Latitude 38 Interview - Mike Harker: Part 5

March 2008

Part 5 of 5

Courtesy Latitude 38 Magazine

38: There must have been some things that you didn’t like or that broke on the boat.

Harker: There were three little things. First, Hunter needs a better drain system for the shower. For an expensive boat, you shouldn’t have to get down on your hands and knees after every shower to make sure the pan drains completely. Second, they put two big drawers under the port settee that rob you of about 20 cubic feet of storage space, fall out when the boat heels and, to my mind, are a waste of wood and woodworking skills. Finally, in the forward head they have these cutesy little spotlights over the mirror for women to use when applying makeup. But they’re just below a hatch that you leave open from time to time, allowing a few drops of saltwater in. Anyway, the light fixtures aren’t stainless, and mine have already rusted through and broken apart.

38: That’s it after sailing around the world?

Harker: Yes. And for all I know, Hunter has already corrected these problems in the newer boats. But I have to admit, the shower drain thing really drove me nuts.

38: What about the construction of the hull and interior.

Harker: Structurally, I found the boat to be excellent. In rough weather you don’t hear any creaks or moans, she’s solid. Not a squeak. I was amazed. It wasn’t even a problem in Las Perlas, when a 20-ft drop in the tides grounded my boat for four hours.

38: Didn’t you carry a spare rudder?

Harker: (Laughter.) Yes, after the one broke on my last boat, I wasn’t going to be unprepared again. The new rudders are flexible, but bulletproof. Although pretty much identical to the rudder that broke on my last boat, the new ones are so much more robust that it takes two people to carry one. They now have a stainless shaft and internal stainless cage plus a layer of Kevlar. And now that I carry a spare, I’m confident I’ll never need a replacement rudder again. (Laughter.)

38: Are you careful about locking up your boat everywhere you go, and have you had any stuff stolen over the years?

Harker: I’ve never locked my boat, and in all this time I’ve only had one thing stolen - and that was just the other day in Antigua. While I was at Nelson’s Dockyard to get fuel, somebody stole the gas tank from my dinghy! Oh wait, there was another thing I had stolen right after doing a Baja Bash in ‘01. I finally had my boat back in Marina del Rey, and somebody clipped the cable to my collapsible bike and rode off.

38: Did you get another bike?

Harker: I sure did. For this trip I bought a West Marine Port Runner and, thanks to a coupon, got $100 off. I love that little bike. I bought the protective bag and have ridden it all over South Africa, Australia and Antigua.

38: Were there any issues about being alone?

Harker: Not really. I would listen in on the weather nets, although I would rarely talk on them. For example, when I was in the Galapagos, about 22 boats left the day before me and talked on the Southern Cross Net. I don’t talk much, just listen, but I must have sailed a lot faster, because I got to the Marquesas well before they did. I also stayed in touch with people via SailMail.

38: What about a sat phone?

Harker: I have an Iridium sat phone and bought 500 minutes for $500. In some places, such as South Africa, Australia, and Antigua, the $1/minute Iridium was the least expensive way to call home to the States. They kill you with roaming charges on cell phones. My Iridium always worked and, in fact, played a critical role in my most crucial repairs. For example, I talked for over 60 minutes to Balmar to get my backup alternator to work. The problem is that the back-up had a built-in regulator while the Yanmar has its own. The two regulators had to be sorted out, and we were eventually able to do that over the phone.

38: When is the circumnavigation finished?

Harker: I finished mine in Antigua about a week ago but, depending, on how I make my way back to Miami, the boat will finish her circumnavigation at either Matthew Town, Inagua, or Nassau in the Bahamas.

38: It’s a long sail around the world. Did you enjoy all of it?

Harker: There were a few times I did not. I got extremely frustrated in the Galapagos. The three times that I was totally becalmed and getting my brains rolled out by the swell were torture. And just outside of Antigua, about to finish my personal circumnavigation, I got hit with 40 knots of wind and a tremendous lightning storm. That was pretty scary.

38: But what about day to day?

Harker: Day to day, I really enjoyed it. When I woke up, I’d go, “Ah, here I am again. It sure beats being at home watching the Travel Channel.” I looked forward to each day as an opportunity to see and enjoy something new. And if I had a down day. I’d remember the six years that I was in a bed, unable to move. But I didn’t have to kick myself like that very often.

38: So after this fast circumnavigation can we assume you’ll have had your fill of sailing for awhile?

Harker: Not at all. After my boat is displayed by Hunter at the Miami Boat Show in February, the month of March is just for me. And I’ll be spending it cruising in the Bahamas. In April, my boat will be hauled to get checked over and I’ll be speaking at Strictly Sail Pacific in Oakland CA. From June to October, I’ll be doing presentations at yacht clubs or Hunter dealerships every two weeks all the way up the East Coast. My last one will be the Annapolis Boat Show in October. This November I’ll enter the Caribbean 1500 Rally from Virginia to Tortola in the British Virgins, and spend the winter in the Caribbean. That should be wonderful. In fact, I won’t have anything scheduled until Antigua Sailing Week at the end of April, and I can’t wait to get back to St. Barth.

