Cats crossing the big drink

This is not quite Hobie related, but as a lover of sailing in general, I find it quite entertaining. Check out Yachtpals.com. It is an interesting website touching on all aspects of cutting edge sailing (one or two/three hulls). Recently two Frenchies crossed the Atlantic in a hopped up 20 foot beach cat with no protective cabin, etc. It seems absolutely nuts!! I think someone did a shorter line solo in September. On the Hobie forum, I read about people who want to do 100 mile trips on a Getaway. I think these recent achievements prove that with the proper gear, knowhow, and everything else needed (like giant you-know-what), this sort of adventure can be done. The men who set out to cross the Atlantic in a 20 footer are experts and still taking extreme risk...but it can be done!
Anyhow, check out the web site for some interesting "cat" news
ciao, bones

Definitely a huge achievement to sail an open boat across an ocean, but not something new...Tony Laurent and Daniel Pradle (sp?) were the first guys to sail across the Atlantic on an open beach cat. They did it about 20 years ago on a Hobie 18 Magnum. Took them about two and a half weeks. They were exhausted, starved, waterlogged, and halucinating by the time they got across, but they made it.

sm

Ah yeh...I should have done some more research before opening my mouth. Hats off to the two who did it in 1986 and on a Hobie 18 as well!! So the newest record to fall is just time related. I guess (as with many extreme sports) that just doing it is not the record; it has to be done in record time too.
bones

Did they do it intentionally? (hearing "A three-hour tour, a three-hour tour...")

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What - Me Worry?


2006 Hobie Wave 7358
"Ish Kabibble"

Yes. They were both expert sailors who spent a good deal of time preparing themselves and the boat for the voyage, but they still underestimated what the trip entailed. Basically, they were constantly wet and totally sleep deprived due to lack of shelter. They were also dehydrated and malnurished due to the fact that their water desalinator didn't work nearly as well as it was supposed to. Those were their main problems if I recall.

There was a couple page article about their journey in the Hotline at the time.

sm

If the tides were with it, a cork could cross the north Atlantic so size is not the issue, case in point Mr. Vihlen in 1992 sailed from Canada to England in a 5' 4" monohull. How crazy is that.

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06 getaway -- always remember, man with both feet in mouth have no leg to stand on.

Ah, that guy had a lid.
Alfred "centennial" Johnson sailed from Nova Scotia to Pembrokeshire, Wales UK in 1846 in an open 20 foot dory............

Lia Dutton is currently rowing across the Atlantic Ocean.
An article about it:
http://www.sailinganarchy.com/article.php?get=4893
Her blog:
http://www.oarsomechallenge.co.uk/

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1992 Hobie Cat 18 #16943
Hobie Fleet 198, Rapid City, SD