Posted on 09/06/2009 5:57:39 PM PDT by mission9
For Immediate Release September 5, 2009 Historic Event
Made it alive
While experts said it was impossible, after surviving 7,000 miles of open ocean the Brown brothers stepped off their tiny open fishing boat at 6:40 pm, London Time, Friday, September 4, 2009 at the Limehouse Marina in downtown London making world history by setting several world records, The Smallest Powerboat to Cross The Atlantic, The First Flats Boat to Cross the Atlantic, and the Longest Ocean Voyage in a Flats Boat.
The tiny open fishing boat, an Intruder made by Dream Boats in Hudson Florida, separates itself from other smaller boats that have made the crossing is that it does not have a cabin, a keel, a sail, or an escort and it had to carry its own fuel. This boat literally runs in less than an incredible four inches of water, including the motor.
The brother’s remained completely exposed to the elements for the entire voyage and did not have a keel to right the boat in the event it were to flip. Ralph and Bob Brown survived being run over by an iceberg in Greenland, almost running of fuel hundreds of miles from shore, refusing to be rescued three separate times, surviving massive waves from the remnants of two hurricanes, being slammed into rocks by gale force winds, running out of money and many other amazing events. Although the boat retained it’s seaworthiness the attached equipment has literally fallen apart from the impact of an estimated 140,000 slams during the crossing.
The I AM SECOND Wounded Hero Voyage was made in honor of John Harvey, George Holmes, and Dewey Johnson three fallen US Marines who died in Ralph Brown’s place, fulfilling a 29 year old promise and will be used to kick off the Do More Campaign in raising funds for wounded hero foundations in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. They began their voyage at the Central Command Center, Tampa, Florida and will be continuing on to Paris and to Landstu Regional Medical Center in Germany. The record setting portion was from Tampa to London.
Details can be seen at www.CrossTheAtlantic.com Ralph and Bob Brown are staying at the CA House, 1 Northey Street, Limehouse Basin, London
They may be contacted through Bruce at USA 408-829-4193
It would be crazy for the average person to try something like this. I didn’t know those boats carried enough fuel, did they have a chase boat that carried some supplies?
No chase boat, many times they would press on to a new port, low on funds, low on gas, and there meet new benefactors who would provision them just in time for the next leg of the voyage.
Looks like they carried enough fuel to get from port to port.
I guess the boat is bigger than the Bass Boat I was envisioning. lol.
awesome
I would probably enjoy an old fashion trip down the Mississippi river...
That’s got to be my worse nightmare, being on on the open ocean in some little john boat.
Other than BEING in the open ocean, of course.
No Way No How I would do this. These guys are either very brave,very nuts or very stupid. It is a good cause though.
Crazy, or called by Christ. That is their testimony.
This trip was to encourage all of us to attempt through faith what God has called each of us to do. These guys at least were clear on what that mission was, I pray that you will be so fortunate. Success has ten thousand fathers, failure is an orphan.
On behalf of the families of the wounded soldiers, thanks for all your prayers Joe Brower, Ralph and Robert are from Hudson Florida. How about an official FR Florida PING?
Gus Bilirakis will be pleased. Can you let him know?
If you think this was tough, how about crossing 90 miles of the Florida Straits in a small boat, sinking, and then being the sole survivor rescued by dolphins? I would like to ask Elian Gonzalez about that, but he was sent back to Cuba by Clinton and Janet Reno.
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