Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Female US rower completes historic solo journey from California to Hawaii

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 118 posts

Re: Female US rower completes historic solo journey from California to Hawaii

#41

Post by bluGill »

yieldcrv wrote: post #5

Why do these extreme rowing and sailing boats look so weird Its always a form factor I’ve never seen before Where can I learn more about this scene?

It's about a compromise. You need enough space for all the food and whatever other supplies you need on the way. You want enough stability that it's not going to capsize in whatever waves. Remember that a storm could come up. Her boat has solar panels and a navigation system and other things which are certainly nice to have but not required. I would expect she has some sort of radio on board.

The Polynesians appeared to have used basically canoes with an outrigger to row across the ocean. I'm not an expert on Polynesians, though, and how they got across the ocean. So if someone is an expert, please correct me.

Re: Female US rower completes historic solo journey from California to Hawaii

#42

Post by tick_tock_tick »

js2 wrote: post #22
CharlesW wrote: post #10

It's kind of buried here, but Kelsey is the fastest human to do this. She beat the male record holder's time by 6 days.

In endurance running, the longer races become, the more competitive they are for women. Women semi-regularly win multi-day and 100+ mile races, even if women don't have course records at these times/distances. In an event of sufficient time/distance, factors besides strength dominate the outcome. So, (and knowing very little about rowing), I am not surprised that a woman could take the record here. You can only row s…

I think you're confusing limited participation and what such a small group of people doing these events means for single individuals to "win" an event. Women are more like to win in these events then others because there is less competition overall so you get more anomalous results rather then the male biological differences stop dominating the outcome.

You are right in that "strength" isn't the dominating factor for these events or why males go so much faster/farther but rather VO2 max and for peak athletes males normally maintain a good 10% lead due to biological factors.

The male vs female 100 meter:

9.58 vs 10.49 = female record is 9.5% longer to run

Male vs female 200 meter:

19.19 vs 21.34 = female record is 11.2% longer to run

Male vs female 50km

2:38:43 vs 2:59:54 = female record is 13.35% longer to run

The difference also doesn't really change once we start going really long either

6 hour: 98.5km vs 85km male ran 15% farther

12 hour: 177.410 vs 153.600 male 15.5% farther

24 hour: 319.614 vs 278.621 male 14.7% farther

48 hour: 485.099 vs 436.371 male 11.17% farther

6 days: 1045.519 vs 928.577 male 12.6% farther

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultramarathon scroll down to the male vs female records.

Re: Female US rower completes historic solo journey from California to Hawaii

#43

Post by openasocket »

ludwigschubert wrote: post #32
mobilemidget wrote: post #15

All i think about when people row, kayak or swim these distances in these waters is 'SHARKS'. Which i read and saw enough about that the chances of meeting one isnt that big, but my brain still associates these activities/areas with it.

(I was replying to a child comment on fear of deep waters, seemingly deleted?) I’ve heard this sentiment before, and can sort of intellectually follow, but man. I love scuba diving, I love the ocean and its varied and alien and multi-scale inhabitants. I’ve spent weeks on a live-aboard boat explicitly to seek out megafauna like sharks and rays (same subclass as sharks). When I start my descent, I love to turn around…

Curiously, I relate to both. I have a certain degree of fear or trepidation of sharks when swimming in the ocean. I feel vulnerable, and keep imagining a shark coming up under me or behind me. But I’m also a certified diver and have exactly none of those fears when diving or snorkeling! I think it’s because I have reduced awareness of what’s around me when swimming in the surface. In a sense it’s coming from the same place as a fear of the dark.

Re: Female US rower completes historic solo journey from California to Hawaii

#46

Post by KennyBlanken »

js2 wrote: post #22
CharlesW wrote: post #10

It's kind of buried here, but Kelsey is the fastest human to do this. She beat the male record holder's time by 6 days.

In endurance running, the longer races become, the more competitive they are for women. Women semi-regularly win multi-day and 100+ mile races, even if women don't have course records at these times/distances. In an event of sufficient time/distance, factors besides strength dominate the outcome. So, (and knowing very little about rowing), I am not surprised that a woman could take the record here. You can only row s…

[flagged]

Re: Female US rower completes historic solo journey from California to Hawaii

#48

Post by jjcm »

This is no joke. I've done the crossing from Moloka‘i to Oahu (~45 miles) in a canoe several times, and those open ocean waves can get very nasty (largest I've dealt with were around 15m tall). I can't imagine the mental endurance required here, let alone the physical. My longest crossing took 9 hours, and I was completely drained by the time I touched shore. 44 days is absolutely insane.

Such a huge accomplishment.

Re: Female US rower completes historic solo journey from California to Hawaii

#49

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #46
js2 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In endurance running, the longer races become, the more competitive they are for women. Women semi-regularly win multi-day and 100+ mile races, even if women don't have course records at these times/distances. In an event of sufficient time/distance, factors besides strength dominate the outcome. So, (and knowing very little about rowing), I am not surprised that a woman could take the record here. You can only row s…

[flagged]

This comment reads like one of those posts from an LLM that was only trained on pre-1900 data.

Re: Female US rower completes historic solo journey from California to Hawaii

#50

Post by locusofself »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #46
js2 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In endurance running, the longer races become, the more competitive they are for women. Women semi-regularly win multi-day and 100+ mile races, even if women don't have course records at these times/distances. In an event of sufficient time/distance, factors besides strength dominate the outcome. So, (and knowing very little about rowing), I am not surprised that a woman could take the record here. You can only row s…

[flagged]

Found the grok bot
Post reply on HN