‘Mad’ Englishman Update: Crossing the Atlantic in a three footer Sailboat

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OverEasy
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‘Mad’ Englishman Update: Crossing the Atlantic in a three footer Sailboat

Post by OverEasy »

Hi All

Current update on that ‘mad’ Englishman attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a 3 foot long homemade sailboat ⛵️

https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2023 ... ee-footer/

Best Regards
Over Easy 😎😎🐩🐈
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kurz
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Re: ‘Mad’ Englishman Update: Crossing the Atlantic in a three footer Sailboat

Post by kurz »

two things: What a stupid idea...

But: even if you plan it, you have to think about how you get water out of your bowl under your a$$.
Second: Why you want to lift a boat out of the water when it is full? I would never lift my :macm: out of the water when full. I would step by step pump water out, then lift some inches... I don't understand.
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Russ
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Re: ‘Mad’ Englishman Update: Crossing the Atlantic in a three footer Sailboat

Post by Russ »

Interesting challenge. At first it looks like he designed a clever vessel, although I can't imagine sitting in it that long.

Well, he didn't get very far. Poor bloke turned around after 2 days and got his boat smashed to bits.

https://www.pbo.co.uk/news/big-c-atlant ... ater-76886
--Russ
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Re: ‘Mad’ Englishman Update: Crossing the Atlantic in a three footer Sailboat

Post by pitchpolehobie »

Big self promoter, pointless record..whats next riding a lawnchair to the moon? Couldnt make it out of the harbor and couldnt make it 2 days on the water. Clearly the "vessel" is best suited for attempts over the falls of niagara.
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OverEasy
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Re: ‘Mad’ Englishman Update: Crossing the Atlantic in a three footer Sailboat

Post by OverEasy »

Hi All

Thanks Russ for the additional link info.👍

I don’t don’t that the limited budget and trans-Atlantic transport to the starting point in Canada may have damaged the boat.
Like any vessel inexperienced man handlers in shipping have damaged many a boat and project.
The “Me big strong moron can abuse anything me wants to” idiots are out there.
Heck, I’ve personally watch them practicethere ‘trade’ and attempt to hide what they’ve done first hand…so I can suspect that may have been a contributing factor. The lower the budget shipper used the more apt things like that can occur.

The builder probably never considered the need to potentially lift out with a fully flooded hull…most don’t even on high end vessels, never mind on one off vessels like BigC. Don’t know what the specifics of the lift out were but obviously those doing it were not professionals as they attempted the lift from the deck fittings with a fully flooded hull…Moronity at its best!

While I don’t disagree that the Englishman might be a bit mad in wanting to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a 3 ft boat I do admire the personal courage, conviction and courage he exhibited for a good cause. I’m personally very very very glad he had the ability and courage to return to safe harbor when his water ingress issues arose and nothing worse happened. So some ham fisted klutz bolixed the task of the outhaul…it doesn’t mean that the Englishman’s efforts were in vain.

Give him a bit of time to recover, some time to get over the loss, a good bit of support and assistance and he’ll probably be able to have another go at it all…better and wiser and more capable than before.

Remember the Titanic sank on her first voyage too and the White Star Line as well as the passenger carrying ocean liners safety and operations were significantly improved on subsequent vessels 🚢

Personally I hope he gives it another try!👍
I also hope that some professional maritime engineers as well as professional ship builders can help him rebuild better, stronger and more seaworthy than the first go round (rather than a guy on his lonesome as was pretty much his lot this first time).

Just my 2 cents…

Best Regards
Over Easy 😎😎🐩🐈
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kurz
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Re: ‘Mad’ Englishman Update: Crossing the Atlantic in a three footer Sailboat

Post by kurz »

OverEasy wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 11:24 pm Hi All

...
While I don’t disagree that the Englishman might be a bit mad in wanting to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a 3 ft boat I do admire the personal courage, conviction and courage he exhibited for a good cause.
Over Easy 😎😎🐩🐈 ...
Interesisting. I'm not with you... Looks stupid for me to cross with a sailboat smaller than 1 meter the atlantic. What would this help for the sayiling community??

Better go for this: Cross the Atlantic in a :macm: in standard configuartion :D
This was a real thing a would bring much of practical skills to thousends of MacSailors :)
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Re: ‘Mad’ Englishman Update: Crossing the Atlantic in a three footer Sailboat

Post by Jimmyt »

According to the Article in Russ’s link, there was more to the guy than what I saw in the videos.
Andrew, who is from Scarisbrick, Lancashire, has spent years sailing small boats, finishing the Jester Baltimore Challenge in 2015 aboard his 23ft Hunter 707, Outlaw.

He has circumnavigated Britain solo in a 6.5m Mini Transat 6.50, and then sailed the boat from Cumbria to Iceland and into the Arctic Circle.

The Big C Atlantic Challenge aimed to raise money for Cancer Research in tribute to Tom McNally and Andrew’s mother and father, who also both died from cancer.
So, while I agree that it looks like a Niagara Falls “barrel”, it seems like he had a pretty good sailing resume, and was doing it for a good cause. Doing any sort of “expeditionary” task, that you can’t fund yourself, requires a lot of self-promoting just to get the funds to pull it off. Not my cup of tea, but I understand it.

As an engineer, and a sailor, it breaks my heart to see him fail; and see that the boat was destroyed. No one owns a portable pump? I can’t imagine they were stupid enough to try and lift a boat full of water by the deck fittings. They could have bailed it out with a red solo cup in about 5 minutes….
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Russ
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Re: ‘Mad’ Englishman Update: Crossing the Atlantic in a three footer Sailboat

Post by Russ »

"The Big C Atlantic Challenge aimed to raise money for Cancer Research in tribute to Tom McNally and Andrew’s mother and father, who also both died from cancer."
A noble cause indeed. And of course, the chance to get into record books.

