FROM MARY: This was posted on the Old Forum:
Beach cat across the Atlantic
Two Italians are to attempt the Bouscholte-Navarin record in a custom built cat
While Francis Joyon and Jean-Luc van den Heede are well on their way into their round the world record attempts, two Italians, Andrea Gancia and Matteo Miceli of Team Tris Ocean Cat are about to embark on an attempt on the catamaran transatlantic record. The record they are after was from Dakar to Guadeloupe - a distance of 2,700nm - set in 1999 by Hans Bouscholte and Gerard Navarin with a time of 15 days 2 hours and 26 minutes aboard a 19ft cat.
The record, recognised by the WSSRC is the most signficant of the long distance records established by beach cats.

Transatlantic crossing in small cats kicked off in 1986 when Daniel Pradel
and Tony Laurent set the first time aboard a Hobie 18, sailing this route in 18 days and 22 hours. Later the same year Laurent Bourgnon and Frederic Geraldi completed the same passage, but they were two days slower.

In order to have the best chance of improving upon the time of Hans Bouscholte and Gerard Navarin the two Italians have prepared their attempt with the utmost care. First, they were able to secure big sponsorship for their project. Then they chose not to go for a modified production catamaran but to have a special cat designed and built for the purpose.

Their 20ft long cat, designed by the young Spanish architect Sito Aviles Ramos, is one foot longer than the orange painted Nacra 19 prototype sailed by Bouscholte and is optimised to sail flat on the water at 25 knots. The other features are similar to the 1999 Nacra 19 - 11m carbon mast, wings etc.

AND POSTED IN RESPONSE BY SOMEONE ELSE WAS THE FOLLOWING:
the boat bouscholte sailed was a modified nacra inter 20. most significant change to the standard inter 20 were much wider beams, hughe wings and a totally different mast wich enavled them to reef the main easily.

actually the boat is located in holland, muiderzand and is for sell! anyone hungry to chase the italians? the boat might be good for it, but a crew definitely will not! when whitbreadskipper bousholte and navarin arrived they were close to death: harmfull skin infections and constant impossibility to sleep made it a horrortrip per excellence!

MARY AGAIN:
Seems like this has the germ of an idea to get publicity for beach cats. Why don't we have a "Survivor"-type race for beach cats across the Atlantic with a million-dollar purse for the winner? Sounds a heck of a lot tougher than Survivor Island. And it will give an outlet for all the guys who want to "live on the edge."

You have a place to sign me up?

I need to make sure I have enough vacation saved up to do it though.

Yeah, Tad, I knew there would be a "but" or a "though."

no, seriously. I've only been at my job for a month., I get about 11 hours per month vacation accrued, to do this I'd need to take a month and a half off :P

Yee of little faith. :P

Okay, seriously, we get a sponsor and do this race on beach cats. And after that we tackle the around-the-world records. Personally, I cannot imagine anything more exciting than doing the southern ocean on a beach cat.

Hi Mary

Recall talking with the team that did the Atlantic crossing earlier on the Hobie 18 ,-met at the H-18 Worlds in Toronto Can. that year {late 80s} Really interesting to talk to.

Like the other post stated its pretty brutal, Skin ulcers develop due to being constantly wet . Exposure is always a problem.It is not possible to sleep on a conventional cat in any wind or seas ,-
{though have briefly during a couple W-1000 s} night legs in light air .
food water gear weight is excessive , some specialized design would be needed ,-
Sleep could be accomplished straped in on an extented wing of sufficient area with a sealed cover or cocoon type semi dry enclosure.
Numerous safety precautions and back ups of everything would be needed .
Sounds like they have a good reef system and mast mods plus righting capability.

Living in a drysuit for 2 weeks straight in sometimes 12 ft seas or more on a beachcat would make the 1000 mile races seem easy by comparison ,-Most thankfully will never realize how physically -mentally demanding and grueling at times these can be in the more extreme conditions.

With the right person to sail it with and sponsor funding would sail it . It would be most fun to race with other
{extremely crazy}teams .

It would be an event sailors and the general public would watch on TV -given the nature of reality TV these days though not the reason to attempt it.

