Route du Rhum

[capta]

Young French skipper Tom Laperche on the giant blue Ultim multihull SVR-Lazartigue crossed the finish line of the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe off Pointe a Pitre, this Saturday at 22 h 31 min 40 sec (local time) to complete a conclusive victory. That's an average speed of 27.18 knots!
There was a time in my life when I could have gotten by cat napping for 6 or 7 days, but at 27.18 knots, I just don't know.

 

[jssailem]

Did you participate in that challenge back in the 70s?

 

[Will Gilmore]

22h 31m is not an onerous stretch to stay awake, as long as you're well rested when you start. If you are 10h into your sail, and you have an auto-pilot of some sort, it is conceivable that closing your eyes for a ten minute stretch on the high seas could work, but at 27 knots, ten minutes will get you half way to the horizon while another vessel doing 27 knots could cover the other half before you opened your eyes again. You would need a lot of faith in your radar alarm.

Ocean going cargo ship's have cruising speeds up to 24 knots. Just imagine.

-Will

 

[capta]

Did you participate in that challenge back in the 70s?

My introduction into sailing was racing in Frisco Bay and along the west coast. My first big boat was a Phil Rhodes class B TransPac racer, which I did not race. Because I knew no better, I bought a boat that required 8 big, strong, professional sailors to sail comfortably (22 sails), for a couple's cruiser.
Simply put, I lost my taste for ocean racing when I began cruising.
However, were it possible, I would enter that race to Alaska. I think that would be a fun. Had foiling advanced to what it is today, I might have gotten back into racing back when I was physically able.

 

[capta]

22h 31m is not an onerous stretch to stay awake, as long as you're well rested when you start. If you are 10h into your sail, and you have an auto-pilot of some sort, it is conceivable that closing your eyes for a ten minute stretch on the high seas could work, but at 27 knots, ten minutes will get you half way to the horizon while another vessel doing 27 knots could cover the other half before you opened your eyes again. You would need a lot of faith in your radar alarm.

Ocean going cargo ship's have cruising speeds up to 24 knots. Just imagine.

-Will

My mistake, somehow my addled brain read it as 6 days and 22 hours. Oops. Heck, I could have done anything for 23 hours back then. A good friend of mine was in the first GGR, and I must say, he did not make it sound like a very enjoyable adventure. Kind of like climbing Everest w/o oxygen, to me.

 

[jssailem]

my addled brain read it as 6 days and 22 hours

It was 6 days and 22 hours. You read it correctly.

23 hours at 27 knots is only 621 nm. He would just be beyond the border of Spain and Portugal, and still 2900nm from the finish line.