I have two problems with Greta. First and foremost, she's a sixteen year old (adult) and about 7 years too old for me to get sexually excited about her. Second, she has a social (albeit a good) agenda. I applaud her activism because I think Earth people need to wake up and look at the mess we've made of things. That said, it's a sexual turn off for me.

As for the hitchhiking on a sailboat, please don't read much into the media frenzy about it. It's perfectly normal for sailors, especially for "Pond Crossing". From what I understand, she loves being at sea and has done it before. For such a hitchhiking event, it's a win-win scenario. Which, of course, is why it's done.

Now, the sailboat. A catamaran is kind of two sailboats glued together into one, big, fat sailboat. Monohulls (like my boat) tip over slightly under the pressure of the wind and zoom forward. There is a huge amount of weight (called ballast) at the very bottom of the boat that keeps the sailboat right-side up. Catamarans, however, don't tip over much. They are very wide and stable in the upright position. Kind of like putting your legs wide apart when you stand. You're hard to knock over that way. For a catamaran, this resistance to being knocked over translates into very fast and powerful zooming forward. That's a very good thing.

Just as the catamaran is very stable in the upright position, so, too, is it very stable in the upside down position. Should the winds and waves ever get coordinated enough so as to flip the boat over, the boat is pretty much going to stay that way. On my boat, if we get flipped over, eventually, we pop right back up again. Catamarans don't do that.

On Lake Ontario, a 48 foot catamaran has as much a chance flipping over as me winning the lottery (I don't ever buy tickets.) There's just not enough wave action to even come close to flipping a 48 footer anything. The Atlantic, however, is a horse of a different color. Winds and wave action can be quite substantial. But, that's not the danger. My 30 foot boat can easily handle a 100 foot wave. In fact, we'd probably not notice it. Just a smooth rise, then a gentle drop. The same for a 3 foot wave. My boat would just smash into the wave, toss her head, and continue with the howling glee of her captain. But...

For a 10 foot wave, my sailboat would probably not survive. We'd get rolled over once for each wave that hit us. Maybe even pitchpoled (flipped front forward.) A 20 foot wave would be much easier to survive and, in a storm, we'd actually go looking for those. (Get the point?)

The Atlantic is famous for it's fury and, assuming Greta's chosen catamaran was made sturdy, survivable. Most sailors will go weeks out of their way just to avoid one afternoon of storm strength winds. (Sailors are like that: very little need to hurry anywhere.) With today's telecommunications, sailors know quite well where the good, the bad, and the ugly are. And sail around it all. The chances of a successful Atlantic crossing are quite high and hundreds of sailboats do it each year.

It's been well over 20 years since I studied Atlantic crossings (read, Jimmy Cornell and his World Cruising Routes) so I have forgotten most of what I read. But from what I can recall (dimly), April to early June is the best period for an eastbound crossing. Hurricane season officially kicks off on the First of June but hurricanes are seldom formed that early. Friends of mine have sailed across the Pond in June, July and August but always with a professional weather router providing advice and forecasts. Friends who are yacht delivery skippers have crossed one time or more in almost every month of the year, again - always with professional weather routing advice and daily communications to keep track of potential weather issues. With La Vagabonde leaving this late, I would hope they will be in constant communication with their weather router.

Again, I applaud Greta for what and how she is doing what she thinks is right for her. But sexually attractive? Not for a prepube lover like me.