Charleston. Leg 5 starts on May 14 and finishes 3,600 miles later back in La Rochelle.
Although he is cutting things close in terms of the refit and delivery, Van Liew remains confident about his prospects. One of the nice things about not having a title sponsor, he says, is that the team can work at its own pace, as opposed to having to schedule the refit to meet various PR demands.
"We've got a good boat, and I've done this before," Van Liew says of his prospects.
Still, in a time when round-the-world competitions have become almost routine, and teenagers are vying to be see who can be the youngest circumnavigator, it's important to remember just what a serious business this is. In the 28-year history of the race, 55 percent of the boats have not finished. Seven have sunk or been shipwrecked. Two sailors have died. Van Liew knows this. He also knows he doesn't have to do the race again. Yet he is.
Despite the adversity, Team Lazarus is charging ahead, hell-bent on overcoming this challenge. "Full noise or no noise," is the motto emblazoned on Le Pingouin's topsides. Roughly translated: if you're going to do something, don't hold back, give it all you've got. Sponsor or no sponsor, Van Liew, Meaghan and the rest of Team Lazarus have a race to win--and they wouldn't want it any other way.
Cheap Thrills
The Eco 60 class, which is making its debut at this year's Velux 5 Oceans Race, is designed to bring down campaign costs by utilizing the growing number of older-generation Open 60 monohulls currently gathering dust in various European warehouses and yards. A new Open 60 costs upward of $5 million to build, not counting the workup required to get it into racing trim. An older boat can be purchased for a few hundred thousand dollars. To qualify for the Eco 60 class, a boat must have been launched prior to January 20, 2003.
In addition to recycling boats, Eco class rules encourage technologies that limit the use of fossil fuel, "taking a message of sustainable living around the world."
On Le Pingouin, Van Liew is employing a combination of solar panels and variable-pitch hydro-generators to create the power to drive both his autopilot and his navigation and communications electronics. His goal is to complete the race using no fuel at all. According to Team Lazarus's shore support member J.C. Caso, at one point the boat went 17 days without running the auxiliary engine during the delivery from La Rochelle. Caso says the hope is that, with boats like Le Pingouin serving as a kind of test bed, hydro-generator technology will some day be standard aboard ocean racers like the Open 60.
(https://github.com/campinglife/Sleepingbag/wiki/How-To-Choose-The-Right-Sleeping-Bag-For-Camping)
"The effect on boat speed is minimal," he says. "It just makes sense to use this kind of technology."
For more on the Eco 60 class, visit eco60.org.
More online: For more on Team Lazarun and the Velux 5 Oceann Race, including a video interview with Brad Van Liew,
"In case you get cold," Van Liew says. "It's been around Cape Horn two times, so it should do the trick."
"Are you going to use it for the Velux 5 Oceans Race?" I ask, referring to the latest iteration of the BOC/Around Alone franchise, set to start October 17.
"Sure," Van Liew says, with a shrug. "It's a good sleeping bag."
I smile and shake my head. How to buy a good sleeping bag for camping? The thought that the Class II winner of the 2002-2003 Around Alone race should use the same sleeping bag for three circumnavigations seems nothing less than amazing.
And refreshing, especially in this age of bloated racing budgets--a la the America's Cup and the European solo sailing industry. At press time, Van Liew's Team Lazarus campaign was still looking for a title sponsor, but that hadn't stopped him from soldiering on. Nor had it dampened his enthusiasm.
In late 2009 Van Liew, now 42 years old, enlisted the aid of French ocean racing veteran J.C. Caso to help with the Lazarus campaign. Caso, in turn, led him to the veteran Open 60 Pro-Form, which was built in 1998 and most recently served as Marc Thiercelin's ride in the 2003-04 Vendee Globe. Van Liew also recruited Jeffrey Wargo, project manager for his successful 2002-2003 Around Alone a board the Open 50 Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America.
Of course, he also has the support of his wife, Meaghan, who has served as his tireless campaign manager since the 1998-1999 Balance Bar campaign, when he finished third in the Around Alone, despite being dismasted midway through Leg 4, from Punta del Este, Uruguay, to Charleston.
