| I believe that he departed from Newfoundland because it is such a much
nicer place than Florida, almost all of our tourists leave here alive!
With regard to the first class flight back, he (before he retired) was
an Airline Pilot and his son is as well so I imagine that someone
sprung for the ticket.
The local radio stations here had followed the boat on the way across,
the skipper ( I forget his name ) had done this before but had lost the
title to a British chap who left here 4 or so years ago. So it was
chop off 3 inches and do it again. I believe that this boat was less
than 5' 10". Frankly though I dont know what it all proved.
We had a fine crop of boats here this year, the usual ragamuffin types
that show up on their way across the Atlantic, one beautifull 110'-120'
sloop that was on its way back to Britain after 7 years doing the
World. There was also a Grandmother (75+) who tried a single handed
crossing of the Atlantic. She broke some ribs about a week out and so
came back, hired one of the local boat groupies and went off to
Labrador for a cruise !
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| I can't remember the exact length either, and the photo does not have
enough detail to be able to read it (it was written on the side towards
the stern). However, he clearly cheated - I am sure that the "claimed"
length did not include the outboard bracket bolted on the back!
I do accept that he might just have put that on after he crossed the
finishing line for manoeuvring, however - I don't think the presence or
absence of a bolt-on like that really invalidates his claim.
What was the point? Search me! I saw that boat after a test sail in a
16' boat. That was a heavy (2500lb displacement) gaff cutter, long
keel, strongly built and nicely finished. And I was wondering about its
suitability for cross-channel (60 mile?) passages when I saw what some
clown had used to cross the Atlantic!
- Brian
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