Great challenge ,-

I dare detect a bit of sarcastic vitriol in Mary's statement?

I'd like to see a beachcat in the southern ocean. A 120' one like playstation :P I'm an adrenalin junkie and a young person looking for his chance to make a mark on this world; not outright suicidal.

Not exactly a "Beach Cat", I think something similar to the Reynolds 21 would be an excellent choice for races of this nature.

A beach cat will never make it around the world. I went to Patagonia and I have seen Cape Horn. It would be suicide. There would have to be a layover somewhere and the conditions would have to be perfect otherwise there would be trouble.

I was suprised to hear someone went across the Atlantic. I've been on a commerical fishing ship in the north Atlantic and I was getting cabin fever on that. A 20-foot raft (essentially that is what you are in the middle of the ocean) would be the toughest test of anyone's life mentally and physically.

Hmmm. Sounds like the kind of statement that will prompt someone to try



In 1955, and then again in 1956, Hannes Lindemann made voyages across the Atlantic in much smaller craft. The first time, in a dugout canoe, and the second time, in a folding kayak that had been specially rigged with a sail and outrigger. Mr. Lindemann wrote a very interesting book, called "Alone at Sea". I think the book is hard to find these days (including the copy I have stashed away somewhere in my attic), but I've included an excerpt from a review I found on the web:


[color:"green"]Alone at Sea, first published in 1958, is a description of two voyages across the Atlantic undertaken by Dr. Hannes Lindemann (when he was 33 and 34) in l955 and 1956. On his first voyage he used an African dugout canoe and on his second, a folding kayak. Without the benefits of modern materials and equipment Hannes endured severe conditions at sea over a prolonged period. Being a medical doctor he was keen to learn how his body and mind would react so that he could advise others how to survive at sea.

His knowledge of the sea had been gained through sailing and he had previously undertaken many single-handed voyages in small sailing craft and folding kayaks. For sea kayakers, the most significant differences between Hannes folding kayak and our sea kayaks are that he used sail to catch the trade winds which propelled him across the Atlantic and he used an outrigger for stability. Although he carried paddles he rarely used them.

During his first Atlantic crossing he experimented with fluids, diluting specific quantities of salt water to observe the effect of consuming controlled quantities of salt water. It was unsuccessful. He coped with intense sun and of course, storms. During his worst moments he sang songs from his childhood but he says that he never felt lonely. He made friends of the various fish and birds which he met along the way. Despite his obvious determination, he experienced fear and despair. After a bad storm and little sleep for many days he wanted to give up but the tanker he hailed did not see him and passed on. He found that wine relaxed him and sleep helped his spirit recover and he sailed on. At the end of his first voyage his greatest regret was that he had allowed fear to take hold and had, at that moment, given up.

Therefore in the six months Hannes spent preparing for his second voyage, he practised relaxation techniques, he prayed and he repeated phrases like "I'll make it" to himself in an effort to anchor auto-suggestions deep in his subconscious. These auto-suggestions were later to save his life. He documents his second voyage in diary form so the reader can follow the daily unfolding of Hannes experiences at sea.

For hygiene purposes he swims and dries his clothes on the mast, weather permitting. He supplements his food supplies with fish he catches, drinking their blood and spinal fluid. He drinks milk and beer to raise his energy levels. He doesn't dream of women (he says starving men don't) but of pastry topped with mountains of whipped cream. He collects rainwater from his sails and is never thirsty. He observes a small dolphin being hunted by larger of its kind. He marvels at Mediterranean Shearwaters and Madeira petrels which he says enjoyed bad weather while he had difficulty sleeping during storms.

Incredible though it is, he does manage to take short ten minute naps during storms, which he believes are crucial to his survival. Lack of sleep on his first voyage had caused him to hallucinate and throw vital possessions overboard. His mental preparation helped to ensure that although he did hallucinate (he chatted to his spray deck which answered back), he did not throw possessions away. He did lose food and equipment when he capsized and clung to the hull of his upturned kayak for nine storm filled hours while he drifted in and out of consciousness awaiting daybreak to attempt to right his kayak.

