Records
Race times tend to be slower than record attempts, for three reasons:-
- Boats leave on a predetermined start time, so cannot wait for favourable weather.
- Boats are "one design", i.e. fundamentally the same, so cannot be very innovative.
- The rules require extensive emergency equipment and stores e.g. water, which add weight.
The Record for the crossing (from La Gomera to Barbados) was set by a four crewed by Phil Langman, Shaun Barker, Jason Hart and Yorkie Lomas in 2004. They crossed in 36 days and 59 minutes, breaking the previous record set by the New Zealand double Kevin Biggar and James Fitzgerald during the 2003 race, by just over 22 hours.
The Record crossing for a four (from La Gomera to Antigua) was set by "All Relative" on 8 January 2006 who completed the course in 39 days 3 hours 35 minutes and 47 seconds.
In the 2007 race, "Unfinished Business", crewed by Jo Davies (GB), Sarah Kessans (US), Emily Kohl (US) & Tara Remington (NZ) set a new female fours record of 51 days 16 hours and 31 minutes.
Read more about this topic: Atlantic Rowing Race
Famous quotes containing the word records:
“It’s always the generals with the bloodiest records who are the first to shout what a hell it is. And it’s always the war widows who lead the Memorial Day parades.”
—Paddy Chayefsky (1923–1981)
“Although crowds gathered once if she but showed her face,
And even old men’s eyes grew dim, this hand alone,
Like some last courtier at a gypsy camping-place
Babbling of fallen majesty, records what’s gone.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“What a wonderful faculty is memory!—the most mysterious and inexplicable in the great riddle of life; that plastic tablet on which the Almighty registers with unerring fidelity the records of being, making it the depository of all our words, thoughts and deeds—this faithful witness against us for good or evil.”
—Susanna Moodie (1803–1885)