The FASTNET 2021 experience left deep impressions. Even though it seemed unlikely or crazy at first, we pulled it off. And our boat in particular had proven to be an efficient and reliable, safe companion in every respect.

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And there was another idea that had been floating around in my head for a while: The SEVENSTAR ROUND BRITAIN and IRLEAND RACE - a real marathon, 1,800 nm, with a very simple concept (=> every good idea is simple!): Everything belongs to the British Isles or Ireland, stays on starboard - full stop. Start and finish in COWES, that's all you really need to know. This regatta only takes place every 4 years - and it was scheduled again in 2022. And as a follow-up to our FASTNET debut, there was another interesting point: The launch was on August 7th, 2022 - almost exactly a year after our FASTNET launch on August 8th a year earlier.

It quickly became clear that this race would only be possible as a double-handed project. The expected duration of SNIFIX of a good 13 days, plus the security surcharges and transfer times that have to be planned, presents many with insurmountable practical obstacles in the sense of. Vacation and family. And of course such a long non-stop sailing is a different story than the 5 days of FASTNET. At least one of the above factors applied to most of our FASTNET crew. So it would have been very difficult to put together a full RBIR crew.

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But in other respects there is also a lot to be said for the smaller crew for the longer race: The  Provisioning and especially the question of water is no problem with two people, while with a full crew it gets tight and difficult. From the skipper's point of view, the engineering credo of "fewer parts" also has great appeal when it comes to the crew, because the coordination and discussion effort is much lower. A large crew is great when it has trained together for a long time and is well coordinated so that it functions "by itself" and acts like the proverbial clockwork. A "casual crew" without extensive joint training is much more strenuous for the skipper. And since the RBIR is very strenuous just because of its length, there was a lot to be said for choosing the easier, i.e. less strenuous crew variant.  

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If you then add the fact that life for two on board the SNIFIX DRY is almost luxurious, while the occupancy with a full crew causes a lot of commotion on board, the aspect of maintaining fitness through little disturbance, effective - which is crucial for success - also speaks for itself Rest times for the small crew.

And a comrade-in-arms was soon found - after a relatively short period of deliberation, my dream partner, Willie, said yes again.