38: That’s quite a schedule for a 60-year-old after a fast and mostly singlehanded circumnavigation. What then - lots of rest?

Harker: Oh no. After Antigua Sailing Week a year from April. I’ll head to the Azores and across the Atlantic. My main destination is Thailand but along the way, I very much want to visit Croatia and spend some time in Turkey and the Black Sea. But after going down the Red Sea and across the Indian Ocean to Thailand, I’ll continue on to Japan, where I’m sort of famous because I flew a hang-glider off Mt. Fuji many years ago. In Japan, they revere people even if they accomplished things many years before. Then I’ll sail across the North Pacific to California, and hang out in San Diego until the start of the Ha-Ha. That will be three years from now.

38: Do you think most people could do what you did?

Harker: Oh sure. You have many couples who are retiring in their 50s, and who have put the kids through college. They can not only sail around the world, but they can do it cheaply. Of course, they may not want to do it as fast as I did.

38: How much sailing experience do you think they need?

Harker: I didn’t know how to sail at all when I started with my boat in the Ha-Ha, but I’ve sailed 60,000 ocean miles now, almost all of them singlehanded, and I learned by doing. You are going to make some mistakes, just learn from them and try not to make those same mistakes again. I think anybody who knows the basics of sailing, is in good health, and has common sense could do the same thing I did. And by the way, legally I’m a paraplegic, so no excuses. Prepare well, watch the weather and go out and ‘Just Do It’!


TheSailingChannel thanks Latitude 38 Magazine for allowing us to republish this article and share it with our readers.

TheSailingChannel.TV Father's Day Special

Join HomePort: Social Networking for Sailors

Latitude 38 Interview - Mike Harker: Part 4

March 2008

Part 4 of 5

Courtesy Latitude 38 Magazine

38: What was Wanderlust 3‘s fuel consumption like?

Harker: My boat has the Yanmar 4JH four-cylinder with the new turbo and intercooler. I can go at normal cruising speed for almost two hours on a gallon of fuel. It’s a very fuel-efficient engine at 1,800 rpms, which is what I ran it at. Speaking of fuel, one of the great items on my boat - and I’m going to recommend that Hunter make it part of their Mariner Package - is the Fuel Filter Boss. This device allows you to switch between two fuel filters while the engine is running, plus it has a fuel pump which eliminates manual bleeding, and even features a light in the cockpit that warns if the filters are getting dirty.

Thanks to the Fuel Filter Boss, I didn’t get a drop of fuel in the bilge. When the unit indicates a filter is getting dirty, you temporarily switch to the other fuel routing, remove the old filter and drop in a new one - while the engine is running. That’s it. Changing filters was a real pain with my old boat, and I always spilled about a pint of diesel in the bilge. I hated that. The Fuel Filter Boss is great insurance for your engine because all you need to keep a diesel going is clean fuel. I also have a third filter for fuel transferred from the reserve 80 gallon tank to the main 150 gallon tank. Incidentally, Hunter’s normal fuel filters are 10-microns. I bought a 24-pack of 2-micron filters. They stop everything. I never had a fuel problem on my trip and, believe me, I got some dirty fuel in a couple of places.

38: Did you have a watermaker, and how did that work?

Harker: I have a 7-gallon per hour HRO, and it was perfect. I changed the filters five times during my trip, and changed the carbon filter once six months into it. But there wasn’t a hiccup or problem at all.

38: You hardly had anything go wrong?

Harker: There were really just two significant things, and both involved a chain of events. My boat has four 8D AGM 230 amp batteries, which is double the number of batteries and amps that Hunter puts in. So I had twice the battery capacity that the alternator was designed for. Normally, it wouldn’t make a difference, but I had two Danish models who sailed with me from Panama’s Perlas Islands to the Galapagos, so they needed a lot of power for their hair dryers and things. Plus, they used the microwave and other things doing lots of great cooking. Normally, this wouldn’t have been a problem, but my Fisher-Panda had a faulty fuel pump. I carry the F-P Offshore Repair Kit that included a new pump and fixed it myself, but not before burning up the engine alternator. With the girls using the hair dryer all the time, and my genset out, I was having to use the engine alternator a lot to keep the batteries charged. Before we got to the Galapagos, the engine alternator was fried trying to keep the batteries charged.

38: Didn’t you have a spare alternator?

Harker: No. But I do now. It’s a bigger 100-amp Balmar which, by the way, is now standard on all Hunter 49s. The regulators have been upgraded, too.

38: What was the other major problem?

Harker: Having left Cape Town, I was 1,000 miles from Africa and 1,000 miles from South America, when my high water alarm went off. There was a very unusual leak in the water pump housing of my Yanmar diesel that peed water all over the alternator. There was so much that my lower bilge pump couldn’t keep up, and the water got to the higher bilge pump, which automatically turns on an alarm. But because we were heeled over, the water had also gotten into the F-P genset’s motherboard before the alarm went off, so it was toast. As for the main engine’s alternator, it was caked with salt from having water sprayed all over it. Thanks again to a chain reaction, I had no way to charge my batteries for the second time! Well, I have a Honda portable generator that I used to keep the charge up on my engine start battery.

