Coyote: The Mike Plant Story (2017) - full transcript

[Serene instrumental

music playing]

[Rodger Martin]

When you think about the sea,

about the oceans,

if you put your little finger or your toe in the water here,

that connects to every continent on this earth.

It allows you to go on adventures that you can't do on land.

There aren't stop signs

or you don't come to a place

where there's a fence

that says,"Do not enter."

It's an astounding freedom.

People ask

why I do this stuff. It's...

It'd be really easy to...

explain it today, wouldn't it?

It's gorgeous out here.

[Martin] There are some treacherous

places that people wouldn't believe.

It's fantastic to survive it.

Ocean is such

an incredible color.

It is so deep blue.

You can't believe it's the same ocean that's off of New York City.

God, it's nice

out here, though.

[Martin] There are places

you should not enter,

but you have to find that out for yourself.

[Jason Davis] There are

among us a very few people,

who will risk their lives

in chasing a dream,

or trying to achieve some

amazing objective.

And that's what

makes them magical,

and that's why we need them.

Because they stretch

our imaginations.

And they bring us to places that

we can't possibly go ourselves.

There's nothing

in Mike Plant's world

that he didn't think

he could do.

So you rarely say that about a human being no matter what he does.

Single-minded,

toughest guy I've ever met.

[Billy Black] He was America's

greatest solo sailor.

And a pioneer in that field.

More people

had been to the moon

than had sailed

around the world.

[Jason] Who else would we learn

to admire and follow

if we didn't have adventurers,

if we didn't have people that

strive to reach

the top of Mount Everest,

or the bottom of the ocean,

or the North Pole,

or sail around

the world single-handed...

You know,

wouldn't it be a dull place?

It would be really dull.

[Captivating instrumental

music playing]

[reporter 1] The longest

sailboat race of the world

is about to get underway.

A Minnesota man who is going to be part of it,

Mike Plant,

is loading the boat...

[reporter 2] ...as a single

sailor and his boat,

to make it all the way

around the world,

faster than

24 other competitors...

[reporter 3] And you're

all alone out there.

I mean, it's just you and the ocean,

and as we said before,

you're out there by yourself

for eight months.

[Interviewer] Well, Michael,

who are you?

What's your life history

in brief?

Who are you away from?

[Mike] I grew up in Minnesota.

Learned how to sail

on Lake Minnetonka.

[Interviewer] What kind of

business do you run?

[Mike] I've been in

the home-building business.

Building spec homes,

remodeling.

[Interviewer] And how old are you?

I didn't even know that.

[Mike] Thirty-five.

Thirty-five.

[Interviewer] What makes you enter this race in particular?

Which is probably the toughest

single-handed race there is.

Something you can't go any further than,

except navigation.

Why did you choose

to enter this?

[Mike] Oh, the whole idea

fascinates me.

It's a fantastic challenge.

I just have this gut feeling that I will be very good at this.

[Helen Davis] I fell in love

immediately with Mike Plant.

He was shy, which I liked.

Obviously, his eyes

were beautiful.

We just clicked.

Sometimes it happens in life.

I don't really know that much about Mike Plant's past,

except for hearsay.

I really know him from Newport.

From what I have heard, he was a different person here.

We had adventures,

we had adversities,

we had tears, we had laughter.

You name it,

but we were soulmates.

Mike told me

his dreams immediately.

He told me he watched a movie

about solo-sailing

around the world,

and that he wanted to do it.

[Man narrating] On the 28th of August at noon,

sixteen boats,

captained by men from eight nations

will set sail on a race

that would take them

around the world.

For each, the race stands

as the ultimate challenge

of planning, endurance,

courage, and resourcefulness.

Here, they will be taken

to the limit, and beyond.

Not just to finish,

but to survive.

[Tom Plant] He walked out of that movie theater transformed.

The light bulb

of all light bulbs went off,

and everything clicked.

And everything began

to make sense to him,

that this is his legacy.

You know, he's figured it out.

And I looked him

right in the eye,

and I said,

"Then what are you waiting for?"

This video stuff is just

really dangerous because...

I saw one about four years ago,

and it almost got me killed.

It was a story

about the first BOC race.

[Laughs]

After I saw it,

I immediately decided

that it was something

I wanted to do.

Thought if I worked my butt off for a couple of years,

I could come up with $100,000,

and I thought that'd be enough to do it in a secondhand boat.

Well, that idea was

full of holes.

I thought about it a little bit more,

and I thought, "Well,

that's not really

the right approach.

That's not Mike Plant.

If we are gonna do this,

let's go for broke."

So I started talking

to designers and I...

I settled with a designer in Newport,

his name is Rodger Martin,

and I commissioned him

to draw a boat.

Considering the financial rewards he got for it,

he might say something

more like "robbed."

But the fact is that

Rodger drew a beautiful boat.

When we met,

I had a lot of ideas that Mike liked.

A lot of ideas were in common.

And he decided pretty quickly

to go ahead

and have me design it.

We knew within

less than half an hour,

maybe ten minutes,

that we were gonna do this together.

It was ideal.

He had absolutely no money,

and I was leaving my job

to have absolutely no clients.

So we were both completely,

you know...

We didn't have anywhere to go

but up, [chuckles] I guess.

He wasn't a perfect yachtsman, I might say, when he came in.

He had two days'

growth of beard,

and he'd had a couple

of beers at lunch.

It was very soon afterwards,

like the next day,

I'd sketched overnight

or something,

had a drawing

that ended up being,

as is often the case

of preliminary sketch,

you struggle from that

to make it into the boat.

But actually when you design the boat and the boat's built,

you look back and feel,

"Oh, my God,

it was all there

in the first place."

We knew that that's what

we were gonna do.

That wasn't revolutionary

in any means,

it was evolutionary.

I don't think that

that was the time to...

to start taking wild risks

and doing anything crazy.

You can build a boat in your basement with plywood,

but to build a boat

to go around the world...

I was a bit worried that Mike didn't have

enough knowledge of what was in it.

But you could just see he could do it.

It was just that clear.

To build a boat like this,

you've got to first

flesh out the shape of it.

Then you have to make

full-sized templates for it.

A "matrix."

And then fiberglass it outside, and fiberglass it inside.

He did this in ten days.

That's a job that takes

a professional two weeks.

That's the first thing you do

when you're building a boat.

When I saw he could do that,

I realized he could do anything.

[Linda Simmons]

I had a phone call

in the middle

of the afternoon one day

from my mother, who said,

"Mike just called from Newport,

and he has decided

to build a boat,

and sail around the world."

And I said, "Mom.

What?

Build his own boat

and sail around the world?"

I said, "Mike,

how are you going to do that?"

This... 'cause a big shed

and it was dripping water.

"I am just...

I've read about it."

So I don't know.

Maybe he read about

how to do all those things.

[Harry Sherman]

There was a book,

Lofting Made Simple

orMade Easy.

Mike read this book

in a weekend, maybe two,

then he said,

"We're just gonna start

building the boat."

Neither one of us

had ever done it before.

But I just had... And, you know,

Mike was so intuitive,

if he put his mind to something,

he'd just figure out

how to do it.

But he was perpetually

running out of money.

That would be... No,

I don't think that's gonna be a problem.

[Mike] I'll get

a little bit of money,

but never enough

to keep the momentum.

Every couple of months,

the crew would have to be dispersed.

There'd be a month

or two interlapse,

where I had

to raise more money.

And we moved the boat six times

because I was always

looking for the cheaper rent.

It took almost two years.

[Martin] Mike raised money

to buildAirco

by getting in-kind support.

Then he also raised money

from family and friends,

and I think people

really did things for him

for less than the cost of it,

or else, sometimes,

for nothing.

So it was very much

scraped together.

[Helen] You know,

he used to call

and call and call people.

He just didn't stop.

And he didn't take

no for an answer.

If somebody said no,

he'd pick up the phone and call again,

and try and get the next person

in that corporation.

[Mike] There's

a long ways between

a piece of paper

with some lines on it

and the actual boat

that you are able to sail,

and I finally saw it.

It took a long, long time

to build that boat.

About a year

and a half of juggling.

[Martin] Boat was called

Airco Distributor

because they had

put in some money,

certainly not enough for the whole boat,

but a big help.

[Mike] So I was fortunate,

halfway through the project

I was able to secure

some corporate sponsorship.

The name of the boat

becameAirco Distributor.

Very thankful for that.

We wouldn't have made it without them.

[Man] The day of the launch,

it was a cold, wet, rainy,

miserable day.

I remember, it was

a pretty small crowd there.

[Helen] It was a relay

of all kinds of people

that you would never think

would be together.

It was just remarkable

to be there and feel that,

and be part of it

was wonderful.

[Martin] I wasn't joyful,

because I think if any designer,

who is seeing his first boat launched,

tell you he is joyful,

I would hesitate

to believe him.

It's so easy on a boat design to make a factor-of-two mistake.

In other words,

whenever you do a calculation for something that is symmetrical,

you do it for one side,

and then you double it.

But what if you forget to double all the work you've done for that side,

in the weight estimate,

in the buoyancy calculation,

where it will float,

those things.