The vessel seemed to be well engineered save for the fact that it sprung a leak 2 days in. Probably lucky not in the middle of the N. Atlantic.

I too hope he tries again. Certainly not something that interests me, but I enjoy seeing adventurers.
--Russ
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Re: ‘Mad’ Englishman Update: Crossing the Atlantic in a three footer Sailboat

Post by NiceAft »

OverEasy wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 11:24 pm Hi All

Thanks Russ for the additional link info.👍

I don’t don’t that the limited budget and trans-Atlantic transport to the starting point in Canada may have damaged the boat.
Like any vessel inexperienced man handlers in shipping have damaged many a boat and project.
The “Me big strong moron can abuse anything me wants to” idiots are out there.
Heck, I’ve personally watch them practicethere ‘trade’ and attempt to hide what they’ve done first hand…so I can suspect that may have been a contributing factor. The lower the budget shipper used the more apt things like that can occur.

The builder probably never considered the need to potentially lift out with a fully flooded hull…most don’t even on high end vessels, never mind on one off vessels like BigC. Don’t know what the specifics of the lift out were but obviously those doing it were not professionals as they attempted the lift from the deck fittings with a fully flooded hull…Moronity at its best!

While I don’t disagree that the Englishman might be a bit mad in wanting to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a 3 ft boat I do admire the personal courage, conviction and courage he exhibited for a good cause. I’m personally very very very glad he had the ability and courage to return to safe harbor when his water ingress issues arose and nothing worse happened. So some ham fisted klutz bolixed the task of the outhaul…it doesn’t mean that the Englishman’s efforts were in vain.

Give him a bit of time to recover, some time to get over the loss, a good bit of support and assistance and he’ll probably be able to have another go at it all…better and wiser and more capable than before.

Remember the Titanic sank on her first voyage too and the White Star Line as well as the passenger carrying ocean liners safety and operations were significantly improved on subsequent vessels 🚢

Personally I hope he gives it another try!👍
I also hope that some professional maritime engineers as well as professional ship builders can help him rebuild better, stronger and more seaworthy than the first go round (rather than a guy on his lonesome as was pretty much his lot this first time).

Just my 2 cents…

Best Regards
Over Easy 😎😎🐩🐈
I believe you are going a bit too far with the
“Me big strong moron can abuse anything me wants to” idiots are out there.
Andrew Bedwell made it clear that straps could not be wrapped around the boat.
“We got back to the harbour and the boat basically sunk, because she was full of water and we had to lift her out by her framework rather than putting straps underneath the boat. We lifted her up, got her up to the harbour wall and the framework gave way and she dropped down onto the harbour side and basically it has destroyed the boat,” explained an emotional Andrew.
As a well educated blue collar worker, at times I may be too sensitive when I read/hear such stereotyping. I’ve had people refuse to believe my background because I speak and dress too well. They ask my wife if I am telling the truth; stereotyping.

Sorry to rant on.
Ray ~~_/)~~
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Re: ‘Mad’ Englishman Update: Crossing the Atlantic in a three footer Sailboat

Post by Wyb2 »

Kind of an odd story. I’m guessing he had some way to bail the boat, but figured he didn’t want to rely on doing it for 40 days or so, so he’d turn around and see if he could fix the issue.

Falling during the lift really seems odd though. The thing is literally smaller than a bathtub, it physically couldn’t carry much more maybe 100 gallons of water. If the boat was filled up to his waist, and weighed 500 lbs dry (I doubt it), we are talking maybe 1000 lbs. Two #10 screws could lift that (not with an “overhead lift” safety margin, but they could).

Either his boatbuilding skills were severely lacking, or there were some complicating factors that aren’t clear.
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Re: ‘Mad’ Englishman Update: Crossing the Atlantic in a three footer Sailboat

Post by OverEasy »

Hi Nice Aft

Not saying all…but as you well know there are some and all it takes is one.

It’s just an IMO.
Lifting out anything when full of water is a first rate and hard NO.
Yes it probably was swamped but that’s no excuse for a professional.
SOP would be to get the rim above water and pump it out before lifting further.
In having had the responsibility to deal with salvage and recovery operations for a variety of unique situations caution and preparation are key. In most cases “accidents aren’t “ and could have been avoided.

I’m suspecting there may have been in transit mishandling that may have compromised the hull integrity leading to the water ingress. I could very well be wrong but considering it’s a pile of scrap now it could be a ‘tad difficult’ to look into that now.

I’ve personally experienced ham fisted material handlers callously mishandling specialized cargo resulting in substantial damages.
It’s why on most of the larger products I’ve had shipped I’ve incorporated shock / load sensors and recording equipment.
It’s more than once provided the date and time of a mishandling occurrence.
This has occurred on valuable and marked cargo for special handling such as jet engines, aircraft hardware, as well as specialized industrial equipment. Knowing the date and time of occurrence has allowed back tracing to location/facility/operator and in several cases surveillance camera footage of the actual events.

There are a lot of good careful experienced material handlers and equipment operators who do fantastic professional work and have made it their career but as you well know there are others who don’t belong in those positions of responsibility.

IMO any series of events that results in any raised object free falling isn’t an accident.
Fortunately it appears that no one was physically injured.
It would be interesting to see if there was an appropriate incident evaluation report ….

Meanwhile I do appreciate those individuals who do take care and pride in their work and ensure that what they do is done appropriately.
They DO DESERVE respect for the work they do, the planning, checking, the coordination, and considered input that they do is to be appreciated.

Best Regards,
Over Easy 😎😎🐩🐈
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