Is there something that you want to know about the Spirit of Cardiff project? What we will be using, how we plan to do something?
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Q. What is the current Round the World record?
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A. The record currently stands at 74 days 20 hours and 58 minutes,and was set by the Cable & Wireless Adventurer between 19 April and 3 July 1998
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Q. Are you mad?
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A. Whilst we accept that this isn't everyone's idea of fun (and to be honest there are times when it isn't really our idea of fun either) we're definitely not mad. We are certainly adventurous, and manage to put up with some fairly extreme discomfort from time to time, but all our expeditions are meticulously planned and prepared for. We may well end up mad by the time we finish fifty or sixty days at sea aboard Spirit, but we have a consultant psychiatrist on the crew and he'll be keeping an eye on us all!
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Q. What is a RIB?
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A. A RIB is a boat with a conventional hard hull, with inflatable tubes round the outside. The most commonly known examples are inshore life boats, but they are also widely used as work boats, dive boats and for general leisure use. The name is derived from the words Rigid Inflatable Boat, but we try to avoid this term because people hear the words "inflatable boat" and assume it's a rubber dinghy! Modern RIBs like Spirit of Cardiff are much more closely related to high performance powerboats than they are to inflatables.
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Q. What's the difference between nautical miles and ordinary miles?
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A. A nautical mile is slightly longer than a land (or statute) mile. It's 15% greater, so one nautical mile is the same as 1.15 statute miles, which is equivalent to 1.85 kilometres. Knots are used as the measurement of speed, and one knot equals one nautical mile per hour. Below is a quick guide to speed conversions (all runded to the nearest whole number)
| Knots |
MPH |
km/h |
| 10 |
12 |
19 |
| 15 |
17 |
28 |
| 20 |
23 |
37 |
| 25 |
29 |
46 |
| 30 |
35 |
56 |
| 35 |
40 |
65 |
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Q. How much fuel can the boat hold, and how far will it go on a tank of fuel?
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A. For the New York to Cardiff voyage, the capacity is 2500 litres, which should give us a range of about 1400 nautical miles. We are working on the best way to increase this capacity for the particularly long sections of the round the world voyage -- more details when we've finalised the solution!
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Q. How will the crew keep in contact while they are underway?
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A. We are evaluating a number of satellite telephones for use on board, and the results are looking very promising. It is amazing to think that the crew will be able to simply pick up the phone and phone home from absolutely anywhere in the world! Visitors to the web site will also be able to track the boats progress with position updates every hour.
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Q. How are the crew going to sleep/wash/go to the toilet?
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A. Sleep will be in short supply, with no opportunity for a proper night's sleep at all. The crew will work a constant routine of two hours on, two hours off, taking 'powernaps' during their off shift time. Washing is likely to be a low priority although they should be able to grab the occasional reviving shower during refuelling stops. As for the toilet, it's going to be a simple matter of 'bucket, and chuck it'.
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Q. How will you minimize the time spent transiting the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal?
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A. We have to accept that this part of the journey is not going to be fast. However, we plan to use the slow time to carry out any servicing that may be required. We have allowed 24 hours per canal, but we hope that it will be a bit quicker than this.
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Q. What you expect the biggest hazards will be on the journey?
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A. Potentially the biggest hazard on the trip would be breaking down in pirate territory and being shot at! We are not worried about big seas, as all they will do is slow us down -- Spirit of Cardiff is hugely sea worthy, and will stay afloat even if it is filled with water. The part of the trip we are really not looking forward to is the initial lef from Cardiff to Gibraltar, as this is where we are likely to encounter the most uncomfortable sea conditions.
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