Nirvana to make landfall in less than 20 hours
Jun 21, 2004 15: 42 EST
Aboard the Nirvana is Michael Brown and Gary Swain. Mike and Gary are using the brand new Contact 3 GEO. The software uses the Contact 3.0 platform in addition to a small GPS device attached to the PDA. When a dispatch is uploaded it automatically places the boats position on a map - online! Check out the live dispatches during the race.
"David tells us that we made some progress. We are still in a battle with Serengeti for last place in our class but the spread between first and last of our class is 30 miles when it was 60 last night. This means the boats behind, ours, are catching up. The fastest boats in the fastest classes have already made it to Bermuda. Unoficcial time for Morning Glory is 48:28. (Barry says, "Impossible!")
The idea is to have fun in any case, Nirvana held the record for this course from 1982 till 1996 with 62:30). These days there is some very stiff competition.
We are expecting to finish sometime in the next 24 hours.
Heading 170 and Bermuda is 168 from us and 125 nautical miles and presently we are traveling at 8.1 knots. That makes about 15 hours but this is a little faster than our average has been.
The water is a brilliant blue and we have fun watching flying fish as they skim over the waves. Everyone's sunburn is now becoming more of a tan as we get smarter about using sunscreen.
Crew is made up of:
Charlie Kiefer, Skipper
David Kiefer, Navigator
Kevin Richardson, Cook
James Richardson, First Mate (Kevin's brother)
(Three members of the Crowell family)
Michael Crowell
Anne Crowell
David Crowell
Mikael Jacobson
Michael 'Charles' Brown
Gary Swain
Scott Loomis
Caroline Ross
Stephen Mills
Dale Harper
Steven Crombie, Jr
Greg Batty
Barry McKinnon
Sharon Seymour
Dan Morrison, Jr."
Mike is a three time Everest summiteer and the man behind the camera for blind climber, Erik Weihenmayer's historic ascent of Everest and the subject of a two time academy award nominee film, 'Farther Than the Eye Can See.' It was also the first time a High Definition camera was taken to the summit of Everest.
Gary Swain's story is remarkable. In need of a heart transplant Gary is living life to its fullest by doing what he can, a major open ocean race in this case. If he is able to get a new heart and make a recovery he and Mike plan to climb some of the world's biggest peaks in the coming years.
Charles F Kiefer, III, will be captaining the Nirvana, a Pedrick 80ft maxi racer and the course record holder from 1982 to 1996.
Beginning in Newport, Rhode Island at the mouth of Narragansett Bay and finishing at St. David's Head, on the northeastern tip of Bermuda, crossing the Gulf Stream that unpredictable, meandering river in the Atlantic that separates temperate waters from tropical waters, continental weather from mid-Atlantic weather and the men from the boys. The Race is 635 nautical miles and takes around 2 and 1/2 days.
In this image one can clerly see the defribulator that Gary wears under his skin, bottom image is Mike Brown, courtesy of Mike Brown.
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