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Atlantic Crossing


Liam

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Enjoying a seafaring career for a number of years I would have thought a requirement of any sailing boat would be a keel to offset the thrust of the wind in the sail. If this boat came over with a following wind then I could believe it but if it had to tack across the wind in the conventional manner then grave doubts would arise especially as the atlantic is renowned for strong gusty wind variations giving rise to serious swells.

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Enjoying a seafaring career for a number of years I would have thought a requirement of any sailing boat would be a keel to offset the thrust of the wind in the sail. If this boat came over with a following wind then I could believe it but if it had to tack across the wind in the conventional manner then grave doubts would arise especially as the atlantic is renowned for strong gusty wind variations giving rise to serious swells.

 

It has a long shallow keel - and they used a square rig. Pointed to within 90 degrees, so I don't think tacking was really feasible :captain:

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It's often been said that its not being at sea that's dangerous, it's being next to the land. A heavy keel and well battened down this boat would probably be fairly safe crossing an ocean. A narrowboat navigating along the south coast is probably in more danger. I see no reason not to believe this story.

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  • 4 years later...

This boat and an almost identical story was around a couple of years ago, I wrote to the editor of Waterways World at the time, my letter headed 'Pull the other one'. He replied assuring me and everyone else it was quite true.

 

I didn't believe a word of it then and I don't believe it now.

 

 

That only show what an ignorant and obstinate person you are.

 

Much smaller and less sea-worthy boats have crossed the Atlantic. This particular craft was fitted with a square-sail, giving it ample speed with the wind behind it. And because Atlantic crossings always (unless you are mad) follow the trade winds, you can be fairly sure of good winds driving you forwards. And in a windy year, you sometimes don't need a sail at all.

 

I knew personally two people who crossed in much smaller boats. One used a Drascombe Lugger, the other an inflatable small enough for one person to carry. The latter didn't quite make it - the "boat" capsized off Ireland. But skipper and vessel were rescued by a British destroyer and taken to Plymouth, whence both entrained to Liverpool and sailed back across the Irish Sea to Dublin.

 

There are many strange and inexplicable things in this world, and you, matey, are one of them.

 

So why are there no pics or video footage of this thing on the open seas, under full sail, or with 5m waves breaking over the roof, as the story says?

 

If you had ever sailed the Atlantic, you'd know that it is a big empty place, completely devoid of photographers.

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I must continue to express some doubt.

 

Longboats, as opposed to narrowboats were designed for relatively deep sea work. They flexed rather than bent. Narrow boats are designed for quieter waters. I do not see steel narrow boats flexing very much, they seem to be designed for rigidity. Crashing seas would I suspect have bent this matchstick in two. Having said this, I am not a boat designer and could be talking out of the top of my head.

 

When Thor Heyerdahl sailed his expeditions, there was a lot of publicity during the expeditions, and no doubt that they were being made.

 

Nobody sails out of Canada and into Ireland without informing the Coastguards, these days carrying GPS, which will betray your location, take the odd video etc. Otherwise you are stark starring bonkers. Where was the send off and even bigger arrival. a la Spirit of St Louis?

 

I just think we are being had. How many pints of beer does the owner get out of the story?

 

On the other hand it may just be an Urban myth.

 

 

 

 

Hundreds (if not thousands) of small boats cross the Atlantic every year. It's commonplace, that's why there was no hullabaloo. And guess what? Not everybody wants to be in the papers.

 

Just because it is beyond the wildest imaginings of some narrow-minded, narrow-horizoned, narrowly-educated, narrow-boaters doesn't mean that people don't do all sorts of wild and crazy and brave things. There's much more to life than some of you dullards can ever dream of.

 

What BORING people some of you are.

 

And BTW, there are very few rules connected with sailing the oceans. No BSS, elfin safety, and that sort of nonsense. You just go, and that's great.

 

Whoops. I've just realised this thread is five years old. :blush:

Edited by sebrof
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20k seems like a price-to-sell, given its (claimed) history, although I'm not sure what kind of state it will be in given the trips its has been on!

 

Given that it's for sale due to illness, I'd guess the owner has priced it for a quick sale. As it's a 12 year old self-build with a fairly basic fitout, I suspect the price probably isn't too far off the value of the building materials.

 

If anyone did want a narrowboat to do coastal/estuary work, then this is probably a better starting point than anything else on the market (being designed by a proper naval architect is good start - she's probably got a better stability curve than my yacht, and definitely a better pedigree).

 

Incidentally, I have seen plans for a boat designed (by another proper naval architect - the late Phil Bolger) to be sailed from New Zealand to the UK and then cruised on the inland waterways (including narrow canals). She was a similar shape, although designed for plywood/glass/epoxy composite construction, a dipping lug rig (not much more complicated than a square sail, but capable of sailing much closer to the wind), leeboards, and a 50HP outboard in a well, rather than a diesel inboard.

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I think the smallist ship to make the journey was about 8 feet long. Ben Fogel went from the Azores I think. The Northern Atlantic is not a place for the faint hearted or a coricle.

 

Charles Violet who worked at SUC at Norbury in the 60`s did some serious sailing in a small boat including IIRC crossing the Atlantic in an open boat with a upturned dingy on top that was used as a cabin he wrote abook but I can`t recall the title

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