Yacht Racers Challenge Limitations of AIDS Victims

In an effort to fight prejudice and show that people who have AIDS can perform even the most daunting of tasks, members of Ventura County’s newest AIDS advocacy group will sail 2,200 miles across the Pacific Ocean.

Get Challenged, founded by 36-year-old Ojai Valley resident Robert Hudson in November, is using the voyage to provide leadership and support and build self-esteem for victims of the disease. The journey is the group’s first of what it hopes will be a series of similar image-building projects that will also raise money for research.

Hudson will join with seven men and two women who are either HIV-positive or, like him, have full-blown acquired immune deficiency syndrome, on a 50-foot racing boat, aptly named Survivor, for up to 14 windblown days and nights on an unforgiving ocean.

Hudson regards participation in the biennial Transpacific Yacht Race that leaves San Pedro July 2 as a symbolic “race for life.”

“It’s time to support an organization like this, and it just happens to be a sailboat race. . . . We’re not about support groups and things, we’re concerned with image,” he said.

“The tide is turning, it’s a new era for the virus. . . . I know so many people that gave up too early, we’re almost too late.”

AIDS activists say hope is replacing hopelessness in the 16-year battle against the virus. AIDS patients are living longer than ever thanks to new treatments.

Earlier this year, officials with the federal Centers for Disease Control reported a 13% decline in AIDS-related deaths in the first six months of 1996 compared with the same period in 1995. It is the first time a nationwide decline has occurred.

The advances mean that the phrase “living with AIDS” is replacing the phrase “dying of AIDS.” Hudson’s effort exemplifies that fundamental change in attitude.

“We think it sends a fantastic message both to people with HIV and to people who care about them, about what it means today to be living with HIV,” said Sally Morrison, spokeswoman for the American Foundation for AIDS Research, or AmFAR, which is co-sponsoring Hudson’s entry. “Ten, 15 years ago it was assumed people with HIV were going to die and you couldn’t do anything physically challenging in the meantime. . . . What Robert’s project symbolizes for us is the new kind of brash hopefulness that we support as an organization.”

However, AIDS is still the No. 1 killer of Americans between the ages of 25 and 44. And while many people still associate the disease with gays or intravenous drug users, today’s statistics show the most rapidly increasing means of HIV transmission is heterosexual contact. Women are the fastest-growing group of AIDS patients, Hudson said.

Attracting a sponsor with the prestige and clout of AmFAR has propelled the endeavor into the big leagues. These days Get Challenged is talking about corporate sponsorship with the likes of Anheuser-Busch. Which is just as well, since Hudson estimates that entering the Transpac will cost about $100,000.

So far, about $25,000 has been raised, including $5,000 from media tycoon Barry Diller and $10,000 from an anonymous donor.

Sponsorship opportunities abound--$500 gets the donor a Get Challenged Transpac polo shirt and a $5,000 contribution puts the donor’s name on the sail.

The most poetic of the fund-raising ideas is the Angels on the Hull program. For a $100 contribution, the name of a person who died of AIDS will be inscribed on the hull.

Hudson said it is a moving experience to hear the stories behind the hull angels, recalling one mother whose deceased son’s name will be inscribed on the vessel.

“We offer hope, and it’s something her son didn’t get,” he said. “There is a side of me that believes if I have all these people’s names on the hull of the boat, all these angels on the hull, I can count on them to carry me safely to Hawaii.”

The logistics of the race are daunting even for a crew that is not battling a life-threatening disease, said race spokesman Dan Nowlan. Nonetheless, he welcomes Get Challenged.

“I’ve been a follower of the race for many years, and I’ve never heard anything like it before,” Nowlan said. “What a great experience for them.”

AIDS medications make people queasy on land, never mind in rough seas, said Survivor captain and former Camarillo resident John Plander. Crew members can expect to be perpetually wet on the grueling voyage and will grab sleep in four-hour increments. But he dismisses concerns over the crew’s physical limitations.

“Stress isn’t good for your heart if you’re 50 and eat steak,” he said. “These things are very emotionally inspirational and will give a lot of us focus for our lives for the next six months.”

Plander, a 34-year-old AIDS specialist who later contracted the disease, will double as ship doctor for the yet-to-be-recruited crew. An HIV-positive chef with an understanding of the crew’s dietary requirements will be aboard. And fortunately, their pills and medicines don’t weigh very much.

“The joke is if somebody’s medication falls overboard, somebody on board will probably have the same medication,” Hudson said.

But it is motivation and encouragement rather than laughter that Get Challenged hopes to engender.

“There’s never been a more current response to a need in the history of this epidemic,” said Doug Green, executive director of Ventura-based AIDS Care, which has provided seed money and technical assistance for the athletes.

“Get Challenged . . . meets the need that folks in the HIV community have with a message for inspiration that, ‘Hey, you guys can do it.’ ”

For more information, call 646-2508.