Velux 5 Oceans - Skipper Profile Brad Van Liew

by Velux 5 Oceans on 8 Oct 2010 Velux 5 Oceans Skipper Profile

Name: Brad Van Liew
Age: 42
Hometown: Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Born: California, USA
Class: Eco 60
Boat: Le Pingouin
Website: www.oceanracing.org
Family: Wife Meaghan, daughter Tate Magellan, 7, and son Wyatt Bradford, 6

A self proclaimed adrenaline junkie, Brad Van Liew is a big guy with a big personality. Scuba diving, offroad motorbike racing, horseback riding, hunting - you name it, Brad does it. Brad finished college in 1992 with a degree in real estate development, but it just wasn't enough fun so, naturally, he trained as an aeroplane pilot and launched his own plane charter company.

That's when Brad met his wife to be, Meaghan, and the pair bought a small racing boat together. The rest is history. A lifelong sailor, Brad got the sailing bug aged 7 and thanks to his uncle Fred, who owned a class two tonner, sailed his first offshore race when he was 13. As a teenager Brad had set his heart competing in the BOC Challenge, which would in 2005 be renamed the VELUX 5 OCEANS. He'd even tried to get together a campaign to enter the race in 1990 after walking out of college but couldn't get the financial backing.

When Brad and Meaghan bought their first boat together, it all came flooding back. The desire to compete, to win, to sail round the world alone. Amazingly Meaghan gave the idea the thumbs up. Brad bought an Open 50 from Alan Nebauer, now the VELUX 5 OCEANS assistant race director, and in 1998 his dream was realised when he competed in the Around Alone finishing third in class two.

He then returned to the race in 2002, despite Meaghan giving birth to daughter Tate Magellan just days before, with new sponsor Tommy Hilfiger. With a new fire inside him, Brad won every single leg of the race in class two.

Now, after eight years away from solo sailing, Brad is back. In a nod to his return to ocean racing, Brad has called his campaign Team Lazarus. His yacht Le Pingouin, which he bought in France last year, has a rich racing pedigree which includes first place in the 1999 Fastnet, second place in the 1999 Tour de L'Europe and Transat Jacques Vabre and third in the 2002/3 Around Alone. It is has undergone a complete makeover including new B&G electronics and Samson ropes. Ondeck is a supporting sponsor of Brad's entry, along with Gill, Simrad, Harken, West Marine, AlpineAire, and Awlgrip. Brad will use hydro generators to allow him to race round the world without using fossil fuels.

The Yacht

Boat Name: Le Pingouin

Former Names: Whirlpool - Europe 2, Tiscali Global Challenge, Pro Form

Architect: Lombard

Year Built & Boat Yard: MAG France, 1998

Year Launched: 1998

Length: 18.28m

Beam: 5.56m

Draught: 4.5m

Displacement (weight): 8.6 tonnes

Mast height: 28m

Rigging: fixed, carbon

Keel Blade: canting

Upwind sail surface: 300m²

Downwind sail surface: 600m²

Previous Results:

2nd 1999 Transat Jacques Vabre

3rd 2002/3 Around Alone

5th 2005 Transat Jacques Vabre