Contents


Profile


Progress Report


Update 2000


Technology


Media Coverage


Construction

Introduction


Tom McNally - Atlantic Challenge

Tom McNally is unquestionably the world's leading expert in the navigation and operation of mini-sailing craft.

Since 1973 when he crossed the Atlantic in a homemade plywood sloop, Tom has made a total of eight voyages in an assortment of tiny craft increasing in knowledge and experience with every journey, his last venture in 1993, saw him breaking the world record for crossing any ocean in the smallest boat. Vera Hugh I, Pride of Merseyside measured 5 feet 4 and 1/2 inches, seven inches smaller than himself.

Leaving Portugal in December 1992, Tom successfully navigated the tiny yacht, without any auxiliary power some 5,500 miles over the course of 134 days, arriving in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in May 1993 and fulfilling a lifetime ambition Not content with achieving this record he added a further 1,000 miles to his voyage by sailing for the North American mainland on June 8th 1993 and arrived in Fort Lauderdale 23 days later.


Vera Hugh I on route to Puerto Rico '93

Tom's success was short-lived, within 12 months he had lost his record to the man who he had taken it away from, Hugo Vilhen, who, taking the short route from Newfoundland to Ireland (a comparably shorter journey of 2000 miles) in a boat only centimetres smaller with auxillary power, managed to snatch away the record. Tom's new boat, Vera Hugh II, is a high technology craft with radar reflective sails and a revolutionary new design in rigging. The hull is coated with Kevlar (bullet - proof material) and every possible safety feature is included. It will be satellite linked and will have the very latest tracking equipment which will be able to pinpoint his nautical position at any given time. The 'Vera Hugh II' measures 3 feet 11 inches (1.19 metres) and is the smallest registered sailing cruiser in the UK. As current records stand it is also the smallest ocean-going vessel in the world.

After some initial setbacks, and the long wait for suitable 'windows' of weather, the 'Vera Hugh II' set sail from Cape Espartel, Tangier on the morning of March 4th 1998, on its first stage to the Canarias Islands. Due to the strong prevailing wind the tiny vessel maintained two and one half knots for the voyage - far better than previously expected. Tom set a new record for small craft sailing, reaching Las Palmas on March 24th - a journey of twenty days in very extreme weather conditions.

Unfortunately structural problems in the deck caused by gale-force winds throughout the seven hundred mile journey resulted in almost total battery failure, and it was thought necessary to bring the boat into Las Palmas for vital repairs before Tom attempted the second stage of the voyage to Puerto Rico. The Vera Hugh II is now being prepared to resume the voyage from Gran Canaria in early January 2001, and Tom is expected to have completed his record-breaking journey by May.

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