Best of luck to Ben and crew in setting a new record. But, what will it represent? Robert Beebe would be aghast at Idlewild's punishing journey, which runs counter to what he pioneered - *comfortable* passagemaking. Being tossed like a toy, making four knots, sleep-deprived as they must be, tending a spinnaker and eating out of a can for days on end certainly isn't passagemaking. No wonder there are no ladies aboard! Happy New Year to all! Regards, John "Seahorse" Georgs writes: The Northwest Passage was difficult but the greatest challenge facing Idlewild is the upcoming long passage from Cape Town to Freemantle. At 4,100 nautical miles, it's the longest nonstop passage ever attempted by a trawler yacht. Ben Gray and his two sons aboard the 55-foot Buehler design plan to motor as slowly as four knots to stretch their fuel supplies. They're counting on tailwinds and a spinnaker to help them reach Australia. Here are excerpts from a report by Jim Farrell that appeared Friday in the Edmonton (Alberta) Journal: >"The boat is pretty light so it gets tossed up by these sharp crests >and when you come down you come down hard," Gray said Tuesday in a >satellite phone interview from Cape Town's yacht basin. Cooking was >impossible (in the South Atlantic). Gray and his sons were reduced >to eating cold beans, luncheon meat and corn straight from the can. > >After leaving Cape Town, South Africa, Gray, and his sons Kevin and >Brad, will need 35 to 40 days to reach Freemantle, Australia and >traverse one of the most notorious stretches of ocean in the world. > >With its 55 horsepower diesel engine, Gray expects his 14 tonne boat >will manage only eight to 10 kilometres an hour (4 to 5.5 knots). > >Once they (round Cape of Good Hope and) enter the Indian Ocean, Gray >plans to swing northward to 36 degrees south latitude where he hopes >to find calmer winds and waters. > >To ease his fuel consumption he plans to raise a small spinnaker and >ride the moderate easterly winds all the way to Australia. > >If Idlewild is burning too much fuel, Idlewild will drop south into >the "roaring 40s" to take advantage of that area's stronger >tailwinds. > >From Cape Town to Freemantle, Australia is 7,600 kilometres (4,100 >nautical miles) of open ocean with only a few uninhabited islands >along the way. > >"We will do everything we possibly can to make sure we have plenty >of fuel and a reserve of about 20 per cent," Gray said. "We will try >to stay in the area where the winds are in the 15 to 25 knot range. >That should give us waves in the three to five metre (10 to 16 feet) >range, but since those seas will be coming from behind us, the ride >will be much better -- not the kind of pounding we were taking on >the way to Cape Town when we were driving into them."