The factor of mistake

will be a hundred percent.

God bless this boat.

God bless Michael.

And as I sail, near and far,

in seeking

their ultimate challenge,

this day, April 10th,

I... 1982...

1986.

I christen the global challenge.

- Yay!

- [All cheering]

Okay, all... [indistinct]

[Martin] You're so relieved,

euphoric with relief,

when you see the boat

go into the water.

That was a moment of great relief to both of us.

I mean, all his work

could have been for nothing.

Especially

if it was overweight.

And it was perfectly on weight,

because he built it, you know, exactly as planned.

[Kathy Giblin-Stark] To watch that boat go in the water that day

really created quite a stir.

He became a legitimate contender at that point.

Even though

he did not have the budget

that many

of the European contenders,

particularly the French

competitors had...

He was nothing

if not determined

to get to the start line

of that race.

[Sherman] That was the beginning of his life,

that day.

I mean, it started over.

Mike saw that he actually was gonna make it to the start line.

It wasn't gonna be easy.

He had a lot of money to raise,

but things were

coming together.

The boat was fantastic.

Everything he'd dreamed about

for two or three years before

was coming to fruition.

[Mike] I think I've put together a boat that's very capable.

I am confident that I can drive it for long periods of time.

I think I am gonna

do a good job of it.

This around-the-world

solo yacht race

is so demanding

that in order just to qualify,

every participant

has to sail across

one of the world's

major oceans alone.

And that's the next thing that

Michael Plant is going to do.

Jason Davis

with photographer, Don Ferdell,

Newport, Rhode Island.

[Martin] To qualify

for the BOC Challenge,

each skipper had to do

a transoceanic voyage,

unassisted and unescorted.

Minimum of 2,000 miles.

So Mike got permission to do his qualification to the Azores,

which is, arguably,

it's 1,980 miles away, I think.

That's a good 2,000 miles.

Let's have a look.

- You have enough bananas?

- Huh?

- They're the greenest ones they had.

- Okay.

[Indistinct chatter]

Thanks, buddy.

I'll be thinking of you.

Hi, Gary,

are you orchestrating this?

[Sherman] The day he left to go on this qualifying sail,

Mike had sailed the boat

a little bit out on the bay,

but he'd never gone

single-handed sailing.

And this was a big step for him.

Hurray!

You look beautiful!

So does she.

[Helen] Everybody was just so exhilarated,

and happy and excited,

and I mean, we just...

we all were happy

that he was going off

on his journey,

living his dream.

[Black] I've got a great photograph of

Mike sailing out of Newport that day.

And the boat

is just steaming up wind.

It's just beautiful,

he is in sync with it.

And that boat loved him,

I think.

[Captivating instrumental

music playing]

[man] Here is one of the most exciting times of Mike's life,

and that Mike has finally pulled all this energy together

into a very positive goal.

All of a sudden,

that came to an abrupt halt,

and he is in prison

in the Azores.

[Jason] On a qualifying run

to the Azores,

Mike Plant was arrested

and jailed

on an 11-year-old warrant issued by the Greek authorities.

Details are sketchy,

but Mike's father,

Minneapolis attorney, Frank Plant,

said by phone

from Lisbon, Portugal today,

the charges stem from a charter Mike made in 1975.

He's in the Azores

and they take him in shackles

to Portugal, put him in prison.

The mood in the team

after Mike was arrested

was just complete crush.

Um...

All the steam

was taken out of it.

We didn't know what was

going to happen from there.

We had no idea.

Only Mike knew what was going on really.

But what we knew is that his...

his race was in jeopardy,

and he was incarcerated.

And we weren't exactly sure why.

[Ominous instrumental

music playing]

[Mary] Mike ended up by doing what he'd always wanted to do.

I think he talked about

sailing around the world

long before he did it.

[Mike] This is

where it all began.

I did live here

for a long time.

As a kid,

we used to sail a lot from right here.

And we had good instruction.

We learned how to sail a boat, how to move a boat,

how to feel the boat,

and how to get

the most from it.

When he was two,

he was bringing everything up

to his eyes.

So down we went

to get the eyes checked,

and sure enough,

he was legally blind.

And then he got little glasses.

Cute little glasses.

[Simmons] I think he was angry,

and I don't blame him,

to be stuck

with Coke-bottle glasses.

I don't remember

him being teased.

But I am just thinking

he must have been,

because he was

one of the only kids

that had these

really thick glasses.

[Mary] When Mike was

eight or nine,

he took to the water,

sailing on Lake Minnetonka.

The yacht club was just a short distance away from the house.

And that's where

they took sailing lessons.

He said, in later years,

when he was sailing the bigger boats,

that a lot of what he'd learned

or did in the bigger boats,

he'd learned sailing

on Lake Minnetonka.

[Frank] He just loved

to sail so much

that rather than just

sailing in the races

and the sailing schools,

as the others pretty much did,

he would be out there, all morning,

all afternoon, by himself.

And he generally

was a pretty good kid.

I mean, as a young boy.

But when he got older,

he just kind of catered to trouble.

[Julia Plant] He was always

the black sheep.

He just couldn't

stand authority.

Not in his teens did we see

anything positive with Mike.

It just kept snowballing.

[Tom] It's like

a roller coaster ride.

I think he was 13,

and he decided to take out the family car,

and drive it around town.

And he totaled it.

He kind of went crazy.

I mean, he just was doing

one thing right after the next.

I mean, he was

arrested by every police

in the entire

Minneapolis kind of area.

So he must have gotten

some sense

that he could be a bad boy

and get away with it

somewhere along the line.

[Mary] That was Mike.

He needed an outlet.

[Man] Outward Bound

does seek to provide

a crucible of experience

which will catalyze

one's personal growth.

There is, however...

[Tom] The whole point

of Outward Bound

is it truly does push you to what you think your limits are,

and then beyond.

And if you actually go beyond,

you know, that's kind of, you know,

an eye-opening experience.

No surprise why Mike flourished.

'Cause that was

right up his alley.

[Mary] It was good for Mike. I think he got a lot out of it.

[Tom] I think Outward Bound

probably meant

more than I even

realized for him,

because it was sort of

getting him ready

for the next life adventure,

and probably gave him

and taught him some skills

that he needed at some point,

whether sailing

around the world

or walking through

South America.

[Simmons] Mike left one night

after dinner.

And he said,

"I am leaving right now to go to South America."

And I thought, "This can't be."

And it was raining.

But it was also night.

On foot.

I have no idea

how he even got

as far as Mexico.

[Mike] I went down to South America when I was 19.

I'd been working

at the Outward Bound school.

Of course, they teach,

as we all know, survival skills.

I always felt that it was

a little bit too structured

to really represent

a survival situation,

and I went down to South America to create that.

I basically traveled

for nine months, hitchhiking.

[Julia] He discovered, while he was in South America,

this brand-new thing for him

and for many of his friends,

cocaine.

He realized,

after thinking about it,

"Well, I know

how I can capitalize on it.

I can go back and buy cocaine

and bring it back

into this country.

And I'll make

a lot of money that way."

[Sherman] When he went

to South America,

he had some notions about doing some illegal deals, smuggling.

He didn't want to be

a drug smuggler per se,

but he might just like

the adventure, like the thrill,

of being on the edge

of getting caught.

If there was a way

he could do this,

and get the money he needed...

He always was

looking down the road

at what he wanted to do next.

That was a thing about Mike.

His whole mission

was to make enough money

to buy a secondhand

sailing boat.

And so all the selling

of the cocaine,

he had a sufficient amount

that he could buy

the secondhand boat.

He saw advertised in one of the yachting magazines

this small boat

that he really liked a lot,

but it was in Greece.

[Sherman] Mike and I met

in Greece many years ago,

and I fell in love

with the place.

You could live for nothing.

The dollar was really strong.

Two people go out

and have a full-blown meal

for a dollar and a half.

I don't know why he came

to Spetses specifically,

but I think he came to look

at the Misselthrush.

This was the boat that eventually he ended up buying.

[Mary] He had a boat

in the Greek Islands.

His idea was to charter people from one island to the next.

[Tom] He had found a wonderful life sailing in Greece.

Transporting people

back and forth,

and chartering the boat,

and, you know,

pretty glamorous, right?

Not being there, not seeing it,

you know, you hear the stories

and you think, "Man... You know,

he always does this fun stuff."

[Sherman] What he was

telling people,

and what he was

ultimately going to do

was, of course,

two different things.

He'd hooked up

with three people in Rhodes.

They hire him to take theMisselthrush over to Turkey,

and these people bought

a few kilos of hash.

And then Mike sailed them

back to Rhodes.

They offered to pay him,

but Mike said,

"No, I don't want cash.

I want five kilos of hash."

So they gave him

five kilos of hash.

And Mike was left behind on the

Misselthrush in Rhodes.

A few days go by,

Mike's sitting on the boat,

and he hears this

clattering on deck.

It's the Greek police.

Somehow, they didn't

find Mike's stash.

They take away his passport,

and they told him he wasn't allowed to leave the harbor,

and they would be

keeping an eye on him.

As soon as it got dark,

Mike snuck out

of Rhodes Harbor,

turned north,

and sailed into Spetses.

