He has also managed to do what Donald Campbell failed to achieve. ie break the record just in time for the boat show. Am i again being cynical or has the trip been timed with the show in mind?
I doubt thats cynical. The entire thing was an excercise to sell Tide 28s. You have to remember though that the ones Micheal and his father sailed in were specially modified for the trip. Whether the same result could be achieved in an off the shelf version is I think debatable.
Top slot on the 6pm news, live interview of the lad himself from Antigua - thought folks hereabouts would be ecstatic to see Yachting get that sort of coverage.
It's a greater achievment than many on this forum will ever have so lets congratulate the two of them, not sneer or condemn them for being 'irresponsible'
I've done the pond a couple of times in my youth and can tell you that it's a bit like crossing the channel; in ideal conditions anyone could do it in a bathtub but only a fool would plan for ideal conditions all the way across.
Hats off to them both.
No sneering or critisism, please, they've acheived something most of us never will. (and without a massive hi-tech team telling them what to do all the way)
Didn't Seb Clovers dad sail across in an identical boat at the same time? They might not have been quite so close but it amounts to the same thing in the end.
I have crossed the NA Pond 28 times in ships from 2500 tones to 10,000 tons there and back = 56 at 2500 mls a go =140000 mls. I have seen it as flat as a mill pond and I have seen it in a F11+ electric storm with winches and life boats carried away.
It was not predicted that it was going to blow up like that when we set off.
This trip by the 14 year old was a risk and no doubt they may well have taken all that in to consideration in planning the trip.
What he has done is an achievement that 1000s of people who sail small boats will never have the opportunity to contemplate never mind having a go at it, either as yachtsman as he definitely now is.
Or as a paid 21 to 25 year old professional sea going Engineer as I was.