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Peter Gibbons-Neff // Completing the Mini-Transat
4 February 2025 · 1h 29m · 194 views
What this video covers
Peter Gibbons-Neff, an Annapolis sailor with a military background, describes completing the Mini Transat after a COVID-delayed three-year qualification campaign instead of the planned one-year buildup.15:18 The Mini is a 6.5-meter, 21-foot solo offshore racing boat designed specifically for the two-leg Mini Transat: La Sable, France to the Canaries, then 2,700 miles from the Canaries to Guadeloupe.20:08 Gibbons-Neff bought his Mini for roughly $40,000–$45,000, shipped it to France, and completed his first solo sail — a 360-mile delivery through the English Channel and Bay of Biscay — before accumulating 15,000 miles on the boat across qualification races.18:35 Class rules prohibit chart plotters, satellite communications, Garmin inReach, and sat phones; sailors surrender cell phones to the race committee at the start.34:02 He hand-steered for much of the 20-day Atlantic leg and listened to 14 audiobooks on an MP3 player to stay awake.34:35 He lost a rudder bolt shortly after the start in the Canaries and had to be towed out of harbor by a cruising boat at night to rejoin the race.0:12 He now plans a second campaign aiming to win.1:16:49
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