new round the world record

just watched ellen macarthur & nigel irens on bbc world tv.
http://www.teamellen.com
http://www.solarnavigator.net/ellen_mac_arthur.htm
http://www.yachting-world.com/yw/home.htm

 

Go Ellen Go!!! 15knots+ Ave. speed 'round the world, simply Amaaaaazing!!!

 

Congratulations to that amazing 15+ knots, sincerely.
It surely is a gargantuan task for a human being, but I can't still stop asking why; with all that backup of the industry and the press and don't know who else, she also should be asking why ?
Tomorrow there will be another pilot like Schumacher ( or was it Senna ?) who will be better equipped with hardware, sponsors, tacticians, sleep-trainers, nutrition experts and so on, who will make 16+ knots.
If you want to make speed, do it on the runway, if you want to go around the world (such a dream for so many of us) do it the right way, in your own style. Knots don't count, hours and minutes neither.
If I do my humble 5+ knots in my corner of the med in my restricted time, I certainly feel the same satisfaction, and less stress.

I have all the respect in the world for that lady, but I can't comprehend.

 

The personal risks put here along side Evil Kenivil.

 

Ellen!

She is the greatest! And one hell of an inspiration!
Congratulations to her for a tremendous job and to Nigel Irens for setting such a high standard in trimaran design!

 

And that's just what Ellen did. Hats off!

 

An "IRON LADY" (in fact she just is officially!)

 

Any good links showing details of her boat out there? I can only find PR type stuff.

 

At the risk of sounding dour about Ellen's admitedly impressive personal achievement

I think the real heroes were people like Slocum,Pidgeon, Gerbault, Chichester , Rose, Dumas and others who self funded with often poorly suited even self built or restorted wooden vessels managed to self navigate without any electronic aids and push the boundries of possibility rather than just performance.

Now with sponsership autohelms computer interfaced equipment long term weather forecasting satellite phones and state of the art boats (and sophisticated rescue services) we just repeat that which has been done before, just faster.
The next hero will average 0.1 knots faster

So much depends on your luck with the weather chasing speed records.

 

People still die out there in the southern ocean. This business where someone reels off a list of the technology and implies that these New Kids are not the Iron Men of Yore irritates me at this point, with apologies to you MikeJohns. Yeah, that stuff helps, but at the end of the day people die out there, it has not been made Easy or Safe. On a little bit easier, a little bit less dangerous, and when things do go wrong, maybe some other people who are Just Like You will undertake some remarkable effort and save your life. Maybe.

I don't care if the next hero does it 0.1 knots slower. It's still insanely difficult and dangerous, and these are no-kidding remarkable people.

Slocum would likely have looked on people like Ellen as a) remarkable sailors and b) remarkably crazy. Slocum didn't do that idiotic Drake Passage **** -- that's DANGEROUS. He took the Straits of Magellan. He avoided the southern ocean almost completely, went over the top of Australia, went through the mid-Pacific, and the Indian Ocean.

 

hey Mike, you can give me all electronics aids of the world, but i wouldn't survive 6 hours in a trimaran punched by force-7 seas, no to mention force 8-9......no matter how many web connections, weather files, GPS, and tricky stuffs i have on board
different sail ages, different motivations, different people, but anyway great seamanship and great sailors, and most of all, the same gray howling, roaring cold ocean out there, ready to get rid both of your hyper technological trimaran and of your classic heavy schooner.

Mistral

 

...and she looked so good too! Fresh as a daisy.

I think she did a wonderfull thing. Piting herself against the sea that way, shows courage, determination, and seamanship, and a quite ridiculous sense of adventure.....but what the hell, would'nt you like to be in her place?

 

A farmers tractor could circulate the montecarlo grand prix track as well, eating his lunch and having a smoke. thats the difference/point GET IT??

At the speed they did, and the luxury of not having to 'press on' , in fact they could anchor behind any rock ,any idiot could do it without aids and in shitters.

The pressure of the clock magnifies every incredible action of the modern record-breaker, nowhere to hide, no where to relax, the ultimate utilisation of thousands of years of evolving boatdesign(.net)

 

Why not,people get their kicks in different ways,yours appear to be cruisy and laid back,Ellens sure arent as you say she probably shares the same ammount of satisfaction as you,and possibly is asking the same question as you.There are plenty of people who appear to not only thrive on the stress but actually need it to be fully satisfied,Im not one of them by the way
There really isnt a right or wrong way I dont think,but to figure out which is right for you means actually plucking up the courage and making it happen, one day maybe.
K4s

 

Dont know ,maybe wrong but Im pretty sure its not a compition to find out who is or is not a hero