38: We made a big deal asking folks how they would have stopped the leak in your pump. How did you actually do it?

Harker: I coated a self-threading stainless steel screw with 3M 5200 to make it waterproof, and screwed it in the hole. It lasted just fine until I got back to Miami and Yanmar/Mastry had a chance to replace the entire pump housing.

38: What spares did you carry?

Harker: I had a spare and/or spare parts kit for almost everything. I had them for my Yanmar and Fisher-Panda genset, a spare freshwater pump, a spare bilge pump, a spare high water bilge pump and alarm - and, eventually, a spare alternator. I even had a plumbing spares kit because Hunter recommended I buy it. Other stuff they recommended were a spare link arm and U-joint for the steering, a spare Selden gooseneck fitting for the mast and other small parts.
I also got a spare roller fitting for the headboard of the mainsail - I’m terrible at the specific names of things - that I actually needed to put on yesterday. It pulled away from the mast while I was in the doldrums, but I was still able to make it here to St. Barth.

38: It’s a good thing that you didn’t have to go up the mast.

Harker: That’s not an issue, because I can’t go up the mast when alone. By the way, I had to change the masthead tricolor on my last boat twice, so for this one I bought a $700 LED tricolor. It wasn’t cheap, but I think it’s worth it. It’s called a Lopo-Light, and it includes the navigation lights and a five-mile anchor light. It uses less than one watt of power, but is twice as brilliant as the old-style lights, and you never have to change them. All the Volvo Race boats used them. Readers might be interested to learn that I don’t have a single incandescent light bulb on my boat. Everything is either low-power fluorescent or even lower-power LED.

38: You have solar panels. How much did they help?

Harker: I have three panels for a total 28 amps, and during the day they normally provide all the power I need to run everything and to top off the 900-amp bank of batteries. I have two freezers and two fridges, but I only use one of each. I typically used 20 amps an hour, depending somewhat on how much effort my autopilot was having to make. All my instruments and lights use very little power. This Hunter 49 is very well thought out in terms of energy use.

WATCH FOR OUR FINAL INSTALLMENT, PART 5

TheSailingChannel.TV True Wind Father's Day Special

Join HomePort: Social Networking for Sailors

Latitude 38 Interview - Mike Harker: Part 3

March 2008

Part 3 of 5

Courtesy Latitude 38 Magazine

38: Was any stop particularly expensive?

Harker: Tahiti would have been, but I bypassed it because I’d been there before and knew it would be expensive. But, no, I don’t consider any of the places I stopped to have been expensive.

"The circumanavigation cost
me almost nothing because
I’m a cheapo!"

38: Speaking of money, how much did this circumnavigation cost you?

Harker: Almost nothing because I’m a cheapo! (Laughter.) Plus, if you’re out at sea, where are you going to spend money? And I’m not a big spender in ports. If I’ve been out at sea for awhile, the first thing I’ll do in port is order a big salad, because you can’t keep the makings for salads fresh for very long on the ocean. So I’ll get a salad at a restaurant for my first couple of meals ashore, and then maybe a breakfast omelet. But after that, I’ll eat all my meals aboard my boat. If I’m in port for a while and want to socialize, I may go to a restaurant, but I’ll order just a cappuccino or something like that rather than a full meal. And I don’t drink alcohol which saves a lot. Right: Kayo Hollandaise in the San Blas Islands on the way to Panama

38: What do you eat when you’re at sea?

Harker: Everything I eat comes from Costco because, like I said, I’m a cheapo. (Laughter.) But Costco - which has a store in Panama, by the way - actually has the best canned chicken breast and you get eight cans of them for just $7. I’m also big on Kirkland and Star-Kist brands of tuna. I make lots of pasta dishes at sea. For example, I’ll do a chicken or tuna with noodles, or maybe a spaghetti carbonara, but I’ll always add a second portion of unflavored noodles. I do this to ‘stretch’ whatever I’m making from just a lunch or dinner to a lunch or dinner plus leftovers for a next meal. I probably eat chicken or tuna with noodles four times a week. And every morning I have Quaker Old-Fashioned Oats - from Costco, of course. But I mix in some dry muesli, plus dried cranberries or blueberries. When you add hot water, the berries, which come in three-pound bags from Costco, open right up and taste great. I also throw in a few almonds and walnuts I’ve bought in bulk containers, at you-know-where. (Laughter.) Diet is very important for good health. Even though I’m legally a paraplegic as a result of my hang gliding accident, before I started this trip, my doctor told me that I had the constitution of a 40-year-old, 20 years younger than my chronological age. My blood pressure is perfect, and my cholesterol is 150. Those are the kinds of numbers I had when I was on the rowing team in college.

38: How do you exercise on board?

Harker: Exercise, of course, is just as much a key component to good health as is diet. So besides all the exercise I get singlehanding the boat, I have a Mini-Stepper onboard that I use regularly while at sea, hanging onto the dodger for balance. In addition, I do push-ups and arched back pull-ups on the dodger. Push-ups and pull-ups are opposing exercises that are very good for you. My exercise goal is not to be muscular, but to be fit. It’s important for me to keep working the joints in my arms, legs, shoulders - everywhere. So I usually do about half an hour of exercise each morning, then shower up. Many times I’ll get my exercise in while boiling the water and otherwise preparing my oatmeal. Through diet and exercise, my goal has been to maintain the health of a person 20 years younger.

