AUSTRALIA TO JAPAN WITH JEANTEX

Wolfgang Quix

Jeantex undertook a long voyage to take part in the 1991 Melbourne-Osaka Doublehanded Race. In December 1990 I shipped her from Hamburg to Melbourne, where members of the Sandringham Yacht Club were waiting to take care of her over the following weeks. Then co-skipper Herbert Weingortner and I prepared Jeantex for the 5000 mile race across the Pacific.

We were fairly surprised when, during scrutineering, the missing toilet was criticized. Jeantex, a wood and epoxy yacht designed in Germany by Georg Nissen especially for shorthanded racing and only poorly furnished, met the regulations for the '85 and '89 Round Britain Races, '86 Twostar, '87 AZAB and '88 Carlstar (better known as OSTAR) without any problems - and also without a toilet. In the Yamaha Cup, however, IYRU Rules were used which require one. We solved this problem by buying a chemical loo, which we used during the race to store potatoes.

The race itself was far from what we had expected. Light winds are not the strong point of Jeantex, built for the stormy North Atlantic. Even in the otherwise blowy Bass Strait the yacht was becalmed, and far towards the north only light headwinds were found. We soon lost contact with the leading yachts. Only in the south-east trades could Jeantex prove her speed, covering more than 800 miles in four days.

In the calms around the Equator we dropped back again. The night we crossed the Equator were caught by a gust of wind under the spinnaker, made a sunshot* and lost control, leading to a completely ruined spinnaker and damaged rigging. A week later the median shroud broke, obviously a late consequence of the Equator troubles. Not being able to repair the damage at sea we decided to go to Guam for repairs. Apart from the damaged rigging our biggest problem was the enormous heat north and south of the Equator, and sailing in shorts and T-shirt in the Pacific was a strange experience after the polar suit and oilskins of home.

During the remaining miles towards Osaka we managed again to get close to the yachts in front, but then were hit by 50-60 knot winds right at the entrance to the bay and sailed past it. From fifth in class we dropped back to seventh in class, with an elapsed time of 38 days 21 hrs 54 min. Jeantex sailed 5308 miles, averaging 5.7 knots and with a best day's run of 213 miles.

I had wanted to take part in the Yamaha Cup since 1987, but was unable to find sponsors. This time I was more successful and Jeantex, a sportswear company, Hapag Lloyd, a major shipping line, Ispo Munich and Ispo Asia, trade fairs for sports equipment and fashion in Munich and Singapore, and also the German Yacht Club Trans-Ocean helped with the enormous costs. The helpfulness and hospitality offered by Sandringham Yacht Club in Melbourne and by Hokko Marina in Osaka will always be remembered.

After the race Jeantex was loaded back aboard a Hapag Lloyd container ship for the return to Hamburg. Unfortunately the mast was damaged in transit, but repairs have now been completed and she is up for sail.

* Does a `sunshot' imply that the masthead touches the horizon?

Enlightenment please!

(554 words)