Ex-Vendée Globe project boat
Let me tell you about a young man, a boatbuilder and a sailor who, after some adventures at sea, heard about a legendary old race boat languishing for decades on the west coast of the USA, and decided to undertake the huge task of rebuilding her.
No, I’m not talking (again) about Leo from Tally Ho, but a rather more recent bit of racing history: Mike Plant’s Duracell, which the American solo racer famously campaigned in the inaugural Vendée Globe Race in 1989.
Plant had constructed the boat himself in Newport, Rhode Island, to a Rodger Martin design. He then completed his solo lap of the world, but having accepted assistance from Campbell Islanders when Duracell dragged anchor during a pitstop, was disqualified.
Plant’s story is told in the excellent 2017 documentary Coyote: The Mike Plant Story, directed by his nephew, and well worth the few quid it takes to watch online.
But back to the latest chapter in Duracell’s story… Our new protagonist is Matt Steverson of Seattle, who was among the three crew who won the inaugural 710-mile Race to Alaska in 2015 on a borrowed Farrier 25c trimaran. In 2017 he and his new wife, science teacher Janneke Petersen, set off on a two-year Pacific circumnavigation on the 39ft pilot cutter they’d spent two years refitting.
While cruising the Pacific, the couple spent a lot of time dreaming about their ideal cruising boat, and when they heard the subsequent owner of Duracell was looking to pass her on to a good home, they stepped up to the challenge. The first episode of The Duracell Project covers the extraction and transport of the boat from the previous owner’s backyard to Matt and Janneke’s. Eagle-eyed viewers may recognise the truck as that used for both of Tally Ho’s moves.
The fifth episode shows Matt building a gantry to lift the boat’s engine out, with a similar kind of ingenuity Leo displayed when he first jacked Tally Ho up off her keel. Meanwhile Janneke, who spent much of episode three relating Duracell’s backstory, promises to share more about themselves in future videos. Her blog from their Pacific cruise shows she is both a talented storyteller and a thoughtful and fascinating person. We’re in for a treat.
Duracell