Virgin Money på väg
Nu är gänget på Virgin Moner (Speedboat) på väg. Det är Alex Jackson, Richard Branson, Mike Sanderson och navigatören Stan Honey med besättning som har gett sig fan på att slå rekordet över Nordatlanten. Blåsigt och skitkallt enligt Branson som skriver löpande:
We have been out here now just over 24 hours but it feels like 24 days. Leaving New York we have a magnificent sight of the Statue of Liberty and it wasn’t until then that it hit home what we were embarking on. The winds have been up to gale force 8 and we’ve had sea swells up to 35 feet and seen speeds of 30 knots. It is difficult trying to get used to having only three hours sleep and as the breast of the ship crashes over every wave a loud shudder runs down through the whole boat – brutal but amazing.
The weather hasn’t eased off at all and we all decided that rather than go around the storm, which would add a few hours onto our record attempt, we would try to ride straight through it. The boat is making tremendous speeds of 30 knots and the crew are holding up well, despite the buffeting we are all getting.
Även Mike Sanderson uppdaterar sin sida. Och Alex Jackson som äger Speedboat skrev innan start:
Probably leave for Transatlantic attempt tonight Share Yesterday at 6:20pm (Tuesday evening:
this is all starting to come together very quickly now. VIRGIN SPEEDBOAT should be getting into NYC about 4pm today. most of the crew is arriving right now.
We are going to be attempting to break the transatlantic monohull record in a pretty nontraditional way. typically you reach over a high pressure system on starboard tack the wind pushes you along the great circle route GCR(which is the shortest distance) on a broad reach, if you catch it right the sea state is pretty calm.
this fall that has not been possible, however, we see a pretty good opportunity to start with a low pressure system which is not moving very fast but is strong, we will be starting on Port tack. Hopefully the wind should be 280-300degrees or North West. the problem with the route is that if we go to high/north and try to get close to the GCR there is a good chance that the wind shifts North N to NorthEast NE and gets very very strong, 45+ knots. Survivalbility then becomes a lot more difficult and the risk of equipment failure goes way up. Staying low is a lot safer but also a lot longer, tommorow night the conditions are going to be really tough regardless, 40+ knots. the plan is to slow down a lot and try to work thru the nasty parts. to do this we will use a lot less sail area and also dial back the righting moment by using less cant, less ballast, and cut back on the stacking, tip the boat way over and just try to feather thru it, i would imagine that we will be pretty far back on record pace at that point.
There is a decent chance that we bust up something the first night and we end up back in Newport or Bermuda
thursday-saturday we should be able to throttle up to max and try to get back the miles. if we are going to get a record we will have to be on fire then.
Sunday night should be really difficult not sure we are going to deal with that yet.
Monday should be the big one. 24 hour speed record day, if we are still operating at 100% we should really be able to do some good things in the models hold in there.
the key is going to smart and really careful thru the nasty parts and try to make it up when we can. it is always going to be 50/50 on something like this. in this case the odds are probably less. fingers crossed!
it is going to be COLD!
Oct 23, 2008 @ 18:33
Hur många sekunders tvekan för att ta tjänstledigt och vara med?
Inga!!
T-son
Oct 24, 2008 @ 19:28
Tog slut ganska fort det där… http://uk.virginmoney.com/challenge/
Oct 25, 2008 @ 13:30
Låter som de hade skoj iallafall ;-)