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The success of Around the World 2002 depends absolutely on the land based support crews who will make sure that Spirit of Cardiff is refuelled and sent off again as quickly as possible at each port. On the round the world voyage next year, the team will have to go through this no less than 27 times!
Land crew chief, Keith Walker, reports on his work over the last week setting up yesterday's stop at St John's in Newfoundland:
"Thursday 17 May. UK. Awake at 04.00. Too early. Back to sleep, and re-awake at 06.00. Now it's a panic to get to the airport! Despite roadworks, traffic jams and the M25 arrive at Heathrow in time. After a bit of waiting around, I'm on my way to Nova Scotia in Canada.
What should have been a simple journey - fly to Halifax then take connecting flight to St John's - turns into a 24 hour epic. St John's is closed by fog and I end up sitting on a bus for four hours to get from Gander to St John's, arriving at 03.00 local time. I booked in to the first hotel I found and went to sleep.
A fogbound St John's harbour
Next morning didn't start well. I needed transport, but with the airport having been closed for the last two days, hire cars were at a premium. After several phone calls I tracked down a Chevrolet Cavalier from Rent-a-Wreck which had definitely seen better days!
My plan was to meet up with Egbert, a Spirit of Cardiff supporter who lives in St John's, and has been keeping us informed about conditions there and checking out various details that we needed. I had tried to call him yesterday but he was out. I tried again. No reply, still the answering machine.
The main job for the day was sort out the fuel. Should be easy -- find Irving Oil and my contact there. Inevitably, he's gone to lunch so it has to wait. Off to St John's Port Authority and meet up with Captain Henry Flight, the Harbourmaster, who I have been in contact with by email over the last few weeks. He's not at lunch -- he's in Florida on vacation! Apparently if I come back later, I can speak to his second in command, Leo Browne.
I return to Irving Oil and wait for Dave Brown to finish a meeting. Eventually, after a short discussion about the event and the boat, we agree on a price for the diesel, delivered to the dock by tanker when we want it. I just need to tell him which dock and at what time. He gives me his home number so that I can call him anytime with the information, because Monday is a holiday and the office is closed.
Having achieved something at last, I head back to the Port Authority. Leo has gone home for the weekend, but the girls in the office call his mobile and we talk. He tells me where to put the boat when it arrives and again gives me his home number should there be any problems. So far I am impressed with the way that the people here are prepared to put themselves out for us, and after calls to Alan in New York, return to the hotel.
This evening I finally managed to contact Egbert. He had news of a radio station interested in the project and within 30 minutes they called the hotel. My first radio interview had been done, conducted over the phone from the hotel lobby.
A brief sunny interlude, before the snow started again
Saturday got off to a better start. The fog lifted and the wind dropped to an acceptable level. A call from Alan in New York does not bring such good news. Bad weather seems to be heading his way and he needs an update on the forecast for the next few days.
I made my way to the Canadian Coastguard Service base on the harbourfront in St John's, and after getting past security, I was welcomed into the Coastguard Radio Operations Centre. They had all heard of Spirit and were surprised that we were still even contemplating the voyage. When they produced the weather and ice reports, I could see why!
Everything was heading towards Alan, gales, fog and icebergs. They gave me contact numbers at the centre and assured me that any further updates required would only be a phone call away. I relayed the information to Alan, to a response of "OK, so what is the good news?". I didn't have any.
The next job was to seek out some five gallon drums to go on the boat to carry spare fuel. Spirit should have the capacity to do the trip from here, but if the weather was going to be as bad as predicted, it would be safer to carry a little extra. Even this task wasn't simple! After being offered endless one gallon containers and 40 gallon barrels it took nearly a whole day to track down some 20 litre containers in Wal-Mart that would do the job.
Sunday dawned to bright sunshine. It didn't last though, and by mid morning it was snowing. By mid-afternoon it was even colder and the snow was still coming.
Around 17.00 the first contact from the boat arrived. The weather was not good and they were running behind schedule. From the original plan to be in St John's late on Monday, this was already being put back until Tuesday. They had left New York on Saturday as planned but, whilst leaving in relatively good conditions, had hit bad weather quite quickly and were currently some 150 miles behind schedule.
I relayed this information to the Dockmaster at St John's, the fuelling crew and the media. There was nothing more that I could do from here but wait for the next update. I checked the weather forecast on the internet to find that there was more to come.
Dawn broke on Monday to a brighter looking day. It was still overcast with reasonable winds, but the sun was trying to break through. A call from Nicky at the Spirit of Cardiff offices in the UK brought news that the boat was getting further behind schedule due to the weather they were encountering. Estimated time of arrival had now gone back to Tuesday morning and more supplies were needed on board.
After several hours of scouring St John's in search of shops that weren't closed for the day I couldn't even find a gas station open, so I gave up and returned to my hotel. Egbert came over at around 19.00 to introduce himself, and pledged his support for the following day. He agreed to come over at 08.30 to assist in any way he could, and left to recover from his ten hour drive to be here for us.
Expecting a call at any time from Alan, I had a disturbed night without much sleep. At just after eight, during breakfast, the call came. They were about 30 miles out of St John's, in heavy seas and fighting a headwind. I had about two hours to put the plan into action: check berthing arrangements, organise the fuel, alert the media and do the shopping.
Egbert arrived on time. A godsend, he knew the quick ways to and from everywhere and knew his way around the supermarket like a seasoned veteran. We shopped at Dominion, picking up all the supplies required plus a little bit for luck - we can't have the crew going hungry can we?
While Egbert drove, I made calls to sort out fuel and berthing, and having done our chores we headed for the harbour. At this point, I had a moment of inspiration. After three days at sea, the guys might want a hot shower. A quick visit to the Quality Hotel on Water Street and 10 minutes pleading poverty resulted in them donating a room for a few hours in return for a mention to the media. Quite a fair trade I thought.
TV crews with the Spirit of Cardiff crew
As we rushed back to the waterfront the phone started ringing with requests from CBC and NTV for interviews, and when we arrived I was greeted by an array of press and media, all eager to interview me. Obviously a quiet news day! At just after 12.00, the Spirit of Cardiff came into sight and Alan and the others landed in St John's at 12.06.
Egbert immediately presented them with hot coffee and muffins, whilst the assembled media fought for their attention. After a few minutes Jan and Clive were dispatched to the Hotel for pampering, while Alan and Steve made checks on the boat and gave interviews. A fuel tanker pulled up alongside the boat next to Spirit, and started refuelling it. I approached the driver, who told me that he had this boat to fill before returning to the depot to fill up for us. I hurriedly had a chat with the Captain of this vessel who kindly agreed to let us fill first.
Egbert and I diverted the media to enable the job to be done and pulled the growing crowds from the area. Fuelling completed, Egbert drove Alan and Steve to the hotel and collected Jan and Clive to help with the stowing of provisions.
At 14.22 the boat was untied and the crew set off again, for a 1200 mile open sea passage. Egbert and I cleared the rubbish from the dockside and drove up to Signal Hill to watch the boat disappear out to sea and into the fog. We were accompanied on the hill by around twenty or so others, all of whom had been on the dockside earlier. Before returning to my hotel I visited the Canadian Coastguard to file the route to the Azores, the team there sending their best wishes to the crew.
Back at the hotel, I sent my final press release to the media thanking them for their interest. My job here is done, I can now take a bit of time to relax and take in the stunning scenery of Newfoundland before flying home tomorrow evening. Egbert has offered to show me some of the sights before I fly out. All that is left to do is return the hire car and check out of my hotel.
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