This morning, when I logged onto my computer, I checked the position of the max-trimaran Banque Populaire V as its screams it way across the North Atlantic at roughly 30 knots, seeking to seize the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest non-stop circumnavigation. It is roughly 1,000 NM and less than two days, baring the unforeseen, from claiming the trophy. I also read Laura Dekker’s blog. The 16 year old single handed sailor is also sailing northward in the Atlantic, though much much slower than the Banque Populaire V. Her blog posts are straightforward and usually cheerful and upbeat. It is easy to see why so much of the sailing world is a fan of this remarkable young woman. Recently she wrote:
Waves behave nicer now and the wind is blowing from behind so Guppy still keeps rolling back and forth. Yet the wind is pulling at 15 knots which is unusual around here in the doldrums. Guppy is getting to be an oven now so I sleep during the day and stay up at night… and it is nice, what with the moonlit sea and the many many thousand stars up above.. It is real cool just to look at. Good winds keep Guppy happy and we are making good progress too with 3000 nautical miles already done which is more than halfway through this crossing. Let’s hope the second half will be just as good… Laura
I was struck how very strange it is to be tracking a racing trimaran in real time across the Atlantic or to be listening to a 16 year old sailor as she marvels at a moonlit sea while transiting the doldrums.
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