The Oryx Quest 2005 Fotogalerie - www.oryxquest.com - zur Übersicht 18.04.2005 A tried and tested Tony Bullimore www.teambullimore.com Tony Bullimore is one of the most interesting sailing personalities to come along in the last few decades. When you first meet him there is nothing about his persona that strikes you as unusual. He is small in stature, his accent is distinctly west coast England, and his unassuming nature is deceiving. One could hardly be blamed for mistaking him for a night club owner from the back streets of Bristol, which, incidentally, he was for many years. World class yachtsman, sailor of the year, and survivor are not words that spring to mind right away, but spend some time with Tony and you will discover a heart of gold, a tenacious spirit and wealth of stories that were only touched upon in his best selling book, Saved. As Daedalus nears the hairpin bend in the Strait of Hormuz and closes the finish of the Oryx Quest 2005, it’s perhaps time to take a look at this remarkable man. It’s a story longer than this column allows and much has already been written about Tony. Let’s instead discover the man through a few anecdotes, his own and some of mine. First start by asking yourself how many men at the age of 65 are spending their time sailing big, highly strung catamarans non-stop around the world. This is the second time in four years that Tony has raced this boat around the globe and it’s one of his most successful races in the last few decades. People may scoff when they discover that Daedalus came second in the Oryx Quest 2005, beating both Cheyenne and Geronimo, but those that know sailing know that you have to finish to win and finishing is the hard part. Tony’s expertise as a seaman and leader of men has shone through throughout this race and he is to be credited with his fine second place finish. It takes courage and determination to take a relatively inexperienced crew (with due respect to Nick Leggatt who already has a big cat circumnavigation under his belt) and an old boat, and race it non-stop around the world, and it takes skill, spades of it, to come up trumps and take second place in a grueling offshore race. Tony Bullimore has plenty of all of the above. Take this excerpt from his daily log written on Sunday afternoon as an example of his competence as a race skipper. “We have had our trials and tribulations as we have raced around the world,” he wrote. “But we have not made a song and dance of it. We have been low profile on these issues to ensure that the millions of people around the world who have been following the progress of the race and the competitors were not distracted by the wrong kind of publicity. For instance, one of the whisker wires that holds on the seagull striker to the forward crossbeam, that in turn plays a major role in holding up the mast, broke. On another occasion, one of the cap shrouds, the windward one, broke. It was so easily to believe that we would lose the mast, but we did not. With sensibly approaching these problems and speedily making repairs, we got things under control and kept going. It is a fact that one has got to continuously indextain and service the boat's equipment when one is tackling this kind of challenge. It is all part of the game. The Daedalus crew have proved themselves and l would really like to feel that the younger guys on board who are making the sport of yacht racing there vocation in life, have gained a lot of experience and opened there eyes to what it is like at this end of the sport.” Behind every good man is a good woman and Tony is blessed to have a strong and kind wife who has stuck by his side through triumph and near tragedy for more than three decades. Lalal hails from Jamaica, a country known to produce sturdy stock. Her faith, however, was sorely tested when Tony went missing in the Southern Ocean while on a solo non-stop race around the world in 1997. His boat, Exide Challenger, had capsized and no one knew for sure if Tony had survived the capsize, and if he had, that he would survive in the upturned hull for almost a week. The interior was full of freezing cold water sloshing from side to side while Tony, with a crushed and bloodied finger, hung just clear of the water in a makeshift hammock. His survival is one of the great sea stories to come along in a long while. It’s a testament to the trust Lalal has in her husband that she has since let him go off on two more circumnavigations. As Tony prepared to leave the dock in Doha before the start of this race, Lalal remarked quietly to those around her, “I wonder which country he’s going to call me from next.” It was said with soft Jamaican lilt and twinkle in the eye that comes from years of having the courage to let go. There was an old British explorer by the name of Bill Tillman who was an inspiration to a generation of ocean voyagers. Tillman lived simply. His small boat, aptly named Mischief, took him to the four corners of the globe where he climbed high peaks and took great gulps of life along the way. Tillman advertised for crew with a simple classified ad that read: “Crew needed, no pay, no prospects.” Tony Bullimore is a modern day Bill Tillman. He too has inspired and given opportunity to a generation of young sailors all done in the quaint old fashioned way of a nod and a handshake. Take this excerpt from the same Sunday log; “l must say that Simon Redding, who is a highly professional boat builder and who came along as crew, has played a major part in sorting out problems and keeping the boat going in whatever conditions being chucked at us. I have known Simon for a few years and he was one of the team that refitted the boat and got her into mint condition for the round the world race. Simon asked if he could be one of the crew delivering the boat from Bristol to Doha and could he do more work on the boat once we got to Doha just to ensure that it was ready for the race. As stories go, Simon worked so well and was so enthusiastic whilst he was on board. When we were in the Mediterranean I asked him if he would like to join the crew for the round the world race, and Simon said 'I thought you would never ask'. We agreed terms, l gave him the proverbial shilling, and we shook hands. I said you are now official crew, so how about organizing a couple of mugs of tea, and some chocolate digestive biscuits, and we can take it from there.” These days, where professionalism, big bucks and greed have made their way into ocean racing, it’s a breath of fresh air to find sailors like Tony Bullimore still plying their trade on the oceans of the world. He is a simple man, honest to the end and loyal to all with whom he comes into contact with. As Daedalus looks set to close the loop on a successful circumnavigation, Tony is already looking ahead at his next project; a bigger, faster, more radical and more innovative catamaran to take on some of the long standing offshore ocean records. His log concludes: “What is next? Well, l have been looking at some tremendous ideas and l do believe l will be going for some records, getting a new boat so as l can enter the future racing organised by Qatar International Sports Events, and of course, l will be putting together a first class crew and a dynamic shore team. This all seems familiar, but that is what putting a first class racing team together is all about.” At 07:00 GMT Daedalus had 356 miles to go to the finish. Tony is predicting an ETA of Wednesday morning. Sound familiar? To read the rest of Tony’s log all the logs from Daedalus go to www.teambullimore.com. To read all the crew logs from Doha 2006 go to www.maxicatdoha.com. --- Brian Hancock brian.hancock@qisel.com www.oryxquest.com Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE