Thursday, August 31, 2023

Lake Forest: safe—for now; a notable sail

I have received emails this morning from the marina and the condo management company which confirm that as I expected there has been no damage.  I ran a GRIB yesterday morning which indicated winds would be 30-40 knots with gusts to 50.  I don’t know that they were even that strong.  The highest recorded wind in the area I have found is 52 mph at Savannah.  When the eye of the storm was inland closest to Hilton Head last evening, the sites I checked online were showing wind in the low 20s.  

The hurricane season is far from over.  September is historically the most active month.  A new system has just emerged from Africa.  If another storm reaches Hilton Head I will experience it first hand.



I thank Robert for a link to a record breaking sail across the Atlantic in a Transat Mini sailboat.

https://www.pbo.co.uk/news/new-west-to-east-atlantic-crossing-record-in-a-mini-6-50-79558?fbclid=IwAR2w7Qz79WzHnqtPcml0ou9mdEghlE2UriuUtqRmVoAe9G7clElRpv_aad4


I am particularly impressed by Jay Thompson’s tenacity and the repairs to the rudder he made underway.  Well done.


Initially I was skeptical about ‘thousands of Minis and their owners’ having sailed across the Atlantic, I googled and find the race has been run almost every other year since the 1970s and so perhaps a thousand or so have.


Transat Minis are slightly shorter than GANNET, displace about the same, are beamier and have much more sail area.



  Here are the numbers for a Moore 24.



They also cost much more, often in excess of $100,000. 






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