new round the world record

Considering the extremely small handful of people that have accomplished this feet, much unlike the few thousand who have climbed of Mt. Everest, MikeJohn does seem dour. Slocum was notable, being first, but it did take two years, Ellen bested the wildest ideas of a science fiction writer's dream of (his thinking, quite imposable) 80 days.

 

I did say it was impressive, ( said defensively).

But these vessels are huge expensive and high tech. A classic Golden record breaker................ If you can get the gold and some luck then you can break the record!

There are thousands of capable sailors who could have done it on that boat, but they didn't get the opportunity.

I would say the designers deserve much of the accolade too.

Yes OK it's still impressive.

Cichester was 67 with cancer a problematic vessel and no backup team. For his courageous feat it took a man who was head and shoulders above many of the others of his day. I remember his trip I was in England when he arrived. I watched Ellen go around too, and I look foreward to reading her account. A circumnav could not have been achieved by (your quote) "any idiot" then or now.

 

ok, so, leave the dock, spread your sails and go, we'll all wait for your news


Mistral

 

"There are thousands of capable sailors who could have done it on that boat, but they didn't get the opportunity"

NO

there aren't several thousand who could sail that boat around the world or have the intense training and knowledge of the complex systems to kep it going,she can rebuild engines,electrical sytems,computers and water makers just for starters,phycological and biorythm and expert on the human bodies capabilities;
and far far far less that could do it in that record time, a handful

oh yeah she been "set" for that distance, a spe******t, and like spe******ts you MAKE your own luck

Do you realise it's the 4th fastest time EVER ,crewed or not crewed,man or woman, in an age of "G" giants ( theres 5 in the Indian NOW!) ; and it's the fastest time ever for a boat under 110 foot

like the thread on S Anarchy there seems to be an idea that if a small staured gal did it, it must not be difficult to do, these may be that percentage that keep there wives at home and shopping I fear.

Like her performances in OPEN 60 monos, it is truly at the pinnacle, as 2004 much lauded Francis Joyon agrees

 

Why the denigrating remarks from some towards this notable acheivement? There are always the folks out there who say that junk I guess. "Yeah I could have done it if I had the chance".

That's the point. 99% of life is making the chance for yourself to actually proceed with the pusuit of your goal, not someone else giving it to you.

Off my soapbox now. Have a nice day!

 

Remember a forum is all about venturing an opinion, even starting a debate. I wanted people to consider that she is not the pioneer , just the latest in a long line , and a highly funded, team supported solo circumnav.

I am happy to say again it is still an impressive achievement !

I edited my last post to make clearer my reply to the idiot comment by "gybeset" in the days of Yore children (or close thereto) for example would not have been able to circumnavigate yet now they do so in comparative ease (compared with the days of yore).

Now on with the forum

In Australia we have a number of very capable women sailors who would have sold their souls for the opportunity. It seems large sponsorship deals tend to go elswhere.

If you want a golden record breaker what chance would you have if you were a Pakistani or say an Eritrean sailor ..... zilch

 

I have been living in la Rochelle, France for many years living on my boat and met many of the aspiring racers then.

These people had a determination to sail and to race that left room for nothing else. They all had many years of crusing behind them and had started racing early. Getting a project up and running, just to participate wth an older boat required an anormous amount of work, human qualities, organizational and social talents. All of them were first class sailors, and all of them had to go through years of active racing before anybody even would pay them 5 dollars for sticking a bumpersticker on the stern of their first, borrowed 5 year old and outdated mini-transat or fastnet hull. Many of them spent years just fitting other peoples boats out and earning peanuts and living from nothing, just to get in.

Sposorship does not fall from heaven anywhere, it has to be fought for and it has to be earned the very, very hard way on the boats, on the water, in banks and meeting rooms and it leaves many of them without a penny in the end and a loan on their house. All those people I met in these days were great characters, great friends.
Somebody mentioned Schumacher here - that guy does not win because of ferrari but because he was already racing carts when others were in the kindergarden ;-)
Every single sailor out there on these machines is the best sailor you will ever meet. Saying that thousands of others could do it given the money is just silly.

Gerd

 

hard work

Gerd, that was the most astute comment yet. Well said!