38: We’re surprised to see how luxurious your Hunter 49 is; Granite-like countertops, nice woodwork everywhere, shades for all the hatches and ports, and even mosquito screens for all the hatches. And that’s just scratching the surface.

Harker: Hunter offers different versions of the 49. The normal Sail-Away package comes in at under $300,000, and includes sails, instruments, and a long list of standard luxury items - plus a five-year warranty extension. Then there’s the Mariner-Package, which includes $33,000 worth of gear for just $21,000. That gear includes a Bose surround sound system, a 15-inch flat screen for the double berth forward, and a 26-inch flat screen in the salon - although I bought a 32-inch flat screen with built-in DVD to replace the 15-incher in the bow, and a 40-incher for the salon. I have to admit that I love movies. In fact, I have 2,000 movies aboard - none of them pirated. I can have the same movie playing at three places on my boat at the same time - the third being on my chartplotter in the cockpit. I can’t get sound on the chartplotter, though.

38: (Laughter.) You must be the only cruiser who doesn’t have a pirated movie.

Harker: My Hunter 49 has added extras from the options list. It has the deep keel, a 5 ft. taller mast and includes a bow thruster, an HRO watermaker, F-P genset, 3 solar panels and lots of other stuff too, and it goes for just under $400,000.

38: How are they selling?

Harker: Hunter tells me that they sold almost 80 of them in one year.

38: Your boat is loaded with extras. Any favorites?

Harker: My favorite thing on the boat, my buddy, is my Lewmar Mamba autopilot. This is a beefed-up version of the Raymarine autopilot motor, and mine was the first on any boat. I haven’t had a hiccup or squawk, and I do 90% of my sailing on autopilot. You might remember that I burned up three autopilot motors on my 466. Actually, the whole steering system is a Lewmar Mamba, which consists of gear boxes and rods. It works really well, and is all but maintenance free.

38: We actually have the same Mambo system on our catamaran and have been very pleased, too.

Harker: The heavy-duty autopilot motor and stronger U-joints in the steering system now come standard.

38: What other gear do you have aboard?

Harker: I added things for two reasons, 1) for safety or better sailing and 2) for comfort. The safety items include the Viking RescYou 8 SOLAS Liferaft, ICOM SSB &VHF radios with DSC and Pactor digital modem, a drogue and extra emergency gear, a Flex-O-Fold 3 blade prop and Interphase Forward-Looking Sonar. This really helps when entering shallows or reef areas. Absolutely essential are the RayMarine instruments and chart plotter with the Navionics world charts on CF memory cards for the E120. I also have Nobeltec World Charts on a DVD for the laptop and I carry two extra handheld GPSs, one reading the Navionics charts for a backup. Both electronic charts were right on.

The most modern safety feature I have on board is RayMarine’s AIS (Automatic Identification System) that receives signals from all ships larger than 200 tons. I had 24 ships on screen when traversing the Torres Straits and never got close enough to a ship to set off the alarm. AIS is a true life-saver on the open ocean. For comfort I added a custom Dodger/Bimini/Dingy Davit Cage that the Hunter stainless shop built for me, a Walker Bay RIB ‘Genesis’ dingy with a 20 hp and a blow-up dingy with a 4 hp, a Cobra kayak & a blow-up kayak and even the “Sea-Breathe” HUKA for underwater exploring.

38: Be straight with us, Mike, are you still claiming that you don’t really know how to sail?

Harker: Well, all I know about sail trim is what I learned from my hang gliding days. And all I know about navigation is that I point the arrow on my GPS to my destination and push GO/TO. Then I adjust sails and sit back and have the boat take me where I want to go. I’m sorry, but that’s how I sailed around the world. I’m not proud of it, but that’s how I did it.

38: We think there’s a little more to it than that, for example, you flew a gennaker, didn’t you?

Harker: I flew the gennaker from my old 466, but it blew out in strong winds near Vanuatu. But I also flew my new Parasailor2, which is a rather unique spinnaker from Germany that has a full-width opening about two-thirds of the way up, and an ‘air batten’ wing that helps keep it from collapsing. It’s a beautiful concept. It means you don’t have to sail as precise a course or, thanks to the inflatable wing, worry about the chute collapsing as much. Plus the elastic bands on a vented flap spill the wind when it starts blowing hard, so you have more or less the same pressure on the sail in 30 knots as you do in 12 knots. While crossing the Indian Ocean, I had my Parasailor2 up for more than a week without taking it down, and I flew it in the South Atlantic all the way across the Equator to the doldrums. It costs about 25% more than standard spinnakers, but I love mine and think it’s worth it. Oddly enough, you never see them in the States, but more than 40 boats carried them in the last Atlantic Rally for Cruisers.

38: What was typical weather for your trip?

Harker: Most of the time the wind was under 18 knots, and about 50% of that time it was 12 to 15 knots. It rarely blew under 12 knots, but when it did, it seemed to be very light for days on end. That happened three times, and was the least fun of all, as the boat rolled like crazy. Three days south of Indonesia in the Timor Sea was the worst of all. The water was like glass - in fact, it would have been perfect for the barefoot waterskiing that I did in my younger days.

