June 15th, 2017: Microyacht Sailing

[xoxoxoBruce]

Matt Kent decided he wanted to sail his yacht across the Atlantic, solo.
Solo is a good Idea because his yacht, “Undaunted”, is 42” (1m) long, and 42” wide.

In 1965 Robert Manry sailed his 13ft 6in Tinkerbelle from Massachusetts to England, and the modern ‘microyacht’ trend was born. Tinkerbelle was followed by the 12ft Nonoalca and 8ft Bathtub across the Atlantic.
By 1968 Hugo Vilhen had made the smallest ocean crossing yet, sailing his 6ft April Fool from Casablanca to Miami. Vilhen went on to cross the Atlantic in his 5ft 4in Father’s Day, while in 2002, Tom McNally attempted, but failed, to cross the Atlantic in the absurdly tiny 3ft 11in Vera Hugh II.

Provisions are stowed under Kent’s feet. “I have enough food – half freeze-dried – for six months at 1,500 calories a day. I have intentionally put on 20 extra pounds for the trip as well.
“My diet consists of nuts, dried fruit, protein powder, nutrition bars, a variety of soups, stews, pasta, peanut butter, Nutella and so on. I have a huge variety as well as 64,000 extra calories in the form of two gallons of olive oil to add to my food.
“None of my food needs cooking but I do have a 12V/120W heat coil wand to heat water for dinner or tea or coffee, if I can afford the power. With a two-minute boil time I should be able to use it often. All of this fits in the bilge and down the keel.”

Undaunted has no engine, so the watermaker and battery charger will be operated by hand and foot pumps. “I have two 1.2-gallon manual reverse-osmosis desalinators. One would be more than enough, but water is nothing to mess with. “I will also have one month’s worth of water on board and one month of food that doesn’t need to be rehydrated if the watermakers fail or if I am injured and can’t pump.
Making water and electricity will be part of my daily exercise.
“Also I will be able to swim behind the boat with a dual tether and harness system.”
The keel fresh water tank is divided into four ten-gallon compartments to avoid loss of stability in the event that Kent uses the water. Each can then be separately refilled with seawater.

“Not only is the thought of coming home better than showing up someplace else after a long voyage alone, but it means that by the time I am in US waters I will have just crossed 4,600 miles of open ocean.
“If I can, I will pull into port, raise my Q flag and wait for Customs there. If I am near shore and I become too much of a traffic hazard, we will have a small boat come retrieve me.
“We are trying to make sure we don’t get in the way of other people’s livelihood or put anyone at risk with a needless rescue operation.”

Specifications
Length: 1m (42in)
Draught: 1.5m (60in)
Weight: 544kg unladen (1,200lb), or 816kg laden (1,800lb)
Hull Speed: 2.5 knots
Sail area: 49.5sq ft (square sail) plus 27sq ft (rafee)

He got a shitload of communications equipment so I guess he's trying to be stupid safely.

link

link

[glatt]

Is he a double leg amputee or particularly short? If not, how can he lie down to sleep? The diagonal of 42 by 42 is 59.4". Just under 5 feet. And that's the theoretical diagonal. when you are a foot wide, you can't get the ends of your body down into the corners, so you can only use about 4 feet of those 5 feet.

Seriously. How's he going to sleep? How's he going to avoid deep vein thrombosis?

[glatt]

I read the link. Should have done that first. He's got it figured out. He isn't going to lie down. He will sleep all contorted.

The craziest thing I saw, and perhaps most ingenious? when seas are rough, he will close the hatch and get his breathing air down the center of the hollow mast. The mast is a big snorkel.

[phelps]

Go for it -- we need more adventurers.

He's got a solid plan. He's got contingencies for his contingencies. Let's see how he does.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by glatt

The craziest thing I saw, and perhaps most ingenious? when seas are rough, he will close the hatch and get his breathing air down the center of the hollow mast. The mast is a big snorkel.

Hopefully with two air passages, or a way to create negative pressure in the capsule... a long snorkel is not a snorkel.

[Gravdigr]

It's a giant bong.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Two tubes with one way valves in the mast, which connect to a mask for breathing, even submerged.

[blueboy56]

A couple of things: how does he get out of the way of a reeeeealy big ship, i.e a tanker and how does he keep from being used as a floss thingy for a sperm whale?

[lumberjim]

Bon chance

[Brownie77]

Originally Posted by glatt

Is he a double leg amputee or particularly short? If not, how can he lie down to sleep? The diagonal of 42 by 42 is 59.4". Just under 5 feet. And that's the theoretical diagonal. when you are a foot wide, you can't get the ends of your body down into the corners, so you can only use about 4 feet of those 5 feet.

Seriously. How's he going to sleep? How's he going to avoid deep vein thrombosis?

Maybe he just sticks the legs out of the porthole for a nigh Truth be told it doesn't look all that comfy. On the other hand, I have seen worse. This one at least function right.

[xoxoxoBruce]

That settles it, I'm having all my future yachts built elsewhere.

[glatt]

I know I'm supposed to ban spammers and links in first posts, but Brownie is doing a heck of a job putting his link it in an appropriate thread and making the comment fit the thread. I just don't have it in me. Besides those pictures show some shoddy detail work in that yacht. McMansions of the sea.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Supposed to? You're supposed to use your good judgement. I think you have, and I agree with your call.

It's an excellent link, I spend a lot of time looking at workmanship that defines a whole new level of shoddy. There seems to be a fuck the rich guy mentality, without regard to the shipyards reputation.

[Undertoad]

Stuff I get from the Cellar Contact Us Link

Good morning,

My name is M***** C*******, the Reputation Manager of an Italian Web Reputation Company and I am writing you on behalf of my client Sanlorenzo Yachts SpA, from Italy.

I kindly ask you to remove the following URL http://sanlorenzo-sucks.com/gallery/ hidden behind the word "worse" in reference to the thread #10 published by user "Brownie77" on November 6th, 2017 on this page: http://cellar.org/showthread.php?p=998275#poststop

I know that this post has been published by a user that is a fake.
Currently we have a lawsuit against him for internet defamation, this is the reason I am asking for you about the URL removal.

Thank you in advance for you collaboration.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best Regards,

M**** C*******
San Lorenzo SpA - Reputation Manager

[glatt]

At first I was all confused and disappointed in myself that I missed a hidden link in a first post, but then I read the thread further for context and see that I actually saw it and let it pass. I must be getting old. No memory of doing that.

McMansions of the sea, I like that. Resonates with me for some reason.

Seems like the Cellar doesn't have a huge stake in this feud. I did find that link interesting though. I never thought about how rich people who buy stupid expensive shit also have to deal with quality issues. It's obvious in hindsight. The more things you have, the more things you have to maintain or otherwise deal with.

A simple life is good thing.