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Hungarian single blades a "canoe" across the Atlantic in 75 days

Glenn MacGrady

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“I crossed the ocean to see the power that makes the world go round,” the 44-year-old athlete wrote on Facebook on Sunday, having reached Antigua on Saturday evening (Hungarian time) after 5,123 kilometers, and remarked that this was his second ocean crossing in the world, after his 77-day trip in 2012.

Originally designed and built by Nándor Fa, Rakonczay rebuilt the boat based on his experience in 2012, adding a new cabin, capital weight, steering system, and state-of-the-art technical equipment.


Here is a Hungarian news report of his trip last month, which has an embedded video and Facebook links:


Here is a website devoted to the similar trip Rakonczay completed in 2012:

 
I always wonder about ocean crossing paddlers. The scenery doesn’t change much each day. Different conditions, maybe. But it sure seems like it would be monotonous.

The kayakers must be real loose screws. Where do you take a dump in a kayak? At least in a canoe you could move around.
 
I don't care how your pronounce it; carrying that mutha has gotta be a B!tc#.

But there ain't no portages on an ocean!

Well, he apparently portaged Antigua. Here's how:

Portaging Ocean Canoe.jpg

If you watch his FB video, you'll see his long-shafted paddle is a bent shaft that looks to be about 5°-7°. I also would have expected his canoe to have a rudder, but I don't see one in any of the FB pictures.

His canoe is the same kind of enclosed capsule that a couple of kayakers have used to paddle across oceans. He wanted to do it single blade, and his use of the single blade is what allowed him to claim the ocean-crossing "canoe" record from Guinness.

(I've always maintained that the use of a single blade vs. a double blade is the clearest way to distinguish canoeing from kayaking because the hull shapes and seating positions can be virtually the same.)
 
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