Transatlantic rowing

[rbgarr]

Here's a video of a group thinking of doing it in a multihull. It looks like there's not enough room for all the rowers to shelter from really bad weather and even shifting rowers between those on watch and those off looks dicey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUyD9...ayer_embedded#!

[Garret]

Wow.

Sculls instead of sweeps? Rowing a 4, I'd certainly think one oar per rower would be far easier to handle in rough water. Then I notice they aren't feathering? Is that because the setup won't allow it? That could cause problems. Jackline for the tethers is a good idea, but the oars rub on it. Bet they'll wear through it in several thousand miles. That boat has a lot of windage. I hope they'll be rowing with the wind & not against it.

I agree with you on shelter & shifting rowers. All in all, I hope they do a lot of training & redesigning before they go!

[paul oman]

see some of the competition at:

http://www.rowing4worldrecord.webs.com/

[Woxbox]

Not especially my idea of fun:

On being asked about the health and happiness of the rest of Team Hallin, David said they were all fine but well blistered. Excluding ‘hot-spots’, David alone was sporting 27 blisters of varying severity. The others were in a similar state, but getting used to dealing with them.

“Bottom sores are beginning to grow worse. We will start cutting sections out of our padded seats appropriately to accommodate the worst affected areas.

[Garret]

Not especially my idea of fun:

When I rowed competitively, the first 2 weeks were hell. Basically your entire palm & fingers get worn raw. After a while, callus builds & it's OK. I was only doing it for 3 hours a day though. I can imagine those seats will be killers. Were I on one of those boats, I'd suggest custom molded seats - 'cause they'll be on them for days at a time.

[Woxbox]

But doesn't cutting out the spots that rub the most only transfer the pain to areas not yet blistered? Any they're only a few days into the trip.

[Garret]

But doesn't cutting out the spots that rub the most only transfer the pain to areas not yet blistered? Any they're only a few days into the trip.

Yup. I hadn't realized that they'd already started. If they didn't callus their hands before starting they are going to suffer hugely.

[rbgarr]

There's always Roz Savages's nekkid butt/sheepskin solution:



but she could rest and recuperate when she needed. Not part of a team driving each other on regardless. Quite a gal! http://yachtpals.com/roz-savage-3052

[Dale R. Hamilton]

and they are feathering!!! how appropriate for the Thames. This is a pipe dream if there ever was one. One little wave broadside will swamp that thing- no shelter to speak of. That happy giggling crew needs to take that thing out on open ocean during gale conditions to make reality sink in.

[Hwyl]

How do they think this stuff up. By the way the buttocks posted in RRbgarrs picture are Lia Ditton, not Roz Savage

[rbgarr]

Thanks, Gareth!

So there's more than one woman out there doing that!!? Excellent. Brilliant. Made my day! The dynamics of a trip like that are fraught with complication. There are logs online of these rowing passages. One I read was of one one oarsman having unbearably painful boils while the other had none, another was of a husband who couldn't hack it and was taken off leaving his wife to choose whether to go on alone. She did and made it. Another of two Italians who treated themselves to champagne and swimming and had a gay old time. Throwing in a boat design that seems unsuited closes in on asking for troubles.

[Hwyl]

I always wonder about the times, once they are at 18 degrees or so they are going to drift at 1.5 knots, add a bit of windage for a bit more speed and a lot of food,and you'd cross in 60 days just dangling oars in the water

[Presuming Ed]

Row underway. Current record is about 33 days

http://www.oceanrowing.com/SaraG_2011_comparative.htm

[rbgarr]

... and Sara G, a monohull, is making better time than Hallin, the trimaran, but it's a hell of a race:

http://www.oceanrowing.com/SaraG_2011_comparative.htm

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

How do they think this stuff up. By the way the buttocks posted in RRbgarrs picture are Lia Ditton, not Roz Savage

He is, as usual, right....
Shy thing