In 1969, Mike Harker started the extreme sports revolution by essentially inventing the sport of hang gliding, using plastic and duct tape to create the first practical hang glider. He eventually went on to accomplish amazing feats in hang gliders, including flying off the top of the Zugspitze, which is highest mountain in southern Germany. His latest "extreme" accomplishment seems to typify how he does things. He has just completed a solo circumnavigation in a production Hunter 49 sailboat, named Wanderlust III.
Harker's Hunter 49 was virtually unmodified from standard production configuration and by taking a basic production boat rather than one of the boats more traditionally considered a blue-water voyager, Harker makes the extraordinary rather matter-of-fact.
A circumnavigation should never be considered an "ordinary" accomplishment. The oceans are wild places and Mother Nature always gets the final say. A solo circumnavigation, where the sailor spends days and long weeks in complete solitude, is a "whole "˜nother kettle of fish." And finally, just to add the final twist, Harker does the trip in a production Hunter 49. Did I mention that Harker is paralyzed below the knees?
In 1977, Harker fell 400 feet in a horrific hang-gliding accident, breaking more than 30 bones and leaving him in a coma for more than 11 months. Despite predictions he would never even walk again, he not only walked but made it back into a hang glider.
Harker was the guest of honor at a Hunter Marine briefing last night at a hotel nearby the Miami Boat Show. He speaks so calmly and without ego about the most amazing things that you wonder if he's real. The calm apparently extends to his behavior in extreme situations An onboard leak shorted his alternator near Ascension Island. He fixed the leak by putting a screw and some marine adhesive sealant into the hole, but not knowing what to do with the damaged alternator, he called the manufacturer on his satellite phone and was talked through the re-wiring necessary. The jury-rigged repair took him more than 5,200 miles, all the way back to Miami.
Hunter provided support to Harker during his year-long voyage and the company is pleased with the accomplishment of both sailor and sailboat. Hunter's Director of Sales and Marketing, John Peterson said "We are working hard to dispel the perception and myth that our new models are not suitable for long range "bluewater" cruising.
Some passagemakers speak in reverent tones about accomplishing a transit of the Panama Canal. For Harker, it was just a necessary waypoint on his way to a 10-day passage to the Marquesas Islands, sailing wing-on-wing at 10.5 knots in his Hunter. He seems to be most at-home these days on his sailboat on the deep blue.
MIKE HARKERMike Harker and Wanderlust III Pass Under a Familiar Bridge
