Braveheart - Part 2

	Jesse Martin Takes 'Around The World' Crown by David Hunter-Thompson MSc Early on Sunday morning 31st October 1999, Melbourne teenager Jesse Martin sailed his yacht 'Lionheart' through Port Philip Heads, to become the youngest person ever to sail around the world, single-handed, unassisted and non-stop. Point Lonsdale lighthouse officially clocked 18 year old Jesse's transit through the Heads at 6.28am, marking the end of his 11 month 'dream come true' voyage, which began from Sandringham marina on 6 December last year. A huge, noisy, cheering flotilla escorted him back to Sandringham Marina at the head of Port Philip Bay, where family and friends awaited his triumphant return to dry land. Many thousands more lined the sea front, including enough photographers to cover a Hollywood premiere. Helicopters were also ten-a-penny on the day, carrying news crews from all over the world. Jesse took his final reef after crossing the 'finish line', just inside Port Philip Bay, where a huge number of well-wisher's yachts crowded the area. Because Jesse didn't want to use the motor, he picked up a tow back to the marina. Jesse had radioed in to his friends, that the first thing he wanted to eat, was a huge hamburger with salad - and some hair ties. The latter was to prevent his 11 months of hair growth from interfering with the food. Sure enough, the presentation of a huge home-made burger marked Jesse's first human contact in nearly a year. With the boat moored, Jesse jumped onto the pontoon and virtually straight into the arms of his mother Louise Martin, who had also completed her own 11 month marathon - waiting for her son's return. Tears of joy and relief all round, except for Jesse himself, who just grinned and looked like he wondered what all the fuss was about. The inevitable press conference followed soon after arriving. "It feels great to be around people again and to smell the smells of land", said Jesse. "I was out there yesterday when I got my first whiff and boy was it sweet!", he added. Towards the end of the trip, Jesse had written in his diary that his reality of people had become digitised voices, in the form of "...a black squarish-looking thing called a phone". "When I was out in the middle of the ocean, home was just a memory and something I only visited in my dreams. Now that I'm here and I'm back into the life and activities which were once familiar, it has that unreal aspect", added Jesse at his press conference. In conversation with Jesse a couple of weeks after his return, he mentioned that his senses of sight, hearing and especially smell became heightened during the trip. "About a month into the trip I smelled a tree off the coast of New Zealand, way before I could see it, floating in the sea. I could always smell land a long time before sighting it. And I could hear creaks from parts of the boat, creaks that shouldn't be there, so I could always hear changes happening to the boat." Lionheart averaged about 82 nautical miles per day. Perhaps that's not much compared to racing yachts, but Jesse was careful to prevent over-straining his rigging. A sound philosophy by any standards. This was confirmed by the fact that Lionheart suffered no catastrophic gear failures during the trip. That's despite suffering about eight knockdowns, during which Jesse was often hanging onto the main cabin stanchion, as if it were a chin-up bar in a gym. At the start of his epic journey, Jesse said that he hoped his voyage would "...highlight our unnecessary reliance on fossil fuel and the urgent need to control global warming." Lionheart, was equipped with a wind generator and three large, blue-coloured solar panels, which gave him all the electricity he needed, throughout the entire trip. Enough electricity was produced to power interior lights, running lights, radar, radio and personal computer. Although the starboard solar panel was ripped off during storms off the South African coast, Jesse was able to sail for all 329 days without using any form of fossil fuel, thereby achieving his goal. Large ($200,000) sponsorship from main sponsor, Adelaide based Mistral International, (a consumer goods company) paid for equipment, clothing and state of the art navigational systems, including SatNav. Jesse also used a state of the art "Iridium" satellite phone, through which he could talk with anyone, virtually anywhere in the world. Useful when celebrities like Rob Sitch rang Jesse live on Channel Ten's "The Panel" TV show, on several occasions. But virtually essential when, about 80 days into the trip, Jesse needed plumbing advice from his father Kon. Somehow one of the fresh water tanks started pumping salt water and the other was leaking through a faulty pump. Despite badly slicing a finger in the