Sailing 'weapon': Van Liew buys 'thoroughbred' for his next race around the world

Brad Van Liew knew what he needed in a boat to race around the world, and he knew where to get it.

The veteran solo skipper is in La Rochelle, France, today preparing to bring his new ride back to Charleston in preparation for the Velux 5 Oceans Race that begins in October.

Van Liew has bought Pro-Form, a 1998-built Open 60 that won the 1999 Fastnet, and has raced in previous editions of the Around Alone and Vendee Globe solo circumnavigation races.

Fast boat: check.

Proven pedigree: check.

"It's a weapon," Van Liew said from La Rochelle Wednesday. "It's a thoroughbred, a true racing machine. We were focused on a few boats and were fortunate to get one at the top of the list."

The boat is an Open 60, carbon-hull craft with a canting keel, twin daggerboards and twin rudders, just like the boats that raced in the top class of the 1998-99 Around Alone, which started and ended in Charleston.

Pro-Forms (it will be renamed when Van Liew secures a primary sponsor) was bought from Marc Thiercelin, who raced in the 1998 Around Alone in Somewhere, and used this boat in the 2004 Vendee Globe, a non-stop race around the world.

Van Liew, who won the 2002-03 Around Alone Open 50 division, said the boat should be competitive in the Velux 5 Oceans eco-class, which is open to sailboats built before 2003, an attempt to recycle older boats and make it cost millions less than many competitors will pay to compete in a race that takes the better part of a year to finish.

"It's a fantastic boat," said Tim Kelly, communications director for Velux 5 Oceans. "It's a boat with a proven track record for racing and safety. I think he's made a good choice."

Kelly said Van Liew could face 10 competitors in the eco-class division. Tim Miller, president of the South Carolina-based Velux America, the race's sponsor, said it will be a treat to see a hometown skipper sail into Charleston as part of the race.

"We're excited to have Brad in the race," Miller said. "We wanted a U.S. skipper in the race."

Now that Van Liew has his boat, he only has to get it home. Van Liew, along with some members of his shore crew -- Jeffrey Wargo, J.C. Caso and Kevin Hogan -- will sail the boat to Charleston to put it in dry-dock and ready it for the race.

That's not as easy as it sounds. This time of year, the 5,000-mile voyage home will force Van Liew south to Portugal to pick up the trade winds, into the Bahamas, and back up the coast to South Carolina.

Van Liew said he is ready to get back to Charleston -- it's freezing in France, and the crew already has had to shovel snow off the deck. He has only nine months to sign a sponsor, fix up the boat and sail it back to France for the race start.

The trip serves two purposes. It will get the boat to North Charleston, where it will be fine-tuned for the race, and it will give Van Liew time to get accustomed to the boat.

On the 20-day trip he expects to decide what changes he wants to make and test the two hydro-generators he hopes to use for power on his third trip around the world. Van Liew wants to sail the entire 30,000 miles without using fossil fuels.

"This is going to be a big exercise, a chance for me to get back in the game, get back in the groove," Van Liew said. "By the time the race starts, I will have sailed her about 13,000 miles. That's half an Around Alone."

For most people, it would be the trip of a lifetime. For Van Liew, it's called a commute.

At a glance

The Velux 5 Oceans Race is a 30,000-mile, five port, singlehanded sailboat race around the world. The race starts in La Rochelle, on the west coast of France, in October. From there skippers race to Cape Town, South Africa. From there, the race continues on to Wellington, New Zealand, and Salvador, Brazil, before sailing into Charleston in the spring of 2011. From here the racers cross the Atlantic to the finish line in La Rochelle.

Reach Brian Hicks at 937-5561 or bhicks@postandcourier.com.