And we're standing outside,

Mike's just gotten

to telling me the story,

and I said, "Mike, you know,

they're gonna look for you everywhere."

And I am looking

over his shoulder,

and I saw around

the far corner,

about four or five motorcycles

coming with Greek police in uniform out on the bikes.

And my heart just

comes into my mouth.

I don't think

that it really phased him.

I think he just wanted

to get the hell out of there,

because he knew

if he got caught,

he would do 20 to 30 years

in a Greek prison.

He took off into the hills,

shirtless, shoeless, penniless.

Gone.

That was the last time

I saw Mike for seven years.

[Tom] And that's where the fictional character starts kicking in.

We all live

by certain guidelines.

He had very different guidelines,

different rules.

And that can bring

a lot of trouble

and a lot of problems,

but you could just sense

that he was destined

to do something really special.

[Reporter] Today, the Greeks

asked the Portuguese

to hold Mike Plant

for another 25 days,

while they prepare

a request for extradition.

Plant's mother Mary

and father Frank,

went to the prison

in Lisbon this morning

to tell their son the bad news.

Oh, God, that was tough.

And I'll tell you,

that was really, I...

I cried and I cried and I cried.

He was a good kid, I mean,

I know people say,

"How could you say that?"

Well, he was.

Okay, he did things

he probably shouldn't do,

but that's the way

the laddie feels sometimes.

It turned out there was

an outstanding warrant

for him on Interpol.

They found him guilty

in absentia of smuggling,

even though they never

ever found any drugs.

Well, their guess is,

because he fled,

as far as they were concerned,

that was an admission of guilt.

The boat was in the Azores,

left basically unattended.

So they flew a guy over there,

ended up getting on the boat

and looking after it,

and eventually sailing the boat back to the States for Mike.

[Reporter] Today,

Mike Plant's father Frank spoke to us by phone

from Lisbon, Portugal.

He said they've waited for two weeks and no news is good news.

[Frank] It was up to the Greek authorities to put in papers,

asking for Mike's

transfer decrees.

And they didn't do that.

I think today is...

We're assured it was the last day they had to do it.

So Mike should be released

tomorrow morning.

[Helen] Mike's parents

went over to Portugal.

They had an associate

with Papandreou, I believe,

and it was actually

his mistress.

[Sherman] The rumor I heard was that whoever was responsible

for collecting

the information in Greece

to ship to Interpol

was a Minnesotan woman

that was maybe married

to some political or a minister.

And she had access to the files.

And the files were on the desk.

And she took his file,

which was just a little bit down,

you know,

and she put it on the bottom.

The documents that were

supposed to be sent to Interpol

were put under her mattress

until the 30-day period went by,

and they had to release Mike.

[Reporter] Mike says he will immediately resume preparations

for the single-handed

Round the World yacht race,

which begins

on August the 30th.

[Helen] He let everybody know

he would be coming home,

and he called and said,

"I will arrive at Providence airport,"

which is approximately

23 miles from Jamestown.

So, of course,

I went up to the airport and I was waiting,

and waiting and waiting,

and waiting.

And finally I said,

"Did this flight come in from New York?"

And they said,

"Oh, absolutely."

I said,

"Oh, God, I missed him."

I mean, he'd just come from...

I mean...

He didn't even wait around

to see if I was there.

He walked home from Providence

'cause he was

so happy to be free.

That incarceration

even motivated him more

to be free on the sea.

[Reporter] How do you

feel about things?

Yourself,

your physical condition,

your psychological condition, the boat's condition.

[Mike] Last couple of weeks

have been really...

real hectic.

I feel little bit run down,

but I will catch up.

I'll catch up on it.

We've accomplished

a hell of a lot in two weeks.

I mean...

Boat looks good.

- [Interviewer] Feel good about it? Confident?

- Hmm. Hmm.

[Giblin-Stark]

He was clearly relieved,

and desperately wanted

to get back on track,

make up for some lost time,

and get to the start line.

The clock was ticking.

[Jason] Mike Plant is

a survivor anyway.

He could survive

a murder challenge.

'Cause he just is one of these people that survives this kind of thing.

Because people come

and help him.

He engendered that kind

of response in people.

That,

"How can I help this guy?"

I've always felt that.

"How can I help you?"

And we helped him

by publicizing his efforts.

It's important

that they make sure

that everything aboard that boat

works perfectly

before the race begins,

not only to give Mike Plant

a chance of winning,

but to make sure

that he survives

six or seven months

alone at sea.

Jason Davis, Channel 5,

Eyewitness News,

Newport, Rhode Island.

[Martin] He just came

straight back at full steam.

You couldn't tell

he'd left the room.

He was a lot lighter.

But he was very much the same drive to get it finished.

[Mike] What are we gonna do

about the tail ride?

We can't do

a damn thing about it.

It's disgusting, I'm pissed off.

- Look at this fucking mainsail.

- [Indistinct chatter]

Fucking leeches still falling off of it.

Son of a bitch.

[Herb McCorrmick]

People have been sailing around the world for centuries.

But sailing around

the world alone

is a whole different story.

In 1967, Sir Francis Chichester,

a famous British aviator,

sailed all the way

around the world,

stopping only once

in Australia.

[Reporter 1] The crowds are now

lining the barriers,

perhaps six or seven...

[reporter 2] This is a moment

I shall never, never forget.

Sir Francis Chichester

andGipsy Moth are home.

And listen to the welcome

they are giving him

from these ships

out here in Plymouth Harbor.

Harking back to the great days

of the British Empire

when a lone British adventurer went off and conquered the world,

and Chichester did that.

Then a couple of years later,

the first Round the World race,

single-handed

Round the World race happened.

The Golden Globe race

was a nonstop race.

And the idea was, you had

to sail around the world,

without assistance,

without stopping.

Two stars of it were

French and English,

Robin Knox-Johnston,

who was a British

merchant mariner,

and Bernard Moitessier,

who was this sort of

lyrical Frenchman.

Moitessier got down

around Cape Horn

and sailed three-quarters

of the way around the world

and decided that the whole

competitive aspect of it

just went against his soul.

So he decided

to continue onward

to an epic voyage

in which he sailed nonstop,

one and a half times

around the world.

Moitessier did not finish

that first race,

but he wrote a book about it

calledThe Long Way.

And that book inspired

a whole generation

of young French sailors

to go out

and try to emulate Moitessier.

And the French really,

very, very quickly became

the dominant players in the sport of single-handed sailing.

It was kind of like the X Games,

before the X Games really

even happened, you know.

It was one of the first

extreme sports.

It was a sport that you really had to have your wits about you.

And then there wasn't

another one

until the 1982-1983

BOC Challenge,

which started and finished

in Newport, Rhode Island.

[Reporter] On the foggy

morning of May 9th,

at 11 minutes past 7:00,

Philippe Jeantot sails across the finish line into Newport Harbor.

First in Class I,

first in all four legs,

and a full ten days faster

than anyone has

ever done it before.

[McCormick] First BOC Challenge was

won by a guy named Philippe Jeantot.

He was the epitome of what Moitessier had started,

this young French sailor

who was very hungry

and this rugged handsome dude.

He was the one guy who would actually build a boat

purposely for the race.

Most of the guys showed up with double-ended cruising boats

that had been modified

for racing.

But Jeantot showed up in a boat that had no real interior

except for

a central navigation station.

It had twin rudders,

it had water balance,

completely stripped out

of any kind of amenities,

or luxuries,

or anything of that sort.

It was just meant

for one person

to sail the boat

as efficiently as possible.

[Jason] Twenty-five men will sail from here tomorrow afternoon

on the longest

and surely the most dangerous

sailboat race ever devised.

Around February

or March next year,

the winner will sail back

into Newport Harbor

to collect the grand-prize money, $15,000.

This is not a race

for the money.

[McCormick] By 1986 and 1987,

it was certainly a much more competitive field.

At that point, there were

two classes in the race.

Class I was

for boats 50 to 60 feet,

and Class II was

for boats 40 to 50 feet.

I think he would have

wanted to enter Class I,

but he didn't have the money

or the support to do that,

so it was a smart move for Mike to go in the 50-foot class.

[Giblin-Stark]

Mike Plant's PR story was,

a ruffian, who grew up sailing

on the lakes of Minnesota,

who really knew his stuff

but perhaps didn't have

the level of sophistication,

or a polished campaign that some of his competitors had.

We have some new sails

that we have never had before

that we have to get up and...

There's a lot of things

to do today,

and a lot of things

to do tomorrow.

[Interviewer] Can you do it

all in time, Mike?

Oh, yeah.

So here was a guy

who was up against the odds,

up against some of the finest single-handed sailors in the world,

but he was completely determined

and committed to it,

and he was gonna pull it off.

He was gonna be the guy

from America who did it.

[Read] Back in the mid '80s

is when I first met him.

And here he is, a local,

he could help put our company

on the map, in a way.

The rest is kind of history.

All of a sudden,

we were big boat sailmakers.

He was a game changer,

in essence, a revolutionary

here in this country,

because not only was he gonna go sail single-handed around the world,

he was gonna go take

on the mighty French,

the people who were completely

dominant in the arena.

