Preface: The recently launched International Space Station
Alpha
orbits the earth at an altitude of 249.5. For Captain Cook, a distance
of 1000 miles from land was common. So too for the sailors of The
Race.
We have reviewed the vessels, people, methods and technology used by
Cook and his Explorers and The Race catamaran sailors. This information tells
us that when the adventure started, many questions still remained. Neither
venture carried a large degree of certainty with it.
Whether in Cook's time or today, going to sea is taking a risk. The
sea hasn't calmed, nor can we infallibly predict it.
One of the major unknowns of Cook's voyage was the Tera Australias
Incognita. Although the phrase rings of Australia this is not exactly what
it means. It refers to the 'Great Southern Continent' which some believed to
exist deep in the Pacific Ocean.
Ferdinand Magellan had discovered the Pacific Ocean in 1520.
Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch ships traveled the Pacific stopping at places
such as: Philippines, New Guinea and the eastern and western edges.
One of the main purposes of Cook's voyage was add to the geographic
knowledge of the Pacific Ocean by finding the Great Southern Continent which
was though to lie around 40° longitude.
A previous voyage of English explorers believed they had seen this
land mass.
Cook sailed Endeavour from Tahiti to New Zealand dipping down to 40°
south latitude. He found no continent. He turned NW and came to New Zealand.
Later Cook headed for the land discovered by Van Diemen, now Tasmania.
Eventually, due to being blown off course by a storm, Cook came to Botany Bay
which is just south of present day Sydney.
From there it was onto Java and Cape Town and then England. Cook's
voyage did touch upon what is now considered a continent- Australia. However,
this was not the Great Southern Continent desired.
Despite this voyage Cook was again told to look for the Great
Southern Continent on his second voyage. The belief that it existed placed
the continent west of Cape Horn and east of New Zealand.
Cook's second voyage sailed the Pacific from Cape Horn (December 1774)
to below the Arctic Circle in January of 1774. Cook took his wooden hulled
sailing ship as far south as 71° latitude. This caused Cook to write that he
was "now well satisfied no Continent was to be found in this ocean but what
must lie so far south as to be wholly inaccessible for ice."
Cook has sailed thousands of miles in the Pacific to disprove the
existence of the Great Southern Continent. One of the major unknowns of his
expeditions had been answered.
For the entrants in The Race, the geography is known. Their main
unknown is 'will we make it?'. Catamarans of their size have crossed oceans but
not circled the world. None of the Race Class cats in their present
incarnation has sailed a single mile in the Southern Ocean.
Team Philips recently had to be abandoned in the middle of the
Atlantic Ocean, during what skipper Pete Goss called "the equivalent of a full
on Southern Ocean storm." Due to this Team Philips will not race.
To counter this experience, competitors can think of Team Adventure's
crossing of the Bay of Biscay less than a month after launch.
They sailed their Monster.com sponsored 110-foot multi hull in 40
knots of wind, with 15 to 20 foot seas. Sailing upwind they flew only a
storm jib. Skipper Cam Lewis said: "The boat is very solid and she performed
beautifully, but it was a tough three days."
Somewhere in the middle of these two experiences likely lies the true
reliability level of the very large multi hulls.
Cook's unknowns were multiplied by his sailing in a weather,
communication and rescue bottle. He got no daily outside communication.
When he ran afoul of the Great Barrier Reef, it was all on he and his crew
to save themselves.
The sailors competing in the Race will constantly be farther from
land than the International Space Station. While they will have much more
information than Cook, conquering the unknown reliability of their vessels
will be on the crew.
Cook eventually conquered his unknowns. We will be able to see
first hand how the sailors in The Race handle theirs.