Vendee Globe Sailors Pass Point Nemo
I've been following and posting about the Vendee Globe race around the world recently. My love for sailing and HBK's involvement with a boat named "Linked Out" has made this extremely fun. Linked Out is skippered by Thomas Ruyant. The Vendee Globe is a single handed race, or one person sailing with no crew on each boat. HBK assisted by supplying fiberoptic strain gauges for testing hydrofoils.
https://www.boatsnews.com/story/34764/new-foils-for-linkedout-by-thomas-ruyant-a-stable-and-longer-flight
Over the holiday break the sailors passed a place on earth called Point Nemo. Point Nemo is not an island, but simply the coordinates a point on earth that is the farthest you can get from land. This means that it is also the most difficult place on earth to get to in a boat; otherwise known as a pole of inaccessibility. It is approx. 2,688km from land in any direction. Located at [45o52.6S, 123o23.6W]; here are a few more interesting facts about it.
Point Nemo is a source of excitement for scientists. In the 90s, a mysterious noise was picked up less than 1,250 miles east of Point Nemo. The sound, dubbed "the Bloop", was louder than a blue whale – leading to speculation that it was made by some unknown sea monster – and had oceanographers all worked up. After much trepidation, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) worked out that it was the sound of a giant iceberg fracturing and cracking.
It isn't named after a fish. It's moniker is a tribute to Captain Nemo from Jules Verne's '20,000 Leagues Under The Sea' – and the Latin translation of ‘Nemo’ actually means ‘no man’, a fitting name for a spot so lonely. When the boats passed Point Nemo they were closer to astronauts on the space station than to other humans on Planet Earth.
There are rumors that it's a space junk cemetery. With no-one around, it's the perfect place to discard of old rockets and satellites. Over 100 decommission space craft are thought to lie in the area.
Citing my source for facts here: https://archive.theoceanrace.com/en/news/11338_8-facts-about-Point-Nemo.html
Thomas is currently in 4th place after rounding Cape Horn and heading back north towards the finish line.