38: How many hours did you put on the engine?

Harker: I’ve got 1,200 hours on the main engine, but some of those are only because my Fisher-Panda genset got water into it and stopped running. That meant I had to charge my batteries using the alternator on the engine until I fixed the gen.

WATCH FOR PART IV OF V

TheSailingChannel.TV True Wind Father's Day Special

Latitude 38 Interview - Mike Harker: Part 2

March 2008

Part 2 of 5

Courtesy Latitude 38 Magazine

38: But be honest, is an 11-month circumnavigation a realisticgoal for most sailors?

Harker: Yes, it is, and even for singlehanders. With crew, it would have been an easy jaunt. The biggest factor is how much time people want to spend in places. It might sound as though I rushed around the world, and I certainly did move much faster than most cruisers, but it’s not like I didn’t stop at places. For instance, I spent nine weeks inAustralia - even though I'd only planned on spending three. Of course, that meant Ihad to race across the Indian Ocean. It turned out there wasnothing wrong with that, as I didn't find anywhere desirable to stop in the Indian Ocean on the way to South Africa. I spenttwo days at Christmas Island, two days at Cocos Island, andthree days on Mauritius - which was about one day too long. There's nothing in the Indian Ocean on the way to South Africaexcept a few islands with water and sand, and there's much more beautiful water and sand in the Bahamas. Right: Mike in Sydney Harbor

I also spent quite a bit of time in South Africa, which I loved. Here's why: I just happened to arrive in Durban at thesame time as the Clipper Around-The-World fleet. And it just so happened there were 14 front row slips, but just 13 Clipper entries. So an ambitious Hunter dealer arranged for my boat to be put in the 14th slip at the same time as the Clipper group. This apparently confused some of the thousands of people who showed up for the celebrations, because I was treated like a superstar! People thought that I was famous. (Laughter.) They had bands, big crowds, and it was a really big deal. Right: Welcome to South Africa with the 'Clippers' in Durban

Since my boat was in the front row, I was visited by many people, among them two families, each of which had 15-year-old sons. One was named Marx, and he was the South African Laser champion. The other was Pieter, and he’s about to do the Santa Cruz to Panama leg of the Clipper race with his mother. Anyway, about an hour after leaving my boat, both youngsters returned and sheepishly asked if they might sail with me. I told them I would take them if they could get approval from each of their mothers. When the mothers assented, the boys jumped up and down like crazy. Right: Pieter and Marx in Durban South Africa

The two youngsters sailed all the way to Cape Town, a distance of about 800 miles, with me. We were together for five weeks, as we had to stop all the time to avoid the famous storms that blow along the southeast coast of Africa. Most Latitude readers are probably aware that, in that part of the Indian Ocean, you get a storm lasting three days, then two days of lull. It happens like clockwork. You have two days of calm, then three days of gale-force winds - and I mean a real 50 knots of wind, not just 30 knots. Plus, the strong current flows in the opposite direction to the wind, so the seas become big, square, and horrendous. I don’t know what it’s like to be caught in those conditions because we managed to avoid them, but it would not be fun.

But having to stop all the time meant getting to visit all these great places like Knysna, or Port Elizabeth. My favorite was False Bay, the last one before rounding the Cape of Good Hope. I did a presentation at the local yacht club, then let the two boys sail my boat around the Cape. They were great kids.

38: Did their parents pay for them to sail with you?

Harker: No. My rule with crew is that they pay the expenses necessary to get to my boat and to return home but once on the boat, I pay for all the food and other expenses. I would never pay anyone to crew for me.

"I don't think I ever sailed

upwind - except for three

days off Cape Town."

38: How much of your circumnavigation was upwind?

Harker: (Long pause.) I'm thinking about it really hard, butI don't think I ever sailed upwind - other than three days nearCape Town. It would also have been upwind from Vanuatu to

Sydney but, when I got to Brisbane, I waited three days for thewind to change direction, then continued on with a fair wind. I don't sail with the wind on the nose because I don't like it. As I think back, the wind was always on my stem quarter,except for the Windward Passage between Cuba and Hispanola,when it was on my port beam. It usually blew on my port quarter, except in the South Atlantic, when it blew on thestarboard quarter. My boat was heeling to starboard for eight months, then to port for two months. (Laughter.) Right: Leaving Sydney with the new Parasailor

38: What was your worst weather?

Harker: I never had any really bad weather. The only roughstuff that I didn't wait out was 36 to 40 knots of wind between Samoa and Vanuatu, but it was coming from my stem quarter, so it wasn’t bad. The seas were big, however, maybe 18 to 20 feet. They’d been generated by 70-knot winds in the Southern Ocean. Some boats further south got dismasted, and some mariners were drowned down there. But Wanderlust 3 handled the conditions well with three reefs in the main and a staysail. We were doing about 9 knots, and the boat was loving it. Wanderlust 3 doesn’t heel as much as my 466 did, so it was quite comfortable. She’s also a dry boat because she has a bit of a hollow or concave in the bow that causes the water to shoot out to the side instead of up and over the deck. I had some waves crash onto the dodger of my 466, but that never happened with my Hunter 49.

