http://smh.com.au/articles/2005/03/27/1111862257068.html
By Alan Kennedy
March 28, 2005
Long way from home ... Alex
Whitworth takes Berrimilla around
Photo: Alex
Whitworth
Sometime over the next few days,
in the South Atlantic, one of the more unlikely rendezvous will take place
between the International Space Station and a small yacht sailed by a couple of
Sydney men.
Alex Whitworth, owner and skipper
of the 10-metre yacht Berrimilla, and Peter Crozier have arranged to shine a
super-strength spotlight towards the heavens as the spacecraft passes overhead.
Whitworth said he was certain the
men aboard the spacecraft would be able to see it.
As a piece of science it is not
worth much, but Whitworth feels it is all about people, isolated and with little
hope of rescue if something goes wrong, reaching out to each other and sharing
a common bond.
Whitworth and Crozier left
Two weeks ago they rounded that
Everest of sailing, Cape Horn, and made for the
The voyage has had its uplifting
moments and, said Whitworth, some terrifying ones.
Whitworth and Crozier sailed
Berrimilla to a class win in the infamous 1998 Sydney-Hobart race but said that
last year's race was the worst weather they had ever seen. But, said Whitworth,
not any more.
Coming into
And it was while sitting
thousands of kilometres from land that Whitworth
thought about the International Space Station. He estimated they were so far
from anywhere that when it went overhead they were probably the closest human
beings around.
He recorded it in his log, which is
emailed regularly to friends in
After the rendezvous, Berrimilla
will continue northwards, hoping to arrive in
In between, they are planning to
catch up with Dr Chiao who returns to Earth in April.