MONA VALE, AUSTRALIA — As if one circumnavigation wasn't more than enough time afloat for anyone, Australian professional sailor and nautical maniac David Pryce announced a campaign to compete in three single-handed, around-the-world races. Pryce, who will be sailing the first of a new breed of one design 50 single-handed boats, has ambitious plans to sail from Hobart, Australia, in November 2001 in the 22,000-nautical-mile Together Alone race. September 2002 will see the start of the Around Alone out of Charleston, SC, for another 28,000 miles under the keel, before the non-stop racing action of the Vendee Globe commences, starting and finishing in France, and keeping Antarctica to port.
For Pryce, a veteran of six Antarctic expeditions aboard the Spirit of Sydney and numerous solo short-handed ocean races, around the world racing is the next logical step in a sailing career that includes sailing instructor, delivery skipper, naval architect, and adviser to the Australian government on marine safety issues. Pryce will race in an International Open One Design 50, currently under construction and slated for a June completion and a November launch to be followed by sea trials.