Didn't want to take the other thread too far afield.

What is the most extreme endurance sport? How hard can an elite athlete push himself?

I found this right away:

http://www.forbes.com/2005/03/30/cx_ns_0330feat_ls.html

The issue is sleep, your brain can only go so long without some kind of sleep and it stops performing well after a certain point. There has been all kinds of research done on this.

The adventure teams are all about when to sleep and for how long, the ones that win take less naps than those that lose. The solo ocean racers can take naps below and have the boat on autopilot, so thats not a good comparison. Even they have to manage their sleep patterns and the sleep/wake cycle is a big part of doing a long distance ocean race solo.

The issue on a beachcat is that grabbing some sleep is going to be difficult.

The question that you need to figure out is the crew rotation, and how to get all 3 guys enough rest to do a non stop 1000 mile race.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-long-can-humans-stay

Nice article, thanks Bill.

"How long can people stay awake...264 hours." See Jake, piece a cake!

AND function with a big constant calorie drain.

http://www.ultralightbackpacker.com/moosegoo.html

Joe's Moose goo- 1320 calories per tube. iirc, clarified butter is 4,000 calories per lb.

Dr. Claudio Stampi at Harvard is the "go to" sleep consultant for many of the distance solo sailors (Vendee Globe race etc.) He can train guys to take 20-40 min REM naps that total about 4 hours of sleep a day, and they race like hell for 27,000 miles at high function over 90 days.

Alternatively, you could Red Bull it. Hey, I think i just found a potential sponsor!!

And Viagra so you could steer while sleeping

^^^ lol