Don't ask! - part I

It's no longer about crossing oceans on tiny boats - now it's about how fast you can do it. And though someone will still try for glory on a boat made of orange peel, many unusual sailing record attempts involve a great deal of good technology. Spanish designer Sito Avilés Ramos reports on one such (successful) effort across the Atlantic

The record
The idea of crossing the Atlantic on a sport catamaran was born in 1986, when two attempts took place, the first by Frenchmen (of course) Daniel Pradel and Tony Laurent, who set the bar at 18 days and 22 hours. The second attempt that year was by Swiss solo skipper Laurent Bourgnon sailing with Frederic Geraldi, who slashed two days off the original mark.

There were many attempts on the Bourgnon/Geraldi record, but all failed until 1999, when the well-prepared Dutch team of Hans Bouscholte and Gerard Navarin achieved a time of 15d 2h 26m. Then in 2004 Italians Andrea Gancia and Matteo Miceli decided to make an attempt, on the back of their wide offshore experience, both shorthanded and fully crewed. The goal was to create a new 20-footer at the forefront of current technology and to cross the Atlantic, from Dakar, in Senegal, to Guadeloupe Island, 2,700 miles away in the French Antilles, in under 15 days.

To read the remainder of this and many other topical technical articles, please purchase your copy of the November 2005 edition of Seahorse International Sailing available at selected newsstands or by calling: + 44 (0) 1590 671899 or by email at: info@seahorse.co.uk

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