On the right: the spot on the globe most isolated from land, separated by over a thousand miles from the nearest landmass in every direction. On the left: an iPhone 4 FaceTime call from that exact location. Whoa.
Even for sailors with decades of experience, the ocean can be daunting. Abby Sunderland, a 16-year-old Californian attempting to circle the globe by herself, took the challenge head-on, but as of this morning she’s missing in the Indian Ocean.
I’d never been envious of Tom Perkins’ giant sailboat, the Maltese Falcon, until it received a deployable submarine in its belly. The sub, called the Deep Flight Super Falcon, is a 6.5m electric vehicle, bringing aerodynamic principles to the sea.
The Finish: The Pegasus Open 50 sailboat just set the Transpac record of 7 days, 19 hours, 38 minutes and 35 seconds for a double handed monohull ship. Previous Record: 10 days, 4 hours and 4 minutes.
July 12, 5:15 AM PST Sailing along fast. Found faulty regulator and alternator. Good start.
July 11, 9:20 PM PST Lost all ways to recharge batteries, down to emergency battery. Just like an aeroplane.
The wind is picking up, and at the same time, the boat has to Jibe to port to adjust its path towards Hawaii.
July 9, 5:30 PM PST Today we are living within the realm of Squalls. Squalls in the the Northeast sub-tropical Pacific are different. They are small, concentrated and powerful. The rain lasts ~20 minutes under them if you’re stationary. We’re not.
July 8, 9:00 PM PST This is what a sunset looks like in the middle of the ocean, from a sailboat racing from California to Hawaii.
