Departure date fixed!!! Technical Specs too!!

The time has come.  We are set to shove off Monday January 31st at 8 am GMT!!!

I´ve had a few inquiries about the technical aspects of the boat and the crossing so here is some information for those interested...

We've got 8 rowing stations and are equipped with 16 oars, 8 to row with and 8 spares. We could break all of them but hopefully no more than 8 to remain efficient in the water. The oars are 385 cm for the most part with a few variations - stroke oars are loaded slightly lighter/shorter given that the boat was designed with 6 sweep rowing stations and later refit with 8 stations, squeezing in an additional 2 stations, so space/reach is a bit of an issue (I won't be taking too many full reach strokes).

The boat fully loaded is just under 3000 kilos including rowers. The boat alone weighs just 600 kilos. Loading has the buttons (the segment up against the oarlocks) about 2/3 the way up the sleeves to the handles but is a completely different dynamic from flat water racing given the weight of the boat. Doesn't feel too heavy, just a slower pull. The trick is to maintain momentum without checking the boat.

In order to break the record we are going to have to cover 2598 nautical miles on a Great Circle route in under 33 days or 78.7 mi/day or around 3.28 knots/24h/7days for 33 days.  For reference this is about 1/4 the speed of traditional racing shells. Top reported speed when briefly surfing the face of a 20 ft wave I'm told was 17.5 knots!!!

Conditions are lining up with a projected tailwind of 25/30 knots for the first several days until we reach the cross-Atlantic current which should be good for at least a knot of speed. Tail wind and following seas of 35 ft @ 9 second intervals and we are set up to put a lot of pressure on the standing record!!

And in other oddities of nature pigeons by the hundreds were swooping around the hillside in front of the hostel this afternoon.

The countdown is on!!

Cheers,

J