14 year old crossing Atlantic in 28' sailboat

[BK]

eric3a, your inflatable surfing mat would make a great emergency device if the boat hits a reef or a whale. It would enable you to get to a beach and surf it in too if there were waves. You should market it to boaters.
In a situation like the Titanic it would keep you out of the freezing water.
Every cabin on a ship should have one for each passenger.
I was watched a program on the sinking of the Andria Dora and they could not launch the lifeboats as the ship was heeling too much. If they had a floating device like your mat they could have a better chance of being saved.

[Catigale]

I dont think they lost anyone in the Andrea Doria post-collision - they had enough redundancy in the lifeboats that a single side of the liner carried enough capacity to get the crew and passengers to safety.

I think they lost 39 on impact IIRC??

[Terry]

How much more lead are you thinking about adding? I believe the principle of diminishing returns kicks in, the higher up the keel you go with added weight. You might consider having a 200 lb bulb made and bolt on the bottom of the keel. Now that would be cool.

I have 55 lbs now and am thinking of going another 20 or so. I think the existing lead fills about the bottom 10 inches of the daggerboard so I think there's still advantage to adding more. A bulb would be nice but melting lead and pouring it in (or mix with resin as some have suggested) is so easy to do. I did add a steel pipe lengthwise for support too but that's also easy.

55 lbs doesn't sound like much but at the bottom of the daggerboard it makes a difference.

Dan

OK, both you guys and others have these weighted keels. Leon IIRC you got a custom daggerboard from IDA, right? Dan (BB) says easy enough...must have exp/equip. For the rest of us who may be interested in a modified daggerboard but lack the means & knowhow, what course could we pursue to aquire one? I perused Kelly-Hanson site but saw nothing, nor did I see anything at IDAsailor but the concept sounds interesting enough for future consideration. I would prefer something prefab to homemade. Anyone out there contemplating a production run?

[BK]

Yes, deaths only occured at the time of the collision on the Andrea Doria. Many other ships came to the Andrea Doria's rescue and no one else was lost.
One girl whose cabin was at the point of impact ended up on the bow of the other ship and was called the miracle girl as she lived.
The Captain sent out a message SOS to the ship Ile De France and they arrived within 2 hours and got most of the passengers with their lifeboats.
I must have missed that the Andrea Doria was able to launch their own lifeboats from one side.

[Scott]

I dunnoh about the wait until theyre of age thing, WW thats kida a redundant post "wait until theyre of age" and "This comes from a guy that jumped out of planes to rescue people as a teen"

Most of my super adventures were back when my pops turned his head and my mom watched and cringed. Some of the top adventures were had with my dad.

[BK]

On the TV today, thay annouced that the 14 year old is one day behind but is expected to arrive tomorrow, Thursday, in Antigua.

[Graham Carr]

Mike has already reached his port. They arrived this morning. The tracking map shows them at the island. This is from his log yesterday;

Update 02/01/07
By 8 am in the morning we were about 40 miles from Antigua and we took down our sails to drift, but unfortunately we drifted in the wrong direction slightly so at about 6pm in the evening we put the sails up and we sailed for a couple of hours so we could drift overnight ready for our arrival tomorrow


FYI: Info on Robin Graham and the Dove
He did not set fire to his boat, (unless I’m missing the boat ). His stove did flare up once, but it only singed his eyelashes and soot went all over the cabin, this happened on the second Dove.
Robin did complete his journey but he did not sail around the world in the Ranger 23 as depicted in the movie. He actually sailed the majority of his trip in a 1960 Lapworth. He set sail in 1965. The Ranger 23 was not built until 1971. This was about 11 years after Robin’s boat was built and 6 years after he started his journey. The base price for the “Lapworth” in 1960 was $4,750.00 (per sales brochure). The boat was five years old when his father purchased it for $5500.00. Robin sold his Lapworth in Saint Thomas for $4725, after he purchased a new “Luders 33” built by the allied boat company. He named his new boat “Return of Dove”. After his journey was completed, he sold “Return of Dove” and purchased 160 acres in Montana. National Geographic has a nice photo of both (“Dove” and “Return of Dove” in Deadman Bay on Peter Island) in the October 1970 issue. If anyone is interested in reading the articles from National Geographic, the issues are October 1968, April 1969 and October 1970. You might find them at your local library.
Apparently the movie producers did not like the looks of the Lapworth so they choose the Ranger 23 because she was more photogenic. They purchased 6 boats. Four of the boats were cut in half for interior shots. Two were a few feet amidships forward and aft. The other two were cut a foot off center line to Starboard and Port. So the movie is based for the most part on the journey and not true to the boat.
Two Lapworth boats (24') were produced, the 24 Lapworth with a cabin trunk (the model Graham sailed) and the Lapworth 24 Gladiator which was a raised deck cabin. The original manufactures sales brochure stated that this hull sailed to Hawaii in 15 days. Frank Guernsey sailed his Lapworth 24 Gladiator, "Cestus" from Redondo Beach, California to Uruguay, sailing around Cape Horn. His non stop journey took 128-day. You can read about his journey in the book “Racing the ice to Cape Horn”, by Frank Gvernsey & Cy Zoerner. I have just started this book!

Graham Carr

[jackie m]

We've changed.

I was watching one of the learning channels the other night and there was a documentary about two parties (Willie and Martin) that immigrated from England to the United States in 1856 traveling west to Salt Lake City, Utah. They ran into some bad weather and between 135 and 150 of just one party died. One letter regarding the ordeal was written by a widow whose husband died during the trip leaving her with three children to finish the near-impossible trip. Many children arrived as orphans.

