On Wednesday, 71-year-old French adventurer Jean-Jacques Savin set off to cross the Atlantic in an unlikely craft — a barrel. He departed from El Hierro, one of the Canary Islands, west of Morocco, in a barrel-shaped capsule with the intention of drifting, carried by the winds and currents, across the Atlantic Ocean. He hopes to arrive in the Caribbean in about three months. The barrel in which he is drifting is 10 feet long and 6 feet 8 inches wide, built of epoxy and plywood and ballasted with concrete.
The New York Times reports that Mr. Savin has already crossed the Atlantic four times using a sailboat. His new venture comes decades after another Frenchman, Alain Bombard, set out from the Canary Islands to Barbados in a small rubber boat in 1952, subsisting only on seawater, plankton and raw fish.
Mr. Savin has a few home comforts on board: A wine lover, he is carrying an amphora of wine from near Bordeaux. Another bottle remained in France, and experts will compare the taste of the two after Mr. Savin’s return. But the capsule, which he said he built himself this year in a small shipyard in Arès, offers Spartan living quarters.
A bunk bed, a captain’s seat and a kitchen counter take up most of the interior, and there is barely enough space for a man to stand. Two doctors will study Mr. Savin’s health and behavior after months in such a confined space at sea.
On his project’s website, Mr. Savin — a former military parachutist, pilot and park ranger in Africa — described his venture as a “crossing during which man isn’t captain of his ship, but a passenger of the ocean.”
A Facebook page has been set up to track Mr. Savin’s progress across the Atlantic.
Frenchman Jean-Jacques Savin is traveling to the Caribbean in a barrel
Thanks to Bob McKane for contributing to this post.
Boredom in a tiny space is not an eay thing to do.
Hard enough when driving a tractor trailer, yet at least truckers can get out of the closet of a cab and interact with others or get exercise walking to the shipper or receiver. This sailor wont have that luxury.
Also what happens to the construction when smacked around by a storm. Yup not for me. I will stick with getting loads to people out of this freightliner.
Did his training include spending a week inside an industrial tumble drier?
When one gets older, you just don’t seem to get as bored that much.
As for it rolling, TV news showed the barrel has a small keel/centerboard on the bottom, but I doubt its enough to keep the barrel from rolling in high seas.
Let’s hope it has an efficient snorkel!