Portland holds fete for racing sailor City home port for sloop sailed round the globe

PORTLAND – Local residents pulled out all the stops for the return of extreme sailor Bruce Schwab and his sailboat Ocean Planet on Friday.

A flotilla of Casco Bay boats assembled to escort the racing sloop into Portland Harbor, where Schwab set anchor in the vessel’s home port for the first time since completing his round-the-world solo sail.

Schwab became the first American to complete the Vendee Globe race with a ninth-place finish last February. The yacht rigger from Oakland, Calif., hocked his house and ran up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt preparing for the race.

Before the race, Schwab became a fixture in Portland, where he made refinements to the wood-and-carbon fiber sloop at Portland Yacht Services.

Portland held a big greeting on Friday. The Brunswick Naval Air Station color guard, a jazz band, school children, humorist Tim Sample and the Portland Sea Dogs mascot Slugger all showed up. There was even someone on hand to sing sea chanteys.

“A bunch of kids in Brunswick rented a ferry. They’re sponsoring themselves. Is that cool or what?” Schwab said.

Although it has a limited following in the United States, the quadrennial Vendee Globe is watched closely by tens of millions of viewers worldwide. This year’s winner was Vincent Riou of France, who finished Feb. 2 in a record 87 days.

Prior to Schwab, the only American to make a nonstop solo circumnavigation was Dodge Morgan of Harpswell, Maine, who did it in 1985-86 in 150 days. Morgan was also on hand when Schwab arrived in Portland on Friday.

Operating on a bare-bones budget and without insurance on his boat, which ultimately demanded that he sail conservatively, Schwab completed the race in 109 days.

Schwab’s trip came 13 years after fellow countryman Mike Plant was lost at sea during the race. Plant’s overturned Coyote boat was found by a container ship in the North Atlantic in the inaugural Vendee Globe in 1989-90.