Excerpt from the Torresen Sailing Site Interview with
Bob Adams

Torresen Sailing Site: Do you feel you are at a disadvantage in a 40' boat, which is smaller than the competition ? What drove the decision for the 40' length ? Are both Black Sea 40's identical ?

Any person who has the motivation and focus to compete in something like the AROUND ALONE  is driven by a variety of motives. For both of us it proved impossible to work together for years building a boat and then have only one of us sail. To build two boats at the top of the size range of either class was financially and logistically beyond our reach. After receiving encouragement from Mark Schreader at the finish of the 94/95 race we completed plans for two state of the art 40 footers, a project we could take a long way towards competition without big sponsorship. Because the boats are absolutely identical, except for a few small details, we will have a race within a race, exciting for everyone.

The are advantages and disadvantages across the board for the small boat in a class. The biggest disadvantages are a lower maximum sustainable speed, and a lot more challenging problem with weight. A sixty footer and a fortfooter have the same size crew, and require the same supplies and equipment. The biggest advantage of our boats is that the are easier to sail, and in single handing, it is not how fast you can sail, but how long you can sail fast that counts, smaller sails lighter equipment all make it easy to sail closer to the max for longer periods.

Torresen Sailing Site: You say "in singlehanding it is not how fast you can sail, but how long you can sail fast that
counts". What is most important to fast sailing for
a long time: design, sails, nutrition etc. ?

No one factor should be considered “most important” it is the total that counts. Probably it is a big
mistake to assign priorities to all of the factors that the single hander has to consider. If one thing has to stand out it would be finding a rhythm with the weather, the boat and ones self. The more everything is in sync the better it is.  Avoiding extremes by over investing in preparation for one condition at the exclusion of others is important. Everything is important, nothing can be ignored, and a very open mind on how to approach equipping and sailing the boat is critical.