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2002 Transatlantic Challenge. I totally disagree with the organizers when you say : Atlantic's nearly century-old record has never been beaten by a yacht starting in an officially-sanctioned race". After the Two star 1981, the French organized a fleet return race from New York to Cape Lizard. The start was given by Jean-Louis Fabry, formerly a RORC Rear Commodore. Seven years later, when the WSSRC was created, Jean Louis Fabry was an early member. In that fleet race, the Mauric-designed monohull Kriter V beat the old Atlantic record by 19 minutes and 46 seconds. His time was 12 d 3 h 41' 33". She did 2889 miles exactly. Not bad.

The skipper was Michel Malinovsky. Kriter V, a very slim monohull, was 23 metres long. As the WSSRC was created much later, and its members could not have all the data of the previous organized races, this data was never added to their files. Happily, we have them in France. In 1988, the schooner Phocea, with much less power equipment than the modern boats entering in the 2002 race, bettered this monohull record in 8d 3h and 29 minutes. 17 hours less than the recent record of the Bernard Stamm on Armor Lux. So, please put the record straight.

From Ted Rogers
2002 Transatlantic Challenge Too bad the current transatlantic record holder ( Armor Lux) is too small to enter the Transatlantic Challenge ( Armor Lux holds the monohull record, not the outright record - Ed). They must not be big enough to be capable of breaking the schooner Atlantic's record. Oh, wait... As an International 14 sailor who rather enjoys blowing the doors off of the latest and greatest 30 and 40 foot keelboats, I'm rather surprised to see this race's implicit assumption that longer=faster is still so widely held. Once planing, which truly cutting-edge designs like Open 60s do a great deal of their time, speed becomes almost independent of length. (Though comfort at speed may still depend on length...) In short, the Transatlantic Challenge sounds more like the NYYC's excuse for a summer parade of large sailboats than a serious forum for an assault on a particular record or records.

From Seumas Kilpatrick
Still a great boat? A good boat the 5000 still is for these pretty obvious reasons: There is no current UK dinghy that can cope with such a wide range of weights and remain competitive. Bulky but bulletproof it certainly is, all the gear is over specified and hence does not break easily if at all. Rocker - it certainly has some which means the boat remains manageable in waves unlike most fast current designs from the "let's go down the mine school of sailing". Suffice to say that the boat is excellent value for money (that includes running cost) and is built for practical long life not temperamental fairy people seem to dream of.

From Matt Critchley
Will this be the best club in the UK? Having the best facilities in the country will do nothing to enhance the reputation of the club unless there is a fundamental shift in attitude by club officials. At present the perception amongst grass roots sailors is that HISC is an unfriendly venue where visitors are unwelcome unless they happen to be one of the elite.