Pioneers and Cowboys

Had it not been for pioneers with that kind of grit, determination, and "carlessness" about their families' safety, I'm not sure what our country would look like today. There are humans who still have that "drive" in them. What do you do with it? As for myself, I'm 5th generation Texan from English and Scottish immigrants that forged a new life out of the wilderness in the 17th and 18th centuries. My great great great great great great grandfater brought his seven children from Ulster in 1735 (either his wife, my 6X grandmother, died before he left or perished on the trip) on a perilous journey to help settle a new world establishing a lumber business. Didn't have to. Just decided it was the thing to do. Put seven small children at risk on an overseas journey on a wooden ship. I'm glad he did it.

Just my .02 and not worth any more than that

jackie m

[jackie m]

On the TV today, thay annouced that the 14 year old is one day behind but is expected to arrive tomorrow, Thursday, in Antigua.

He's arrived.

British schoolboy sails across Atlantic and into history



jackie m

[eric3a]

..

[BK]

Graham, thanks for Dove info. Where did you find all this? Too bad he did not sail one boat around the world as it would be worth seeing like Sir Francis Chichester's "Gipsy Moth" which is on display in London's Maritime museum at Greenwich.
Do you know what Robin is doing these days?

[Graham Carr]

Hi BK
Sorry it took so long to get back to you, No I do not know what Robin is up to. Yes it‘s a shame he did not complete his journey in little “Dove” but he grew tired of the small boat, plus he said he did not feel she was sea-worthy anymore. I think that was his way of justifying moving up.

You asked; where did I get my info. It’s funny; I was watching one of the old “Twilight Zone” shows the other night. It was about a guy, who loved to read. In a nutshell, he never had enough time to read. One day he ended up as the last man on earth, and now he had all the time he wanted to read, but then he broke his eye glasses. My wife said; “hey that’s you!” Hi my name is Graham and I’m a book geek or book worm, what ever you like. Anyway I love to research stuff, especially boats.

I first read Robin’s book in 1976 and have read it a few times since. Several years ago I decided to look for the National Geographic articles. The articles have some great photos of Robin. The facts about his trip can be found in the books and articles. I also have the movie. I like watching the sailing scenes, but the movie is misleading. As I said before he never set fire to his boat, nor did he go crazy. I could go on, but I don’t want to spoil the book. While watching the movie, I noticed that the boats were not the same. So I turned to the internet to research the Ranger 23. I found a few sites that had some great information. The Ranger 23 looks like a nice boat. I considered buying one, but decided on the Mac 26 X.

Some info on the “Lapworth”; go here

Ranger 23 Newsletters (1994-2002):go here. and then click on the “R-23 Archives”. Here you will find info on the ‘Dove” boats.

To see an excellent Ranger 23 restoration project go here.

To see Line drawing and specs go here.

Ranger Sailboat Owners Association go here.

I like searching through used book stores; you can find some great stories like;

One of my favorite is; “Tinkerbelle” by Robert Manry. He crossed the Atlantic in a 13 ½ foot sloop, 5/31/65 to 8/17/65. His boat is on display at the Crawford Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. go here.
If you want to see some original film footage (Excellent film) taken by Robert while underway go here. Click on the video link.

“Across the U.S.A. by boat” Bill & Kathy Dimond started in Juneau, Alaska and traveled down the coast to Washington/ Oregon. They traveled East on the Columbia & Missouri River. Up to the great lakes and then down the East coast to Key West, Florida. This was an 8500-mile trip, with only two small portages totaling about 400 miles. The boat was only a 20’ open cockpit (no cabin) power boat. That was in 1968

“How to sail the Atlantic alone” Ed Lormand sailed “Folly from Fernandina Beach, Florida to England during 1977 in a Yankee 28, LOA: 27'-9”, Beam: 8'-7", Draft: 4'8"

“Alone against the Atlantic” Gerry Spiess sailed “Yankee Girl” from Virginia to England during 1979 in a 10 foot sloop that he designed and built.

Ok I’ll stop after all this is a Mac site .
Graham Carr

[BK]

Graham, As a sea historian, do you know what happened to the lifeboat that Captain Bligh used when the crew put him and 18 other men into to sail over 3000 miles to safety?
I was at the British Maritime Museum which has a small area dedicated to the Bounty but no info on the small lifeboat.
The story is one of the best sea adventures ever completed by man.
The title is "Ninteen men against the Sea".

[BK]

Also, I was on Google looking at Dove info and someone posted that the boat "Return of the Dove", Robin's big Dove boat was found in Hawaii, restored and brought back to Atlanta to be put in a play about the Dove.

[Catigale]

BK - Ive got to add Ernest Shackleon to that list of all time marine accomplishments - on top of all of his other skills...

YOu start with an Antarctic voyage Depart Dec 1914...get stuck in ice in Jan 1915

Lose you ship in October 1915 - it sank in the pack ice as it was crushed

THen sail a 22 foot long boat to ELephant Island through the treacherous Cape waters

NExt step sail 800 miles on almost dead reckoning (A New Zealander named Frank Worlsey was the Nav on this trip, and his prowess was probably one of the most under-acknowledged piece of seamanship in modern times), as you couldnt shoot sights very often in the weather...if you missed South Georgia you end up in the South Atlantic - very lonely

..and once you get there, scale a mountain range to get help for the rest of the crew left on Elephant Island....finally getting there Aug 1916

Whew...somehow I dont feel so clever just because I can figure out how to get spark plugs out of a Volvo...