In case you didn't know... Matt Rutherford is about to complete a first ever solo non-stop circumnavigation of the Americas aboard a donated 27-foot Albin-Vega. It took him about a year to get up north, navigate the Northern Passage, sail down the Pacific coast, across Cape Horn, and back up the Atlantic coast. His arrival back in Annapolis is scheduled for April 21st.
5 comments:
EPIC! However I notice that:
His alternator doesn't work
The motor crank starter doesn't work, so no motor
The wind generator is broken
The solar panels don't work
His batteries can't be recharged by any method and are going flat, so electronics soon to be useless
He lost his fresh rainwater collecting bucket, and would have to seek water onshore if he wasn't nearly home.
In other words, pretty much like my sea adventures, it doesn't take long to get back to the 18th century, and it will take $$$$ to make the St. Brendan a 21st century boat again. Not a recipe for a comfortable or low cost life at all.
But he could not have done it without global warming.
I wonder when the circumnavigation of Asia will be attempted.
Joy - not quite. The engine and the electronics are both nice-to-haves. His watermaker still works. The hull and the rig are sound, and the sails still draw. He could probably do another lap around the Americas if he really wanted to.
Doom -
A Russian crew aboard the schooner Peter the Great already did a circumnavigation of the Arctic Sea in a single season. Now, an interesting trick would be to do a solo non-stop circumnavigation of Eurasia and Africa, but I doubt it can be done in less than 3 years, and timing both the arctic summer and the monsoons would be tricky.
"lost his rain collecting bucket"?
come on....are you saying that was his only bucket and only way to collect rainwater?
engines are not of much use crossing oceans anyway.
sheesh.
Sailing instead of steaming: a harbinger of things to come?
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