Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 1, 1993                   TAG: 9309010098
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SMALL-BOAT SKIPPER NEAR COAST, OFF COURSE

Expanding his international communications network, Vihlen called a French navy plane Monday - apparently with his VHF radio - and asked a crewman to let his wife know his whereabouts.

The Frenchman reached Johnnie Vihlen at her house in Homestead, Fla., with some mixed news. Her husband was at latitude 48.36 north and longitude 14.22 west. That put him just more than 400 miles from his destination of Falmouth, England - which he previously anticipated reaching by Friday - but 100 miles south of course.

Vihlen, 61, is trying to recapture the world record he set 25 years ago when he navigated the smallest boat, then a 6-footer, across the Atlantic Ocean. The record stood until May, when a Briton sailed a 5-foot 4 1/2-inch boat from a Portuguese island to Puerto Rico.

After cutting down his bow to beat the size of the Briton's boat by a half-inch, Vihlen set sail June 14 from Newfoundland.

- Orlando Sentinel