He concluded that his body adapted to the hardships of the voyage more easily than his mind and the key to survival at sea is the confidence gained from the knowledge that the chances of survival are high if you stay with your boat. He says that the autogenic training programme he employed later inspired cosmonauts and astronauts and that the knowledge he gained was later utilised by the World Health Organisation.[/color]

Ha ha ha... that guy is nuts.

Or brilliant, resiliant, brave, and determined - depends on your perspective.

There are a lot of factors for something like that to work. Lots of them are uncontrollable. A lot of "what-ifs". So yea, a person would have to be pretty brave and lucky to make it.

Anytime someone does something like that solo... I wonder about their mental health.

Then, there was the time Ed Gillette paddled his kayak across 2200 miles of the Pacific, from California to Hawaii. In his words, [color:"green"]"Survival at sea depends on preparation, experience, and prudence -- not on the size of your boat. I had turned my kayak into one of the most seaworthy little boats in the world. I did not need to carry a life raft -- I paddled a life raft."[/color]

But, he would also admit, [color:"green"]"The trip seemed to me to be the kayaking equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest. It was the most difficult trip I could conceive of surviving."[/color]

He also wrote, [color:"green"]"I felt utterly foolish attempting to paddle to Hawaii. Who was I to attempt such an improbable feat?"[/color]"

He survived, but not after running out of food on the 60th day.

[color:"green"]"On my 60th day at sea, I ran out of food. My school of mahi-mahi had left me a week before. I had eaten my tooth paste two days earlier. There was nothing edible left in the boat, and no fish were biting my lures. Looking up, I watched a line of jet airplanes heading for Hawaii. I thought about the passengers eating from their plastic trays. My food fantasies were so real and so complete that I could recreate every detail of every restaurant I had ever visited. I could remember the taste, texture and smell of meals I had eaten several years ago. I thought about how I should have gone to a grocery store in Monterey and bought fifty cans of Spam, or chili, and stuffed the cans into my boat.[/color]

Ed's narrative written for Marblehead magazine can be found at Paddling from California to Hawaii

Oh, yeah, my wife's family has a bit on mental instability, too. Her grandmother's uncle, Frank Samuelson, a Norwegian immigrant living in New Jersey, paired with George Harbo to become the first to row across the Atlantic in 1896, covering 3250 miles from NY to England in 56 days. I believe it is a record that has yet to be broken.

As it turns out, that was the same year the Joshua Slocum was in the middle of his epic solo circumnavigation aboard Spray.

good stuff -thanks

There is of course an attempt round the horn ongoing on a 60 ftr.

http://www.theoceans.net/story/VDHapproachesCapeHornDec82003.shtml

liked the earlier post comment
" (he chatted to his spray deck which answered back), "

thought all boats spray tops answered back !

http://www.oceanrowing.com/statistics/index.htm
there is a good rowing web site also of records etc .

Mary,

Are you suggesting a risky venture? Dont you think it would be safer to sit on the beach and wait for favorable conditions and only sail when you are sure that nothing will go wrong, so as to not risk having to be rescued by the coast guard, how do you justify both positions? or are you just trying to keep up participation on the web site? (Thought I would help with the later goal)

[img]http://www.thebeachcats.com/albums2/album122/drake_ice_3.thumb.jpg" align="left[/img]It's been done! At least the narrow (500 mile) part was crossed.

Hey, I'm all for risky ventures when you have sponsorship and have a big boat accompanying you to rescue you, if necessary. Like what the guys did who sailed from the tip of South America to Antarctica. They were well funded and they had their own support and rescue system. And the guys who race from Key West to Cuba on Hobie 16's have a powerboat accompanying them.

Mary,

"Great minds think alike" I agree, it's all about risk .vs reward in my opinion. I enjoy the exhilaration of risky or uncommon adventures, but I'm always concerned with the alternative experience if things don't go well. For instance, I don't like events that only have two extreme outcomes, like sky-diving, where you either have the best experience of your life, or the last experience of your life. I don't mind risking injury (or even rescue), but instant death gives me pause.