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When the ocean calls, it is hard not to answer. Of course, there is a way and a way to navigate it. One can do as the Destriero in 1992 who, with absurd investments, managed to do it all in 58 hours, 34 minutes and 50 seconds at an average of 53.09 knots.
In this article, however, we will stay on far less structured crossings. One, even, that left without water! But let’s go in order: we will tell you about a four-meter barge, a car, a kind of outboard pilot boat, and a dinghy.
In 1985 Al Grover, 54, crossed the Atlantic with his son Al Jr. aboard a 7.92-meter Grover with a 40-hp Evinrude outboard and a spare engine. Setting off from St. Pierre with 2,000 liters of fuel and only 25 inches of freeboard, they faced a gale, a fall at sea, Hurricane Claudette and days without radio contact. After nearly 3,000 miles and 33 days of travel they reach Lisbon, with no mechanical problems and an arrival that will go down in the Guinness Book of World Records.
In 1999 i brothers Marco, Mauro e Fabio Amoretti, with Marcolino De Candia, cross the Atlantic from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean with a Volkswagen Passat of the87 and a Ford Taunus of the81 filled with polyurethane foam. The enterprise was born from the Father George’s attempt in 1978. They leave at the dawn of the May 4, 1999 with provisions, tools, and a raft on the roof. After days of unstable winds and difficulties, Fabio and Mauro give up as the journey continues as one of the most unusual crossings ever made.
PS: yes, they are not really “boats,” but after such a crossing we can say they are “field promoted”!
In 1970 Seppo Muraja and Arto Kulmala crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a 4.2-meter-long Marino Mustang powered by a 36-hp Archimede/Penta outboard. Starting in Dakar and heading to Guyana, they sail in a zigzag pattern to take advantage of the trade winds. The Mustang, equipped with a small mast and two sails, completes the crossing in 47 days and 1128 hours of continuous driving. The two live off what they catch and take turns resting below deck. Today the Marino shipyard has reintroduced the Mustang in the same original form. How do you mean? That at Marino ‘s you can buy a Mustang exactly as it was 50 years ago. With the added option of choosing deck colors from a wide palette of pastel shades, plus matching the grille of the Tohatsu outboard from a minimum of 15 to a maximum of 50 horsepower max. On reliability, you can trust it!
It was Oct. 19, 1953, when French physician and future navigator, Alain Bombard (1924-2005), set off from Las Palmas, Canary Islands, for Barbados, Caribbean on a 4.50-meter-long, 1.90-meter-long Zodiac dinghy called L’Hérétique with no water or provisions on board. His goal? Saving lives, in its own way.
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