Sailing Across the Atlantic in a 4-foot Boat

Here's the latest in the No Comment Needed series of 2009-10 contenders for world records, in case you were growing weary of all the attention going to teenagers. British sailor Tom McNally plans to cross the Atlantic in both directions in his sailboat, the Big C, which is 3 feet 10 inches long. McNally is known as "the Crazy Sailor." No comment needed.

Undeniably a stunt, at least it's for a good cause: to generate donations for the charity group Sail 4 Cancer. His boat is so small that he's looking forward to crossing the Bahamas Bank where he can finally stretch out his body by walking alongside the boat through the shallows. He has so little room for gear and provisions that he'll depend on a hand-operated watermaker that he can operate only at night because in the sun the pumping exertion would cause him to lose water faster through sweat than he could make it. No comment needed.

At least with this entertaining attempt at a world record, the discussion won't focus on whether the sailor is old enough to face the risks and whether his parents should allow or encourage him. At least he's had a lot of experience crossing oceans in small boats, including a 1983 adventure in a 7-foot sailboat in which he had to be rescued between Newfoundland and England. Then again, maybe it would be interesting to raise the same question about his maturity (or sanity!). Though, one suspects, the answer just might be ... no comment needed.