38: What other differences have you noticed between thetwo boats?

Harker: The H-49 tracks better downwind and doesn'tyaw as much. She behaves like she has a long keel, yet sheturns on a dime. She also feels like a much bigger boat.

38: Was her larger size a problem?

Harker: Not at all. My 466 was actually only 44’6”, while my 49 is 49’11”. Plus, the new boat has a plumb bow and carries the waterline almost all the way aft, so she’s truly a much bigger and faster boat.

38: What did you consider to be a good day's run?

Harker: Wanderlust 3 had no problem sailing at 8.5 knotsfor hours on end, so I had many 24-hour runs in excess of200 miles. My best week was from Christmas Island to Cocos Island, during which time I covered 1,396 miles in seven days, or an average of just a hair under 200 miles per day. For a luxurious and relatively heavy boat being singlehanded by a guy who wasn’t racing, I thought that was pretty good. Right: Christmas Island

38: How did you get your weather info?

Harker: I got GRIB files via SailMail when atsea and, while on land, I used the U.S. Navyforecasts from fnmoc.navy.mil and Passageweather.com. The SailMail files come in black and white and are based on the color charts from the U.S. Navy. But the Navy has the best ocean weather info around. They are really good. Plus, they can provide you with a lot more information than just the surface winds and sea conditions.

38: Did you see many other single-handers?

Harker: It seemed that no matter where I went, I was introduced to “that other singlehander.” There was never more than one, but there was always one, and they were usually French. Three of them were women. One of them,Jeanne Socrates, had done the last Singlehanded TransPac in her 37-ft Najad Nereida. She was going around the world on a ‘fast’ circumnavigation too and having a great time. Interestingly, I’ve never met another singlehander on a boat larger than 40 feet. Most of them have older style boats, with long keels and lots of overhang. I don’t know, maybe it just means they couldn’t afford newer and more expensive boats, but they were having just as much fun and adventure as I was. Right: Cocos Keeling

38: Did you have any problems with any port officials?

Harker: No. But I always make an effort to present myself well, and I’m very courteous. I smile, I’m patient, and I’m never demanding. But above all, I put myself beneath the officials, letting them know that they are in charge. They love that! (Laughter.)

WATCH FOR PART III

Relaunch of Wanderlust 3 after minor repairs at
St. Augustine Marina Center in Florida.

TheSailingChannel.TV Father's Day Special

Latitude 38 Interview: Part 1

March 2008
Part 1 of 5

Courtesy Latitude 38 Magazine

Mike Harker
As a result of a horrible hang-gliding accident off Grenada decades ago that left him under water and unconscious, Mike Harker spent six years in a bed, all but unable to move, and being assured by doctors that he’d never walk again. Although he’s paralyzed from the top of his “butt bone” down - except for the insides of his thighs - he’s managed, through relentless effort, to resume a normal life. And, to make remarkable passages with his boats.Harker started sailing at 52 by entering the ‘00 Baja Ha-Ha, learning as he went along. The following year he singlehanded across the Atlantic, then sailed back across to Panama and the South Pacific. After returning to California, he had planned a circumnavigation that was, for reasons he’ll explain, delayed for more than a year. His goal, now that he’s 60, is to complete a 26,000-mile trip around the world in 11 months, sailing half the time and enjoying stops in ports the other half.

This interview was conducted in St. Barth when he had 1,000 miles left to go. By the time it was over; and. before this was published, he’d actually covered 27,800 miles in 10 months, three weeks - the greater distance a result of doing an unplanned additional 2,000 miles on the east coast of Australia just for the fun of it.

Harker’s worst scare of the trip? When he mistook some wicked hot sauce for ketchup at Cheeseburgers in Paradise in St. Barth. He was choking so badly and. in such genuine pain that we were seconds from summoning professional medical help before he began to recover. While making his circumnavigation, Harker’s home at Lake Arrowhead burned to the ground. He’ll not rebuild. When he’s through sailing - which isn’t going to be anytime soon, as you’ll soon learn - he’ll move into one of the units in his triplex on the water in Manhattan Beach.

Harker: Let me start off by saying that you’re the first person who speaks ‘American’ that I’ve talked to in over 10 months.

38: Cool. Well, tell us, how did this very rapid and mostly singlehanded circumnavigation come about?

Harker: As some readers might remember, I started sailing by doing the '00 Ha-Ha with a used Hunter 34 WanderLust. At the time, I knew absolutely nothing about sailing. After doing a singlehanded Baja Bash back to Southern California, I bought a new Hunter 466 in Miami. Although I intended to have crew, I ended up singlehanding Wanderlust II across the Atlantic. I then cruised the Med for 8 months, and that winter came back across the Atlantic and ultimately to French Polynesia via the Galapagos. Then, while on the way to Hawaii, the rudder broke. After getting a replacement rudder from Hunter, my plan was to sail back to San Francisco, do the Ha-Ha again, do the Puddle Jump to the South Pacific, then continue on to Australia and around the world.

