His barrel was made of resin-coated plywood, built by two French barrel makers. The measurements worked out to 10 feet long and 6.8 feet across. Savin hoped his new home would prove sturdy enough to handle orca attacks.
The Frenchman got an assist from JCOMMOPS, an international marine observatory, which provided him with markers to drop off at various parts of the sea to help study ocean currents.
Though his voyage lasted 128 days, it was mostly unremarkable. He posted updates on Facebook and told a French news site near the end of his journey that he had had just eight difficult nights in total, including a rough sea that forced him to leave the barrel and navigate difficult waters from outside his cozy confines. He also rarely encountered other humans.
That's one way to get away from it all.
See also: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/barrel-atlantic-crossing-arrival-scli-intl/index.html
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Friday May 10 2019, @04:39PM (2 children)
Popular Mechanics says that the barrel was "built by two French barrel makers," while CNN reports that
If we are to believe both sources, we must infer that Jean-Jacques Savin is (are?) two French barrel makers.
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(Score: 2) by acid andy on Friday May 10 2019, @07:44PM (1 child)
Well, he sounds French, and if he made a barrel, I'd say that makes him at least one barrel maker by definition. So now we just need to show that he's also more than one. The Royal We?
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by driverless on Sunday May 12 2019, @01:22AM
Actually the trip was started by two Frenchmen. You don't think the one that got out lived on fish for the entire trip do you?