So I had this incredible

respect level for the guy

just for what

he was trying to do.

[Helen] I think all of the sailors have a hero.

Mike's hero was Jacques de Roux,

and he was a Frenchman,

and he had already sailed

around the world.

[Jason] The French competitors,

they were the ultimate adventurers.

And they were well-supported

by insurance companies,

financial groups,

and things like that.

So they had tons of money.

They didn't have to get on the phone and beg for funds.

So they could focus

on their well-equipped boats,

and just sail,

and do the best they can.

[Chuckles] Here's Mike Plant,

has no money,

working up to the last minute,

things are not done,

things are not finished.

He's got to sail away

with huge debts facing him,

and he is alone,

and he has pretty poor equipment

by their standards.

[Interviewer]

Let me ask you first

how you feel about your son going around the world alone in a boat.

Are you confident

that he can do it?

[Frank] Oh, yes,

I have absolute confidence in his ability.

He has been doing so many things by himself,

all his life.

He has shown great ability.

- So he is gonna win?

- Come out alive.

Come out alive or win?

- Hopefully win.

- [Mary] Both.

[Interviewer] Mrs. Plant, what

would you say that your son has,

that makes him do this

kind of thing?

Michael has always

done something

that's had

a big challenge to it,

and I think this is,

as he has called it,

the ultimate challenge

in his life,

and I just have

all the confidence in the world

he is gonna do it and win.

Have you ever tried

to talk him out of it?

Well, not really.

I couldn't believe it

three years ago when he told us

this is what he was

thinking of doing,

and I thought, "August 30th,

1986 is a long ways away,

times will change,

he may change his mind."

But here it is,

almost the day they start the race,

and I just... No, I didn't think

I could ever talk him out of it.

[Helen] The day of the start,

it was just a mad scurry

of everything at the dock,

including all the other racers.

There was no calm.

None whatsoever.

And I think Mike just thought,

"Please get me out of here

so I can relax at sea."

[Frank] Seekers have

to have some goal that's

worth every ounce

of their energy.

And I am terribly happy

that Mike had really

found such a goal.

[Mike] It was pretty

exciting because,

God, you know, here it was, finally starting.

I was dead tired, I hadn't--

It felt like

I hadn't slept in a month.

This is when it dawned on me that things had really started,

and we were on our way

to Cape Town.

[Jason] Goodbye, Michael,

and good luck!

Goodbye. Good luck!

We won't see Mike Plant now

until he arrives

in Cape Town, South Africa.

The fastest time to get there

is about 47 days.

That's gonna be at least six weeks before he gets there.

Otherwise, he will be back in Newport,

Rhode Island next spring,

hopefully, the winner of this solo Round the World yacht race.

Jason Davis, Channel 5,

Eyewitness News,

Newport, Rhode Island.

[Captivating instrumental

music playing]

[Mike] That's very much a race.

Very competitive.

That's the way it should be.

I'm all in favor of making it as competitive as it'll naturally get, yeah.

I didn't build this boat

just to get around.

I've got almost three years' time and work and money into this project.

If I wanted to get around,

I'd do it in a 44-foot swan or something.

[Reporter] Mike Plant

took on an early lead

as the 25 ocean greyhounds

raced out of Newport

on Saturday afternoon.

His latest position

puts him first in his class

and fourth overall.

At 36 degrees

six minutes north,

and 63 degrees 36 minutes west,

he is 84,900 miles

out into the Atlantic.

The weather is bad.

The threat of a full-blown

hurricane has passed,

but the fleet

are in a tropical depression,

and are beating against

30-knot headwinds.

Mike got into a very interesting race with Jacques de Roux.

Jacques de Roux was smart,

he was very, very tough,

very skilled

and polished as a navigator.

Nobody was playing the game

as hard as those two guys.

I think their bond was more of a competitive respect for one another,

more than real friendship,

per se.

For Mike, that was probably

more important, anyway.

He didn't need a lot of friends.

He was out there for the competition,

not to make buddies.

They were highly competitive

with each other

because they were 50-footers,

first and second, first and second.

[Reporter] Mike Plant told a radio operator on the East Coast

that he was experiencing

beautiful warm weather.

He said he would be

even closer to Cape Town

if he hadn't made a tactical error late last week

when he almost ran out of wind.

"A mechanical problem

with a sail-reaping system

has been repaired using,"

Plant says,

"sailing wire, chewing gum,

and spit."

[McCormick]

First leg of the race,

Jacques pretty much

showed Mike his transom

on the way down

to South Africa.

[Reporter] Mike Plant said his boat performed flawlessly,

but he just couldn't catch up

to take first-place honors.

[Mike] I only got close

to Jacques a couple of times,

I think it was three times,

three or four times I got

within 70 or 100 miles of him.

And it was only for a day.

[Laughs] And then he was gone.

And I mean, he just...

God, he would just leave me.

I go into a hole,

and it would take me

a day and a half,

two days to get out,

and he'd just be gone.

And I'd catch back up to him,

and same thing would happen.

It happened three times.

But...

[interviewer] But going

into the second leg,

you got locked

in heavier conditions.

You're pretty confident.

Your boat is very sturdy.

- It's very solid.

- Yeah.

You got heavy stuff

going on down there.

- Yeah.

- So...

I'm not worried

about the boat at all.

[Man] So you figure you'll be

in first in the next leg?

[Mike] That's where

I'd put my money.

If I were a betting man,

that's where I'd put my money.

Yeah.

Yeah, oh, yeah,

we are gonna go like hell next time.

[Giblin-Stark]

In an unusual sort of way,

I do think Mike and Jacques

were like brothers.

I do have a visual of the two of them sitting at a cookout,

shortly before the restart

in Cape Town,

just the two of them talking quietly to each other.

And I thought to myself,

here are two guys

who are arch competitors.

And yet, I think they have

a lot more to share

than they do have something

that divides them.

[Interviewer] How was the race?

All the way, I'm a very...

From the minute we left Newport till the day we got here... [laughs]

[reporter] Mike Plant says his boat will be even better on the next leg

across the stormy

Southern Ocean

which stretches

nearly 7,000 miles

from Cape Town

to Sydney, Australia.

Survive the journey,

you'll be in Sydney just before Christmas.

[McCormick] What happened

in the second leg of that race was truly tragic.

Jacques de Roux left

Cape Town, South Africa,

bound for the second leg,

which was in Sydney, Australia.

Two weeks before

it would have been the finish,

and Jacques de Roux

was missing.

[McCormick] The boats

all had tracking devices

and all of a sudden,

Jacques De Roux's boat

started tracking erratically.

[Martin]

Jacques de Roux was lost.

I think at that point,

they didn't know what happened to him.

Because they can watch him

with the transponder,

and watch the boat move, six, seven, eight, ten,

twelve knots,

and then suddenly slow down

and do one knot,

one and a half knots

in the other direction.

That is a nasty sign.

It's very clear that

something is seriously wrong.

Jacques is not perfect.

So I regret,

this means that he probably

fell off about

a day and a half ago.

It's our nearest guess.

So that is the only information

we have at the moment.

[McCormick]

They inspected the boat,

there was a half-eaten sandwich down below.

Something had happened that caused him to rush on deck

without putting on

his safety harness,

without hooking on

to the deck with a tether,

and he went over the side.

That's one of

the greatest risks,

you know,

if you do fall over the side,

there is nobody on that boat

to come back and pick you up.

[Mike] I am in first place now.

First place in my class,

it's only because of...

the man who was ahead of me

has disappeared,

he was washed overboard,

the day out of Sydney.

It's very tragic.

[Solemn instrumental

music playing]

[Helen] When Mike found out that Jacques de Roux was lost at sea,

he was not going

to come to Sydney.

He was just going to continue

sailing around the world.

He finally did come in,

and he was devastated

and heartbroken.

Yet I know he got through that

because he knew Jacques de Roux would want him to.

[Reporter] It means Mike Plant

has lost his friend

and his closest competitor.

He was first in his class

to arrive in Sydney,

but he says it's a hollow victory.

Of course, I was upset,

and I had reverences

for this man.

I did not fear for Mike at all.

People asked me,

"Aren't you afraid?"

And I said, "I'm not afraid."

I couldn't let that fear

take over my life.

Was there

a little bit of fear? Yes.

But I believed he would be fine.

[Reporter] More than halfway through the race and two legs to go.

Mike Plant and his yacht,

Airco Distributor,

are running

in sixth place overall,

and first in their class.

On Sunday afternoon

at 3:00, Sydney time,

they'll set out from Sydney Harbor for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This is the longest

and the most dangerous leg,

over 8,000 miles

dodging icebergs

and the treacherous Cape Horn.

[McCormick] The hardest part of that trip was still ahead of him.

He still had

to round Cape Horn,

he still had to go up

the North Atlantic,

he still had half the world

to sail in front of him.

This is really the reason

these guys go down there.

This is the point where you get tested as a sailor and a seaman.

[Mike] As long as

I can remember,

I wanted to see the Southern Ocean and the 40-foot seas

and the strong winds that dominate that part of the world.

