Rich Wilson and Bill Biewenga spent 10 weeks battling rough seas, mind-numbing fatigue and, occasionally, each other. In the end they shattered a sailing record that had stood since the days of clipper ships.
The two sailors journeyed from San Francisco to Boston by way of the southern tip of South America in a 53-foot, triple-hulled boat, crossing the finish line on Wednesday 69 days and 19 3/4 hours after they set out.That put them nearly a week ahead of the record set by the clipper Northern Light, which made the journey in 76 days and six hours in 1853.
"I always knew we were going to make it," Biewenga said shortly after he stepped off his boat, the Great American II, and was showered with champagne.
But Wilson wasn't so sure. He took part in a previous attempt to break the record in 1990, and that boat capsized in 50-foot waves while approaching Cape Horn at the tip of South America. He and his crewmate were rescued by a passing ship.
"I almost didn't come back from the last one, so it's a lot better than the last one," he said.
This time, severe storms again battered the boat off South America. Wilson and Biewenga were constantly rocked by waves as high as 18 feet after passing Bermuda.
There also were occasional disagreements, but they didn't flare up into big problems because there was always a clear understanding that Wilson was in command, Biewenga said.
They also had to fight fatigue, getting only a few hours of sleep each day. At one point, Wilson fell asleep at the tiller.
And in recent radio conversations with the shore staff, Wilson seemed disoriented, giving incorrect time readings, said Trip Lowell, vice president of Ocean Challenge, the firm created by Wilson to organize the trip.
"It's like walking the last couple of miles of a marathon," Lowell said. "It's miserable."
But there also were exciting moments, like spotting whales, seeing rainbows around the moon or getting sprinkled with dust blown all the way from the Sahara Desert.
Wilson, of Boston, and Biewenga, of Newport, R.I., took turns piloting the boat. They lived on dried fruit, canned vegetables, prepared meats and sea water desalinated by a machine on board.
Their voyage was more than an adventure. It also was an education project. Wilson, using telex and radio, described the voyage to students around the country through weekly newspaper columns and a computer network.
"When times got tough at sea, and they did, that was what really kept us going, knowing that there were a lot of people back here rooting us on," he said.