Starting in January 2021, New Orleans sailor Ryan Finn will attempt to break the New York to San Francisco sailing record sailing a 36-foot proa-style sailboat. The passage is expected to take roughly 60 days and cover 14,000 nautical miles.
The 42-year-old Finn has reportedly sailed more than 100,000 nautical miles, including three transatlantic and five transpacific crossings. In 2016, he sailed from Los Angeles to the Panama Canal, completing the solo sailing expedition in only 18 days on a Pacific Proa.
For this record attempt, Ryan will be sailing a Russel Brown-designed and built 36-foot Proa Jzerro. The design of the boat is modeled on ancient technology used by Pacific Islanders, with a larger main hull and a smaller outrigger hull.
“I came up with the idea of a non-stop solo passage from New York to San Francisco on a small proa to prove the concept of such a boat for a long, solo record breaking,” Finn was quoted in a press release. “The bigger project being a solo, non-stop circumnavigation from East to West. I don’t think there’s an existing multihull that could survive the non-stop westbound record, but I think a proa could. While researching the route for this trip, I became obsessed and really haven’t thought about anything else since.”
Montreal-based Sailor Productions will capture footage of Finn’s record attempt and plans to produce a 60-minute documentary film titled, 2Oceans1Rock.
