[MHml] Re: CLUB MED - What's the truth?

[Dave Culp]

Club Med PR says:
>... sailed at a record setting pace of 18.3 knots average,

Just after the finish, a PR here (can't find it) announced an average 
speed of 15.6 knots for Club Med. This is a 20% discrepancy; does 
anybody know which it is?

>... normal wear and tear that comes from sailing over 25,000 miles non-stop.

To the best of my knowledge, this route is a bit over 21,000 miles, 
not 25. There is a good bit of controversy as to whether such routes 
can even be termed "circumnavigations," as they neither encompass a 
pair of antipodes, nor indeed do they even exceed the mean 
circumference of the earth (nearer 25,000 miles).

>Grant Dalton explained:
>"We were fine until about 5000 miles from the finish, which is 75% 
>of the distance around the world,

5000 miles from the finish is not anywhere near 75% of the "distance 
around the world," neither is it 75% of the distance the PR says the 
boat sailed, two paragraphs earlier. OTOH, it *is* roughly 75% of the 
actual distance of The Race route...

So, what is the truth? Or am I just being nit-picky? What's 4000 
miles, give or take?  :-)

Dave Culp