A crew of 14, skipper Roy Finlay, an engineer and 12 rowers, will leave from the Canaries in January 2010 in an attempt to break the current world record, for the Blue Riband Trophy. The aim is to do the 3000 miles in 30 days. (click to enlarge)
Application for crew selection is open and selection will take place on 4 and 5 April 2009 at Shelter Island New York (click to enlarge)
Skipper Roy Finlay. All images courtesy of rocexpedition.com (click to enlarge)
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Roy Finlay’s transatlantic row: crew needed
Posted: Feb 05, 2009 03:15 pm EST
(TheOceans.net) A crew of 14, skipper Roy Finlay, an engineer and 12 rowers, will leave from the Canaries in January 2010 in an attempt to break the current transatlantic world record. In an email to ExplorersWeb Roy said he is recruiting crew for this row. “Experienced and motivated” individuals are welcome to apply. Selection will be taking place 4th and 5th April 2009. Here goes some more detail.
2007/8 Transatlantic row
In the 2007/8 transatlantic row Roy captained and built a multi hull boat, Orca, and finished in a time of 36 days. The world record at that time was 35 days. That record was set in 1992 by the French crew of La Mondiale.
In 2007/8 the record and the Blue Riband Trophy, which is rewarded to the record-breaking crew, were retained by La Mondaile with the British/Irish crew led by skipper Leven Brown. They made the crossing in 33 days, despite being motionless on a sea anchor for 3 days, according to Roy’s website. “This unfortunate turn of weather conditions also applied to Orca, led by skipper Roy Finlay, which crossed in 36 days.”
“As a consequence La Mondiale (with crew of 14) won the race and broke the World Record. Orca (crew of 4) as recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records, became the first multi hull to have been rowed across any ocean of the world, missing the existing record by 1 day.”
2010 Transatlantic row
This time Roy will be back to attempt the 3000 miles in 30 days. The website explained about the new boat, a 38 ft catamaran named Big Blue, “Big Blue, a combination of both boats [mentioned above] and lessons learned (with crew of 14: skipper, engineer and 12 rowers) will leave from the Canaries in January 2010 in attempt to break the current World Record, for the Blue Riband Trophy.”
The Crew
“The crew of Big Blue will consist of fourteen experienced motivated individuals,” the website emphasized. “All will have excelled in their chosen fields relevant to this expedition both occupationally and in the sporting world. Skipper and engineer will attend to all aspects of the day to day running of the vessel and drawing from the experience of four previous Atlantic crossings enable the rowers to focus solely on maintaining themselves consequential boat speed and our collective goal of breaking a World Record.”
“Our rowing coach will head the crew from the day of selection, across the Atlantic and to our final destination of Barbados his function is to oversee adherence to routine on board and in particular physical and mental well being. The twelve 'athletic engines' will be formed by two groups of six port and starboard, six rowing (sculling-two oars each) at any one time while the off watch crew are accommodated in the 'central pod' enabling Big Blue to be powered 24/7 at speeds normally associated with the average yacht under sail.”
The selection venue will be at Shelter Island, New York, where Roy lives.
If you would like to be part of the crew, check out Roy’s website in the links section below the pictures to see the requirements and contact details.
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