The Marinervideo
Sailing Into The Atlantic, Solo.
April 2, 2026 · 16 min · 6K views · Atlantic Ocean
Dark mainsail billows against blue sky, rigging taut.
What this video covers
Chris departs Cherbourg solo aboard a high-performance racing boat, entering the Bay of Biscay bound for Canada, with the Atlantic crossing serving as his qualifying passage for the Global Solo Challenge 2027.▶ 15:17 The new mainsail went up for only the second time after leaving Cherbourg — the first was a penalty 720 at the Fastnet start when a headboard car hardware fault caused a late start.▶ 0:48 He sailed the first couple of hundred miles under mainsail alone, deliberately, to familiarise himself with it.▶ 0:38 The gearbox oil cooler sprung leaks on both its water and oil sides on the first evening out, spilling oil into the bilge; 15 litres of spare oil are aboard.▶ 7:12 The throttle cable is jammed, forcing him to manage engine revs from a secondary control.▶ 8:07 Wind instruments and the windex were lost in a previous 55-knot storm off Ushant.▶ 4:30 Cockpit safety lines had been cut out and needed a temporary replacement.▶ 3:55 Starlink is yet to be mounted on the stern post.▶ 1:32 He announces a Bermuda–Plymouth record attempt on the Transatlantic in August, targeting the mark set on Artemis 1, and is recruiting paid crew spots for both the Newport Bermuda Race ($3,000) and the Transatlantic ($4,000).▶ 12:17 Sequencing jobs to reach a departure threshold — rather than completing every task — is the practical framework he describes for getting a boat out of a marina.▶ 3:29
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