That was the real

excitement to me,

and the race was just the incentive to put it together.

[McCormick] Once you get

to 40 degrees south,

you're in

the infamous roaring forties,

and then

the screaming fifties.

You're in the Southern Ocean.

You are in a part of the world

where the winds go unimpeded around the bottom of the planet.

Tremendously wild

and wicked seas.

Not unusual to have

40 to 50 knots of winds,

and 40-, 50-foot seas,

when you get down there.

[Mike] Got all the weather blowing straight off of the ice caps.

Got the wind and the weather coming straight off of Antarctica.

Nothing to break it down,

nothing to warm it up.

[Read] I can tell you,

it ain't pretty sometimes.

And it's not necessarily the wind that gets you,

it's the waves.

It's like getting

on the highway

and standing up

on the roof of your car,

and you're going

50 miles an hour,

and it's pouring rain

and freezing cold,

and you got your T-shirt on,

you know,

and you're trying to stand

on the hood of your car.

Going over every big pothole

you can imagine.

So that's...

Does that sound like fun to you?

And I would ask him about it.

And he'd kind of

shrug it off, like,

"It's what I do,

it's really no big deal."

Well, after being there,

it's a big deal.

And that's just

the type of guy he was.

He was like, "Nah,

piece of cake, I got that."

[McCormick]

The farther south you go,

the shorter distance

you have to sail.

The trick there is,

the farther south you go,

the more chance

you have of an iceberg

that's broken off and is coming off from Antarctica.

You don't want to go so far

that you encounter the ice,

but you need to stay

in the big heavy breeze,

because that's where all your competitors are going to be.

[Mike] We all had a period

of three or four days

where we had ice

almost constantly in view.

And for three or four days,

you're literally

at the edge of your chair.

It's like driving your car

at a hundred miles an hour

with your eyes closed.

It's that tense.

[McCormick] Granddaddy

of them all, of course,

is Cape Horn, 56 degrees south.

[Martin] That's the only place

on Earth

where the water goes

around the world unimpeded.

And if that has wind against it,

or even without wind against it,

wind behind it,

it can produce seas

that are 100 feet high,

seas that will break

ships in half.

[Mike] I rounded the Horn

at 12:00 noon exactly.

And of course,

the Horn, you know, it has this mystique about it,

so you are gonna

find edge, anyhow,

because you're waiting

for something wild to happen.

It's quite an experience.

It was so much wind,

seventy knots of wind is enough,

I found out,

to haul the boat over.

It was a real fight

to get around.

You really just push everything to the maximum,

you just take it

right to the limit.

And in this case, it paid off.

I made it through.

It's pretty exciting because you're back in the south Atlantic Ocean,

and you're headed north.

It's a wonderful feeling.

[Reporter] Mike Plant is running first in his class,

and the last report was only 150 miles from Rio de Janerio.

After resting there

for a few weeks,

they will set out again

on the final leg

to Newport, Rhode Island,

and home.

[Mike] I think everybody

was real happy to get the race back underway.

It was a pretty

straightforward race,

that last leg.

Never had any periods

of no air or light winds.

Went right through.

[Martin] It's an extraordinary

thing to do.

He'd never built a boat before.

Here, he chooses a designer

that could be a big mistake,

he chooses a challenge

that could be beyond him,

and he built the boat,

every part of it, every detail,

he was intimately

involved with.

And then he tries to see

if it will work.

Takes it all the way

around the world,

and it works perfectly for him.

[Jason] Mike Plant and his 50-foot yacht,

Airco Distributor,

is presently averaging

over nine knots.

At that speed, he should arrive in Newport, Rhode Island,

on Thursday or Friday.

First in their class,

and the first American team

to cross the finish line.

[Mike] Well, my actual finish

was on a Saturday.

Middle of the day.

Beautiful breeze.

And because it was a Saturday,

and because it was

the first nice day of spring,

everybody came out

to see the boat finish.

They made it absolutely

the best day in my life.

Mike! Whoo!

[Reporter] What it proves

is that there are people

with a sense of adventure,

and with enough belief

in themselves

to take the risks,

to prove they can step out

and take themselves

a little further.

I've been searching those things out all my whole life.

[Helen] It wasn't the race,

it was the adventure.

Mike Plant loved adventure,

and the challenge to himself.

To say, "I did it.

I did it."

[All cheering]

[indistinct chatter]

[Martin] There was a mob

to the dock.

Everybody trying

to get in close,

give him a kiss,

or shake his hand,

or take his picture.

It was wonderful.

And Mike was really proud.

[McCormick]

Mike was psyched, you know.

Mike had fulfilled his dream.

He'd showed up in Newport,

four years earlier and...

you know, didn't have a boat,

didn't have a program, didn't have

any sponsorship,

didn't have really a clue

as to how any of this

was going to unfold for him,

and then four years later,

he's come back and won the bloody race.

Really, the first American ever to have any success

in that kind of

international arena and that discipline of sailing.

I think that's when

he knew that...

that this was

kind of his calling,

this is what he wanted to do.

I think he really legitimized

himself at that point.

He put himself on the map

with that race,

and that became

the key to his ability

to procure more sponsorship

going forward.

[McCormick] Despite what

he'd gone through in Sydney,

and despite what had happened

to Jacques de Roux,

it gave him the incentive

to want to continue on

and do what

the French would do,

and to take it

to another level,

which is exactly what he did.

This race represents the dreams and desires of all sailors,

to challenge themselves

to the best of their abilities

through the ultimate test

of man and machine.

I want to thank everyone

who has helped me

to win this race.

Without their support,

I wouldn't be here now.

I hope to see everybody,

all of you,

in four years.

I'll be back.

[Audience applauding

and cheering]

[man] And finally,

winner of Class I,

and a $15,000 check,

yet again, Philippe Jeantot,

France, Credit Agricole III.

[McCormick]

Big five is still Class I.

Jeantot was still the hero

of that race, you know.

The guy who finishes first

in the big boat class,

he is still the top dog,

you know.

He is still the alpha dog.

[Helen] Mike wanted to go to sea to become one with himself,

to really understand

who Mike Plant was.

And come to terms

with some demons,

and come to fruition with joyous things happening in his life.

And that was a joy.

[Martin] He was living

in Jamestown,

and I thought, well, this guy

just raced around the world,

you know,

he's won his first prize,

he's got some money for it,

not enough to cover any of the costs.

I thought, well,

he'll be taking it easy.

I went around to his house,

and I couldn't find him.

I looked around the back,

and he is building a shed.

He is a consummate builder.

He has to be making something,

and it's really what

Mike's character was about.

[Interviewer] That's Mike Plant,

who is a world-class

and championship yachtsman.

So how much did you win by? I mean,

what was the winning margin?

[Mike] Four and a half days.

[Interviewer] Are you gonna be

back to defend?

[Mike] Yeah, we have plans

to build another boat,

Class I boat.

We want to build a 60-footer.

[Interviewer] So you're gonna

step up into what, Class I?

[Mike] Yeah, exactly.

And, well, we're gonna do

a race before the next BOC.

The next BOC is 1990.

We are gonna do a race in 1989,

which starts out at France,

and is basically

the same course,

just a little bit different.

This race out of France

doesn't make any stops.

It's around the world, nonstop.

Terrific. I love it.

The Globe Challenge, which, I think,

is now called the Vendee Globe,

is a nonstop single-handed race

around the world.

Round the Island race,

and the island's Antarctica.

[McCormick] The Vendee Globe was the brainchild of Philippe Jeantot.

Jeantot decided that

the ultimate challenge

would be a nonstop race

that began

and finished in France.

That you cannot stop,

you cannot get assistance,

and once again,

taking something

that had already

been pretty extreme,

and taking it to another level.

That was it.

That was the creme de la creme

of all race.

And he wanted to do it.

[Reporter] For almost two years,

Mike Plant scratched along,

building his own boat

on a shoestring.

Donations dribbled in at a rate just sufficient to build

a bare-bones boat

that he hoped

to sail around the world.

[Interviewer] You could have

taken the easy way out,

you could have rested

on your laurels

and gone back

to your building business.

Got married,

raise a couple of kids.

Christ, I never thought

of any of those things.

No, this is...

This is gonna be exciting.

This is a great race.

I just thought

it was really important

to be included in this first group of circumnavigators.

It really is

a first-time event.

[Interviewer]

Are you gonna win?

[Mike] I've always thought

my chances were pretty good.

Mike Plant had little

or no money

when he decided

to construct a boat

and enter the race.

However, with the help

of some influential

and very generous people

in Minnesota,

he did get his boat built.

And now, he says,

with the aid of some new sponsors

that have just come onboard,

he will make it

to the start line in France

on November the 26th.

[Martin] Duracell was

a perfect match.

They had a board at the time

that thought this would show

independence of thinking,

and durability,

and that sort of thing.

[Giblin-Stark]

Duracell called me.

We had a good chat.

I told them a little bit about my background,

and he said, "Well,

Mike says you're the person."

I worked very closely

with the marketing

and advertising people

at Duracell.

From the start,

right through to the finish.

This is a great moment,

and to be able to share it with everyone who's here this morning

makes it really, much more real.

