: I think the brochure was pointing out the number of people that had
: sailed solo round round the world - I just found it interesting
: that so few were competing - and of recent races - held 4 yearly
: - a number of the competitors had returned for second attempts,
: a couple of others had died, and of course there were a couple
: of dramatic saves in the southern ocean.

: So really it's a complete madman's sport! (And yet it leaves me
: deeply impressed...)

: Bohdan

Still a larger number than 180 or whatever the number was. It's not all that uncommon anymore. Used to be, say 30 years ago, that there were few boats people would consider taking around the world, now there are quite a few that are built just for offshore sailing and equiped to do that.

Also used to be that no one would consider even crossing an ocean let alone going around the world in a boat smaller than say 60 feet, which limited the number of people that could afford to buy such a beast, now it's not all that uncommon to do it with boats as small as 30' and sometimes smaller, many more can afford it now days. Heck the 30 footer I owned had crossed the Atlantic, twice, not with me in it though.

Bill H.