But the folks at Hunter liked what I was doing. They invited me to their booth at the show in Miami and suggested that I trade my 466 in for one of their new H-49s - which wasn’t even completely designed at that point - and do my circumnavigation with one of those. They made me a hard-to-refuse offer, and had me come to the factory to get my ‘non-sailor’ input on the boat. Having accepted their offer, I had to postpone my circumnavigation for a year in order to sell my 466 and for them to finish designing and building the H-49. Right: New H-49 launch and rigging in St. Augustine Feb 2007

38: We've gotten to know you over the years, so we expect that you put that year of waiting to good use.

Harker: I went to Sea School in Fort Lauderdale to get my Captain’s license, then I went to school in Pensacola to get a Masters upgrade, and finally I went to Orange Coast College’s School of Sailing and Seamanship for my offshore and sailing endorsements. I now have all the certificates. Right: Looking down on 'WanderLust 3' from the new Selden mast

38: Were the classes helpful or did they basically teach you what you already knew?

Harker: There was a lot of stuff that I didn’t know, the classes were helpful. Among the most useful stuff I learned is a lot of sailing and nautical terminology that I wasn’t familiar with. You have to remember that I learned almost all my sailing in the Ha-Ha with German friends, and we only spoke German. And since I’ve singlehanded more than 90% ever since, I haven’t learned the English terms from subsequent crew.

38: So you mostly sail alone?

Harker: The only crew I’ve had for a long distance passage was from the Canaries to the Caribbean with my 466. I don’t think anyone has sailed more than a couple of hundred miles with me on my current boat. I only need crew for coastal waters where there is a lot of local traffic because, with someone else watching, I can safely go to sleep. Right: Sea Trial from Miami to Atlantis Marina in Nassau Bahamas

"I’m a guy who likes to move around,
and I discovered it was possible to
circumnavigate in 11 months."

38: What was the concept behind such a rapid circumnavigation?

Harker: While waiting for my boat to be done, I spent a lot of time planning a circumnavigation. I studied Jimmy Cornell's ‘World Cruising Routes’ for the best times to be in the places I wanted to pass through. The primary determinants of the best times are avoiding hurricane and tropical cyclone seasons. For example, you don’t want to leave Mexico for the South Pacific in the summer or fall, nor do you want to be crossing the Indian Ocean after October of any given year. I know that most cruisers typically take three to five years, but I’m a guy who likes to move along, so I found that the hurricane seasons would also allow me to do a circumnavigation in either 18 months or two years. But after doing some more studying, I realized that I could actually do it in just 11 months. Right: Alone to Matthew Town, Inagua

Cornell’s book was my bible. Not only did I spend a year planning my route with it, but I visited with him at the Annapolis Boat Show. In fact, I had two $5O/hour consultations with him about my route. When I showed my plan to him, he said, “I’ve never seen anyone with a plan like this, but it looks perfect!” Jimmy has been around the world something like 5 times and really knows his stuff. But don’t get him started talking, because he can go on and on. (Laughter.) 38: What were you figuring for an average speed or distance covered in a week? Right: The 'Windward Passage' between Cuba and Haiti

38: What were you figuring for an average speed or distance covered in a week?

Harker: The distance of the circumnavigation was about 26,000 miles, and there are 52 weeks in a year. I wanted to average 1,000 miles a week, so if I sailed at an average of 6.5 knots, I could be sailing half the time and resting or exploring ashore the other half of the time, and still make it around in 11 months. But as it turns out, I did nearly 2,000 more miles on the east coast of Australia for the fun of it.

38: But we all know about the inevitable breakdowns, new boat teething problems, and schedules going all to hell.

Harker: I don’t know what to tell you except that, as I’m here now talking to you, I’ve completed 26,900 miles of what will actually be a 28.000-mile circumnavigation, and that I’m currently just one week behind schedule. Had I wanted to, I could easily have been right on schedule.Right: The Errol Flynn Island in Port Antonio, Jamaica

38: That's pretty remarkable.

Harker: It’s not to say that I didn’t have delays or spend more time than I planned in some places. For example, I ended up spending three weeks in the Galapagos waiting for the people at customs in Quito, Ecuador, to release an alternator that I needed. I’m normally a very patient person, especially on boats, but that was the first time I got really frustrated. As a result, I had to make up three weeks crossing the Pacific. So while I did have delays, there was enough leeway in my schedule that I could make up for it.

WATCH FOR PART II.

Wanderlust3 up on-the-hard for new bottom paint, zincs, and rigging inspection. Selden wanted to inspect the mast after 28,000 miles of sailing in 11 months. This was the first H-49 fitted with Selden's Tall Mast and they wanted
to study the whole rig.

Mike Harker and Wanderlust3

Mike Harker Circumnavigates with Fischer Panda Genset

The following is a Press Release by Fischer Panda -- TheSailingChannel.TV

In daredevil Mike Harker’s early days, he flew powerless craft to his near death. Now, the intrepid adventurer circles the globe through Fischer Panda power.