 

I think you are supporting my dour observations. Forgive me for plowing on, but I do not agree with some of what you say

This is the level we have to get to now to be in the running for a time record you have to be rich or be able to attract huge amounts of sponsorship, this in turn means being an effective lobbyist and marketer on top of being an already famous sailor.

If you can succeed then the personal investment is repaid considerably. Its a bit like politics a mix of good contacts, personality, drive, and ambition. People like Pete Goss really struggled to compete because they lacked the financial support, others whom you have never heard of failed to get the backing or went bankrupt trying to build the boat.

If you can sail well that's a good start but to be elevated to Ellens enviable position means you made it to the top of the heap. She has my admiration for this, she would probably make an excellent company CEO.

I have one interview with a French sailor who had completed (won?) the open 60, he said "The hardest part of the race was the fundraising. If you can sail you can sail but to get the funds to build a decent boat................"

You do not need to be a good tactical fleet competitor to be a good round the world sailor, and I do think there are many capable people who can sail very well who could do the deed, but lack the charisma and the drive to achieve fundraising.

My hat still goes off to her

 

Mike. this is really nothing new. I do not think that there has ever been a time when high-level racing was done from pocket money. It always needed excellent sailing skills, determination and lots of money.

Actually I think it's just the contrary of what you seem to bee saying if I understand you right: Today - as opposed to the times when racing was ONLY for the rich - EVERYBODY can really make it and none of the people I met were born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

If you look at the people in single handed ocean racing today, how they started and how they got there, and then look at the gentlemans racing a hundred years ago, I think you will agree that ocean racing has become much more accessible to everybody with the talent and the guts to go and do it. Just got to vendeeglobe.org and check out the participants backgrounds.

Racing Budgets are big, yes, and they always were. Good thing that the big companies now find it profitable to fork out that sort of promotional cash and that we do not have to rely on a few wealthy individuals.

As to "Slocum, Pidgeon, Gerbault, Chichester , Rose, Dumas etc", this is another type of sailing, and it's still being done today and by many more people than were circling the globe in their times.

 

Send them to France to live in a tent from dry bread and get some cheap old mini. That's were the budgets are, they have daily prime time coverage of these races on TV and an enthousiastic public.

 

In the past - before technology became such a large part of our lives, if a person broke a record or accomplished something extraordinary - it was down, at least to a greater extent that now - to their inate abilities, their own resourcefullness, intelligence. This is why we admired them so much. They did it with so little.

The point I think that Mike is making - is that the influence of better technology, money and backing, is making the accomplishment of extraordinary feats like Ellen's, less and less a matter of those human qualities we associate and love with sailing, and more and more and perhaps as well as, those admitable qualities, that we associate with boardrooms, and banks etc.

As yago says: was is ever really different? Perhaps no, in terms of racing - but yes in terms of opening up possibilities for others, in the tradition of Slocum and others.

 

I know what you feel, and many of us feel that, but if we are really honest with ourselves we have to admit it's a matter of perception.
In those good old days before modern technology, they had to - just as today - make use of all the modern technology at their disposal in their days and find the neccessary funding to do so. It just looks "simple" to us today. Looking back on it from our GPS screens and sattelite routing and kevlar rigs. You can still sail as simple as Slocum, many do, and for my personal plans I feel much closer to him than to the next America's challenger (just check out my website for a my own "simple" design ) but whenever they were racing fifty or a hundred years ago it was never with a Spray replica build in a field and a kitchen arlarm boiled in oil ... they did not have any carpet tacks either

I think we all agree here that Ellen did an absolutely fantastic job, but just wait, in fifty years, when somebody will fly a foiler around dressed up in a spacesuit in 20 days for a billion dollar budget everybody is going to say: OK, nice job, but you can't compare that to the days of Slocum, Knox Johnston or Ellen McArthur.... they did not need that sort of money, they were real sailors!

 

Seems to me in some ways it was shed loads easier in Slocum/Chichester's days, when a couple of hours sleep wouldn't mean that you were ready to hit something that was out of sight when you turned in. In boats that (according to quite a few on this forum) were far more seaworthy. In boats that didn't hurtle across the water throwing you around like a runaway train wreck.

 

Yes, perhaps after all, that "matter of perception" has something also to do with the difference in temperament between racing sailors, and cruising ones.

I have visited your site. What can I say, internal ballast - an excellent solution. I think more people interested in building their own cruisers should consider internal ballast.

Refreshing website too. Cheers.