It's much more...

much more real.

[Giblin-Stark] The money

that they invested

perhaps was a relative drop

in the bucket

when you're looking

at major corporations,

major sponsorships,

whether it's NASCAR

or professional sports.

But here you have this guy

who sat at the table,

who really was not

polished or smooth,

but he put his heart

on the table

and he said,

"You need to believe in me,

because I do believe

in myself."

[Phil] O' Lord and Neptune,

bless this ship,

and he who sails in her.

Thanks thee to the designer

and those who built her.

May she run strong,

blithely, swiftly,

round the Southern Ocean

and home again, a winner.

- [Woman] Yeah!

- [All cheering]

[reporter] The dream has come true for 38-year-old Mike Plant.

The race

called the Globe Challenge, will begin on November the 4th

at Les Sables d'Olonne,

in the west of France.

It'll end nearly six months later at the same place

after circumnavigating

the world.

- Good luck, Mike. See you in France.

- Thanks.

- You're gonna do this. Great.

- Yeah.

[Reporter] Mike Plant will be sailing a bare-bones homemade boat

in this race called

the Globe Challenge.

Because of that,

he is considered the underdog at the start,

but although he is competing

against the world's finest

long-distance yachtsmen,

he's not a long shot.

Last time he raced like this,

he won his class.

[Speaking French]

[Giblin-Stark] It was nothing

like we'd ever seen here.

Just a crush of media

from all over Europe,

and all of these guys

were heroes.

They were celebrities.

And Mike was right there

with them.

[Man] You have gone into debt,

you have beaten your brains out for a year and a half.

You're already-- You still owe many people money,

I know that. That's a fact.

And there's no prize money.

People say to me, "Why does

Mike Plant do it, then?

Why does he risk his life

to go around the world alone

and take all that on too?"

I wish people would quit

asking me that. [Laughs]

I still don't have an answer.

[Helen] The atmosphere

is purely electric.

You can feel it vibrating,

I mean, this is phenomenal.

[Jason] Just by making it here

to the starting line,

these men have

proved themselves

to be the most resourceful,

determined,

and bravest of their kind.

But the first one

back here next March

will earn the undisputed title,

the finest solo sailor

in the world.

[Indistinct radio chatter]

[McCormick] Mike was in

the upper half of the fleet,

but he wasn't challenging

for the lead.

His boat frankly

wasn't quite as quick

as some of the

French rocket ships.

He was playing with

a more conservative weapon,

but he was respectable,

he was hanging in there.

[Giblin-Stark] Mike and I

didn't speak daily.

He was very happy being

on his own out there, so...

he would talk if he had to.

It was rare

that he'd call in on the radio

and just want to chat.

It did happen occasionally.

Here he was,

thousands of miles away,

but he was so stoic.

You knew that if he called in

or he shared

something with you,

he really must be suffering,

or he must be in a bad way.

[Mike] ...ten more good days.

I really have been trying

to punish everything

more than normal.

Not trying

to break things, but...

not...

being overly cautious.

[McCormick] When you're

single-handed sailing,

you've got to do everything.

You've got to be the navigator,

you've got to be the cook,

you've got to be the mechanic,

you've got to find

some time to get rest.

You got to be the forecaster,

you got to be the weatherman.

For Mike, that was really

an appealing thing,

that he didn't have to rely

on anybody else.

He had all these

various disciplines

that were rolled

into this one pursuit.

If he fucked up,

it was because he fucked up, you know.

And if he just succeeded,

it's 'cause he succeeded.

And there was no sort

of middle ground there.

[McCormick]

Once in the Southern Ocean,

Mike had a five-dollar

rigging component fail,

and he couldn't continue on

where the rigging went slack.

The mast was gonna

go over the side.

If the mast went over the side

in the Southern Ocean,

he was in deep, deep trouble.

So he pulled into a little island called Campbell Island,

which is off the south coast

of New Zealand.

Once he got in there,

however,

his boat started

to drag anchor.

I guess it was pretty windy in there and it was a little cold.

It wasn't very protected, it wasn't really an anchorage.

But there were a bunch

of New Zealand meteorologists

who had stationed down there,

and they had

a little inflatable Zodiac.

They may well have known

that Mike was dragging,

and that if he continued

to drag in this cold,

he was gonna end up

on the rocks,

and if he ended up on the rocks,

his boat was gonna break.

[Man] Thought it was going

to snap at you.

Let's have some action.

[Helen] They had touched the boat,

so he was disqualified,

according to the rules.

And the weathermen said, "No,

we will never, ever tell anybody."

And Mike said, "I will."

And that's when he called in

to headquarters and said,

"I have to disqualify myself."

[Jason] Mike Plant was a boy

in man's clothing.

I don't think he ever lost

that sense of adventure

that he had on Lake Minnetonka.

He wasn't there

for the fun of it.

He was there for the challenge.

[Speaking French]

[instrumental music playing]

[Giblin-Stark] That was a very

special moment

when we heard from Mike

that he was underway again,

and he really was flying along.

He wasn't gonna give up,

even though he was behind,

or he was an unofficial contender at that point.

[Woman] Mike Plant andDuracell has finally hit the heavy weather,

and Plant is ecstatic about it.

Plant seemed almost

giddy in a telex

to the Duracell Globe Challenger office this morning, saying,

"What a difference

a few degrees of latitude

will do for

one's mind and soul,

not to mention boat speed.

I've made it to the corner, and we're rowing along tonight.

Duracell is charged up,

we've got 30 knots of wind on the beam,

and we're just loving it."

He was just driven.

It's fantastic, you know.

You can't have more than that

in your life,

I don't think.

[Woman] Duracell Globe Challenge update

that everybody has been waiting for.

Mike Plant inDuracell sailed into Les Sables d'Olonne,

having sailed

around the world in 135 days,

thus becoming the fastest

American ever to do so.

According to sources

at Les Sables d'Olonne,

thousands of people are lining the jetty leading to the harbor.

[Helen] There were 50,000 people to greet him,

coming in seventh,

disqualified.

I said, "All those people

are here for you,

because you are the hero.

You are honest.

They love you."

[Cheering]

[Martin]

That was very glorious.

He was appreciated here.

He was a hero in France

and in Europe.

[Reporter] Top Gun

on the background.

Look out.

Perfect.

[McCormick] He was pure,

and I think they recognized the purity

of what he had achieved.

Mike shows more by what he did in that race than what he didn't do.

He didn't finish it

as a competitor,

but he finished it as a sailor.

And I think that was

the essence of Mike Plant.

This race was

very important to me.

So the last couple of days

have been really hard for me...

because, obviously,

I am DQ,

which is disqualification,

but the idea of just dropping

the race in New Zealand,

it was impossible

for me to comprehend,

and quite frankly,

I never have.

[Jason] Mike Plant is right now

back in Rhode Island,

and then in September,

he does it all over again.

Another sailboat race

around the world.

Jason Davis, Channel 5,

Eyewitness News in the Twin Cities.

[Announcer] For centuries,

the sea has been a lure

for men and their ships.

In spite of the risks,

the quest has been

one of exploration,

financial reward,

and more recently, speed.

ESPN is proud to present

exclusive coverage of the 1990-1991 BOC Challenge.

I knew that when Mike entered in 1991 with

Duracell,

I knew that he felt like there was some unfinished business

with the Vendee Globe.

But if you are competing

at that level,

it was pretty important

to do the BOC Challenge,

which was still a very, very big

event in the US.

It was gonna mean,

if he did well, sponsorship dollars,

and that he would probably

be looking for a different boat

to do another Vendee Globe.

[McCormick] I think the 1991

BOC, for Mike, was...

I think he felt obligated to do it more than had a passion to do it.

Like any sport, if you've

got to continue playing,

you can't just sort of take a couple of

years off and go sit on the sidelines.

That was the next race in the calendar,

so he had to go do that race.

I think that his eye

was on a different prize.

His eye was on a new boat.

Again, the French

came to the party

with wider, faster boats.

We were all envious of that.

We were really envious of the designs that we were seeing.

And because the French

had come to the party

with more sponsorship dollars

and probably

better planned campaigns,

they just dominated the sport.

And Mike saw that,

and he knew in order to

compete at that level,

he needed a really, really

innovative great design.

[Newscaster] The local

Newport hero is Mike Plant.

He broughtDuracell into fifth place,

but overall, he's fourth.

Mike built his boat in Newport,

and is the leading

American single-hander.

We talk like,

"Oh, it wasn't that big a deal."

Mike was now

on his third circumnavigation.

No American sailor

had ever done such a thing.

So he was already

in very verified company,

but for Mike, that wasn't the important race.

The important race for Mike

was the next one.

The next Vendee Globe.

No, I would like one more...

one more shot at this,

I think I've...

I've learned a lot

in the last few years,

and I'd like one more chance

at one of these long races,

maybe the Globe Challenge again.

[Interviewer] What is it

that keeps you going?

What is it inside you that makes you wanna keep doing it?

I mean, you could

just sort of take it easy

and float into the next one,

and call it quits.

[Mike] It's just

something within you

that keeps you from stopping.

I can't explain it, but for me,

and racing sailboats...

