The Smallest Boat Ever to Cross the Atlantic?

[Capt Robert]

The answer is 5'4", done by Hugo Vihlen in 1993. But Matt Kent is in the final stages of preparing his boat Undaunted for the crossing in April from the Canaries to Florida. Click on the link to see my article in AAS. You will not believe the size and design of his boat!!

That Little Boat is Going to Cross the Atlantic?! - ALL AT SEA

[Suijin]

Crossing the Atlantic in a fuel tank. You don't see that every day, that's for sure.

But if he thinks that sail is going to drive him and that tub at an average of it's theoretical hull speed of 2.5 knots I suspect he's mistaken, dunno.

[denverd0n]

That's just crazy. You have to want the record awfully bad to put yourself through that.

[ontherocks83]

Beating a record is one thing. Doing it in a Mafia style coffin is another. just sayin'

[a64pilot]

All kinds of things come to mind with that, first one was a peanut in a can, then I thought the little plastic duckie bath toys have made it across, next was a barrel at Niagara.

[Scoop Scott B]

All silliness aside, a great read on this topic is a book called Tinkerbelle written by Robert Manry. He completed the 78 day Atlantic Voyage in 1965 when there were not a lot of fail-safes like GPS/EPIRB and the like. His was a wooden boat (mega yacht) 13 feet long. Many was a copy writer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and died in 1971. I still have my copy of the book read at least 5 times and taped together with electrical tape. Check it out.

[skipper53]

Most interesting part of the Tinkerbelle story, is Manry's experiences
with exhaustion, hallucinations, and the effects of lack of human,interaction on his mind. Amazing feat of human endurance, but not something I'd want to try on ANY size boat.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by Capt Robert

The answer is 5'4", done by Hugo Vihlen in 1993. But Matt Kent is in the final stages of preparing his boat Undaunted for the crossing in April from the Canaries to Florida. Click on the link to see my article in AAS. You will not believe the size and design of his boat!!



That Little Boat is Going to Cross the Atlantic?! - ALL AT SEA

I thought Vihlen's record was beat several month later by his friend Nally or McNally.

[Adelie]

Apparently I have it backwards. Vihlen had the record from 1968 to 1993 when Tom McNally took it then Vihlen took the record back several months later.

McNally has tried several ties to take it again in boats just under 4'.

[KP44]

Two Norwegians rowed a 14' across, back to Norway, many years ago.

There are ocean crossings; and there are world records.
Some America's Cup designs use hulls that may crack if they take two waves at once. This has very little to do with sailing.
Several people cut steps in the snow and laid out ropes and a Sherpa ran up Mount Rainier in 5 hours or something; a world record climb! That has nothing to do with mountain climbing.

[KP44]

Who keeps watch, as per Maritime Code, during a singlehand crossing? I would not set out like that.

[Rick Williams]

I'm pretty sure 3' 11" is the current record set by a guy who was around 6'.
I will not be challenging that record. No thank you very much.
I believe the smallest boat to cross the Pacific was 6' something and the Japanese guy who did it was at sea for so long they had a funeral for him and everything. Made it to Japan, turned around and sailed back.

[MarkJ]

They got quite small, but the Guinness Book of Records stayed just the other day that the RECORD is sooooo small its actually NEGATIVE 2 FEET! It imploded up the bum of an old grey bearded single hander....

[1Sunseeker]

Why bother with a boat? Just grab a sail, an oar to hoist it on, a wooded keg for supplies, some fishing gear, sit on the keg and sail on.

[Wishful thinker]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

They got quite small, but the Guinness Book of Records stated just the other day that the RECORD is sooooo small its actually NEGATIVE 2 FEET! It imploded up the bum of an old grey bearded single hander....

And he had to sail stern first while supplying his own wind.