January 03, 2007

• who skipped school to make the trip Well sure, now they know where he was. That doctor's note will look totally fake now.
• Geez, in the middle of winter? Do a lot of small boats do the Atlantic crossing in winter?
• Quite an accomplishment for a young lad. It seems he departed from Gibraltar, headed south then picked up the tradewinds, rpm.
• Oh, good point. If he's doing the south route I guess it's safer, since no surprise hurricanes.
• It's quite usual to start out in November for the Southern route. The hurricane season is over by then. Usually.
• Remember the Good Olde Days when solo meant solo? Congrats anyway, kid.
• Kinda cute that Dad was right behind proverbially letting go of the two-wheeler for the first time the training whels come off. Of course, when my Dad did that, I promptly los control of the bike and drove across the rod, through a wodden fence, over a cliff, and into someone's beached rowboat.
• And then she rowed that boat across the Pacific using only one hand, but did she set up some vanity website? Oh no, not our TUM. Silliness aside, well done young man (and wealthy father, the chip on my shoulder tells me to add).
• This reminds me of Robin Lee Graham who solo circumnavigated starting at age 16. I read his story during my 'I'm gonna live my life at sea' phase. If his school were, you know, cool, they would figure out how to give some sort of credit towards graduating. It's not like he skipped school to smoke pot and play video games. He got out and accomplished something that took effort and planning. Sweet. This kid is lucky to have an interesting and interested dad.
• Good for him! Although "14 yr. old sails his Cheeky Monkey across Atlantic solo" must be a euphemism.
• (I was tempted to headline this "14 yr old sails Cheeky Monkey across Atlantic single-handed", and then sit back, and watch the magic.)
• (Is this something to do with spume?)
• *sighs I really wanted a tagline out of this post.