Well, I don't do it

any differently than anything.

I am not a quitter. I don't...

I never have...

quit anything, and so...

It's a tough question

for me to answer

because it's one

I never ask myself.

Hi, I'm Mike Plant.

I have completed three round-the-world sailing races,

and presently,

I'm preparing to enter the 1992 Vendee Globe challenge.

This will be my second attempt

at winning this nonstop Round the World single-handed sailing race.

[Black]

Mike's greatest ambition

was to win a race

like the Vendee,

and to beat the French,

who were

so far along ahead of him

in this arena.

[McCormick] He realized that

he needed a different boat

than what he'd had

withDuracell.

Duracell was

a fairly conservative boat.

The design for these

Round the World boats

had continued to evolve.

The entire shape

of the boats had changed.

Instead of a sailboat with a full keel and a traditional sort of big slope,

the boats now were these

wide flat hulls

with huge towering rigs,

amazing amount of sail power.

These boats would absolutely

get up on plane

and just haul the mail.

The progenitor

of this type of new hull

was a guy called

Jean-Marie Finot.

He was the guru

for all the French.

All the top French sailors

were sailing Finot boats.

Finot was really

at the top of the game

and in many ways, he still is.

Finot had won

just about everything.

But I thought amongst us all,

there had been a strong American aspect to it.

And I felt that we could

design a boat

that could

race with the French.

Mike, loyal to Rodger Martin,

went back to Rodger to build his ultimate open 64 Vendee Globe,

which was calledCoyote.

[Helen] It was

a really beautiful name.

Most people don't know

Mike Plant was spiritual.

He would be more spiritual

than Native Indians,

than with "God," per se.

"Coyote" is indicative

of one that travels alone

and eats sparingly.

I said, "That's perfect."

Coyote.

The thing that is

exciting about this boat

is the performance advances that we've been able to get through,

I think,

through what we've learned in the last seven years

since we've been

involved in this.

And this boat is about 7,000 pounds lighter than the last one,

and it has twice the power

to carry sail.

It's definitely

a different animal.

We've learned a lot from ourselves,

we've learned a lot from the French boats.

And this new boat

is really quite extreme.

This machine was being created

that was more powerful

than probably any boat

that had ever been built

for this kind of racing.

And you knew it was gonna fly.

Even in the early stages

of construction,

when it started to take shape,

it was evident that it was

gonna be a weapon for him.

This was unlike anything else

Mike Plant had ever campaigned.

The boat was built up in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts,

in a boatyard called Concordia.

They'd never built a boat

this high-tech before.

They were builders of traditional cruising boats,

and this was a whole new animal

for the Concordia Boatyard.

Having Concordia build Coyote

was...

They basically built the boat

and loaned him the money

to do it.

And so then, he would owe them

for life practically,

to pay them back, you know.

But it was just good

to have a sponsor.

It was somebody else's

responsibility to do this.

These guys were

on a mission from God.

They were gonna build this boat,

then Mike was gonna go out and kick some French ass with it,

you know?

[Interviewer] If you had to

give Mike any advice

about how he sails this boat,

from just the way

you think she's gonna feel,

what bit of advice

would you give to him?

One thing.

Hang on tight.

[Interviewer laughs]

[Mike] Today is

the 10th of September, 1992,

and we have finally launched

the new 60-footCoyote.

It has taken about eight months,

close to 12,000 man-hours.

The idea, of course, is to

go to France in four weeks

to prepare for

the 1992-93 Vendee Globe race,

which is an around-the-world

nonstop adventure race.

There will be 18 boats.

This will be

the only American boat.

I sailed with Mike

on late September.

He had to be in Les Sables d'Olonne by October 30th.

It was one of his

first sea trials,

and it was at

the very end of September.

So he already was really

pressed up against it for time,

but he went out on

a classic Newport day.

It was a beautiful fall day.

A northwesterly breeze,

the cold front had gone through the night before,

so we had a big

northerly breeze,

and we got out

in the Narragansett Bay,

and put the kite up,

andCoyote just...

absolutely

a little rocket ship.

She just was as smooth

and fast as can be.

We were just sort of rocketing out towards Point Judith,

making double-digit

boat speeds,

and just everybody

on the boat was amazed.

It was just cleaving

through the waves.

This is a boat that was capable

of 20, 22, 24 knots,

speeds you normally see

in a powerboat,

especially with a towering rig.

[Read] Coyote, no pun intended,

completely different animal.

The minute we went sailing

on that thing,

everybody's like,

"Whoa, what's going on?"

It's a design that has

never been tested before,

so you never know until the thing is in the water,

sails up, power on.

And the boat's moving,

and you're steering it,

and it's alive, and...

You really don't know

what you have until then,

so it's really exciting.

The single-handed Round the World race today, would...

I'm guessing, be a two

to four-million-dollar project

for the guys

at the top of the game.

Mike tried to do it

on a half a million at the time.

He probably needed

three-quarters of a million

or a million dollars

to do it right.

I mean, you don't have the money,

that means you don't have the time.

And that's the resource

that you can't replace

with a race start

coming up against you.

[Mike] Tom,

there's only two weeks before I have to take the boat to France,

so we've only

got two weeks left

to do the things

that are left to do.

We only have sailed the boat

for a week.

We are a little bit behind schedule in that regard,

so there's a lot of things

left to do.

[McCormick] The boat was very,

very late coming out of the shed.

Boats had to be in Les Sables d'Olonne on October 30th.

Mike was still in Annapolis.

And the reason he was there

was he was trying one last ditch

to find some money.

He didn't have that big sponsor.

He only called the boat

"Coyote"

because it was like

a placeholder name.

And whatever the name

of that corporate sponsor was

would replace it.

[Black] We got into

the Chesapeake Bay.

And the Chesapeake

is a very shallow place.

We were traversing the bay,

getting over towards

the eastern shore.

I remember it quite clearly

because I was on the helm.

I wasn't taking pictures

during this exercise,

but I was steering so that everybody else could do the tuning

of the rig.

And the boat

just came to a halt.

Whoa. You feel that?

You feel that?

Did we just pick something up?

[McCormick] We ran into

a sandbar, apparently,

and the boat got pretty stuck.

Okay, well... we'll do that.

But we'll get back to you, okay?

[Man] Yeah, just switch them

in the back.

Don't go into the computer.

Yeah, roger. Okay. Stand by.

[McCormick] There's only couple of

different ways you can pull a sailboat off.

One of which is, you know,

if you take the halyard,

which is one of the lines

of the masthead,

and you run into a power mode, and you just yank the thing.

Hang on.

Yeah, blood everywhere.

[McCormick] We got a passing powerboat and they were able to,

with a couple of different

tries, you know, yank that boat out of the mud.

Slippery gums.

I gotta go tape up.

[Black] And that became

the controversial moment.

I guess carbon fiber

doesn't like to go like this.

It's really strong this way,

but it doesn't like to twist.

[McCormick] Especially with that keel,

if that had been in some way

damaged or misaligned,

or was not right...

That was never double-checked

at that time.

You can drive your Honda

over the curb

and drive away with it.

You can't drive

a Formula One car over the curb.

It'll break.

[Mike] Everything on

this boat is a one-off,

which means it's been customized for this particular boat.

And so it really ends up needing a little bit of adjustment

once you see the thing

in actual use.

So that's what

we're doing today,

and tomorrow, for

the next ten days, and then...

I am out of here

to France, and...

we'll see what happens

over there.

[Davis]

You never knew with Mike

because he didn't start bellowing and tearing his hair out,

"I'm not ready, I'm not ready, I'm not ready."

He would just plod on

and internalize all this,

and he would sail away and there would be things wrong,

and things not finished.

And nobody knew,

except the people

that were closest to him.

And they knew his character,

so they're not gonna make

a big issue of it.

And I am sure this is true

when he left

New York on Coyote.

I'd read reports

that he was nowhere near ready.

Nowhere near ready.

And the pressure

must be enormous.

You are not ready,

you don't have enough money,

and you've got to get across the Atlantic to qualify for the race.

He was very conscious of...

of his responsibility

to the people who helped him.

And I think he would never

give up on that.

He would never say,

"Thanks for your help,

but I really

didn't feel like it."

He said, "I have to do this."

"I have to do this."

"Yes, you have to do it".

So...

I am very excited also.

Very, very exciting to see Mike

finally on the boat,

in the water, sailing.

And he is very happy.

It's a beautiful boat.

And there is no fear.

I don't have any fear.

It's not one of the emotions

that I experience.

Distancing is something

I experience pre-race,

which is ongoing usually.

And that's just something

that needs to be done

so that Mike can do his race,

and I can carry on with my life.

And it's all a little

difficult sometimes.

But... And I always have

tears of joy

when he leaves.

It's... I know that

the fulfilling part for him

is to get out there

and be on the ocean.

It's wonderful.

[Man] Mike set off

from New York

early in October,

on his way to do his

transatlantic voyage.

It was the first time he ever

sailed that boat by himself.

[Black] It was his first moments of actually solo-sailingCoyote.

And I thought for an instant,

"These are important pictures."

You know,

"I don't wanna miss this,

because there's a lot of unknowns that could happen."

