On january 21, Geoff completed his voyage successfully. He landed on
course in western Australia, near Perth. he becomes the first blind
person to sail from one continent to another, crossing an oceasn, and
doing it all alone. Be sure to check out the part where he credits
adaptive technology for giving him the necessary support to do the
voyage. If you want to read his dailey reports and learn more, check out
http://www.tactile-audio.com
kelly
ARTICLE FROM SA YACHTING MAGAZINE
The following has been reproduced with the kind permission of:-
Neil Rusch, Editor,
SA Yachting,
P.O.Box 3473,
Cape Town, 8000,
South Africa.
Telephone: Int + 27 21 461-7472.
Fax: Int + 27 21 4613758.
E-Mail: [log in to unmask] OR Compuserve 100077,260
_________________________________________________________________
The original article, and others, can be located at
http://www.steerage.co.za/SAYacht/
_________________________________________________________________
STEERAGE - SA YACHTING MAGAZINE - SOUTH AFRICA'S LEADING SAILING
MAGAZINE - FEATURE ARTICLE
JANUARY 1998
Going Solo on Instruments
On 1 December GEOFF HILTON-BARBER started his single-handed trip from
Durban to Freemantle, Australia, on the Charger 33 Abacus. Of course,
many sailors have made the voyage before. The difference with Geoff is
that he is blind.
SA Yachting's ROY DUNSTER spoke to him in Durban three days before his
departure.
_________________________________________________________________
On 1 December GEOFF HILTON-BARBER started his single-handed trip from
Durban to Freemantle, Australia, on the Charger 33 Abacus. Of course,
many sailors have made the voyage before. The difference with Geoff is
that he is blind.
SA Yachting's ROY DUNSTER spoke to him in Durban three days before his
departure.
Your trip is a massive undertaking. What provided the catalyst for it?
Two other blind guys have tried ocean crossings before, but I don't
think that was the real reason for me making the decision to go. I
think the main reason was that two other guys had the guts to go for
it, but at that time the technology was not as advanced as it is
today. I think that the idea has just been growing on me. I've been
thinking about it for some years and working through the logistical
problems and the coping problems with a few other guys. I've spent a
couple of evenings talking to guys like John Martin, Anthony Steward,
Nigel Clack, Dave Abromowitz -- they're all saying "Yes, it can be
done." But, I guess when you are faced cold with an A to B
single-handed ocean crossing by a blind person, it just seems like a
totally silly, impossible thing.
What have you got in terms of off-the-boat support?
There are probably half a dozen yachts seeing me off on Monday with at
least two going right across the current, because that's a busy bit of
ocean, and I'll be met at the other side. I won't be leaving moorings
and leaving harbour sailing totally alone or trying to get into
Freemantle totally by myself.
And communications on the boat?
I've got good comms on the boat. I've got a good HF set, as well as an
Inmarsat C, so my position, course and speed is going to be broadcast
every six hours and I'll be able to send and receive e-mail through
the system. I've also got an SSB.
Do you have any sponsors?
I've got a couple of people who have helped me with equipment, but no
major sponsors. I've received assistance from the National Council for
the Blind, Wind Pilot (who supplied me with a windvane), Altech
Defence Systems (who loaned me a whole satellite system with all the
backup), a few friends who have chipped in a bit, and I've had great
support from Central Boating, Wilbur Ellis, Agenda and all the major
chandlers who have given me good prices and lots of credit.
Let's talk about Abacus. How is she different from a standard Charger
33?
I've put a deeper, heavier keel on her to move the centre of gravity
down. Lavranos re-designed the keel. She's also got a masthead rig,
instead of a fractional rig, with a smaller main, and I've rigged her
as a cutter so I've got a roller-furling genoa and a roller-furling
staysail. She's very stiff and she goes really well to windward and,
in fact, on all points of sail -- she's really got no vices.
Are you going to be flying spinnakers downwind?
I've got a gennaker which I will fly. I'm avoiding a big pole on the
foredeck so I've got a pole for the staysail and I'll fly the gennaker
off a strop, if I need to. If I get 5-8 knots of breeze behind me and
the boat is just rolling around I'll definitely put it up. I've
hoisted and dropped it by myself already.
Can you tell me about the preparation which you've had to do for the
trip, like how you have to set things up so that you can find things
on the boat?
That's not been a problem. The boat's been on the water for nearly six
years. I've sailed up and down the coast. I've done quite a few
Vascos, so I know where everything is on the boat. In preparation for
the trip I think the major thing, in order to minimize time on the
foredeck, is that inner roller-furler on the forestay. I've also got a
batt-car system on the mainsail which makes reefing very easy and,
other than that, I've also got an extra self-tailing winch in the
companionway.
The electronics. How do you make sure that you are going in the right
direction?
The electronics have been very interesting. I've got a standard
Autohelm system. Autohelm have developed a speech synthesizer which
works off a multidata repeater. You understand that with any digital
information you have on the screen it's simple technology to convert
it to speech. Talking instruments have been around for ages, but we've
been developing a specific set of menus on a multidata repeater. I've
got three sets of menus so I can toggle through them and they will
give me latitude/longitude, course, speed over ground, distance, wind
speed (apparent and true), angle of the wind to the boat, boatspeed --
all that stuff I've got access to in speech.
However, the biggest problem with electronics on the boat is if it
goes down -- so we've got a number of backups such as emergency
batteries that aren't in the main circuit. I've also got a backup in a
totally separate box with a GPS, multidata, speech instrument, etc.,
which plugs in or plugs out. A GPS aerial plugs into it and I plug
power into it and then it is a totally audible nav-system separate
from the boat's system. That's going to be in a couple of plastic bags
in a bag in a cupboard. If anything major goes wrong in the main
electrical system I've got a totally separate system with a backup GPS
aerial. And I've got GPS information on my Inmarsat, so I've got
access to four talking GPSs on three separate sources of electricity.
I've really almost gone overkill in the backup.
With the talking system -- it talks at you, or do you talk at it?
It is not voice-interactive. If you want depth, for example, you push
the button and it says what the depth is.
You'll have waypoints on your GPS?
I'm putting in some basic waypoints so that I steer the best course to
stay in deep water because there are a couple of shallow areas on the
way. I will steer the boat to the waypoint according to the wind
direction and the waves, but I also know where the bad areas are. I'm
not just going to put the GPS on track and let the boat aim
electronically at a destination. Most of the steering will be done not
by electronics but by the windvane, because that doesn't use
electricity.
How much time per day do you intend to steer yourself?
None. I'll only steer if I have to. Actually, I'll probably steer for
fun. I think I've got a hell of a lot of settling down to do first. I
think that when I'm on top of everything and so relaxed that I get
bored it will be a pleasure to steer. I also have two talking
compasses totally separate from the main system so I can set a course
on a talking compass and it will then beep to port and buzz to
starboard if I go off that course.
How long do you think the trip will take you?
Five to six weeks.
And what is going to happen to the boat once you've reached Australia?
I'm not going to sail back -- I don't have that much time off work.
I'll probably put it on the deck of an MSC ship and bring it back to
South Africa.
You've tended to steer clear of the media in South Africa, but has
there been any interest in Australia?
There's been tremendous interest from the blind sailing fraternity and
also from the Freemantle Sailing Club. They've organized hospitality,
a free mooring, a boat to come out and meet me and I suppose there
will be a few beers.
Anything you want to add?
Yes. Assuming there isn't totally crummy weather and fishing boats who
don't keep any watches it's not an unfeasible voyage to do on this
type of boat.
Well, certainly, SA Yachting and I wish you the best of luck.
_________________________________________________________________
|
