Wow!
The WSJ today has an article on Ellen McArthur's circumnavigation -- solo,
non-stop.
To quote:
Late Monday a 28-year-old woman named Ellen MacArthur did the impossible,
completing a 27,354-mile lap around the world in a 75-foot trimaran. Not
only that, but she did it in just 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33
seconds to break the previous record. The petite young lady -- she stands at
just five-foot, two-inches -- traveled at an average of 15.9 knots on a
flying journey that took her south of the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn,
through Southern Ocean gales and towering seas.
and
Her race around the globe was marked by every imaginable challenge. Problems
with the water maker almost required her to pull out of the race. Her
electric generator also failed, and her arm was badly burned when she
attempted to stop its fumes from pouring into her cabin. At one point, she
almost collided with a whale. Still, by the time she rounded the southern
tip of South America and headed back toward the starting line, an imaginary
line between France and England, it appeared that she would smash the record
by four or more days. Then, as she approached the equator, she entered the
doldrums where she was left in a windless sea off the coast of Brazil and
her margin completely evaporated.
"The last 24 hours have been absolutely horrendous," she told her onshore
crew a few days before the finish. "I've had about 15 minutes of sleep I
think through the night. There have been ships everywhere, rain squalls. We
had the wind direction changing. At one point the boat tacked itself because
the wind shift was so great. It's been a full-on night and I am very, very
tired. I'm just going to have to hang in there until the finish."
A day later, as she crossed the Bay of Biscay, she was hit by a powerful
Atlantic storm with gale-force wind and violent seas and was forced to
assume a course that took her away from the finish line.
Roger
derbyrm@...
http://derbyrm.mystarband.net/default.htm
non-stop.
To quote:
Late Monday a 28-year-old woman named Ellen MacArthur did the impossible,
completing a 27,354-mile lap around the world in a 75-foot trimaran. Not
only that, but she did it in just 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33
seconds to break the previous record. The petite young lady -- she stands at
just five-foot, two-inches -- traveled at an average of 15.9 knots on a
flying journey that took her south of the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn,
through Southern Ocean gales and towering seas.
and
Her race around the globe was marked by every imaginable challenge. Problems
with the water maker almost required her to pull out of the race. Her
electric generator also failed, and her arm was badly burned when she
attempted to stop its fumes from pouring into her cabin. At one point, she
almost collided with a whale. Still, by the time she rounded the southern
tip of South America and headed back toward the starting line, an imaginary
line between France and England, it appeared that she would smash the record
by four or more days. Then, as she approached the equator, she entered the
doldrums where she was left in a windless sea off the coast of Brazil and
her margin completely evaporated.
"The last 24 hours have been absolutely horrendous," she told her onshore
crew a few days before the finish. "I've had about 15 minutes of sleep I
think through the night. There have been ships everywhere, rain squalls. We
had the wind direction changing. At one point the boat tacked itself because
the wind shift was so great. It's been a full-on night and I am very, very
tired. I'm just going to have to hang in there until the finish."
A day later, as she crossed the Bay of Biscay, she was hit by a powerful
Atlantic storm with gale-force wind and violent seas and was forced to
assume a course that took her away from the finish line.
Roger
derbyrm@...
http://derbyrm.mystarband.net/default.htm