The whole sequence

of crazy events that unfolded

in the weeks after

Mike left New York,

several days into the trip...

He was able to patch

a call through to Helen,

through a passing freighter.

But he wasn't able to talk

directly to Helen,

but by VHF radio,

he was able to talk to the skipper of a freighter

who was then in turn,

able to talk to Helen,

so he was kind of

an intermediary.

I could hear him on the radio

talking to the radio guy,

telling them that

he had electrical problems,

but that he would be okay.

"And tell her that I love her."

So that was it.

Then there was nothing.

We had nothing.

That was the last

I heard from him.

[McCormick]

Several weeks later,

some friends here in Newport

got a hold of the rescue

communication centers

in the United States and Canada,

and asked, "Please go back

through your records.

Have you heard signals

from EPIRB?"

Which are

satellite transponders

that sailors set off

when they are in trouble.

A couple of weeks earlier

they had, in fact,

had three bursts

from an unspecified EPIRB,

and they had not acted

upon it for two reasons.

First being that EPIRB

already made three bursts,

and they said at four bursts, it's an actual distress signal.

And they also didn't have that particular EPIRB registered.

There was no record

of who owned it,

what boat it might be on.

[Newscaster] But Mike Plant's family and friends say more could be done.

To urge the Coast Guard

to ask the Navy's assistance

in finding our son Mike,

who sent out an emergency signal

from his sailboat

on October 27th,

and the coast guard did not act on it until November 13th,

just last Friday.

Never said boo to anybody

and those are... That's, to me,

a very serious, serious situation,

when they ignore a cry for help.

The question is,

why wasn't the search for Mike Plant

begun when his emergency beacon,

one just like this,

first went off

on October the 27th?

The coast guard said that Plant never registered his beacon,

therefore they had no idea

who to go and look for.

Phil Harder

is a member of the family

and an experienced seaman.

What do you say

to the coast guard on that?

Well, to put it politely,

that's just nonsense.

The only thing encoding does

is say the name of the vessel

and the owner,

and the country of origin

of that vessel.

But the alarm flare,

if you wanna call it that,

on a radar sweep

or the equivalent,

is the same,

whether it's encoded or not.

A powerful storm

in the Atlantic Ocean

may have doomed

a veteran American sailor

trying a solo crossing

to France.

Jacqueline Adams has that story.

[Female newscaster]

After a fierce hurricane,

a satellite picked up a signal that Plant was in dire trouble.

But no one knew it was him,

since he'd apparently never registered

his emergency signal with authorities.

Almost two weeks after he should have landed in France,

the coast guard finally identified Plant's distress signal,

and a massive search began.

Navy and coast guard planes scouring 190,000 square miles of ocean.

They were hoping by the 21st,

the 22nd was the start,

his birthday was the 21st.

And then right after that,

the boat was spotted

upside down.

In other news, the coast guard

has called off its search

for the American yachtsman,

Mike Plant,

who was trying to sail alone

from New York to France.

Last Sunday, a freighter spotted

his 60-foot yacht upside down,

north of the Azores.

A French tug reached it today.

An emergency life raft,

partially inflated, was still onboard.

No sign of Plant.

The coast guard says

he is presumed to be dead.

[Female newscaster] Divers did a thorough search of the hull

of the 60-foot slip,

theCoyote.

They did not find Mike Plant.

What they

did find seems to indicate

the seasoned sailor

has not survived.

Mike Plant's family

and sailing friends

say they think

that on October 27th,

the weight on the bottom

of the boat's keel came off,

and that the sailboat

went over immediately.

Anyone that has any notion

of the ocean

knows that if you are

missing for weeks,

the chances of you being alive

are very slender.

I really... I...

I thought for sure

he would show up.

I really thought for sure.

I just couldn't believe

the boat was upside down

and he's nowhere.

There's always the hope,

but I think the realist...

The realist in all of us

knew that this was

a really bad sign.

I'll have that upside-down picture with no keel on it

ingrained in my head

for the rest of my life.

[Helen] It floated all the way

across the Atlantic,

in three months, upside down.

I wanted to get the keel

to see what happened.

[McCormick] There was

a lot of speculation that

when that keel bulb dropped,

when it fell off,

that it had been

a very violent motion,

that perhaps Mike was immediately tossed into the sea,

crashed on deck,

that he had, you know,

a quick and painless,

and merciful end.

I think everybody was wondering what happened to that bulb,

that's really the central

question to everything.

Did Mike run into a container, did he get backed off?

Did he hit a whale?

Was it just a poor mechanical bond,

was it poorly installed?

Was it that grounding

in the Chesapeake Bay?

What happened

to that fucking keel?

[Neri] Looking back on it,

compared to the

amount of science

and computer modeling

and engineering,

and material science that would go into attaching a bulb to a keel today,

it's not an indictment

on anybody's efforts.

It's just a statement of the lack of funding for the projects.

I mean,

that part of the job should have gone to a structural engineer.

You know, literally, months

before the guys in Concordia

got to that stage

of the build project.

But it was done with the best intentions of some very good people,

and with the best advice

of a very experienced person.

And they

were the wrong choices.

Would it have, you know, been okay, intact, although it hadn't grounded?

But there's nobody

who can tell that.

It's a possibility.

No one really knows

exactly what happened

other than the fact that,

that boat was gone,

and that boat was flipped.

But why that happened,

that's the big question.

I remember during conversations

people kept saying,

"Isn't it great Mike died

doing what he loves?"

Nobody dies

doing what they love.

He died pushing a boat hard,

and all of a sudden,

even for Superman,

even for Mike Plant,

ran into a spot that he couldn't get himself out of.

If it had happened in the Southern Ocean around Cape Horn,

I think you could say,

Mike died doing what he loved.

The great tragedy

of Mike isn't necessarily

that he was lost at sea,

but that he was lost at sea,

so close to try to prove

and achieve what he'd spent

most of his adult life after.

I think he probably scrambled up

on top of that hull.

I think he probably survived

and held on as long as he could,

hoping that somebody would come.

But they never did.

Never did.

[Wever Weed] So who needs someone

who races around the world in sailboats

and then goes

and gets himself lost at sea?

All the greatness and fray,

the disturbance in our lives,

who needs it?

Who needs someone who stirs up our routine so often?

Challenging our sensibilities,

inspiring us to believe we can achieve the impossible.

Who needs it?

Who needs someone who never settles for good enough?

Whose expectations of himself

elevate those expectations

we have of ourselves?

Never arguing for limitations.

Constantly focused.

Reaching, searching,

who needs it?

Who needs someone

who is more interested in living

than in longevity?

Who needs a searcher who reminds us how little we have found?

I do.

I will never forget Mike.

He would like people

to see that it is okay

to go and follow your dreams,

and get through

your adversities,

and live the adventure.

Every avenue around us

is built on fear, I think.

That can give you an avenue to say,

"All right, it's over.

I am not going to be fearful.

I am going to live.

I am going to take a risk,

I am going to love,

but I am going to be me."

I think what

many people don't realize

is that their dream

is actually already there

for them to take advantage of.

You have to see

that what you're doing

isn't getting you where

you want to go in life.

People should take the dream

that they're given.

I mean,

the love of things that they see when they're open and enthusiastic

and go with it.

There's no other way

to get moments of satisfaction.

Mike Plant saw it when he was three months old, probably.

I think about it, a lot.

You know, as a young boy,

and I think about him

and all the things

that he wanted to do and did do.

I think that's what

this is maybe all about,

that if you got a goal,

you can do it.

The chief inspiration, indeed, with all of us is to...

If you set your heart on something,

you can accomplish it.

A psychiatrist said about him

when he was young,

"It's a pity of some that were born a hundred years too late,

there's no frontier left."

People ask why

I do this stuff. It's...

It would be really easy to...

explain it today, wouldn't it?

It's gorgeous out here.

It's been so long. Two years.

We're almost as far north

as the rays go south.

We're almost

to 50 degrees north.

And it really looks

a lot the same.

The ocean is

such an incredible color.

It's so deep blue,

it's just like...

how it was two years ago

in the south Atlantic.

You can't believe it's the same ocean that's off of New York City.

We're only about 700 miles away.

Bird life is better and better

every day.

This is the first truly...

good day I've had.

It's kind of tough getting used

to being at sea again.

It's been almost two years

for me.

Physically, the first couple of days were really tough.

I wasn't really seasick,

but it's tough to get

anything done.

It's just all so different.

But feels a lot better today.

Last night was no wind,

very sloppy.

The seas are

still really confused,

but this breeze now is so fresh.

It's gonna

string things up quickly.

I just hope it stays.

It's supposed to have a front

with 35 knots from

the southeast,

which would be... On the nose,

it's supposed to happen tonight.

And I really don't need that.

This is real nice,

the way it is.

Knot meter is reading 12 to 13.

Winds are 21 up current,

it's about 25 through.

This boat is moving along

just nice.

Real nice.

This may not seem that fast,

but it's faster

than the 12-meter

ever goes in its whole life.

Jason, buddy, you got to see it.

You just gotta see it.

It's too bad

we gotta rush for this...

qualifier...