http://sailor.life
Looks like he is finally getting underway...
I have wondered, though, at some of his plans. He is going to be using a ton of electricity - live streaming video and audio and surfing the 'net, etc, plus what he needs for lighting and such - but there is a dearth of solar panels on his boat. His primary water storage seems to be 5 gallon jerry cans strapped to the lifelines. That'll work, so long as waves aren't boarding the boat, but the A30 does not have a lot of freeboard and they tend to heel, so that may not be the best place for stowing them. Also, his plan for exercise is to tie a kayak to the boat and jump in it, paddling behind the A30 as she sails. This just doesn't seem like a good idea at all. The kayak is inflatable, the slowest type, and the attachment points for that security/towing line, they better be damned beefy, because it would *suck* to be sitting in a kayak with a lone water bottle while watching all of your stores sailing over the far horizon at a speed you could never hope to match...
I do hope he has thought all this through. Regardless -
Best of luck to him, I do hope he does all right!
Looks like a great adventure, but has something already broke? No update since Aug 20th. A quick read and I thought there was "realtime" info.
Agree CapnK, power generation looks a little sparse, but then I can't find any details other then an A30 and 500L of water. One post seemed to imply electric motor.
Best of luck to him.
The water cans lashed to the lifelines does seem poor logistics. No experience on that first hand, but many of the voyaging stories that I have read of modern man and equipment, it seems about half that did so, lost the jerry cans and part of the lifelines in storms.
For a non stop voyage, 200 pounds of food is not much, even if a lot of it is freeze dried. This is not necessarily a big deal if he is not irrationally committed to non stop, of course.
I was disappointed in the graphic of the A30, as it seemed to be the stock boat.
The GPS tracker shows him still in the St. Lawrence River
The description of the inner stay being installed "for better balance" sounds much as something a non sailor would say. I would hope that the real reason is a final sail reduction in a storm.
The wind generator should produce a lot of power in the trade winds, and when becalmed, there often are little clouds, so the solar should be adequate to run the minimum required equipment.
I do hope that they give some still photos of Little Sark in its final configuration as she leaves land behind.
The leg to Cape of Good Hope should be a fine shake down to see if the boat and sailor are up to the trip before the commitment to the Southern Ocean and its violence.
I wish him well!
He updated a couple days ago. Still on the St Lawrence, 'bout midway between Montreal and Quebec. He is taking his time getting to the sea! Wonder how that is going to affect his RTW plans, his window of summer is opening already down south, and might be closing by the time gets there...