process, Jesse managed to restore the supply from the un-contaminated tank, but from then on, strictly rationed his 250 litres, stored in Gerry cans. Once into the rain swept expanse of the Doldrums, Jesse sponged up fresh rain water from the toe-rail. "I managed to collect about 50 litres by sponging it from the gunwales, into a bucket and then into the Gerry cans. It tasted a bit funny but it was OK." Jesse says rounding Cape Horn was "...one of the most memorable days of my life. The sun appeared, I had an escort of dolphins and when I looked behind me, I was blown away by the sight of a rainbow." The weather was fairly kind to him on the day. Jesse said he stood on deck, iced coffee in hand and stared in awe at the beautiful shape of Cape Horn. Another great day was rounding the Azores in late May, where his family had flown to meet him. They came up alongside in a small inflatable launch, but could only stay for around 40 minutes, due to the choppy sea. One of the few serious equipment failures occurred in the South Atlantic, on the long slow haul up to the Azores. The genoa furling gear started to come apart due to a broken bearing seal, through which all the grease had escaped. Jesse faced the daunting dilemma of either putting into Cape Town for repairs and foregoing the 'unassisted' record, or taking on the not inconsiderable task of removing the furler and modifying the sail to hoist in the old-fashioned way. Once again, advice came from Australia via the Iridium phone. Jesse chose the latter option and spent a worrying day on the task. He firstly undid the forestay, then removed impossibly small screws and dismantled the furler. Jesse says, "It was really nerve wracking and I said quite a few swear words. The most annoying part was spending 20 minutes just tying up the stay, so that I could go below and get a hacksaw or something else." Jesse finally hoisted the modified genoa. That night, Jesse said he slept like a baby. Lionheart has three forestays. After the furler broke, Jesse alternately used the Genoa hanked onto the mainstay, a No. 3 on the middle and a storm jib on the inner stay. Jesse says, "During heavy weather, or over about 30 knots of wind, I'd use the storm jib, just for a comfortable ride and to maintain a bit of steerage. In the extreme weather off the coast of South Africa I sometimes just lay a-hull and that's when I got knocked down the most." I asked Jesse whether laying a-hull could have contributed to the knock downs. Jesse says, "I think laying a-hull might have contributed to the knockdowns, but a couple of those big waves must have been rogues and there's nothing you can do about them! Next time though, I'd definitely have a small amount of sail on and I'd try to steer manually. But on my own, I just couldn't stay on the tiller right through the night." Lionheart is a 34 foot Sparkman and Stephens design, deep keel yacht, renowned for its deep-sea handling. She was built in Perth with long distance cruising in mind. Particular attention was paid to strengthening the hull to support the chain plates. The original interior layout was copied from Jon Sander's layout (another round the world yachtsman), with the motor in the centre, pilot berths either side, quarter berth and double berth in the bow. Jesse slept in the main cabin. Not that he slept for regular periods. When in shipping lanes, Jesse allowed himself 20 minutes sleep at a time, to avoid a collision. Outside these lanes, Jesse usually went to sleep about an hour after dark and rise a couple of hours after daybreak. He often had to get up during the night though, to sort things out, if he felt a change in the boat's behaviour. Food was exceptionally well planned by nutritionist, Jacinta Oxford. Jesse's favourite meals were pasta, salami sausages, pancakes with honey, Vita-wheats with cheese and tinned tuna. Jesse reckons the only real downer was freeze-dried mushroom pilaff, which he admits occasionally went over the side. Still, he returned looking fit and healthy. His agenda doesn't include finishing school. Apart from media work and working on a book and video, Jesse plans to become involved in conservation and making documentaries. That necessitates building a larger yacht for a three year circumnavigation, (starting in March 2001), which could become a floating base, from which to make his "...environmental, youth, cultural, adventure documentary series." (Jacques Cousteau would be proud of him! ) Even though he's only been back a couple of weeks, Jesse says, "The trip feels like it was years ago, like I've just woken up from a dream." On current form, Jesse will definitely make his next 'dream trip' come true. © 1999 by David Hunter-Thompson MSc Return to Part 1

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