[kennethwolters]

I am fascinated by off-shore sailing, competitive and otherwise.

How racers manage to do the vendee globe (solo, from france around-the-world back to france) in just 80 days with just sails and ropes as engines is beyond me.

FYI the fastest solo sail around the world was set in 2017 at 40 days in a Trimaran

[mickael-kerjean]

> with just sails and ropes as engines is beyond me

then you should check this amazing sailor named Yann Quenet who built his own 4m sailboat [1] (yes 4m is crazy) on which he did a circumnavigation and once he came back worked at improving his little boat and just left 8 days ago for another circumnavigation.

He has been documenting his journey on youtube[2]:

ref:

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDGR9LtRUBw

[2]: https://www.youtube.com/@quenetyann396

[manuel_w]

> around-the-world

Not to dimish their perfomance, but still worth noting that they are taking the curves as tightly as anyhow possible. Which is okay, I guess, it's a race after all.

    https://www.vendeeglobe.org/themes/custom/front/dist/assets/112114cd193fee4caebf.webp
    https://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/what-vendee-globe

edit for those on screen readers: The links show the route of that race, which is from France down to south pole, around it, and back up to France. This race is not "along the equator" as some might read "around the globe".

[Tepix]

There's a continent in the way... </snark>

[tzs]

There is a reasonably circular path you could take to sail around the world. Just sail near the edge of what is visible in this view [1].

https://www.google.com/maps/@-31.0010223,-173.4498925,3.01z

[s1artibartfast]

"around the world" is a fairly arbitrary definition using around the rotational axis as the criteria. If pesky antarctica werent there you could sail around the the world in a very small amount of time. The record would be determined by the turning radius of the boat.

This is of course ok, given that any other criteria would be equally subjective.

[hervature]

That's the current course and the subject of the debate. The point is Tierra del Fuego (the southern tip of South America) is very close to Antarctica and so that circumnavigation is very short.

[ramraj07]

But isn’t this true no matter how pedantic you want to get? You’re still gonna have to go around the world in a fairly southern latitude…

[carlosjobim]

The minimum distance should be the planet's circumference.

[ilikepi]

Good news, the Earth's circumference is around 40,000km, and the actual distances sailed by each of the competitors in the most recent Vendee Globe were all around 50-51,000km. So they all exceed your requirement.

[carlosjobim]

The trail should also look pleasing to the eye. So I'll have to invent a new arbitrary rule.

[s1artibartfast]

Why is that? It seems as arbitrary as circumnavigating a rotational axis and returning home.

[moffkalast]

Ok that's complete bullshit, they might as well use the Falklands as a home base so they're "technically" doing a circumnavigation while starting and ending in the UK lmao.

Going through Panama, the Phillipines and back through Suez honestly seems way better. Aside from the part where they get shot and killed off the coast of Somalia of course.

[quickthrowman]

The official website says this route can be around 28,000 miles and the distance around the equator is 24,300 miles.

The route is chosen due to an unobstructed path ‘around the world’ in the Southern Ocean.

https://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/what-vendee-globe

[moffkalast]

And you could also sail for 30k miles in a 10 mile circle and it wouldn't be called circumnavigating anything. It's not about the distance, it's about the places.

[kennethwolters]

fair point!

[wlll]

I've got a number of YouTube channel recommendations if you weren't aware of them already (https://willj.net/posts/youtube-sailing-channel-recommendati...). A large number of those channels have done a lot of off-shore sailing, and many have done multiple ocean crossings.

[dadadad100]

One sailor that I enjoy watching is Patrick Laine[1]. The back catalog has a lot of coastal single-handing (coast of France mostly). Then he started circling the Atlantic.

[1] http://www.youtube.com/@patricklaine6958

Edit: official channel URL

[kennethwolters]

Thank you, I will have a look :) This YT channel is gem I found: https://www.youtube.com/@SailingTipsCa Doesn't post a lot, not very high production quality but very high quality information.

[throw0101c]

> Sailing Millennial Falcon

On hiatus from sailing due to family reasons; most recent video:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZdON6ld6Ks

[mad_tortoise]

Are there any channels that deal specifically with the America's Cup and learning about it and the boats? TIA

[globular]

Mozzy is by far the best and most detailed channel out there for the AC, 10/10 recommend. Has the systems understanding, ability (and confidence) to make predictions, while keeping the video's at a length that is still digestible. Also has a nice speaking voice which brings a level of classiness to it.

https://www.youtube.com/@mozzysails

[wlll]

No, these are all cruisers rather than racers. There's a mix of sailing and lifestyle, but then for a lot of them it's hard to just film the sailing because there's only so much sailing you can actually do when you live on your boat.

[LiamMcCalloway]

you can add the sailing frenchman -- great mix of caribean sailing, singlehanded racing, pretty down to earth:

https://www.youtube.com/@TheSailingFrenchman

[wlll]

Huh, I thought he was on there. I will try to get round to adding him.

[sandworm101]

>> just sails and ropes as engines

Tides/currents make a huge difference too. There is a right way and a "wrong way round" when sailing the globe. Rather than head south from europe and left towards asia, you turn right towards the south pacific.

[throw0101c]

> Rather than head south from europe and left towards asia, you turn right towards the south pacific.

Yes, but people have gone the "backwards" way as well:

> The oldest person to sail around the world singlehandedly and non-stop is Bill Hatfield (Australia, b. 14 January 1939), who was aged 81 years 39 days when he sailed into The Spit on Australia's Gold Coast on 22 February 2020. He embarked on his eight-month (295-day) solo circumnavigation – on the more challenging westerly route, against the prevailing winds – on 8 June 2019 in his 11.5-m (38-ft) yacht L'Eau Commotion.

* https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/oldest-pe...

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Hatfield