The LIPCHAIN project is heading towards a sailing record!
LIPCHAIN team has set itself the task to establish a time for the iconic offshore passage from Lisbon to Madeira island double handed.
In 2017 Pedro das NEVES alongside with Manuel TAVARES (both part of LIPCHAIN team) started to define a line and a heading for a project. They considerably changed their strategy and developed a new plan as it was decided to use a maximum water line length to 10 meters, dropping this way the initial idea of beating an original time established in 2004 by Mário Sampaio and João Cabeçadas on a 8 meters water line boat on an event named “Troféu O Navegador” and instead create a new event time and with that a new format by increasing the water line up to 10 meters while challenging and reopen a new path for other sailors and encourage them to use boats even 1 meter longer than ours to beat the time we will establish.
The boat being used is a 8.93 meters water-line long Grand Surprise built by Archambault.
As you all know Lipchain is a community and as a community we look after each other and in order to make this iconic route more accessible for everyone Lipchain will put our very own boat at others disposal in order to attempt and establish a new time. There will be rules and pre requisites that Lipchain will announce at its given time.
Our boat that is almost a meter shorter than what our rule allows. In theory a 10 meters water line boat is faster as the longer the boat the faster you go. You may wonder why we would start it with such a disadvantage. But that is exactly what we want, the 10 meter water line rule is created not only to create a safe event but also to match the average boat size we find in Portugal, as we aim to make it accessible and possible for everyone to establishing and new time, in an attempt to get Portuguese sailing community involved in offshore sailing and inspire young sailors.
As mentioned before there is already a reference time that was established in 2004 with the event called “Troféu O Navegador” where Mário Sampaio and João Cabeçadas set the time of 88 hours from Lisbon to Madeira and 78 from Madeira to Lisbon. We will use this as a reference time only to give general public a reference time so they can follow and cheer for us. This meaning we are organizing an independent event from “Troféu O Navegador”.
The 10 meter water line rule is created to match the average boat size we find in Portugal, once again leaving this way an open path for the most adventurous sailors and inspire youngsters to attempt this iconic route between the old continent and the Madeira Island.
This time around, the passage will be held double handed to make it more challengeable but we leave it optional for future boats that would like attempting a new record letting them choose to go fully crewed or double handed for their attempt.
The record to be set is the main event that the LIPCHAIN sailing team will endure but as Lisbon and Setúbal offer a great variety of races, the boat will be entering local races at the two Cities, sailing then a fully crewed boat combining youth sailors that will be formed and trained under the supervision of Pedro, while using the boat as a sailing academy for youngsters that aim to be successful in the professional scenario.
To come back to the sailing record attempt, the departure is imminent and is depending from weather conditions. As per the last forecast, the team tried already to leave this past weekend the 4 of August at 12h00 local time, but weather forecast made it impossible as the wind was not favourable.
To keep you informed we use a 3 color code:
Code Red: The weather conditions are not suitable and we are waiting for a favourable weather window.
Code Orange: The weather conditions are promising and we are in an eminent departure.
Code Green: The record attempt is ongoing
