Young US sailor on a mission

• NEWS
• 23 Dec, 2002 04:13:00 PM

Young US sailor on a mission

At the age of 19 American Brian Caldwell decided that he would be the youngest person to sail around the world solo. To do that he would have to be home before he turned 21.

At the age of 19 American Brian Caldwell decided that he would be the youngest person to sail around the world solo.  To do that he would have to be home before he turned 21.

He made his deadline with time to spare, though the voyage was not without its moments.  His 26 foot long Contessa was rolled 180 in the Indian Ocean, between Cocas and Mauritius.  It was a great adventure. But more importantly it was the springboard that would allow him to realize a much longer-term ambition.

Brian Caldwell grew up sailing the Pacific Ocean.  When he was 9 his father retired and the family went cruising.  Brian kept up his schooling by correspondence.

When he was 15 the family returned to America.  Brian went back to normal schooling, and pretty quickly realized that he had to make a choice between two very different lifestyles. A career or cruising?

But how could he make a living off sailing?   That was when he got the idea of sailing round the world.  It was a means to end.

It’s that determination and long term focus that strikes you when you first meet Brian.  “I have a plan for the next 8 years.  I know exactly what I want to do and how I want to go about it,” he says. 

Right now that plan has Brian and girlfriend Natasha Canan based on the French Atlantic coast, the home of radical multihull yachting, where they are preparing for the 2003 Mini Transit race. 

They have taken a break form the French winter, though, to race to Hobart, aboard the luxurious Swan 85, Dreamland.

It will be Caldwell’s second Hobart.  In 1999 he was on the 36-foot Phillips Foote when she won the PHS division.

Dreamland is a totally different proposition to Phillips Foote. On a four-year cruise around the world, crewed by a professional cruising crew, there is nothing spartan about the giant Swan.  In a race dominated by state of the art maxis and grand prix IMS racing boats, with their crack crews drawn from international racing and the America’s Cup, Dreamtime represents the perfect balance between comfort and speed, and that suits Caldwell fine.

“I’m much more a cruising sailor that racing,” he concedes.  “Racing helps me make a living.  I have to generate publicity to get finance and sponsorship for projects like the MiniTransit.  Racing also allows me to sail interesting boats,” he says, referring to the giant 130 foot plus superyachts that prowl the Mediterranean and the Atlantic and the huge French trimirans that have turned sailors into rock stars in Paris.  “The evolution of yachts is extraordinary.  To be able to sail at these speeds is incredible.

“Solo sailing is certainly my passion.  In a choice between a Volvo and a Vendee race it would be a no brainer.

“Growing up on a boat as a child I learned to entertain myself.  I read a lot.  Kids who live on boats seem to be more mature and confident for their age.’

Brian remains the youngest American to have ever circumnavigated the world solo.

“The round the world was magic.  I could do it a hundred times.”