In the world of sailing, there are lots of records to contend over. speed records, endurance records, size records. The fastest crossing, the longest solo journey, the largest yacht.
But not all records worry superlatives, for example in the size stakes, there are likewise records for the smallest vessels. The Atlantic crossing has been completed by a succession of ever smaller boats over the years, as well as the present record from 1993 is held by the 5’4″ (1.626m) boat Father’s Day.
Records are made to be broken, as well as there is now a challenger to the crown in the type of the impossibly small 42″ (1.067m) Undaunted, the development of [Matt Kent], who means to sail the boat from the Canary Islands to the USA in around 4 months.
The boat’s style is absolutely unusual, with a square aluminium hull of equal beam as well as length, as well as a extremely deep keel that has an emergency drinking water storage tank as its ballast. The sail is a square rig — envision picture-book pictures of Viking ships for a minute — as well as it has two rudders. We are not nautical engineers right here at Hackaday, however reading the descriptions of the boat we comprehend it to have a lot more in typical with a buoy in the method it handles than it does with a smooth racing yacht.
Unfortunately the very first sailing attempt experienced a setback because of a style flaw in the method the vessel’s emergency flotation is attached. This was exposed by its interaction with some unusual waves. however [Matt] will be back for one more try, as well as with luck we’ll see him on our TV screens sometime next year as he emerges into the Florida sunshine from his cramped quarters. on the other hand his unusual boat as well as its building makes for a interesting checked out that we’re sure you’ll appreciate.
We don’t commonly cover boat building right here at Hackaday. however if unusual ocean crossings are of interest, here’s an autonomous one we looked at back in 2010.
[via yachting World]