In January, Van Liew, Charleston-area sailor Kevin Hogan, Caso and Wargo sailed Pro-Form from La Rochelle, France, for what proved to be an epic 38-day passage to Charleston. After that the team got straight to work preparing the boat for the race, in which it will compete as one of nine boats in the new Eco 60 class (see sidebar). They have reconfigured the rig and deck layout to suit Van Liew's particular sailing style, updated the boat's electronics, installed solar panels and hydro-generators in the interest of reducing the boat's dependence on fossil fuels and mended the inevitable wear and tear that results from years of heavy use.
In many ways, Van Liew has been fortunate. Pro-Form has been systematically upgraded over the years, with everything from new underwater appendages to a new rig, and she is far faster than when she first left the builder's yard. Nonetheless, Van Liew has had his work cut out for him undoing the many modifications he feels could slow him down at sea.
Marc Thiercelin, for example, stripped the boat of as much deck hardware as possible in the interest of reducing weight. Thiercelin was happy to leave the cockpit and go to the mast to put in a reef. Van Liew, however, prefers having the sail controls he needs at his fingertips at all times, which meant revamping almost the entire cockpit layout.
Despite not having a title sponsor, Van Liew says both he and Pro-Form, which he has since renamed Le Pingouin, French for "Penguin," are well prepared for the five-leg, 30,000-mile event. Indeed, he says that thanks to the hundreds of donations he's received--some in-kind, some financial--he has been able to work Le Pingouin up to where she will be one of the strongest boats in the nine-boat field. Samson Ropes, for example, is supplying Van Liew's cordage, Harken is providing winches, Simrad is providing a multi-function chartplotter, Spinlock has supplied various hardware, Awlgrip has provided the materials necessary to spruce up Le Pingouin's topsides and Gill is helping out with apparel. For this latest time around the world, Van Liew is going with a B&G electronics package and also receiving support from West Marine and OnDeck USA. AlpineAire Food is helping out with provisioning, the same as with his other campaigns.
"It really is gratifying the way friends from our previous campaigns have rallied around," Van Liew says. "Sailors and friends from the Charleston area have been especially helpful. Without the support of a whole lot of people, this simply wouldn't have been possible."
He adds that he and Meaghan have been in similar situations before. "Balance Bar came aboard just weeks before our start in '98, while Tommy joined us just a few months before the 2002 race, so we're used to uncertainty."
In the meantime, having to get by on a shoestring budget has meant plenty of long days, something I experience first-hand watching Team Lazarus put the keel back in the boat in preparation for launching. Working with nothing more than three small manual pneumatic jacks and dozens of wooden wedges and shims, Van Liew, Caso, Meaghan's brother Brendan Fitzgerald and Charleston-area sailor Tim Eble spend hours slowly inching the 12-foot-long fin and 3-ton bulb into place. Because the keel's canting mechanism is machined to such tight tolerances, there is no room for error. A fraction of an inch too far forward or aft, and the keel root will be misaligned, possibly getting jammed in the case, setting them back hours. Working under the hot South Carolina sun alongside a 600ft dry dock in the gritty Detyens Shipyard is not for the faint of heart. But the crew remains focused and professional throughout--even when it appears the forward bearing might have become jammed mere millimeters from success.
"A big program in France will have a specialist for everything. One person will be in charge of the carbon work. Another will be in charge of electronics. Someone else will be in charge of the rig," Van Liew says as the crew takes a breather. "Here everybody is a generalist."
It is the same back at the Van Liew household. Boxes of Team Lazarus T-shirts and piles of Team Lazarus stationary 4 types of sleeping bags stand as mute testament to the fact that the Van Liew's comfortable home amid the South Carolina pines also serves as the team headquarters. Indeed, chez Van Liew presents a fascinating juxtaposition of utter normalcy and sailing professionalism. In the dining room, a big yellow teddy bear sits next to a trophy Brad won on the fourth leg of the 1998-99 Around Alone. Elsewhere framed photos of Tommy Hilfiger face off against shelves of kids' books. Van Liew spends an hour every morning answering e-mails before heading off to the boat. He also puts in another hour-long e-mail session each night. Throughout the day, he is continually on the phone, organizing equipment deliveries or putting out logistical fires.