A native Californian, Harker, 60, always gravitated toward extreme sports on the water and in the air. He was a national water skiing champion at age 16 and 18. As a young adult, he pioneered early ‘70s hang-gliding development. In 1977, a terrifying glider accident thrust Harker into a 400-foot freefall, leaving him unconscious for a year and paralyzed from the knees down. Through multiple surgeries and arduous physical therapy, he persevered until he could walk again.

Despite his injuries, the bold world traveler learned to sail offshore on the California coast five years ago. Long-range sailing was a perfect fit for Harker’s career as an international sports photographer/cinematographer and sports legend. In no time, he began dreaming of circumnavigating the world alone.

In 2003, he sailed single-handedly across the Atlantic in a trial run for his yearlong expedition circling the globe launched in March 2006. In preparation for the 28,000-mile voyage, Harker sought the best equipment available. He purchased his third and largest Hunter sailboat, Wanderlust III, a 49-foot cruiser. Harker had visited the Hunter factory in Florida and knew from his two previous Hunters that the manufacturer utilized only proven equipment, like Fischer Panda generators.

He had heard about the reputation of Fischer Panda Generators as being the smallest, lightest, quietest and most efficient generator in the market. “These sailors would point out other boats and ask, ‘Do you realize there’s a generator going?’ It would be purring like a sewing machine. My previous one sounded like a tractor,” he said.

Harker is dependent on good equipment to go around the world. He said he has confidence in his Panda 12 DP because everything made in Germany is made with precision. “That’s why I chose a Fischer Panda Generator as an orderable option. I’m living off my generator. It has to perform without flaw.”
Left to right, Mike Harker, Jeff Till, Fischer Panda dealer and marine sales representative, and Chad Godwin, Fischer Panda marine sales and marketing manager, aboard Wanderlust III.

Harker doesn’t connect to shore power in foreign ports because his boat is wired for 120V American power and the voltages are not compatible. In order to re-supply his systems, Harker moors in a harbor and runs his Fischer Panda generator. “In three and a half hours and on less than a gallon of gas, I’m able to charge my batteries and fill my water tanks all while I’m watching a movie on my wide-screen TV. It’s vibrationless and noiseless – quite a luxury,” he remarked.

Don’t look for this over-achiever to take it easy for too long in his cabin. Next, Harker plans to solo sail Wanderlust III around the world in the opposite direction.

Chad Godwin, marine sales and marketing manager for Fischer Panda Generators, said his company is proud to be a part of Mike Harker’s journey. “Over the years, the continuously advancing technology of Fischer Panda Generators has increased our reliability and efficiency. Having the team of Mike Harker and Hunter Marine as a valued customer has been beneficial in learning what we can do to offer the best generator and support worldwide.”
Chad Godwin, marine sales and marketing manager for Fischer Panda (right), checks the installation of Mike Harker’s FP 12 DP Generator.

Fischer Panda has played a pioneering role in the design and manufacture of marine and vehicle generators for the past 30 years. In 1978 in Germany, Fischer Generators developed the quietest diesel generator in the world. That trend towards small, quiet and super efficiency was to continue, and in 1988, Fischer Generators added "Panda" to its brand and introduced its proprietary and water-cooled asynchronous electric plant. Fischer Panda U.S., which began operations in 1995, is located at 4345 NE 12 Terrace in Oakland Park, Florida. For more information, please call 954-462-2800 or access the company's web site at www.fischerpanda.com

By TheSailingChannel.TV

North Atlantic: Abacos, Bahamas

Easter Sunday April 23
Abacos Bahamas

I am taking a well deserved rest after sailing around the world in under 11 months. I have decided to spend a month in the Abacos group of islands and Cays in the northern Bahamas.

My first stop was Little Harbor after entering the treacherous 'Little Harbor Cut' from the Atlantic Ocean. With 8-10 foot seas and 20 knots of SW winds the entrance is less than 100 feet across and less than 20 feet deep. Anything more than that is then what the locals call, a 'Rage Sea', and entrance is discouraged.



Once into the Cut and the Sea of Abaco, I tried to enter 'Little Harbor at High Tide. Even with high tide there was not enough depth for my deep keel and I touched ground in the middle of the narrow entrance. I had to anchor out off the beach for the night.




The next morning I continued up the shallow and sometimes narrow passage inside the reefs and Cays towards 'Marsh Harbor'. On the way I passed a grounded fishing boat and dropped my anchor for the night outside of Boat Harbor Marina on the south side of Marsh Harbor.


The next morning I went around the peninsula and entered Marsh Harbor itself, which is beautiful. There are a lot of cruising boats at anchor or tied to the docks of the 4 marinas. This is the "Hub of the Abacos" and most cruising is based here as well as the Moorings and Sunsail Charter Companies.


With only 6 feet of water to anchor at low tide, my 6' 8" deep keel is in the soft silt sand for about 2 hours twice a day. I will look for a spot maybe 1 foot deeper but I spent the Easter weekend anchored off the "Curly Tail Restaurant" named after the local Gecko variety.



This coming weekend three friends are coming for a visit and I have the huka and dive tanks ready. My good buddy Tom-the-Pilot and another friend Kimberely with her girl friend will spend a long 4 day weekend exploring the Man-O-War Cays and Hope Towne with me.

I'll take photos and report after they depart.

Mike Harker
s/v Wanderlust3