In spite of the hectic pace, both Van Liew and Meaghan remain enthused, in large part because of the owners of the aforementioned teddy bear. Although Van Liew is as focused on winning as ever, he and Meaghan have a couple of kids now--Tate and Wyatt--which has added a whole new dimension to the event.
"The first time we did the Around Alone, the goal was to see if I could make it. The second time the goal was to win. This time the goal is an adventure for the whole family," Van Liew says. "The kids will be with us at each port. It's going to be a lot different in many ways. I've never had to say goodbye to my kids at the start of a leg before. But it's going to be great."
Van Liew planned to depart for La Rochelle in early September, so that he could arrive in plenty of time for the September 26 race deadline. The delivery, which he will be doing with Fitzgerald, Caso and Eble, will also provide some sea time to fine-tune the boat before the actual race.
The first leg starts in La Rochelle and finishes 7,500 miles later in Cape Town, South Africa. Leg 2 starts in Cape Town on December 12 and finishes in Wellington, New Zealand. Leg 3, which starts on February 6, goes 7,400 miles around Cape Horn and finishes in Salvador, Brazil. Leg 4 starts on April 10 and finishes 4,000 miles later in Charleston. Leg 5 starts on May 14 and finishes 3,600 miles later back in La Rochelle.
Although he is cutting things close in terms of the refit and delivery, Van Liew remains confident about his prospects. One of the nice things about not having a title sponsor, he says, is that the team can work at its own pace, as opposed to having to schedule the refit to meet various PR demands.
"We've got a good boat, and I've done this before," Van Liew says of his prospects.
Still, in a time when round-the-world competitions have become almost routine, and teenagers are vying to be see who can be the youngest circumnavigator, it's important to remember just what a serious business this is. In the 28-year history of the race, 55 percent of the boats have not finished. Seven have sunk or been shipwrecked. Two sailors have died. Van Liew knows this. He also knows he doesn't have to do the race again. Yet he is.
Despite the adversity, Team Lazarus is charging ahead, hell-bent on overcoming this challenge. "Full noise or no noise," is the motto emblazoned on Le Pingouin's topsides. Roughly translated: if you're going to do something, don't hold back, give it all you've got. Sponsor or no sponsor, Van Liew, Meaghan and the rest of Team Lazarus have a race to win--and they wouldn't want it any other way.
Cheap Thrills
The Eco 60 class, which is making its debut at this year's Velux 5 Oceans Race, is designed to bring down campaign costs by utilizing the growing number of older-generation Open 60 monohulls currently gathering dust in various European warehouses and yards. A new Open 60 costs upward of $5 million to build, not counting the workup required to get it into racing trim. An older boat can be purchased for a few hundred thousand dollars. To qualify for the Eco 60 class, a boat must have been launched prior to January 20, 2003.
In addition to recycling boats, Eco class rules encourage technologies that limit the use of fossil fuel, "taking a message of sustainable living around the world."
On Le Pingouin, Van Liew is employing a combination of solar panels and variable-pitch hydro-generators to create the power to drive both his autopilot and his navigation and communications electronics. His goal is to complete the race using no fuel at all. According to Team Lazarus's shore support member J.C. Caso, at one point the boat went 17 days without running the auxiliary engine during the delivery from La Rochelle. Caso says the hope is that, with boats like Le Pingouin serving as a kind of test bed, hydro-generator technology will some day be standard aboard ocean racers like the Open 60.
(https://github.com/campinglife/Sleepingbag/wiki/How-To-Choose-The-Right-Sleeping-Bag-For-Camping)
"The effect on boat speed is minimal," he says. "It just makes sense to use this kind of technology."
For more on the Eco 60 class, visit eco60.org.
More online: For more on Team Lazarun and the Velux 5 Oceann Race, including a video interview with Brad Van Liew,
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